Noboddy seems to have picked up on the possibility of the purchase of Hull FC is a way in to allow Thirkill and Hood to aquire ownership of the MKM together with the surrounding development land. Thirkill is the obvious RL fan but no obvious RL links to Hood. Perhaps thats why they see no need to rehash the lease, Time will tell!!!!!!

Only a worry if our quota players aren't any good, quite confident that the ones signed will be a significant upgrade on the ones signed last year.

Thirkhill and Hood have worked together on several business ventures, but it does intrigue me as to what could of possibly attracted the attention of someone with that amount of money, who as far as im aware has zero previous interest in the sport to get on board.

I don't really get this. I know city have been making noises about it but the only land surrounding the stadium is the fairground site which, I think, has some royal charter on it re the fair so isn't something that will go away easily, and a park which, again, will have all sorts of covenants on it about use.

From what I can see there is no real opportunity for development of the site which is hemmed in by the road and rail line on the other sides

Yeah seems a strange one. The good thing for us is that we are a salary cap sport and if we use the short term extra cash to get over the post covid debts and reverse the rot that’s set in we really shouldn’t need constant bank rolling from owners or investors to stay competitive like say Huddersfield have over 20 years. I’m sure Thirkill said that he and David won’t be taking anything from the club for an initial 3 years and will only be investing into the playing side in that period. I’m sure Myler signed up for 3 years also.

Now hopefully blokes of with that kind of resources and business connections want to stick around for the long term, but if we get back on track on the field, get the bigger crowds again then 3 years down the line we might look a more attractive proposition in general should they want to review the project. In theory we shouldn’t need to rely on someone pumping money in for years.

I thought Thirkill was pretty open as to why he decided to buy the club from AP. He’s said he’s a fan of the game and his position as Leeds never had any investiture opportunity and the opportunity to take the next level such as owning a club was one he fancied and especially one like Hull FC.

I think the challenge to turn the club around and getting it to achieve is more than likely what is the drive behind it.

I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the Stadium or land around it.

fully agree. He seemed very genuine

Regarding the stadium and surrounding areas,.I touched on this the other day.
Hull City owner is already in the process of negotiations with HCC
Huge plans have already been drawn up and been put forward
HCC are happy to sell and happy with the plans out forward
One sticking point atm is the purchasing of a small part of land and building on the grounds that HCC do NOT own (yet)
The plans would cut into where the Fair is held and would make the fair much smaller, which the Fair have said "we just wouldn't bother coming"

These plans etc haven't been made fully available as yet and can't properly until HCC acquire the land they need for the full sale to go ahead

I'll believe it when I see it

Good, the development of the city should not be held back for a one week a year event that only takes money out of the city.

Pearson did say there were plans for the development of the stadium, but nobody pressed him on it.

I thought Illicali’s plans were made public months ago and the Council were in favour of it. It included a small stadium about 10,000 capacity for City reserves and us to play in and the use of the stadium for derbies. The stumbling block was where would the fair go.

We need bigger than 10 - even for non Derby matches

Absolutely, minimum of 15K would be needed for us we were getting over 10K last season and we were an absolute dogs egg of a team.

I alwayts thought a 16k stadium would be fine. I know we can get 22-23k for the Derby, but thats with 4k Rovers fans. a 16k stadium would mean we would only give them 900 tickets - see how they like it

That was surprisingly somewhat positive from you Bonaire!

I think those plans were for a 12k stadium. All pie in the sky for me. If it did happen they'd probably increase the mkm to 30k seats which would be too big.

I'm hoping the new owners can do something about match day prices. It's about £30 a game to sit in the east stand I think

A few weeks ago people were getting their knickers in a twist that we missed out on 0.2 IMG points against the likes of Rovers, Cas and Wakey for stadium usage. It would solve that problem.

The rule is 50% of capacity to gain those points lost isn't it? (ignoring the LED rubbish), averaged 11.5K last season, so an extra 1K+ would get us over the 50% mark we're not far off clawing back those points by any means.

From memory I think the total amount available is 1 point for that criteria and you score the percentage your average attendance against the capacity of the ground. So if you had a 10K stadium and averaged 10 you get the full point, so 5K in the same stadium would get 0.5 of a point or something like that. I reckon we’d have got about 0.4 points. Even Wigan would have only been around 0.6 points that would be easily achievable for us with a decent side.

I'm not sure from what I'm hearing from the council that the bit about the 10,000 stadium is totally correct as at present that bit is 'a moveable Feast' as is its capacity, but otherwise the purchase of the land is well down the road and then its all systems go. The liberal Democrats are on board with the scheme and pushing ahead in the guildhall.

The Fair is a thorny one though because there could be a public backlash on reducing its size and indeed if the Showman's Guild of GB decide to boycott it because of the reduction in size. The fairground layout at present featured around 130 sites that are 'owned' by different showman's families the rights for which have been passed down over the years from generation to generation. Some sites that are allocated separately every year are owned fully by the council whilst the rest (the majority) operate under this ancient convention of family rights.

If the site is reduced, there will be a lot of hand wringing and doom mongering from them as they talk of robbing the community of the fair, its heritage etc. they are a good crowd in general but in the end for them its all about money as it is the biggest earner by far that some get in their whole travelling year. Many I knew told me they lived through the winter from the takings. Whatsmore, an alternative site is completely out of the question as planning and safety legislation deems that any new site for the fair would have to be up to the standards of a current pleasure park with in addition massive car parking provision and with horrendous traffic management issues and anyway development land within the City Boundaries is extremely limited.

So for now as our new owner says we have to concentrate on getting as many as possible through the gates to get those points back.

Playing in the best and possibly the biggest stadium in the country makes a bit of a farce of the percentage of capacity rules in the gradings but at present it is what it is.

Agree also that any stadium would need to be 16k capacity minimum from the start and with scope to expand. As even during a very poor few years we were attaining plus 10K crowds so a £10k capacity gives no room for growth of the fan base or club whatsoever.

So for me moving to a new stadium is not realistic when we can build the fan base with a winning side and more professional off field set up.

It will be a great day if they bin the fair off. The site would generate income for the city if developed rather than sucking £millions out every year

The fairground site is also a complete eyesore for the rest of the year.

I agree to an extent as the Council need to find ways of generating income for the public coffers much like many up and down the Country who are all struggling to fill financial holes. Many are selling off assets such as land and/or buildings however that in itself is shortsighted as once you sold off the silver you have nothing else to bargain with.

I personally feel HCC need to use the land around stadium to develop a leisure area to a) bring people in to the City anot just just the suburbs and b) set it up so it generates a yearly incone for the Council.

As much as I’m one for keeping the city’s traditions I think Hull Fair sees more money going out the city these days than it brings in.

A city the size of Hull should have a good quality leisure complex and area.

Still feel for Hull FC staying at the stadium is the best option as it is still the best stadium in SL.