MARTYN Ellis was tempted out of a break from rugby league by being offered the job as Latchford Albion’s new head coach.

Ellis, formerly a scholarship coach at Leigh Centurions, is the new man in the Victoria Park hot seat as he fills the role vacated by Lee Smith.

He has spent the previous four years coaching Shevington Sharks and also formed part of the coaching staff for the North West Men’s League England Lionhearts team, which included Latchford duo Danny Brown and Phil Woolacott.

While Albion may be a league below his former side – they ply their trade in NWML Division One – Ellis does not see the move as a step down for him.

He also explained that Albion are seeking to be reassigned to the NWML Premier Division for next year.

“This is a new challenge and a bit of a change for me,” he told the Guardian.

“It hadn’t gone stale at Shevington so to speak, but I wanted to go in a different direction

“I wasn’t that interested in going back into the game for a while, but Latchford sold it to me.

“They are good people and it seemed like a nice challenge.

“We’ve spoken to the league and we’re hoping they are going to put us back in the Premier Division.

“Walney Central are going up to the National Conference League, so there might be a space for us to move up.

“If not, we want to compete to win Division One and get promoted that way.”

Ellis also gave a hint as to what the Albion players can expect when they start pre-season training on November 15.

“I like my teams to play and I like them to attack. The lads need to be fit to play the way we want to.

“I’m bringing (assistant coach) Dave Rudd with me. He was with me during my time at Leigh Centurions so he knows what I like to do.

“We want to play expansive rugby, so there’s a lot of hard work if we want to be fit enough to play that sort of style.”