FWIW- I think Pearson has realised the error of his ways; loyalty to the coach when things were going badly, misguided loyalty to players via long contracts, coaching appointments , basically all things rugby related and, instead of wiping his hands and letting the club fold, he has given the dice one last roll and given Smith direct control of all of the above , and handed him authority on all media communication. It seems that we have been drip fed news , rather than confirmation of signings, targets etc, as the club are keeping their cards close to their chest, probably because negotiations with targets are on going or have failed materialise. Despite the optimism of some, it seems there is a general feeling of unease among a large section of the fanbase ,from reading posts on forums and talking to others and the signings made so far, have yet to convince many that things will improve, playing wise, any time soon. I like Smith, but performances like the ones we witnessed at the Castleford and Huddersfield games seem to confirm that the attitude and culture shift we are hoping for, is as far off as ever. I do think if we'd got the win against Wigan, those two games may have ended differently, score wise but that defeat really did for us. We have to hope that the club have a proper half lined up, to replace Clifford, or I do fear a large drop off in pass sales, which could really hurt, or even kill off the club as challengers in the future.
FWIW- I think Pearson has realised the error of his ways; loyalty to the coach when things were going badly, misguided loyalty to players via long contracts, coaching appointments , basically all things rugby related and, instead of wiping his hands and letting the club fold, he has given the dice one last roll and given Smith direct control of all of the above , and handed him authority on all media communication. It seems that we have been drip fed news , rather than confirmation of signings, targets etc, as the club are keeping their cards close to their chest, probably because negotiations with targets are on going or have failed materialise. Despite the optimism of some, it seems there is a general feeling of unease among a large section of the fanbase ,from reading posts on forums and talking to others and the signings made so far, have yet to convince many that things will improve, playing wise, any time soon. I like Smith, but performances like the ones we witnessed at the Castleford and Huddersfield games seem to confirm that the attitude and culture shift we are hoping for, is as far off as ever. I do think if we'd got the win against Wigan, those two games may have ended differently, score wise but that defeat really did for us. We have to hope that the club have a proper half lined up, to replace Clifford, or I do fear a large drop off in pass sales, which could really hurt, or even kill off the club as challengers in the future.
Nailed it. The best summation of our current situation I've read.
I see our attendances are up again this season. So once again I will repeat what I said last year and the year before that, in that I hope the Club understands that over players Coaches, a great merchandising set up and a great Stadium to play in, we, the long suffering fans, are our Clubs greatest asset. Other clubs and sometimes much better teams like Salford, Leigh, Huddersfield (particularly) Castleford and yes even Rovers, would kill to have a fan base the size of ours now, never mind what its potential is. If we had witnessed a season the likes of our noisy neighbours or that of Leigh we would be averaging around at least 13,000 now.
But that can't go on forever and even the most passionate are becoming disinterested and disengaged and feeling that things will never change back again. Many of us now simply stick around for love and an inability to change, it is as I often say like having dysfunctional kids. can't live with em can't live without them. One things for certain we certainly don't stay loyal because we are getting great entertainment do we? The fact is even with the most devoted of followings, in such hard economic times you can't keep promising crock of gold and delivering a crock of you know what! Season ticket sales will be interesting!!
I agree with the above. I know of a few people who didn't renew for this season, and their decision seems to have been vindicated. My business partner had a pass for 10-15 years, and was sick of AP's marketing spiel before every season, and then we crash and burn.
I spoke with him this morning, and said about the Jack Walker signing, and his reply "well, that won't make me buy a pass".
A lot of apathy around, perhaps a lot of misguided loyalty as well to grow the attendance figure this year, on the back of some absolute garbage
I agree with the above. I know of a few people who didn't renew for this season, and their decision seems to have been vindicated. My business partner had a pass for 10-15 years, and was sick of AP's marketing spiel before every season, and then we crash and burn.
I spoke with him this morning, and said about the Jack Walker signing, and his reply "well, that won't make me buy a pass".
A lot of apathy around, perhaps a lot of misguided loyalty as well to grow the attendance figure this year, on the back of some absolute garbage
I think this is one of the issues with the Hull fan base. Clearly don’t understand rugby if he doesn’t think Jack walker is a class signing for numerous reasons.
We are an extremely entitled fan base with a very vocal majority who don’t actually understand A. How a salary cap sport works, B. What actually a decent player looks like and C. That we can’t just magic up signings.
'Thus I am tormented by my curiosity and humbled by my ignorance.' from History of an Old Bramin, The New York Mirror (A Weekly Journal Devoted to Literature and the Fine Arts), February 16th 1833.
attendances will plummet at every club next season,because the braindead at the rl decide to let sky televise every match. what a set of plonkers.
The historical precedents relating to increased television coverage from other sports are pretty positive, and there’s a case that more exposure is good for any sport.