Well that's a load of rubbish! Pearson was claiming Pritchard was the most expensive player in the league on radio not so long back. He's our marquee signing, make no mistake.



Maybe you could point out the dramatic change in financial circumstances since June then? Such to the extent it would wipe out the increase in revenue from Sky and the RFL golden handshake from the academy merger?

In isolation that last set of accounts make poor reading, but that's nothing new.


It think there are a number of factors when have contributed to the perceived financial concerns. Form being probably the main one. But could you imagine the outcry if we did not sign decent players? I suppose its speculate to accumulate. Pearson has committed to these costs, I think he is perhaps looking for some support / backing from the fans on this.

I will hold my hand up and say, I missed 5 home games last season despite being a season pass holder. 2 of these were due to work commitments, 3 were towards the end of the season when I fully admit, I simply couldn't be bothered to watch a nothing game.

It has not stopped me renewing my season pass for 2016 though.

Its those who do not attend due to a particular coach being at the helm which puzzles me.

Sam Tomkins is probably going to be the biggest earner in SL next season (I don't know this for fact, but on the basis that it was Wigan's idea for a marquee player solely to get ST back, its a reasonable shout).

Since June, corporates have distanced themselves, some season pass holders have voiced discontent, the SMC are playing hardball.....

Yet you didn't attend because you didn't want to watch a nothing game, isn't one of the main factors of them been "nothing games" the coach. If so, then you didn't attend due to the poor coaching that as put us in the "nothing game" scenario. Not puzzling really

No, a nothing game, is nothing to do with the coach at all.

The position of the team in the league is not solely down to Radford. The facts of the matter are, there are better teams with better players in the league. Wayne Bennett would not have turned our squad into world beaters. Certainly towards the end of the season when we had a significant amount of injuries, we were stretched to the max. Were the injuries the coaches fault?

The games against Hudds and Cats at the end of the Super 8's held nothing of interest to Hull FC. That's nothing to do with Radford or anyone else who may have been in charge if it were not Radford.

In a similar way, I would not feel the need to attend a pre season friendly game. There is nothing really at stake.

I didn't attend as there was nothing of interest in the game and I invest a significant amount of time and travel into each home game I attend.

We do not have a given right to be at the top end of the league, especially when there are better squads with less injuries. It would appear some have not been around the block with Hull FC enough times to realise this.

Good post, don't agree with much of it, but cant fault your reasoning's if that's what you truly believe

The point is that we have a marquee player. No, I don't expect him to be the most expensive, but it will be hefty! If we can't afford one, we shouldn't sign one! You think Pearson isn't savvy enough to know whether we can afford it or not?


Let's get one thing straight, the pressure the SMC is applying isn't financial. Allam's just trying to save himself money by strangling the life out of our club.
I fail to see how fan discontent and corporate 'distancing' can cost over £500k. Do you realise the amount of fans we'd have to lose to see that kind of reduction in revenue?
I can't understand how people who believe in Pearson can say how poor he is at forward planning! Because if all these things since June were unforeseen, that's what it indicates! Don't believe the hype.

My position is that I simply don't like the rhetoric Pearson is using. It's sensationalist and causes division at a time when we all need to pull in the same direction! (as evidenced by this very thread).

That's the beauty of these forums, each to their own opinion.

For the record, I have been a critic of Radfords coaching and I advocated he should have gone by Easter of 2015. Performances have been inconsistent to say the least. We were served up some dower stuff early in the season but then you had performances like the ones away at Warrington, the Magic weekend and home against Cas in the Cup which were great displays of open rugby.

Pearson has backed Radford to the hilt. Fair play to him, as i can see the disadvantage of changing your coach every season. There would be the constant echo of "I need to build my own team", which I always think is a poor excuse.

Well, Radford has has 2 full seasons to form a team of his making. He has sifted out the deadwood he was left with by MacRae etc, he has blooded many youth players who now have the foundations of experience in the top flight. 2016 is the time to deliver!

I want to attend games which have meaning and competitiveness. Something to get your heart pumping when you watch it. Not some end of season dead rubber.

Although I agree the coach is culpable, so are the player and the owner. To single out the coach would be grossly unfair in my opinion.

Bit of a double negative there, would you not agree? How else would Allam strangle the life out of the club if it were not financial.

Do you not agree that the closure of the ticket office on match days will not affect Hull FC financially?

Lets say season ticket sales drop to 6000 in total. That would represent a drop of around 2000. Based on a prudent price of £200 for a season ticket, there is £400k. It would not take many Corporate box / tables to not renew to get to your figure of £500k.

As has been pointed out, we have already lost around 4000 from our average gates of 2010. Id say any further significant loss of regular fan base would be a major problem for the club as a whole. I would not say losing 4000+ fans was being sensationalistic, more like being realistic.

Yet, as you point out, we still signed an expensive forward in Pritchard. Is this one last through of the dice by Pearson spending big on the playing squad in an attempt to attract fans and hopefully some success? I can see the guys concern when he puts his money at stake but the support dwindles.

The problem with Adam Pearson, is he's pouring funds into the wrong areas- IMO.

He still clearly feels signing a more higher calibre player,will gel a group of individuals into a team.

By his own admission,he stated "I've tried everything I can,to improve the club" - except for one thing - appoint a proven Head Coach with a decent coaching team.

The major issue,going forward is unless Pearson changes his attitude & policy, of not recognising the importance of the Coach and his assistants,things will not improve.

Also, the attitude, of hiring staff who dont 'get' Hull,
is basically ,in my opinion- is an poor excuse.

It's up to him to decide, if the applicant has the determination,desire to be successful - not his place of birth.

The way forward for this club -IMO, is sign an experienced Head Coach, not world class but proven at making a group of players into a cohesive team.

