Allan Agar arrived at Post Office Road in December 1982 with the club in some trouble. A poor start in the league had left Rovers with relegation worries and Agar was a young coach making his way in the game. Although he was locally born he had played just a few games for Featherstone before making his career as a scum-half at Dewsbury, then Hull KR among other clubs. He started coaching at Carlisle in their first ever season and with help from the likes of Jimmy Thompson and Mick Morgan had steered the new club to promotion at the first attempt.
At Featherstone he set about preserving our First Division status. The story of how he managed to achieve this whilst taking the club to the biggest day in its history at Wembley in 1983 has been well documented elsewhere, and is something for which Agar will receive eternal credit.
Hopes were high in the summer of 1983 that the club would build on the incredible success of the previous year. After signing Deryck Fox, league form was solid but not spectacular and in the end the club had to settle for a disappointing 12th spot, just one place above the relegation spots. The following season (1984/85) saw a slight upturn in the club’s fortunes whilst off field the town struggled through a crippling miners’ strike. David Hobbs was sold to Oldham to balance the club’s books, but it was an uphill battle. When the following season started in a similar vein, a heavy defeat at Wigan triggered the resignation of Allan Agar. He left a decent team behind and his legacy was largely a positive one. Wembley apart, under his stewardship Rovers had used their resources to maintain themselves in the top flight, which was about as much as could have been asked. Agar was replaced with George Pieniazek.
Within a few months Allan Agar was back in coaching at Bramley where he stayed at couple of years. He then took Rochdale to promotion. When Peter Fox walked out on Rovers for a second time in October 1991, the club turned once again in difficult circumstances to Allan Agar. He had a huge task in front of him to raise the morale of a team created, then abandoned, by Peter Fox. Despite some terrific one-off displays Rovers struggled for consistency through the rest of 1991/92 and then were relegated in incredible fashion on points difference through a remarkable combination of results on the final day of the season. This cost Agar his job and his second spell with the club was over. He was later involved in marketing, and for a brief spell was appointed the CEO of Featherstone Rovers in 2001.
Allan Agar’s coaching record:
82/83: Won 11 Drew 3 Lost 8.
83/84: Won 13 Drew 2 Lost 20.
84/85: Won 18 Lost 18.
85/86: Won 3 Drew 1 Lost 7.
91/92: Won 12 Drew 1 Lost 14.
Total: Won 57 Drew 7 Lost 67 = 46.18%
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