LEIGH Centurions coach Keith Latham has resigned despite two days of pleading by Hilton Park officials, for him to stay on.

Latham stood down after Leigh's 30-18 home defeat, by Keighley, on Sunday, but his resignation was only confirmed today, after chairman Mick Higgins had failed to persuade him to change his mind.

"Keith offered his resignation on Sunday, and although he went away to think about it, he's adamant he won't change his mind," said Higgins today.

But Latham's departure has nothing to do with results, or Leigh's lowly league position.

"The bottom line is that Keith has domestic problems that are taking up more and more of his time, and, as a consequence, he feels his coaching has started to suffer.

"He feels that unless he can throw himself 100 per cent into the coaching job, he's not pulling his weight. Sadly he doesn't see his situation changing in the immediate future, so he wanted to get out before the team suffered too much. His only thoughts were for the team."

Assistant Coach Norman Turley will be asked to lead the first team through the rest of the season before the club then takes stock.

Appointed in November 1996, when Eric Hughes walked out to join Wigan, Latham has put a strong youth policy in place at Hilton Park and seen Leigh finish third in Division Two and subsequently upgraded to Division One.

Leigh want Latham to stay on at the club in some capacity.

"Keith has an obvious talent with the youngsters, and I've asked him to stay on in some sort of youth development role. Hopefully he will take us up on that," adds Higgins.

"Many said it was a gamble when we appointed Keith in his first professional coaching job, but I think he's turned out to be a gem. Our youth system is the envy of many, and the club has made real progress. We've got to thank him for that."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.