Dave Woods waiting to explain his side of the story

Feb 9 2010 by Nick Purewal, The Journal

The Rugby Football League have agreed to investigate Dave Woods' Gateshead sacking. The former Thunder head coach told Nick Purewal he is still waiting to explain his side of the story.

LIMBO for Dave Woods is pulling pints and managing bar staff. The ex-Thunder coach has been out of full-time rugby league since December 2008 – and he has had enough.

Enough of the whispers, the rumours and the stains on his character.

More than a year after his stunning Gateshead sacking, the straight-talking Aussie can finally prepare himself for progress.

Woods has been bidding to clear his name ever since Steve and Sarah Garside ended his successful stint at Thunder in cursory fashion.

Biding his time for his day in court on a constructive dismissal case he felt he would win, Woods needed work and secured himself a managerial role covering three North East pubs.

However, when the Garsides withdrew their Thunder backing, forcing the club into administration, Woods’ case went up in smoke. With no holding company to sue, there seemed no hope for him clearing his name. Now though, the RFL have stepped in and have told Woods they will review his case.

This might very well be water under the bridge for the Garsides – who have cut all ties and most contacts at Thunder – but for Woods the implications live on.

Hopeful of a clean slate, Woods told The Journal all he wants is a fresh start.

Much as he enjoys running The City Hotel in Durham, The Station Hotel in Whitley Bay and the Dun Cow in Sunderland, Woods is an experienced coach and is itching to get back to the sharp end.

He has done consultancy work at St Helens and is now the Great Britain under-18s coach, but Woods believes the fallout from his Thunder sacking has impugned his reputation.

He said: “All I want is to be able to clear my name so I can get my career and my life back together.

“It has been really tough, on the family as well as myself, and as much financially as anything else. I made a mistake and I admit that, but I never did anything intentionally, illegally or to damage the club either.

“I had the club’s best interests at heart.

“I made an error on a contract relating to a player’s wages, and I put my hand in my own pocket to make up a shortfall created by my error and that the club should not have been covering.

“I was willing to do that, take a cut from my own pocket to cover extra money a player was only owed because I had made an error, but that was what caused the problem and that was what led to my sacking. I acted naively because I just assumed there would be latitude with something like that, given I should never have been handling player contracts and things like that anyway.

“I was only ever employed as a coach, but I handled that administration because that is what you do, you muck in and do what has to be done.

“They always knew I was never qualified to handle things like that, and I thought they would understand. That was why I pushed for the club to bring in Rod Findlay (pictured left) in the first place, because I had met him a few times and was impressed by him and knew he could handle that side of things.

“That was designed to take the pressure off the coaching staff and allow us to do our job we were hired for in the first place.

“I even offered to take a pay cut of a third of my annual wage to facilitate Rod’s employment, and the club had pretty much accepted that.

“So I went from being about to sign a three-year deal to being out of job in one foul swoop. I was never given proper chance to explain and my dismissal was cursory.

“I went to that board meeting expecting to be talking about the new contract, and ended up being sacked on the spot.”