I concede I am wrong he may have come back then, jesus I am not his keeper and paid to watch a match not stalk the gaffer
I said it as i saw it sorry if that offends you but I shall add i have no idea if he came back to his damn seat as I didnt stare at it believing he had already left

OK lets work on the issue that caused our boss to hold his head in his hands that we both saw at different points of the match ...which is more important if the chairman left for a hot dog or a hot dump or if he was sitting with his head in his hands ....
both are bad in my opinion

Good post, agree with all of it.

I suspect AP had observed at reasonably close quarters the success we had in 04-08; the large crowds, strong merchandise, profitability and highish profile. He probably also thought that he could outwit the dour band of identikit Cox and Evans chairmen round the table at the RFL, and invest relatively little for reasonable returns. What he's found out is
a) this group of middle-aged+ Northern nylon-suited paunchy self-made men with 70s terrace heritage are pretty difficult to break down when they're of one voice
b) their knowledge of the game is actually worth something, along with their genuine club love
c) You get diminishing returns from claiming imminent success and not delivering, so savings become necessary.

What appears not yet to have realised is:
a) Compelling leadership requires taking responsibility and showing some humility, not blaming everyone else and sticking to the wrong path regardless.
b) In a club that's chronically underperformed for a decade, seismic culture change is unlikely to be delivered by a group that's known little else.
c) Independent expert advice would go a long long way - that goes for recruitment, coaching and any RL-specific aspect of running the club. Self-interested "advisers" may have let the club down, but either be a dedicated student of all aspects of the game inc NRL for example, or get someone who really is.

Interesting and thought-provoking thread.

Oh dear. It's only a game.

Indeed you are. Fancy stating he'd "left the arena" when he hadn't. You must feel a right tit.

No not at all but very articulate of you, in fact i dont feel anything right now apart from a slight recoil in the controller on COD
However thanks for trying to attack me ... miss quote what I said etc etc...read my post , all of it not just that which suits your remit...

I repeat I have no idea if he left the stadium or not as i didnt follow him through the directors area, neither do I recal looking at his seat again
however would the poster who said he saw him with five mins to go post the photograph or is that silly too ? yes it is grow up, bored are we that attacking fellow fans is your night done!!
I never cease to thank the lord for leaving Hull

you saw him five mins from time too ??

Yet you spend a fortune on fortnightly return flights from Stansted. You did say he left the arena BTW. There's enough stuff to post negatively about right now was we can observe from your many posts in the last week. No need to make things up for embellishment.

Reminds me of a couple of posters on here, funnily enough.

have we any quota spots left?.a mid season signing can sometimes give the team a boost.i remember dean treister a few years back,giving the team a real fillip

YET I NEVER STOPPED SUPPORTING THE CLUB I LOVE EITHER!!
enjoy yourself...

were they worried about the club too ?

I personally think Radford will walk and save Pearson getting the axe out .

there's little point in having a conversation/discussion with some on here, all they are about is abusive/derogatory posts in repsonse to opinions or anything they happen to disagree with, that and deflection of the real issues by focusing on minor things and their own interpretations of what's happening and whom has said what...aka 'apologists'

Leaving Hull for me was the best thing I ever did but I love coming back, I enjoy the city as a visitor and I'll always support my team no matter what. I've had my fair share of abuse on here but I'll never stop voicing my thoughts and/or opinion, shame there's a few on here that just can't accept that we are all entitled to such.. it's always the same one's tbh.

FFS I bet you loved dissecting frogs at school? Why do you twist everything to your satisfaction, it's posters like you, who are the font of all knowledge, that does me in, we all have an opinion of all that is Hull FC, rightly or wrongly, but you...... You seem to make it your aim to make a poster look like a , and the only reason I can gather is to make yourself look superior.
Get this, Hull FC imo are absolutely diabolical, the coach is from Primark managing an Harrords team, his assistant couldn't assist someone across the road, Last is just as his name suggests LAST....AP is proving to be not as astute/able as we all presumed, we are in a dogfight regarding relegation, and Mrs B what exactly can you find wrong in what the majority are saying??

Read my post on the Pearson thread and come back and tell me I'm one-eyed, cockle.

A word of advice Fcfalerna one person you try and avoid getting into an argument with on this board is Mrs B, she is like a dog with a bone (No offence) when she believes she is right about something..... and to be honest when she believes she is right she usually is.

