Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 6:42 am  

weaver93 wrote:

IMO - If AP changed his policy about, signing one proven player,to attract better season pass sales
then ,divert those funds, to better staff, we'd get better performances on the field, then attendances
would surely increase.

amateur preparation = amateur performance.

Fair point, but a couple of extra back room staff whilst losing a player like Ellis, aren't that likely to materially move the dial vs Wigan/Leeds IMO. We need a shed load more cash and fans to back the club to really match the top clubs. I totally get people getting fed up with unfulfilled promises and disagreeing with various appointments and it's their choice to support or not. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. If as a collective we don't put in enough to provide a team and infrastructure to challenge, it is what it is. Slating the club on here is cathartic but doesn't change the fundamental issue.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 6:56 am  

easthull fc fan wrote:

Motu is trying to recruit better then what we have with what players are available, he is doing right by the club we should give these blokes a pat on the back & not criticise as much as we do on this forum, I suppose that's just how some folk are, glass half empty!

Unfortunately I have heard this for the last 10 years and will hold back my pat on the back until we actually see who we sign.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 8:05 am  

Dave K. wrote:

Unfortunately I have heard this for the last 10 years and will hold back my pat on the back until we actually see who we sign.

Agreed. We've needed a good scrum-half for a long time and the club has failed time and again to sign us one that isn't a crock, can't be bothered, a stand-off or rubbish.

I can't wait for the new signings to be confirmed but I am not getting my hopes up too much.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 8:55 am  

C for Cuckoo wrote:

Agreed. We've needed a good scrum-half for a long time and the club has failed time and again to sign us one that isn't a crock, can't be bothered, a stand-off or rubbish.

I can't wait for the new signings to be confirmed but I am not getting my hopes up too much.

the HB situation, IMO.

The likes of Long,Seymour and Miller were criticised , not taking the ball to the defensive line, as
they were getting clobbered, due to no players in support.

Result - HB lacks confidence, after being smashed on a regular basis.

Ive watched Matty Smith recently, he takes the ball right to the defensive line, then at the last second,
looks to pass to a player backing up. - he can play in a dinner suit.

Until we address, players support, things will not change.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 8:59 am  

GM1 wrote:

Been saying this for years about us as a club. Mediocrity is so ingrained in our club culture from the staff to the fans. Whilst the majority of our fanbase continue to accept the mediocre performances, players and staff recruitment, nothing will change.

I'm sure AP didn't want to settle for mediocrity when he first bought the club, but seems too that he has started on the slippery slope.

You can be a passionate fan, in any kind of weather, but still want more for the good of the club and its future. Its those that sit and clap crap and swallow the drivel the club dish out that are really holding us back.

I know - you see it regularly as clockwork - people sat laughing and clapping at the KC and virtually pleading with the owner to keep things as they are as the next opposition try unfolds. Rapturous applause at every FC dropped ball and cheers of every missed tackle. I heard on twitter that we're trying to open a new club bar at the KC called MEDIOCRITY which will have massive TV screens wall to wall showing our many calamitous defeats over the last few seasons and selling a new club sponsored brew called Second Best Bitter. (Entry limited to season pass holders only who are the pinnacle of apologists). Virtually everyone you bump into around the club these days is happy that we're where we are and the owner and staff couldn't be happier with our progress out of the top 8. Only this morning Motu has been hauled over the coals by Pearson for trying to sign a player from Wigan- apparently Pearson has told him that unless it's Wigan St Pats the deal is off.

You and I both know that the only way to change this is to get rid of the seven thousandish so-called fans who accept all this mediocrity with glee season after season and for those of us realists to vote with our feet as well. It's the only way results will improve as we just can't make progress with all these people getting in the way with their ridiculous outlook. Let's see how Pearson likes it playing in front of a few hundred every week - that'll teach him.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:03 am  

Mrs Barista wrote:

Fair point, but a couple of extra back room staff whilst losing a player like Ellis, aren't that likely to materially move the dial vs Wigan/Leeds IMO. We need a shed load more cash and fans to back the club to really match the top clubs. I totally get people getting fed up with unfulfilled promises and disagreeing with various appointments and it's their choice to support or not. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. If as a collective we don't put in enough to provide a team and infrastructure to challenge, it is what it is. Slating the club on here is cathartic but doesn't change the fundamental issue.

