‘We have all seen what has happened at Salford’: John Kear praises Batley chairman as ambitious Super League hopefuls visit Mount Pleasant
Batley Bulldogs are set to welcome big spending Oldham to the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium this Sunday, August 17 (kick off 3pm) with the Roughyeds showing intent on playing in an expanded Super League from 2026.
Oldham, coached by St Helens great Sean Long, have made enormous strides over the last couple of seasons and currently sit in fourth place in the Championship. However, helped with the recent eye-catching signings of Salford Red Devils duo Ryan Brierley and Jack Ormondroyd, chairman Bill Quinn has confirmed that the club is intent on joining Super League and that their “journey starts now.”
And while applauding the Greater Manchester club’s efforts, Batley head coach, John Kear, has praised the Bulldogs’ long-standing chairman, Kevin Nicholas, for not financially “overstretching” the club.
Kear told the Reporter Series: “Oldham are showing a great deal of intent. Their investment has been immense. You have got to take your hat off to the recruitment because it really has put a stellar team on the park.
“We have got the investment that we can afford and I applaud our chairman for not overstretching and putting the club in jeopardy.
“We have all seen what has happened at Salford. We have got to play on the wicket that we have been given and we are happy to do that.”
The Bulldogs are currently second bottom in the Championship after Widnes Vikings inflicted a fifth successive defeat on them at the weekend.
And the planned restructure for rugby league in England has provided uncertainty on what will happen with the end of season Super 8s, where the bottom four in the Championship and the top four in League 1 are due to face off to establish who will play in 2026’s second tier.
“I have got no idea if they will happen,” Kear revealed. “My job is just to coach the team and not to make RFL decisions. If they do happen, I am very confident that we will survive.
“When I came in I was realistic enough to accept it was highly unlikely we’d get out of the bottom four so I have been planning all along for participating in the Super 8s to make sure that Batley survives as a Championship club.”
He added: “We seem to be hardworking, gallant losers at the minute and it is getting a bit frustrating. Our team isn’t settled because we are using loan players to bolster our ranks because of injuries and other availability and there is an element of a lack of confidence and self-belief which is inevitable when you are on a sticky run.
“They have been in a sticky season but the players have got to keep working through it. They are doing. Should there be them play-offs I am pretty certain we will be able to avoid any relegation if they take place.”