Pearson himself highlighted the run of 5 SL losses ending in July as the point where he made the decision, IIRC. He said that run and the manner of it were unacceptable. We haven't actually had 5 consecutive league losses since, but we have managed 4 twice and 6 without a win once as well.

The flip side of that is that under Gentle we also managed consecutive winning runs (league only) of 6, 4 (twice), and 3 (twice). We've done 2 once in the time since.

Exactly. Forget how much any individual was or wasn't overpaid, the squads cost the same in total and Gentle's did better. So either it was a better squad and there isn't this huge disparity in recruitment quality we're being told, or Gentle was an absolute übercoach who delivered miracles with a squad of no-marks. Which is it, and in which case does it make sense to get rid of the one who could deliver 6th yet stand by the guy flailing at the bottom?

I wouldn't disagree but there's no point in sacking a coach and appointing a worse one.

I've also been told paea is gone next season

Is he? I know there were rumours that the [ioffer[/i from Leeds was lower than the [ioffer[/i from us but never saw or heard confirmation of this.


What was that you were saying earlier about arrogance?


Can't argue with that.


Actually he's been almost exactly the same player he was for most of his time at KR. Occasional great games but largely average.


If you think it's tough signing decent players on 'average' wages now, wait until you try enforcing that rule.


Again, difficult to argue with most of that.

That's the worry - he's done it before.
If & when the season becomes unsalvageable we could well see another knee jerk reaction, & end up with
someone like Mc Banana or (heaven forbid) Judas.
Pearson needs to stop playing the blame game, - `Gentle made me sell Lynch to buy Miller'. What did he use, Thumb screws, The rack?

Radford saying he can handle the pressure to the HDM [urlhttp://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Hull-FC-s-Lee-Radford-fans-unhappy-ll-handle/story-26255198-detail/story.html[/url

Not too bad of an interview until he starts talking top 4 again, we just never learn

Just a wild theory...

Maybe Pearson thought, by signing Pryce, he wouldnt need to
sign an attack coach, ie combine both duties..and maybe Pryce doesnt want to
coach..

I actually think there's something in that. Not that Pryce is seen as an attack coach, but that since Agar (and to a lesser extent Sharp), I think we've got into a bit of a mentality that the halves take care of everything offensively. It's why we keep hearing that our halves are our problem and will pretty much solve everything, and contributes to why we are so up and down during halfback injuries. IMO we're trying to get our halves to do part of the coach's job for him when we should be much better drilled at the basics regardless of who is feeding the scrum.

Top post. Agree with pretty much all of that.

According to AP, we were pursuing Monaghan or Cooke as attack coach,
then it failed to materialise, maybe he thought signing Pryce would end the need for an attack coach.

Same thing happened when Hay departed, Hay was never replaced, Radford absorbed Hay's duties.,Was this the same time when our performances began to dip?

Another good post I agree with.

Not quite but close. Hay left towards the end of April 2013 and we went unbeaten all through May (five games) of that year (should be noted that we won four out of five games in April whilst Hay was still with us). After that our form dipped a bit and we only won two from seven in June and July. But we then followed that up with four wins from five in August (the defeat being that game we do not speak of at Wembley). We then lost our last league game in September, won a playoff and got spanked by Hudds in the following game.

To be honest, if AP made his decision about Gentle based on overall results then it makes no sense to me at all looking at that. We had some great form in that season and whilst there was a notable dip midway surely that was counterbalanced by what came before and afterwards (plus our cup run)?

So do we know just who is letting Radford down yet lol

Well, at least we can agree that AP's got one thing right.

Maybe a player or two have been disciplined for some reason or another.
It's unlikely to be made public and could easily be decribed as "letting Radford down".
Doesn't fit any conspiracy theories, though.

Very good post. I think most would back you on just about all aspects of this. The only thing I contest is your point about having to live in Hull if you play for Hull FC. I personally don't see that as a prerequisite. If you are professional enough and the travel is not excessive then it is not an issue. The evening you quote where players were stranded on the M62 was a freak occurrence. The players were stuck between an accident and the last junction. Unless they could have prompted the tanker spilling chemicals across the motor way there was little chance of avoiding that problem.

For most professional jobs paying over 50k per annum, you would be expected to live within 20 miles of where you work (unless you was covering a large area then I don't suppose it matters), I think the players should, just my opinion

I agree and don't think that it shouldn't be a prerequisite and such incidents like that are unusual. Perhaps though there's an argument that on game day that players living outside of Hull should be in Hull earlier in the day in order to avoid such possibilities?

I work in an office in Leeds. I have colleagues who earn in excess of the amount you quote who live in Hull, York and the Peak District. Should they move? They are happy to commute.

The commute from the Castleford area where many Hull players have lived in recent years is a 45 minute journey. It can take longer than that from Hedon to the KC if the traffic is against you.

Providing its not onerous, where they live is irrelevant.

If you can predict an accident, you would avoid it. On that particular day in Feb 2013 for the Bradford game, if the players had set off 2 hours earlier, what's to say the tanker accident wouldn't happen two hours earlier? It was a freak event, not really anything which could be done about it.

Can we?



What conspiracy theories? All I've seen are people asking who Pearson means, and why if it's the players Radford is still coming out of it clean, given they're players he has chosen and under his charge.

I'm not saying you can predict an accident and I've already agreed that it's unusual but I do feel that there is an argument that the players could have been in Hull earlier on that occasion and on match days in general. If there was say a rule in place that players were to be in Hull by say lunchtime/early afternoon on match days (based on a Friday 8pm kick off) then not only would they avoid the potential risk of getting caught in an accident close to kick off but they would also have plenty of time to still get to Hull in time for kick off if an accident occurred earlier on in the day.

Yes they should the cheeky !!!! To be fair I commute further, and many people will, but I do think Rugby players, playing for Hull should live here. Don't see the problem to be honest, should be expected

We struggle to recruit as it is, to ask the players to move to Hull, when they are settled, would cause us more problems to recruit.

I don't see them living less than an hours drive away as a problem, certainly isn't causing Thomspon and Pryce any issues. We have bigger problems that this to worry about.

So you'd move 100 miles, say, for a 1 year contract?

It's a non-issue for me. If they are happy to commute and get there on time every day then I don't care. As someone else has already alluded to, Hull is a hard sell at the best of times. We are stuck out at the end of the M62, and the city still has a bad reputation. Not to mention our on field issues. If a player owns a house in West Yorkshire, who are we to force them to move for what might only be a year? The club could provide accommodation of course, but it's another needless expense.

Introducing a rule that means players have to live in Hull just makes recruitment even more difficult. I very much doubt Leon Pryce or Gaz Ellis (to name just two) would be here if that was the rule.