THE Cougars have confirmed that head coach Paul March will be replaced if he fails to guide them to promotion – although he is unlikely to face the sack before his contract runs out at the end of the season.

March has been heavily backed by the club's board of directors to fashion a strong push for the championship this season but a run of three straight defeats has seen them slip to sixth in League One.

That has left them with a harder task to claim one of the two promotion spots in the forthcoming Super 8s and play-offs.

In a statement, Keighley chairman Gary Fawcett said: "While we are hopeful that a turnaround will happen over the course of the remaining games, we have to be realistic and plan for the future.

"The club operates on principles, which includes honouring contracts. We are not a Premiership football club which hires and fires at will, racking up substantial contract termination costs.

"Given our financials, we have to be circumspect and, more importantly, treat people with dignity.

"Make no mistake, though. Failure to achieve promotion will require us to appoint a new head coach, who we feel can do the job for 2017, and I have no doubt that there will be plenty of interest in the role.

"Applications will probably start to arrive at Cougar Park after this press release."

Fawcett stressed that March's tenure would be extended if the Cougars go on to win promotion in the coming weeks. March's side end their regular league campaign at home to York on Sunday.

Fawcett added pointedly: "If Paul March achieves promotion, then we will sit down with him to ensure that we absolutely learn our lessons from this season's campaign.

"It has been especially frustrating for the board this season because we substantially strengthened the squad from last year's – when we came ever so close to being promoted – and felt our position as favourites was entirely justified.

"Clearly the team has misfired, although we believe we have the firepower to beat any team in League One – including the much-lauded Toulouse – on our day.

"With this in mind, we will be speaking to the players over the next few weeks with a view to re-signing who we view as key members of our squad for 2017.

"It is heartening to see the usual faces, through thick and thin, at our games. It was also very gratifying and welcome, when I was feeling down about the performance levels after the Barrow game, to get a positive boost from one of our volunteers David Kirkley.

"At times like these, we need to band together and get behind our boys. We are not a bad team, we are struggling with our form.

"The best boost our team can have is for the Keighley Cougars faithful to turn up in their numbers on Sunday, rather than criticising the team from afar online.

"It would be great to have an atmosphere that's right behind our team on Sunday and for our boys to deliver a much-needed win before the Super 8s."

March has been in position at Keighley since succeeding Jason Demetriou at the end of the 2012 campaign.

It has been a traumatic reign for the former York City Knights and Hunslet Hawks coach, whose side were cruelly relegated from the Championship during the 2014 campaign amid the controversial dual-registration saga.

Last term, the Cougars were rocked by the death of hugely popular playmaker Danny Jones, who passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest during a game at London Skolars.

Despite that tragedy, March rallied his troops and the Cougars went agonisingly close to winning promotion from League One, only to suffer a 29-28 defeat to Swinton in the promotion final at Widnes last October.

March, who enjoyed a distinguished playing career which ended at Keighley, guided the club to victory over York in the iPro Sport Cup final at Blackpool in May.