Radders has done a fantastic job this season so far
I bet plenty of FC fans are squirming from some of their rants about sacking him in recent seasons

What do fans know eh?

I think each and every one of us is eating humble pie (including myself), with some having a bigger portion than others. You'd have struggled to find a fan this time last year that wouldn't have swapped him for another coach given the chance.

Some fans overstepped the line massively in their personal remarks about him. Most put forward their concerns and disappointment, but nobody was happy.

With hindsight, Radford had a hell of a task when he took over. Apathy amongst the fans after being crap for 6/7 seasons was rife, nobody believed he was the man for the job after such a short tenure as an assistant, and the player roster represented one of the worst cases of salary cap mismanagement we've seen at the club.

But credit to him, he's turned it around. The squad/salary cap issues have taken the 2/3 seasons to weed out, recruitment has been very good, morale seems at an all time high and we're playing some decent rugby. I hope it continues as long as possible, but there's a long way to go yet before any silverware gets handed out.

never mind last year, wasn't there a 'Radford out' banner after the Widnes game?
There was certainly lots of teeth gnashing and whining over on the Hull board.

I hope when he leads them out at OT he sticks 2 fingers up at those who have been on his case for what seems like years, some of it pretty nasty and personal from memory.

Nope. I think you're making that up. I was at the game & didn't see or hear about that. We came into the Widnes game following narrow defeats to Cas & Wigan, so not really reason for anyone to create a home made banner to take to Widnes.



It was a pretty terrible performance and people were rightly disappointed about the manner of the defeat. Ironically, it seemed to kick start our season. "Teeth gnashing & whining" is a bit over the top as usual, maybe one or two of the usual suspects, most were level headed, realised it was very early in the year and in the previous 4 games we'd done alright.



He'll metaphorically stick two fingers up at them just by getting there.

You're right, some of the comments about Radford, albeit from a very small handful of known idiots on our board, completely crossed the line. Personal abuse, made up allegations of him being a bully to the younger players, and even a childish online petition signed by about 100 people. It's sad that people felt it necessary to lower themselves to such levels.

That petition was an absolute cringe-fest!, same as when someone on one of our facebook groups did one

this could be the banner i was thinking off, i apologise if i have my timelines mixed up

That looks to be at the KC so I would guess from a prior season.

As much as I think Chester has done a sterling job with my team, if Radders continues this form and gets FC to the Grand Final then he should win it for me.

It's certainly not at Widnes, or this season.

I didn't say it was at Widnes, i said it was after the Widnes game.
I am sure i saw a Radford out banner at one game this year, although, like i say i could be wrong.
But let's face it, a majority of Hull fans have wanted Radford out for the last few years, although usually after a defeat or a bad run.

Get over yourself. He got HKR to a CCup final and a 9th finish - hardly a pigs ear. Ever thought it was the players who made a pigs ear of it, I mean they player like schoolboys in the final and I don't think any coach can be blamed for that.

If you want a tit for tat just wait until Websters anti magic really kicks in. He had a good start with us when he took the reigns halfway through the season - then bang, when he had to put his own team together the following year every wheel he had fell off.

Wasn't all his fault but he is for me the worst coach we have ever had and we've had Agar and Roe coaching us!

All that said, unless we have a second purple pact I wouldn't have Chester as COTY to be honest - more of a "commendation for a good start".

How is he, when did we last reach a CCup final - they all loved him at that point.

I actually think he deserves more credit for getting a very poor Rovers team to the CCup than what he's done at Wakey - most of which is down to Brian Smith preparation IMHO.

You all hated him until about two month ago - bit like Chester at HKR just in reverse - must be a Hull thing

At this moment in time it has to be Radford. The transformation from what Hull were achieving last season (forget about the previous

to this is amazing.
I was one of the ones who wanted him out last season. I wasn't a banner waver though or a petition writer. I was vocal on social media and frankly who could blame anyone of us. We have had to live with so many false dawns and promises over the past 10 years, that frankly we had grown very intolerant of anything that was coming out of the club. James Clark the media director needs knighting for the dross he had to write knowing full well we were delivering so little on the pitch.

