Irving named assistant coach

Oldham can confirm that Callum Irving has been appointed to the role of assistant first team coach.

Irving steps up from the role of Pathways Technical Advisor and replaces the departing Joe Wardle in the coaching team for 2026.

"I'm really excited and it is very humbling to be working with this club," Irving told Roughyeds TV.

What we had always talked about is joining the pathway up with the first team and now there is a really good opportunity to make sure there is a flow through right from the first team to the under 12s.

One of the things Mike and the board have talked about is having Oldham lads playing for the first team and this role and joining those two elements of the club up is a logical step.

This town has punched well above its weight in producing players over the years and we are still doing it."

Irving was born in Carlisle and played rugby league for Carlisle and York before moving to play in France. He then moved to London where he worked with the Broncos academy and then Skolars as assistant and later head coach. He has since worked in high performance sports - both in Olympic sports and football - and is currently working with FIFA's Coaching Education Programme, where he was previously Lead of Analysis.

"My remit will be to work with the first team. I'm used to working with big characters and it is a pleasure to be around them. I am learning all the time and that is what I want to do here. I'm dead excited."

Director of Rugby Mike Ford said:

"I have known Callum a long time, we played against each other and he has travelled the country coaching. He found his way back up to Saddleworth and Oldham, we reacquainted and I quickly got him involved with our pathway. It soon became apparent to me what a smart coaching brain he has got, not only in development of kids but all the way up to the very top.

He is a rugby man, that is his lifeblood and what he wants to do is coach. We are very lucky to have a coach in our organisation who potentially has a different perspective of how the game should be played.

We continue to search for a successor to Sean (Long). I am meeting people and we will find the right man, however long that takes."