KEIGHLEY have confirmed ahead of their clash with York City Knights that head coach Paul March will be replaced if he fails to guide them to promotion.

However, he is unlikely to face the sack before his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Former Knights player and coach 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, released this week, 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 statement.”

Fawcett stressed that March’s tenure would be extended if the Cougars go on to win promotion in the coming weeks.

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

“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. He guided the club to victory over the Knights in the iPro Sport Cup final at Blackpool in May.