When you hear the owner saying he has 100% faith in Lee intermingled with Lee giving after match press conferences saying he didn't know what the problem or the answer was then surely you can see where we were coming from.

This season started well with convincing pre season. Lots of the usual hype from the club and then some great victories. Salford (I don't know who was predicting them to finish bottom, certainly no one in the media, but thats an aside) and away at Catalans had us all starting to sit up and take notice. Then defeats to Cas and Wigan at home. After what was frankly a disasterous season at home last season, brought home all those doubts again. We then went to Widnes and frankly we were a disgrace. However much Widnes played well that night we were awful.

I personally felt we were totally out coached that night, by a coach who gets little or no credit outside of Naughton Park. I was furious as were many many fans. We had been found out. Then we hear that Radford has been locked out of the dressing room. Player power coming back we thought. Boy have we had our fair share of that over the years.

Well it would seem it was positive player power. Ever since then we have proceeded to go on a run that even in our dreams we wouldn't have believed possible. Is that down to Radford? Is it down to some amazing senior players. Ellis, Minichello, Pryce, Pritchard et al? I think its all the above. There is a unity about the squad from the coach down to the tea lady.

Yes we haven't had an "injury crisis" as such. We have had injuries. But is that luck or is it conditioning. When we have had injuries we have had players from the squad step in and continue the same great work of the injured player. We had two players go on international duty and miss a cup match away at St Helens. Unheard of. A big gamble we thought. Did we miss them? Of course we did but the players that stepped upto the plate performed.

Hull FC so far this season (we have won nothing and I still think we won't. It's a defence mechanism of mine) have developed across the club as a whole. Give me a better example of a club using the cap to its full potential. No real susperstars taking up massive % of the cap to the detriment of the rest of the squad. Give me a better balanced squad. Yes we might miss Houghton if he was injured. But Washbrook has been exceptional this season and can cover that spot very well. Sneyd. See his Widnes perfomance. Awful. Yes we'd miss him but I'd have faith in his replacements filling in and performing the role well. We might miss his goal kicking.
Shaul missed the Leeds match. If he'd been there we'd have won I have no doubt. He would have been with big Frank when he burst through. I can't guarantee the pass from Frank though. See Friday



We have a team that is bonded. Playing for each other and balanced. That comes down to a whole host of factors. And for now if that means we have Radford overseeing it and taking the plaudits then so be it. He will be the first to thank Andy Last, Richard Horne, his conditioning staff, Adam Pearson, the players (now without the less professional eliment. Nuff said there) and I suspect the main man in it all Motu Tony.

So yes I an many thousands are eating humble pie. We didn't bel13ve for many years, and who can blame us. BUT right now we are enjoying a great ride. If you all want to call us fickle, crack on. But I can easily point to fickleness amongst all of you.

It's still only June. Nothing won until August.

Enjoy your seasons. I'm enjoying ours at long long last.

Laurent Frayssinous for me. Credit to Hull and Radford, but Catalans recruited well and look the real deal. They've been playing some great rugby this year, will be interesting to see how they finish the season off.

It won't be a popular view on here, but Shaun Wane deserves an honourable mention given what he's had to put up with injury wise. Wigan might not have played well at any point, but to be second in the league before yesterday is an achievement in itself and shows great resilience. I don't think any other team/coach would have held it together for so long with so many top players missing throughout the year.

We have youth coming through both your props for starters

As things stand, 3 clubs have improved their 2015 finishing position by 6 places, Hull Catalan and Trinity and 4 clubs have fallen places Leeds -11, Huddersfield -7, Saints -3 and Cas -2.
Wakefield have improved most in terms of points gained but, clearly, the top coach should go to either Radford or Laurent Frayssinous depending on whether Hull or Catalan can win the big prize.

Castleford have the worst defence in the league, if the "points against" column is accurate, which would suggest that Powell isn't doing that well.

Radford has to be the front runner on standings at this stage.

Chester is up for a shout but perhaps doesn't deserve it based on only half a season's work. His real ability will be whether he can go well next year, when he has been in charge all through the winter too, because he seemed to fall down at that point at Hull KR, when you consider how his team did last year to this.

National Express.