JUST days after wrapping up the Midlands Three West (North) title, Ludlow RFC are looking for a new head coach.

And the decision has left former chief Norman Stalker ‘disappointed’ after he helped guide the club to championship glory, racking up more than 1,000 points in the process.

The former Newport and RGC 1404 coach said he was informed by email last week that the club had had an application for the position of head coach and was asked if he wanted to apply for the position.

“I said that I didn’t consider there to be a position to apply for,” Stalker explained. “I was then told by email that I’d withdrawn myself from the process. I had no intention of walking away but it seems that the other applicant was clearly more attractive.

“This has been an absolutely outstanding season and we were building something special at Ludlow. We won the league by ten points and scored 1,045 points – there are only a couple of teams elsewhere who have scored that many points.

“My job as a coach is to improve players and win championships. I’ve done that at Ludlow but clearly there is someone else that the club wants and that’s entirely their prerogative.

“What has disappointed me is that all this has been done at the end of the season by email. It’s obvious that discussions were taking place earlier so why wasn’t I included in that process so that we could have had a conversation.”

Stalker revealed that the applicant for the head-coach role was a member of the first-team squad that secured the league title with a 54-19 win over nearest rivals Cleobury Mortimer last weekend but refused to name them.

“The whole thing has left a sour taste but I still genuinely hope the club has a good season next year,” he added. “I believe they are good enough for a fourth or fifth finish and to then get promotion the following season.”

Club chairman Andy Wright said Stalker had been asked to put forward his plans for the new season.

“Another person has put forward a plan which will be looked at by the committee. That is the only one we’ve had at the moment as we had hoped that Norman would have given us his.

“As a club, we feel it is important to sit down to review things at the end of every season. We have obviously achieved promotion and that is in no small part down to Norman and we are grateful for that.

“As a committee we felt we needed a bigger squad of players to call on for next season because of it being a much tougher league.”

Wright also refused to name the person whose plan is on the table but confirmed it was someone from the first team.

“We will listen to their plans and then decide on what to do next," he said. "We do need to start building for the new season but we do have time on our side.”