The thing is, I'd actually say that that's what most of the dissatisfaction boils down to, though. The Hull fans simply have not been getting what they pay for in comparison to most of the rest of SL. We are not one of the cheaper sides to follow. In fact, in relation to the typical local wage level, perhaps even one of the most expensive. I appreciate that some clubs have a wealthy backer distorting things, but IMO it’s fully understandable that fans may be getting fed up of keep shelling out and getting short-changed. Asking them to keep believing and funding the project when they are consistently seeing a lack of progress is getting difficult, and possibly even too much to ask. It’s arguably what many of the more negative people keep saying about accepting mediocrity, giving up on competing because it’s unfair and we can’t do any better.

I’d be much more in line with your viewpoint if it was just a few ‘superpowers’ that we were struggling to catch, like the 2 you mention, but sadly it isn’t. Hudds & Wire have money backers, I appreciate that, but in a salary-capped sport should they be so far ahead of us? Saints were still consistently above us with their ground supposedly haemorrhaging money. Catalan have finished above us 3 out of the last 5 seasons, and level on points in a 4th. Wakefield, Cas, and Rovers have all finished above at some point in the last 5 years, Rovers more than once, and Cas only a point difference another year.

So the situation isn’t only that we are finding it hard to catch up to the big boys; we haven’t even established ourselves as the best of the rest. There are teams with fewer resources than us competing with us, which if we apply the same reasoning you say is making it so hard for us to compete with Leeds/Wigan, shouldn’t really be happening.

There’s another phrase, ‘don’t throw good money after bad’, and I think that’s simply the stage many fans feel they’ve reached.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:06 am  

weaver93 wrote:

the HB situation, IMO.

The likes of Long,Seymour and Miller were criticised , not taking the ball to the defensive line, as
they were getting clobbered, due to no players in support.

Result - HB lacks confidence, after being smashed on a regular basis.

Ive watched Matty Smith recently, he takes the ball right to the defensive line, then at the last second,
looks to pass to a player backing up. - he can play in a dinner suit.

Until we address, players support, things will not change.

Totally agree about the support. We also don't make enough use of our props' offload game around the ruck which would help to suck players into the middle especially if we pushed three or four players through with the ball carrier. Then our set second man plays out wide might just be a bit more effective because at the moment we mostly use them against a set defensive line that has watched the videos and end up playing the ball further back than we did centre field after a wide player gets smashed as they receive the ball. Radford needs to see this and address it.

However I have no doubt whatsoever that at least one more experienced HB with an effective kicking game would massively help us. Experienced players can alter the shape of the team and the way it is playing on the hoof whereas younger players tend to just rigidly stick to the structure whatever is happening. The kicking game is so important in this day and age and we're frankly bordering on hopeless in that department.

It's not just one thing that's wrong but addressing key areas would go a long way to gaining big improvements.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:12 am  

carl_spackler wrote:

The thing is, I'd actually say that that's what most of the dissatisfaction boils down to, though. The Hull fans simply have not been getting what they pay for in comparison to most of the rest of SL. We are not one of the cheaper sides to follow. In fact, in relation to the typical local wage level, perhaps even one of the most expensive. I appreciate that some clubs have a wealthy backer distorting things, but IMO it’s fully understandable that fans may be getting fed up of keep shelling out and getting short-changed. Asking them to keep believing and funding the project when they are consistently seeing a lack of progress is getting difficult, and possibly even too much to ask. It’s arguably what many of the more negative people keep saying about accepting mediocrity, giving up on competing because it’s unfair and we can’t do any better.

