So, despite paying a rent of about £600k, and a surcharge on gates above 8k, the SMC still managed to lose £80k at every home game.

In the clubs 150th year lets hope this generation of fans is able to see a growth in the average attendance and the team can perform and at least achieve the 8th we need. Would be great also if the 25,000 who went to Wembley are able to at least consider whether they could give support this season, when it really is needed, so that there may be other Wembleys for this great club. Supporting a club is not all about the good times.

Allam owns Hull City and runs the SMC.

So he pays himself



Bit of creative accounting there me thinks to show City make a profit for the stadium and we make a loss.

I have my own Business, and that is what FC is (a business, albeit, community based) and if that business was failing, the last thing I would do would be to blame my clients, which is what the fans essentially are.

IMHO, a business is only as good as it's staff, from top to bottom, so if you employ turnips, performance will be at turnip level and the business will develop or otherwise accordingly. If you employ quality, by and large, output will match the production quality of the staff.

However, the production of a higher quality staff can be undermined by poor management, however well motivated.

This is were the problem lies at FC I think, we have suffered from a lack of quality on the playing roster in recent times, but when that has been addressed, we've undermined ourselves by under cutting at the management level. Obviously the trick is to get it right, achieve this and the fans will support the club, consistently get it wrong and a percentage of the fans will naturally look to spend their limited disposeable income elsewhere, for the club to blame these fans on this basis, probably says more about the club management than anything else.

What is clear is that it is last chance saloon time, and IMHO, the fans should now rally to support the club we all love, the alternatives do not bear thinking about.

Trouble with Pearsons rallying call is fans who have decided not to go have usually made a conscious decision that they’ve had enough and will also have found they can do without their fix of rugby. Getting them to return will only happen if the thing that made them not go changes and this will need to be backed up with action not words. Even then there are no guarantees that they will come back, other things may have taken up their time.

I found that last year I was going to watch my club out of habit, I’ve stopped going to away games and one of the big reasons I went to home ones was the appalling radio commentary winding me up so much I felt it better go than put myself through that. I agonised over a pass but have got one again and I class myself as a relatively hardened fan.

The plight of pro-RL in Hull is looking pretty desperate at the moment and it is almost falling into terminal decline, this city needs a major boost of 2 teams at least challenging because if both teams have a poor year this time the combined attendance could fall below FC’s 2010 average.

Great post!

I can completely understand where the people who say they're picking & choosing their games, rather than buying a pass, are coming from.

Personally, I'm pished off with our underperformance for the past few seasons, pished off at the endless errors the clubs management have made with recruitment and pished off at the situation with Allam & the stadium.

Adam's comments to me sounded quite desperate. Reading between the lines, this'll be the last season he'll be investing his own cash/covering the shortfall, and after 2015 if things haven't improved he'll have to cut costs, with detrimental effects on our squad and ultimately less chance of success in the future.

The thing is, it's not the fans who've put he club in this situation, bad decisions by the club have, and that has ultimately cost the club a lot of regular fans as a result.

Saying all that, I want the clubs future to be at the top, and I know that for me to take away my support (and money) will make this alot harder to achieve.

I can also see the green shoots of an improvement on the pitch. Whilst I'm still not too happy about Radders being head coach, we did see a noteable improvement at the back end of last year, and from his comments in the HDM, he atleast seems to be learning from his mistakes, which is a relief. Our squad looks strong, plenty of yougsters coming through and recruitment has generally been decent.

It's for the reasons in the previous two paragraphs I'm getting a pass for 2015. All my own opinion of course.

Think it is best explained that there is a time-lag between performances and their effects on gates. This is much more pronounced now than 10-20 years ago as a higher proportion of attendees are on season passes.

This explains why we had good attendances despite being dire in 2009. There was a real buzz in the early KC years, at first we won nothing but there was some fantastic entertainment and exciting players to watch. We then won the challenge cup and next year made the grand final. In 2007 we were again competitive and Rovers had just returned to the top flight. 2008 was quite poor but did make Wembley. The trouble is since then performances and the entertainment on offer have gone downhill and whilst most attendees would stick with the club for at least a year or two, after that they will inevitably dwindle.

So after 5 years of little to shout about it's not suprising we are where we are now. The worrying thing for Pearson is that even if we get off to a storming start next season, we won't suddendly get 14K gates. It could take at least a couple of years for better performances and entertainment to work their way through.

At the end of the day, if you look at it historically Hull's hard-core support is about 5K, 6K at most. To get higher attendances, people need to be enjoying themselves!

Great post and i agree with most of what you say with the exception of not suddenly getting 14k gates if we make a storming start to next season.

People will come if the team are playing well and winning. They may not be passholders but will pay on the day (if they can!).

I am a prime example. Doubt i will be getting a pass but will be there for the first game and if we play well i will be there for the next game.

As an accountant who can work out averages correctly I would replace their 9662 with 11064

Anyone for a merger

Last night was the first time I was genuinely concerned for the future of FC based on AP's comments. It made me think that my decision not to renew my past last year was a bad one. I didn't renew my pass as my passion for the club has been slowly eroded away each and every season since 2007. This was down to the team performances being consistently poor no matter who the players or coaches where. It was also down to the constant promises that were not kept and potential of the team not reached. By not renewing, I thought it would somehow send a message to the club that this fan had finally had enough and perhaps action would be taken. After hearing Adam's comments, I realised that I still love the club and not renewing it actually made the potential of the club to be successful even more unlikely. That's why I have got a pass again for this year and I just hope the next few years bring about a turnaround in fortunes with attendances and more importantly results.

