Staying put

THIRD TIME LUCKY? Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton (left) has backed Tony Benson (right) to carry on as Oldham coach.

TONY Benson wants to complete some “unfinished business” next season.

The 44-year-old Oldham Roughyeds coach, who is currently away on international duty with Ireland, has verbally agreed to return to the Whitebank Stadium for a third crack at promotion from Co-operative Championship One.

No contract has yet been signed — but the club and Benson want fans to know that it is only a matter of time before the popular coach is reinstalled.

“Once I knew for certain the club wanted to keep me I was never going anywhere else,” said the Kiwi, speaking from Avignon where he is assisting Andy Kelly in preparing Ireland for their Alitalia European Cup game against France on Saturday.

“I love the place. I just enjoy being there. It’s a great club to work for.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; it was a privilege to be involved with Roughyeds and all that was going on at the club this year, highlighted by our move into the Whitebank Stadium.”

Benson has twice led Oldham to within 80 minutes of promotion, only to lose out both times.

The manner of the recent 25-4 play-off final defeat to York was agonising, but it didn’t lead to Benson looking elsewhere.

“We were all distraught on finals day, but that’s behind us now and we have to move on,” he added.

“I’m already looking forward to getting back into the old routine and getting stuck into the Oldham job again in about a month’s time.”

Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton recently confirmed that he had spoken to Benson before the play-off final about the possibility of staying on for 2011.

And the two men discussed the matter again prior to Benson heading to France.

“My thoughts on Tony as a coach and as a person are well known by now,” said Hamilton.

“We were both down in the dumps after the final, but that didn’t affect the way either of us was thinking about the coaching job for next year.

“Tony has continued to be fully involved with everything that has happened since — and as soon as he’s finished with Ireland we’ll get things sorted out.”

Benson’s record in two seasons at Oldham is impressive. In Championship One and play-off matches he has managed 31 wins and a draw from 44 matches played, while this year he was in charge of 18 victories and only four defeats including a club-record streak of winning every league match away from home.