https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/58264373 Even mentions the “M” word…..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/58264373 Even mentions the “M” word…..

Hull United in black red white kit

Can you see the rfl handing over power?

Pearson really is losing the plot.

What is your counter argument?

Pearson talks about owners putting self interest of individual clubs to one side, then in the next breath talks about mergers, and selling the game for private equity, as he’s skint !!

he is talking fact, the sort will be lost without Private Equity, its nothing to do with how much money he has, he is talking about the game as a whole.

Its obvious that fans are a bit wary of discussing this latest development in any sort of detail for it is certainly a subject close to everyones hearts and of course opposing fans will discard it as simply 'Pearson Rhetoric'

But, man you can always rely on Adam shooting from the hip and on occasions into his own foot. I can't agree with some of what he says, at all, of course I can't, but at least he's saying something and perhaps just perhaps when you scrape away at the surface of what he has said you realise what a parlous state the game is in and what an impact the massive reduction in TV money will have on the sport. Plus therefore the control that Sky has over the games future destiny.

Sky knew no one else was interested in a tired and flagging product and therefore took the calculated risk of offering a much reduced bid. In turn the Clubs knew that no one else was interested so we snapped their hand off. But this is just a situation that will continue to spiral downwards if we don't do something about it. Many say what the hell has Sky's opinion on the format of the game to do with anything, but I would hazard a guess it now has quite a lot.

We are marginalised by the press and the media simply because we are as Adam says lagging behind other sports who don't have as good a product as ours but who have been proactive at moving with the times and the changing way that people engage with sport because they have looked at what others are doing and cherry picked the best bits. I switched on the hundreds ready to scoff at it and ridicule the format and although its not totally for me I have watched it and can 100 per cent get how it appeals to new fans and brings new money into the game. Headingley has seen more in for a handful of games than it will for a whole season of Yorkshire County matches. The weak leadership and 'fiddling as Rome burns' we have seen from the RFL for years saw the Clubs take the initiative off them and that's where the self interest from owners started. Something Adam admits he has been party to as have all the other owners. Whats more the RFL continue to make poor decisions just look at the Academy fiasco.

On a note closer to home, some will say that in this interview Adam's placing of so much of the future of the club on this weekends game and us getting into the play offs is just an attempt to get bums on seats and perhaps they are right in part but the bigger picture for Hull FC is much darker.

At present there is still a big resistance from older fans to attending anything where large amounts of sometimes unvaccinated people are attending. but that's a fact the game, cinemas, theatres and even pubs have to live with for now, but we are none the less as a club with few assets, a shared stadium with a stadium Management company creaming off our ticket sales, almost wholly dependant on Sky, on what we can sell in our shops and get through the gates and so in a bad place at present. Therefore I would shy away from dismissing Adams comments about the next few months being critical for the clubs very existence as just trying to drum up ticket sales for the remaining games, Those inside the club will tell you a lot different. In fact some staff are really worried about things and pursuing other options outside the game for fear of what the future holds. So, despite the usual hype 'hip shooting' and sensationalism this interview includes it perhaps does indicate that things are going on behind the scenes and that the clubs and the RFL realise together that action is needed to save the game.They have to put their differences behind them and forget about self interest something history has proved is easier said than done.

One things for sure whatever you think about Adam Pearson and his comments the next few months are critical for the game.

"If it includes merged clubs, it includes merged clubs. We have to consider it. It is an unknown we're going into and we have to be brave. Because if we're not brave now and we're not intelligent now and we don't take self-interest off the table, I'm telling you the sport's going down the pan.

do you read how he gets almost ‘angry’ when reinforcing his merger concept by saying ‘down the pan’

for me - he’s dead set on a merger and he’s floating the idea first so people get used to the notion

that’s what politicians do

float an idea with no commitment - get the people
talking and debating etc etc

i’m all in favour and I was as the FC shareholder meeting way back with Shane Richardson and almost every FC shareholder backed the merger that was discussed in the meeting room

Merging clubs makes business sense, but not sporting sense (on an emotional level). Strange how the idea gets floated in the week his mate and business partner Grudgell stays in at the Dobbins.

That said, if you had a powerful combined club (wherever it was) , people would go and watch if it was successful. You’d have problems if it wasn’t successful.
It might take a generation of new fans to make it work.

Something needs to change though. This isn’t a Hull FC issue and AP is moaning , this is a game wide issue.

We’re falling so far away from other sports. Women’s football Super League starts in September, and you can bet your life Sky are going to put a lot of their resources into it. Far far more than rugby league.

