KEIGHLEY Cougars director Simon Harrison believes the capture of former Castleford Tigers chief executive Steve Gill can help the club go far after last week's Austria Holdings takeover.

Gill only left his post at Castleford at the start of this season, but had remained at last year's Super League leaders as a club director. He will now join Cougars as their general manager.

Harrison was as surprised as anyone by Gill's decision to join the Betfred League One side, saying: "I didn't expect us to be able to hire Steve, but as soon as Austria Holdings took over, they said they wanted him.

"What he did with turning round Castleford was incredible and he'll be able to do the same here hopefully.

"He brings vast rugby league experience with him and he and our club ambassador Garry Schofield have huge pedigree between them."

Harrison admitted that it had been a testing couple of months for Cougars as they faced financial oblivion, but now that the takeover is complete, he says that the side are highly ambitious about what the future holds.

He enthused: "Austria Holdings bring financial stability to the club and they have big plans in place for making Cougars a more viable operation, so we're delighted to get the deal over the line.

"The short-term aim is stability but by 2021, we want to be one of the top 20 rugby league clubs in the country, so that we're involved in any plans that the RFL have."

Although Harrison was very much looking towards Cougars' future, he reserved warm praise for the club's outgoing chairman Gary Fawcett.

He said: "Gary was an unsung hero for Keighley Cougars and financially, he virtually kept the club afloat single-handedly for nine years.

"Myself and Neil Cullen have been dealing with the running of the club for the past two or three months and it's very difficult, so it just shows what a sterling job Gary did."

Harrison also confirmed that there will be a meeting at Cougar Park tonight at 7:30pm, where fans can ask any questions they have about the takeover.

Representatives from Austria Holdings and Keighley Cougars will be in attendance and doors will open at 7pm.

The director said: "It just gives fans an insight into our plans and will put a stop to any rumours going round about the owners. It will be in a Q&A format and the bar will be open. It'll be good for the club and the town."

There was less cheer on the pitch last Saturday as Cougars crashed to a hugely disappointing 30-20 defeat at lowly Coventry Bears, a team they had beaten 98-6 in May.

Although Cougars' squad has been decimated by their financial issues, Coventry were missing key personnel too, with eight of their first-team squad on student international duty.

Head coach Craig Lingard was apoplectic after the game, raging: "There was none of the effort, desire and attitude that we showed against Oldham on Friday.

"I think the players turned up today expecting to just play at 50% of their potential and win. Coventry thoroughly deserved their victory. They out-enthused us, out-thought us and out-fought us."

To add to Cougars' woes ahead of Sunday's tough home clash against Hunslet, they suffered three injury setbacks in the West Midlands.

Coach Craig Lingard said: "Darrell Griffin did his Achilles early on and we lost Brendon Rawlins at the start of the second half too, which meant we were playing with no recognised back-rowers.

"Cam Leeming also came off with a shoulder injury. He's got his arm in his shirt, using it as a sling, so we'll have to look at him.

"We need to get bodies in but there's not necessarily the players out there. We need to bring people in if we can though because if those three are injured, we'll be really light on numbers again."

Asked whether there were any positives to take from Saturday's defeat, Lingard simply replied: "Absolutely none."

Lingard will come face to face with a couple of his former charges at the weekend. Josh Tonks and Ryan Wright return to Cougar Park as opposition players, having left to join Hunslet at the start of the month.