COUGAR coach Lee Crooks looks set to sign a new long term deal with the club, which would give him another season in charge.

Crooks, who is a new boy to the coaching game, signed a contract which would see him through to the end of the present season when he joined the Cougar Park staff in March this year, but now the time looks ripe to extend his association with the club.

Both club directors and Lee Crooks himself having been keeping tight-lipped about the possibility of a new contract, but he is now looking to sign players to longer term deals and they will want 'the boss' to show his commitment.

Yesterday he told KN Sport: "My contract runs for this season and ends in October, we may be sitting down and talking about that.

"We are starting to think long term and if we can come to some arrangement I can crack on with the job in hand."

He added that after signing Adam Fogerty he was hoping to get Christian Tyrer signed up to longer term deal and also hoped to get Jason Laurence's loan period extended for a further month with the possibility of a permanent deal.

"I will also be looking at the rest of the squad to give the team long term stability," he said.

The team are without a match this weekend, but will come back the following week with a tough fixture against Hull KR.

Jason Ramshaw will miss the match and is out of action for six weeks after a groin operation.

But Simon Iriving will be having a run out with the Alliance team this weekend and should then be available for first team action.

Players will also be in the thick of the action on Tuesday night when the club presents a special 'Supporters Night' at Victoria Hall when all the present players, and many former Cougar stars will be among the line-up of guests.

"We are also hoping there will be a guest appearance, by video, from Ian Gately," said a club official.

Fans will also have the chance to help choose the club's new strip.

Even the players have been unhappy with the current star-studded strip, particularly the red version, and a number of alternatives have been planned. Fans attending Tuesday's get-together will have an opportunity to vote for the style they like best.

The evening, which costs £1 to enter, will follow the format of the former end-of- season shows. There will be video presentations of recent matches, together with nostalgic films from the Golden days of Cougarmania when the club reach the Premiership Finals at Old Trafford.

The evening is also schedule to be the launch date of the club's 'TeamBuilder' scratch card which is designed to provide funds for Lee Crooks to continue developing his playing squad.

"It will be a fantastic night out, with plenty of former players coming along and some fantastic video presentations," said director Allan Clarkson.

"We also hope there will be a couple of really good announcements with a big, big surprise at the end of the night," he said.

The event starts at 7.20pm.

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