Its fine being resistant to radical change, but you may have to be okay with watching a part time semi-pro sport.

Hull FC have lived beyond their means for a long time.

Adam gambled with a massive wage bill (third highest in superleague). He continued to sign players such as Reynolds, when he knew Covid was still having a massive impact upon income, and he did very little to cut his cloth accordingly. The club still has a mega wage bill, as he has said so himself.

Hull FC have also not paid an proportionate share of the cost for use of the stadium for many years, as the stadium running costs have continually been met by Mr Allam. As the 25 year rental agreement is coming to an end, he knows that its either accept a rent increase to reflect the stadium running costs, or play on pickering park.

So now he starts mentioning a merger, as he is running out of options, and doesn't have a plan B. The Boulevard got sold off the last time the crap hit the fan, so he's got no other assets, apart from flogging off the players.

Any true lifelong supporter would never entertain such a merger proposal, yet he appears to be quite open to such a prospect, should the opportunity arise.

Didn’t we make a profit a few years on the bounce pre covid?
Not really living beyond our means.

Grudgell eventually got fed up of ploughing £300K in every year to cover the shortfall.

This isn’t about FC. It’s the game as a whole. It faces massive challenges due to mis management and self interest stretching back years. It’s all catching up with the game now post covid.

I honestly think it’s nearly too late now anyway.

I would not put it past Pearson to uproot the entire club, and move the franchise to another city, if it improves his prospects. That's how desperate he appears to be.

Oh dear. How I love Derby week

We should move to East Hull. There’s more Hull fans there than anywhere else in the city (according to season ticket sales)

The game is dying a slow death at the moment.
Pearson is right in what he is saying.

Think covid has accelerated the process as well, compounding all the issues the game had anyway.

He's missing all the points and coming up with totally wrong solutions. No wonder Hull FC are in such a state if this is the sort of management of the club.

The Hull derby is one of Super League's biggest strengths along with the Saints-Wigan derby. People tune in for it, it's destination TV viewing.
We need more games like that, not fewer. Merging would create one club no larger than the two currently existing but without the headline derby match and with a bitter legacy that would no doubt reduce for at least the medium term the number of Rugby League fans in Hull. It's idiotic thinking that applies market-based solutions to a sporting environment and is utterly, utterly flawed.

The Hundred meanwhile is the latest solution cricket has to the interminable length of that sport. THIS IS NOT RUGBY LEAGUE'S PROBLEM. Don't take another sport's solution to their particular issues and apply it to Rugby League because it's getting some short-term coverage. That is idiotic and lazy.

Rugby League in the UK, in my view, has the following pressing issues:
- Quality of the games, particularly over the last 2 years as the club owners decided to squeeze as many in as possible which has had a devastating effect with cancellations and walkovers. Get back to one game a week and adjust the rules so that messing and wrestling at the ruck is completely eradicated. Everyone knows the latter is a huge, huge problem but no steps have been taken to address it.
- Constant tinkering with the format. A twelve team Super League with a five or six team play off is a solid, rational top flight. Tinkering, yet again, with this will make no difference. The sport needs stability not more change. It's amazing how smart people can't see that one of the greatest problems is the constant changing of the structure. It's confusing and jading for fans, it gives off a real impression of desperation. The solution is NOT to change again!
- Hard, local engagement and marketing. And controversy. Controversy, on the pitch and between clubs, sells and Rugby League is just so conservative on this front. It's always "yes, they're a very good team, very well drilled, we'll have to play well to beat them" and "he's a great player, we're really going to have to number up on him". Goodness sake, that doesn't generate coverage, that doesn't generate passion, that doesn't make people want to go to games desperate for their team to beat the opposition. Big it up, make people afraid their club could lose to a bunch of thugs or cheats.
This rivals round is a bit of that but get some heat and light into our messaging. Rivals rounds, heritage rounds, venom-filled press conferences. Get people enthused about the game rather than jaded and distracted by constant off-field tinkering or by people like Pearson talking the game down.

As for private equity. Deary me, you'd get better rates at the local loan shark. It's short-termist and idiotic. It might help Pearson out of a short-term hold but it is totally counter to the long-term financial interests of the game. No wonder people like Hetherington and McManus blackballed it.

To be fair , he hasn’t mentioned specifically mentioning the Hull clubs. Just spoke in general terms.

I think the interest in the Hull Derby is overstated to be honest. People from outside our game aren’t that bothered about Hull vs Rovers. Or Saints vs Wigan for that matter. The interest isn’t there.

