COUGARS have confirmed Simon Harrison as a non-executive director at the club for the rest of this season in an appointment that could become permanent.

Harrison, who is a director at Keighley-based A1 Stairlifts, is aiming to bring a touch of Cougarmania back.

His appointment follows his hands-on support behind the scenes in recent weeks, including bringing the legendary Garry Schofield to Cougar Park as a matchday speaker.

Cougars chairman Gary Fawcett said: “A1 Stairlifts has already supported the club tremendously over the past three years and this represents yet further valuable support from what is a great local company.

“Simon’s already had a big impact. He actually asked me to step down as pre and post-match speaker, which was a relief for me and everyone else, and replaced me with Garry Schofield OBE – a quality signing!

“He also made sure that the executive suite was full for the recent home friendly with Newcastle Thunder and it was pretty much the same for the East Leeds game too.”

“On top of this, A1 Stairlifts organised a new cooker for the kitchen as the old one was past its sell-by-date and Hobsons from Cross Hills plumbed it in for us.

“This represents local companies rallying round to help the Cougars and Simon has been instrumental in getting new hand driers installed by Liveview, who are another local company.

“On top of this a special mention must be given to Clever Energy Boilers who last month replaced the main boiler at Cougar Park with a brand new one.”

Harrison said: “I'm delighted to join the Keighley Cougars board.

“With it being on a non-executive basis at the moment due to work commitments, my main objective is to bridge the gap between boardroom and fans to make matchdays at Cougar Park something that the whole town can enjoy.

“I've already started this by bringing Garry Schofield OBE in as pre and post-match summariser and on the few occasions he is unavailable we have some special guests already lined up.

“Hopefully as the weather improves we shall be having entertainment on the pitch both before and after the games, thus creating the family atmosphere of the Cougarmania era.”

One of Harrison’s first tasks will be to help organise and raise funds for the renaming of the North stand to ‘The Terry Hollindrake Stand’ in memory of one of the club’s finest players, who recently passed away.

It is hoped that this will be unveiled at the club’s first League 1 match at home to York City Knights on Friday, April 3.

Harrison added: “I'm a realist and know this can't be achieved overnight but with the right strategies the backing of the fans and the team doing well on the pitch let's see where we are come the season’s end in September.”

Fawcett paid tribute to other sponsors and supporters of the club, with Keighley firm Sign & Design assisting with the signage to rename the North Stand the Terry Hollindrake Stand.

Fawcett added: “The fans and the club feel it's the least we could do for Terry, so he and his achievements should be remembered.

"All of this illustrates the power of local companies getting behind the Cougars. Making the club successful is not rocket science.

“It simply takes a lot of committed people from fans and businesses to make this club strong. The more support we have, the stronger we will get.”