Cannot disagree with your view.

So, given Pearsons back of Radford, it would appear unlikely he will be sacked unless it goes badly wrong next season. Would you be in favour of another coach coming in to assist Radford (especially on the attacking side of things)? If so, who would be the likely candidates?

I would...

Personally I rate Radford as a defensive coach, as an attack coach, someone like Pryce, Harris or Cooke etc, .

IF Pearson, really rates Radford or Horne, he needs to let them learn under a guy like Brian Smith.

I'm sure if Wakefield can afford Smith, we could.

:dlm5qyiz

By making us unwelcome and seem like inferior tenants.

:dlm5qyiz

It would be minimal at best, unless you have evidence that it has had a massive effect?

:dlm5qyiz

More scaremongering. That, quite simply, won't happen! Even Pearson himself has spoken about the 8,000 'hardcore' supporters. Was he wrong?

:dlm5qyiz

Gates across the game are down, and any material difference between us and other clubs is more likely due to the choices Pearson has made during his tenure. There has been a few mini recoveries this year, but again i'd ask the question why we aren't one of them!



I've no issue with Pearson regarding his investment, but he is scrimping in probably the most important area - coaching! I'm still very much in the pro Radford camp, but he's got far too much to do. He himself may not want help, but that's probably more down to his own stubbornness. He needs an assistant, it has to be someone from outside the club with fresh ideas, not people who have been a part of the failure for (almost) a decade.

127 pages of morons banging on about their awful coach, and how much better they'd be without him. Apologies but about as relevant to the topic as anyone else is posting right now. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=500492 There is nothing wrong with Pearson, who is trying hard to be successful, or Radford. There IS something wrong with our relationship with the management of the stadium, and the self entitled attitude of many of our fans.

127 pages of morons banging on about their awful coach, and how much better they'd be without him. Apologies but about as relevant to the topic as anyone else is posting right now. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=500492 There is nothing wrong with Pearson, who is trying hard to be successful, or Radford. There IS something wrong with our relationship with the management of the stadium, and the self entitled attitude of many of our fans.

You said the SMC were not financial harming the club, now you say its minimal at best. So, you now agree its harms the club financially



You asked how many fans we would have to lose to fall £500k behind, I gave you the answer, being half as many as we have lost in recent seasons. Thats not scaremongering, thats just plain fact.

Right, here's my take on this...

I honestly have no idea what our financial situation is. I have read/heard some things but there's a lot of contradictory stuff. For example, I know someone that was at the 150th Birthday photo a few weeks back and he told me that AP was urging everyone there to convince others to sign up as we need the support. That doesn't sound promising. But at the same time AP was also saying that games will likely return to Sundays if attendances don't pick up next year. That doesn't make it sound like we're on the brink.

We're all entitled to our opinions and choices. Some continue to support the club by getting season passes or membership passes, others are choosing to stay away. We all have our reasons for which side of the fence we're on (I've bought a pass for next year) and people need to start learning to respect that. By all means discuss with people their reasoning, say why you disagree with it, but some of the bickering and the name calling on here is just getting pathetic now and childish. People need to take a step back and calm down a little I think.

Mind you, I do think this shows just how divided the FC fan base is right now and there's plenty of blame to go around from AP down to the players as to why things are as they are. The club seriously needs to start winning fans over again and the only way to do that is on the pitch. Hopefully the signings we have made for next year will see performances improve on the pitch and with that results. If the performances improve I can see the attendances improving.

So... anyone heard anything more on the Westerman rumour?

No, I'm saying i'm not aware of any, but will happily bow to knowledge of any substantial eveidence. (relevant costs only please)



Yes you did, it's also complete nonsense figures as it won't happen. Anything you say to the contrary goes against what Pearson said himself about there being 8,000 'hardcore' and is no more than a hypothetical rumour! AKA scaremongering.

Who realistically thinks the club is going under? If it was even a remote possibility, do you think he'd have sanctioned the Pritchard/Manu deals?

If people are happy to be emotionally blackmailed in to supporting the club, that's fine. I'd rather the product on the field was the reason I went.

.... so when only 6000 actually went to the Huddersfield match, it suggests that 2000 "core" supporters didn't bother.
Lets hope next season those 2000 start going again, otherwise income really will drop, or is that too difficult to understand?

[urlhttp://www.hullfc.com/first-team/match/234949/huddersfield-giants-20-34[/url

9,332




But I thought we were talking about season passes? Or is that too difficult to figure out?

the 32 came from Huddersfield....

I'm surprised an accountant is ignoring VAT and you've also forgotten about the income sharing with the SMC so a more realistic drop in income for your scenario would be 150-200k. I appreciate that this doesn't include a likely drop off in additional income from shop sales etc.

Interesting that you didn't attend games which you saw as dead rubbers. I'd counter that and suggest that if you'd gone to the KC this season and enjoyed watching us play there you'd have gone to those games irrespective of whether they had any real meaning or not. We saw a drop off in people coming to games way before we even made the 8 and those games weren't meaningless. Other than 2 or 3 games at home (not all of which we won), we were awful to watch and there was a high probability of defeat at home which is why people stopped going IMO

You really are more clueless than me!

The attendance figure includes all passholders (whether they turn up or not), and AP said that only 6k "paying" customers actually went to the game.

Difficult to grasp by the sound of it.

Ellis, minichello, washbrook, Hadley, Manu, Pritchard, whiting, downs, fash, turgut and jordan Thompson and maybe abdull I reckon most of fc salary cap must be going on back rowers? It's no wonder there is no coin left. You don't really need Westerman. The question is will you sell him to wire or help us replace Sinfield? I reckon you have got best back row in the league with all that lot.