Will the FC Faithful be giving Royce Simmons a round of applause on his return? I seem to remember him running a number of marathons when he was coach here just to keep the club afloat when times were tough. Surely we owe him a big thank you.

Hope so. He ran the marathons to raise money to enable the signing of the great Des Hasler for Hull. Top bloke and top effort.

Totaly agree.

I agree Royce put his heart and soul into the club and for that he deserves all the plaudits.

it would be nice if the guy on the mike asks for a welcome back for royce (when the warmups are happening) just so he knows that we appriciatced what he did for us at the time. But time has passed and new fans may not even know who he is. Once it kicks off then i have no feelings for him. (till after the game of course)

He should get an excellent response.

He did an excellent job when the club has no money, hard to get good Aussies and the big teams (Wigan) didn't have to follow the salary cap.

Seems to be doing a fantasic job at Saints so far.

I thought this might be a bigger thread but half the fans on here won't know who he is.

Suprised that the HDM has run a feature about him and his return to Hull.

Shhhhhhh, its only rovers with the new fans!

All the best to Royce, sure he will get a rousing reception

Yes top bloke, lot of respect for what he did while at Hull.

So what time he rolls in?

Agreed.

Did a decent job in difficult times , Couple of semi finals also.

Five in five days, I think?

Can't believe it was almost 20 years ago to be honest. Hope he gets a good reception on his return.

Top bloke, did great things for Hull in his attempts to put us back where we belonged whilst operating on a shoestring. I'm pleased things seem to be working out at saints after a dodgy start also.

He won't get much of a reception on Monday though as he'll be nowhere near most fans

He still likes running. He ran in the first St Helens 10K last month. Did it in a decent time too. He has engaged very well with the fans and people here in St Helens and has done a damn fine job so far with dwindling resources, the move to Widnes, the Kyle Eastmond saga and the loss of his own father, which was very sad and for which he got a lot of very supportive messages at the time. He's a very down to earth, humble kind of bloke, and lots of Saints fans already respect him. I know I do. I love what he has done to our play, albeit in fits and starts thanks to our ever-changing line up of playing staff.

I think he will just be greatful for the two

Can't make the game - travelling to work - but would have been one of the ones clapping him.

great man, did a sterling job for Hull FC

welcome back to Hull

I imagine a lot of our fans won't remember that far back.

We only averaged 4600 and 4300 in the 2 seasons he was with us (1992-3 and 1993-4), so don't listen to the thousands who will claim they were there !!!

Looking back, it was very poor support (albeit in a very very poor ground) for a team that at times was dazzling.
Maybe that's the answer though - we were crap away from home and didn't make the top 8 in either season.

There are a couple of games that spring out during that period.

The cup lose to Wigan 22-21, The game against Widnes in teh Regal trophy which was freezing, the easter derby in 94 when Paul Sterling burned down the wing for a great try and the hammering of Leigh when James Grant scored 5 and Jeff Doyle scored 4.

Yes - I do think if we had beaten Wigan that day we just might have gone on to do something !
Remember all those games well, and I actually bought a "tries of the season" video at the end of 93-94. That performance against Leigh was something else :¬) Best we played for years - I don't think we reached that level again until 2002.

The home game against Saints (on sky) also sticks in my mind from that year. It was Andy Dannatts first game back at The Boulevard as a Saint and Steve Prescott's first team debut but they just couldnt handle Chico and Timmy Street our props that evening!

Bit before my time this. First I've heard of it. Anyone fancy giving us a quick rundown of what and when the situation was?

Bloody frano botica that day....kicked everything the bugger and Eastwood missed a shot at goal to win it.Hasler got hypothermia that day didnt he when we played Widnes....as for the leigh one...remember some bloke standing near me at Gordon Street end saying Grant was crap because he couldnt tackle...he scored trys for fun.

Chico Jackson and Timmy Street! More BGT names then Rugby League! aahh the good old days.