I'm a woman. Comes with the territory. I don't generally leave the arena early either.

The majority (on here) are measured in their criticisms of the club. Posters who constantly rant, moan and name call can be expected to be questioned.

Spot on. It's to be hoped that he starts to pick up on those other 3 points pretty sharpish.

I'm sorry, but what part of your post claiming that AP left the ground with 20 minutes to go did anyone 'misquote'. Because this...



...is pretty difficult to misinterpret. It's a straight claim that AP left the match with 20 minutes to go.

Yep, that's how it goes. Mostly it is fair, too (as it is in this thread). Unfortunately however, it does occasionally stray beyond that IMO, and the board becomes less pleasant because of it. At times there is an element of attacking posters because people don't like what they're saying (and it always escalates when we're not doing well). I was under the impression that this forum isn't for the exclusive use of those predisposed to looking for the positives, nor the opposite. I thought it was just somewhere for people to say/discuss what they think, not what people want to read.

Name-calling is always an invitation for criticism though, and deservedly so.

Very much enjoyed the Cox and Evans riff.

In some ways I think things have gone full circle at first team level for Hull. Two important questions now - have lessons been learned? My guess would be yes - I think Pearson's self-confidence, while high, is not at a level that will make him damagingly obdurate. If things don't turn in the next couple of months, he'll make a change. I doubt he'll worry overly about his earlier unequivocal backing of Radford - things change and with them minds. Happens all the time, especially in sport.
The second question is does he have the money to 'go again'? Moran didn't get it right first time at Wire, but he kept ploughing in the cash. He though is very wealthy and was doing it in large part for love. Even with a top coach and an improved culture, your squad probably isn't good enough to deliver on Pearson's early ambitions. To have a realistic shot at top 4 in 2016 or 2017, it looks right now like some more biggish transfer fees would be needed, even along with Abdull, Turgut, HTW et al stepping up.
To me 'culture' and good decision-making, influence where you finish in your 'group' (top 4, bottom half etc) within the league. But which group you're in is mainly down to money. Which is why it is mostly the same wealthy clubs at the top year, after year. Even when somebody like Cas last year shook things up abit, it was always going to be hard for them to back it up.
Long winded way of saying AP's still got a good chance, if he's got the cash - what a chairman saves by buying nylon suits...

Very good! And absolutely right. My worry is that Pearson has already intimated that he's put in what he can put in. This year was to have been the watershed where a moderate level of improvement , a bit of a cup run and promise for next year as his much vaunted youngsters start to catch fire get the cash registers ringing when passes go on sale. That would have given him the money to go and get some big name players to replace/supplement the likes of Ellis , Yeaman , Pryce etc as they came to the end of their careers. He would also be thinking that prospective players would be "knocking the door down" to sign and get involved in the success to come. Quite the opposite of that is now true where there will be pressure on pass sales or , God forbid , we're not even in the SL. Even if we do survive this year just retaining players will be difficult. In my view something has to happen pretty quickly but on the other hand as you say he probably has little choice but to leave it for , say , the next 3 games. I also think that he's probably got an agreement with Radford "written in" where he'll walk when asked rather than be sacked.

I would hope for a change of coach after the Widnes game unless we beat both them and Saints.

I suspect it would be easier to attract new players if we had a respected coach.

Yes, agree entirely with your assessment. It's illustrative of where AP's mind was at the time of his purchase of the club. The thing about AP is that many fans forget he is a businessman first and foremost. He didn't buy Hull FC out of any sentimental attachment, but as a business investment, to make a return.

Unfortunately his due dilligence was lacking as you describe, and he has compounded this by making some terrible decisions.

Your point about culture is an interesting one. Cultural change takes a long time, and above all else it needs to be clearly articulated from the top and cascaded down through the organisation. The most important thing to remember is that culture is changed through actions not words. I've seen many CEOs put out glossy statements about cultural change and organisational shift but then keep on with the same old behaviours. This is totally ineffective in instigating change as people quickly realise that it's just words, and quickly revert to their old behaviours.

Hull FC is a classic example of this. Lots of rousing statements of intent from AP, LR et al but the behaviours stay the same. This is why there's so much discontent at the moment. Ironically given the club strapline, lots of people don't "believe".