Whilst you are right in principal, a sports team is not like a normal business, if over the years I had the been given the same poor service at Tesco as I have as a Hull supporter, I would never shop there again, but this is more than a business to me and other fans, it is part of my life (Tesco isn't

).

The last season was poor, nobody can argue with that, but the previous two season were pretty good with plenty of highs, our recruitment this year has been very good IMO and we haven't really lost much quality (Heremia maybe) and have gained 3 good players, plus 2 with potential, our youth system is the best it has ever been IMO and this is all down to one man.

AP has invested, I would guess well over 2 million pounds into our club, without him we would have probably gone bust or worst still have Agar as our coach, I personally feel that justifies why he gets my money and my support for this season, I hope those who can afford it, can attend as many games as possible.

Just came over to have a look after I spotted a "Manu not paid" thread on a Saints forum. Just thought I would give an external view point.

I think that your issues source is your recruitment. Hull have lacked good half backs and a good front row for a while. The attitude seems to have been we will bring in any old load of Aussies and they will turn everything around. This has just not worked. I cannot see this changing either, Leon Pryce is a talented player but has looked unmotivated in the last couple of years while Sneyd is not the player that lives up to the hype. Neither are bad players but I don't think they are the men to get you out of this hole. I think your best hope is you get young Tyson-Wilson in the team and see if he can do anything for you.

Radford looks like a coach that could keep a good team going, like Wane at Wigan, but not one to create a new culture to begin a new dawn.

I agree that stay away fans are an issue but this is an issue every team has. The thing you need to avoid is the Salford predicament where success was so long ago that there are no stay away fans left to tempt back!

The new system was always going to hit the lower Super League teams the most given the threat of having a quarter of your season against low quality opposition. You just have to make sure you don't lose what talent you have. Bradford would have a cracking team now if they still had the burgess brothers.

Bottom line is you have to halt the decline on the pitch and then off. You need to get yourself a scrum half.

IMO we have a good halfback partnership, these two for the majority of last season were two of the best in the league, by your comments I am not sure that you watched either last season. I would say these two are the best halfbacks (on paper) we have had since Cooke and Horne were in their prime and a massive massive improvements on our halfs last year, had we had these two last season we would have finished in the play offs with ease IMO.

As key a half is, Saints won the GF with very poor halfbacks for most of the season.

The point I made last night,I said most fans are happy if the players can be seen giving 100% and showing pride playing for the club,while some gave 100% a lot didnt,its alright highlighting certain players who do give it all,its a 17 man squad and we need all giving their best. Mrs b and 1865,seem to think people should keep paying year after year to watch dross,and thats what was served up last year,no entertainment at all.Some matches last season we looked like we couldnt wait to get off the pitch,with our heads down.As the above post says,if players perform on the pitch,the crowds will flock in,was it 1978 we won every game in the 2nd tier and the crowds poured in to be entertained.Saying all that I have got my pass,but more out of support for the club,than expecting to be entertained.

1979

Do you really believe that last season was as bad as you've just described it? I certainly don't.

I do,11th place with only the worst club ever to play in s/l and a team deducted 6pts behind us, a couple of decent performances at the end of the season,leeds and rovers,but all that does is paper over the cracks and makes us feel better nilling our neighbours,but over the season we were dire,and void of entertaiment value.

A bit of a contradiction this post

D'oh. I was going to get a pass but this thread has reminded me that that Thursday night games are still a thing. I can't attend mid-week matches as I work away.

Cherry-picking for me then.

Let's hope that next season we don't play badly in games we win, and play entertaining rugby in games we lose - you won't know whether you're coming or going.

So the clubs recent form has no bearing on why the attendances have fallen then, in your opinion.

OK - let's be clear about a few things...

Pearson didn't blame anybody last night. He simply stated some facts. Uncomfortable facts to be sure, but I'd rather he did that than sugar-coat things. Attendances ARE down, the club WILL struggle financially if they don't recover. Quite how this amounts to blame is, frankly, beyond me. In fact the only people playing the blame card are those blaming Pearson for [itheir personal decision[/i to stop financially supporting the club.

Fans who have decided not to buy a pass and/or not to attend games are perfectly within their rights to do so. However, they should be very clear that the end result of their decision could be financial ruin and/or relegation. A sports club is not like any other business and does not have access to outside investment to replace paying customers as a major source of revenue. If Pearson runs out of cash or decides he's thrown enough away then we're done. Unless you want to hang your hopes on another 'white knight' riding to the rescue.

I attend maybe 1 or 2 games a season due to distance, Friday night games, and personal commitments. I still bought a pass last year and again for next season. Why? Because I could afford it and I understand that without financial backing from fans the club will inevitably fail. And fail hard. I don't want us to suffer the same fate as Bradford or possibly even fold if Pearson can't find a buyer when he runs out of money. And he WILL run out - sooner rather than later.

Do I think that Pearson has made all the right choices? Definitely not. Do I think that his [iintentions[/i were good when making those choices? Definitely yes. Has he put his own money where his mouth is? Without doubt. For these reasons, and those outlined above, I will continue to support Hull FC with my money for as long as I am able. Regardless of performances. Because if I did otherwise and the club folded or was relegated I wouldn't need anyone else blaming me. I'd know it was partly my fault.

Great post. Sums it up perfectly for me.