Casual sports fans will be more interested in watching the 100 final on Saturday.

Don't take the sport out of its context. By Super League standards, these are the ones which attract much larger ratings than the normal week-to-week, the derby games plus ones such as Leeds-Wigan or Warrington-Saints are the foundation upon which the Sky contract is built.

For me, it starts on the pitch. The quality has diminished in recent times. The players carry some responsibility with this - hands all over the ball, faking injuries, conning the referee. Play with some integrity. Play like you are trying to attract newcomers to the sport.

I would take set restarts and remove them from the game. They create a hectic style of rugby - which looks 'messy' to me, but more so, it means there are no natural breaks in the game. Players are fatigued, and more susceptible to injury. Look how many players are missing from squads for any given matchday - no wonder there is a lack of quality on the pitch with half of the salary cap in the stands.

Also, I wouldn't penalise as heavily any fights, or any biff. Super League, the clubs, Sky Sports themselves this week have been pushing out content of fights in games. You hear the crowd roar, the commentators get excited, yet if that happens on Saturday, there will be sending offs, and 4 game bans dished out! You cannot market using footage of stuff that isn't actually present in games any more for fear of Red Card's and bans.

Then, off the pitch - it needs to be a stable format. 14 team SL for me - with a top 5 or 6 play offs. Play each team Home and Away - with a Magic round, and potentially a 9's tournament in there in the Summer. It doesn't need radical ideas - it just needs a good, high quality product, utilising the athletes that are already in the game - and fans will return.

Games also need to be on Terrestrial TV in some way!

Sky don’t rate them that highly, as the deal is ever (massively) diminishing. And the game is powerless to do anything about it.

You're missing the point. We need more of the better rating games, like the Hull derby. We don't have enough of them and proposing to eliminate some just makes the starting point even worse, never mind the damage it would do to the sport in those areas.

I'm not sure the Hull derby is one of the better rating games. As has been pointed out there's not much interest in it outside the city.

I think the part of your post I've highlighted in bold is the biggest issue and cause of the problems the game is facing.

For too long the RFL and all involved within have been far too parochial and there has been a definite reluctance to relinquish any part of the game to outside partoes for fear of losing any control. The SL then chose to try and do it themselves which just compounded the problems as most of the clubs then started to look out for the own interests and not the game. They even brought in an outsider in Elston who had a proven background and gave him to task to come up with answers yet a number of clubs then didnt like the answers so Elston then left his role as it was a pointless task.

The game is still classed and viewed by mainstream media and the public as a game played up north amongst flap caps and whippets. Until the RFL and SL (Europe) get their blinkers off and actually invest in the right areas & people such as marketing and have a properly thought out strategy it wont' make any difference to whatever they try to achieve with the game.

This is for me the crux of the issue, there are certain factions that seem quite happy to sit take out the game yet are not prepared to really earn their corn to do their job effectively.

I've said before I'm not a big fan of the Hearns but the game unfortunately needs to look at people like them that can really turn the sport around in terms of the marketing and revenue stream potential. They have the where with all and non blinkered vision to make decisions whether liked or not to improve and grow what they are involved with for the better.

Between the RFL and SL they have blown countless opportunities to steal a march on other sports but just sat back and now have been overtaken and lag behind.

The big issue now is that they have messed about and dithered with the sport so much over the past decade with no real strategy and they are now turning off the fans the sport had which is a big concern.

As for comments from trolls such as its because AP cant afford it or he's over spent etc whether true or not I can't say but even the likes of Leeds who are Hethetrington openly admitted have lost 3/4 of a million and wlll do so again, its not rocket science to realise that even the few clubs that have money won't survive without the game.

One of RL's biggest negatives is that most of the games are played in half empty (and in some cases nearly empty) stadia with no atmosphere and as such very little excitement. Regardsless of the quality of the game on Saturday there will be a full stadium and an electric atmosphere. If a random viewer tunes into a game with all the atmosphere of a Sunday league game what is the initial view, even the clubs real fans can't be bothered.

The local 'grudge' matches are the ones that generate viewers, like someone said earlier, clubs not being nice to each other generates the viewing figures and the interest, ultimately column inches.

One big management learning is that to get on you need 10% perfomanace 60% image and 30% exposure.. RL has all its eggs in the performance bucket. The 100 did well because it had a good image and high exposure, the games average but people will watch because others are watching and the media are telling them to. We need to get to that whilst not alienating the current fan base.