That solid fanbase will soon dwindle when they are back in the Championship, they are already struggling to sell out the place out now.
They will be releageted this season, the squad is very poor. Then the club will continue to slide like Southampton, Charlton and Bradford to name but a few.
They're are other far more prestigous clubs available to potential invetsors, cheap or not City are not that big a draw.
I said a few years ago that the worst thing that could happen to City would be to get promoted to the Premiership (I know they've had great exposure, but it will be short lived). City is a parochial club with a supporter base that is predominantly local and not that wealthy, it was never going to be sustainable without a sugar daddy (they haven't got one), and the accounts are begining to reflect that.

Sorry missed a page out when reading through this thread

Now saying on teletext there will be an announcement on Monday. I'm now confused, will there be a 12 noon press conference or not? Suppose I'll have to tune into Radio Blunderside to find out

Press conference at 12 is about the game, it's always on Thursday.

Announcement on Monday will be about new Executive Director.

Cheers Martin, will just have to wait till Monday to hear that Pearson is back then

We shall see.

As I said on an earlier thread this would be an ideal time for the Council to seperate the SMC from the Football Club. The fact that the Chair of Hull City is also Chair of the SMC is totally wrong and for me personally he should be independant of the grounds two clients.

When Duffen went on one about an international not being possible at the Stadium this Autumn and accused all RLfans of being illiterate, FC Voices wrote and met with the Council. The Council stated that the Chair of The SMC did not have to be the Chairman of either club, and in the future he may not be.

However as it is Pearson that is coming back they will no doubt continue as before because he did a good job before as the first Chair with the two hatted approach. He was always fair with us!


Just my thoughts though!

The Council can do nothing about it, Duffen did not own the SMC or City, the ownership of both companies remains the same.

From actually speaking to a councillor they cannot have any say int he SMC, they are not a shareholder, it is a private company.

Just like us "shareholders" at Hull RLFC

Yes I guess we would have to wait till the SMC's contact is up for renewall! Although it was interesting when Duffen came in that he was automatically chir of the SMC.

Because the consortium bought both entities at the same time, commonsense.

People really should stop knocking the SMC, it is FC's fault we are not represented.

THats interesting, I think that the Council have two seats on the Board though, or at least they used to!

Yeah, but two Lib Dems = half a normal person!

According to the press conference just held Duffen quit due to footballing business not results and his replacement will be announced after the Burnley game. See Burnsy got short shrift too

Yes remember when i mentioned about Plummer being offered a seat, and how many on here bleat on that it is irrelevant because they are not a shareholder and would have no say, so there is no point in Hull RLFC taking up anything to do with the SMC..........

Council can have 100 seats on the board, whats it worth?

glad duffen has gone, he never was truly on the same wavelength as the fans, and i suspect, the players. more interested in the media spotlight and 15 mins of fame.
also can't think of a better man than pearson to come back, he's sensible, pragmatic and respected. and above all he is hard but fair. would have no issues with him running the SMC

I wonder though whether pearson is eyeing a full takeover, rather than coming back to work under the current owners.

by the way to say he did nothing at derby is way wide of the mark, they were a finanical mess when he took over, he then sorted out a takeover and got them back on track off the field - exactly the sort of thing it looks like City need, especially if they go down.

be interested to know people's thoughts if he also wanted to buy FC

He wanted to last time, until shareholders started talking telephone numbers. I doubt he'd be interested now, raising funds for City will be tough enough.

Wrong it was brought forward by 24 hours.

Fair enough, does it matter?

not realy just pointing you in the wright direction.

So Duffen's gone, the arrogant tw'i't. On a personal level I'm pleased because I couldn't stand the man and thought he only worked for one of the tenants - the one which put most profits in his boss's companies' coffers.

However, City and the SMC are still in a financial mess and Duffen the scapegoat going does not change that. This Russell Bartlett character who has emerged out of the woodwork in recent months still sits proudly at the helm of both companies. As owner, I guess he has full say in who he appoints as CEO of both. This probably means another Duffen.

For all the council say the CEO of the SMC could be different to City's, I can't see how that can be implemented by them unless there was a caveat in the original agreements. So was Minns lying to FC Voices?

So, we're stuck with Barlett's choice. That makes me feel that Hull are a little bit like a King on a chessboard. A player with a right to be on that board that can't be got rid of until the end, but without any control over what happens on the rest of the chessboard. Perhaps we will be safely castled, shoved into the corner and ignored again.

It is crazy that the Council gave up their rights completely to control of the SMC on it's conception - a short sighted view that Pearson could be trusted is inexcusable. I like Pearson (and hope the SMC gets him back) but with the best will in the world Pearson could only be trusted as long as he was there, as soon as he was gone look what happened. The precedent was set for whichever bankroller who decides to buy City to come in and have complete control over OUR city's community stadium. This is so wrong it makes my blood boil.

Who IS this Bartlett? Someone whose business strategies are veiled in confusion and uncertainty? Someone who has nothing to do with and no interest in this town apart from what profits he can made out of our stadium and the football club? How do his multiple businesses work? Can he leech funds from one to prop up others that have no relation to the SMC or Hull City? I don't know the answers to any of these questions. But I bet our oh-so-generous Council doesn't either.

If the SMC goes bust what happens then? Is what's left of the company sold to it's creditors? Does control even pass back to the council or does yet another indiscriminate third party shove his hand up in the air for a whirl around the dancefloor? Who pays for the upkeep of the stadium in the meantime?

In any event, whoever Barlett appoints as the new CEO of both will be working for Bartlett. Not just City and the SMC, be it Pearson or whoever. Just like Duffen was.

Wonder if the white Lambo is going back then.....

So Duffen has gone, what a shame!

brown to follow when the new man is in place (Pearson)

Evidently some of the Bookies have stopped taking bets on Brown going.

TBF , not many managers with such a poor record over the last year would still be in the job.

Swann is correct in his appraisal in the HDM - get rid of Brown now.