I’d be much more in line with your viewpoint if it was just a few ‘superpowers’ that we were struggling to catch, like the 2 you mention, but sadly it isn’t. Hudds & Wire have money backers, I appreciate that, but in a salary-capped sport should they be so far ahead of us? Saints were still consistently above us with their ground supposedly haemorrhaging money. Catalan have finished above us 3 out of the last 5 seasons, and level on points in a 4th. Wakefield, Cas, and Rovers have all finished above at some point in the last 5 years, Rovers more than once, and Cas only a point difference another year.

So the situation isn’t only that we are finding it hard to catch up to the big boys; we haven’t even established ourselves as the best of the rest. There are teams with fewer resources than us competing with us, which if we apply the same reasoning you say is making it so hard for us to compete with Leeds/Wigan, shouldn’t really be happening.

There’s another phrase, ‘don’t throw good money after bad’, and I think that’s simply the stage many fans feel they’ve reached.

You're probably right but it's not any surprise - it's always been the same. If the club is struggling the gates go down and if there are glory days some fans reappear. It's harder now to get fans back for sure - there is more choice vying for the leisure £ these days and times have been hard - that's not just our problem as league attendances across the board show all too well. The club has done remarkably well to retain the attendances they have based upon the last 6-8 years of on field (non)achievement.

At the end of the day some fans (apologists according to some) will attend come what may. Others will pick their games and some will disappear until the good times roll (if they ever do). The club is struggling on the field at the moment and some will spend their hard earned elsewhere. Nothing new really.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:56 am  

Staffs FC wrote:

You're probably right but it's not any surprise - it's always been the same. If the club is struggling the gates go down and if there are glory days some fans reappear. It's harder now to get fans back for sure - there is more choice vying for the leisure £ these days and times have been hard - that's not just our problem as league attendances across the board show all too well. The club has done remarkably well to retain the attendances they have based upon the last 6-8 years of on field (non)achievement.

At the end of the day some fans (apologists according to some) will attend come what may. Others will pick their games and some will disappear until the good times roll (if they ever do). The club is struggling on the field at the moment and some will spend their hard earned elsewhere. Nothing new really.

I agree. People are free to do what they like, it’s just that whilst I can see certain points in both arguments about stopping attending/sticking by the club, I don’t really agree with either stance as a ‘right’ answer. It’s up to each individual, and about whether or not they get enjoyment/satisfaction from their choice but should not be used as a stick with which to beat someone holding an opposing view. People shouldn’t rip into those that will continue to attend as blind sheep, but neither can I agree with asking/expecting people to continue to attend if they’ve genuinely had enough and don’t enjoy it any more (and I really can’t abide the minority who attempt to lord it over others as ‘better’ fans). Attendances can be fairly and squarely attributed to the club (both positive and negative) and their efforts (and to a certain extent the game as a whole), rather than questioning the dedication of fans. I suppose the flip side of ‘you get what you pay for’ is ‘you reap what you sow’, and our falling attendances are an indicator of that.

Re: rumours on twitter : Wed Jun 04, 2014 10:04 am  

Staffs FC wrote:

I know - you see it regularly as clockwork - people sat laughing and clapping at the KC and virtually pleading with the owner to keep things as they are as the next opposition try unfolds. Rapturous applause at every FC dropped ball and cheers of every missed tackle. I heard on twitter that we're trying to open a new club bar at the KC called MEDIOCRITY which will have massive TV screens wall to wall showing our many calamitous defeats over the last few seasons and selling a new club sponsored brew called Second Best Bitter. (Entry limited to season pass holders only who are the pinnacle of apologists). Virtually everyone you bump into around the club these days is happy that we're where we are and the owner and staff couldn't be happier with our progress out of the top 8. Only this morning Motu has been hauled over the coals by Pearson for trying to sign a player from Wigan- apparently Pearson has told him that unless it's Wigan St Pats the deal is off.

You and I both know that the only way to change this is to get rid of the seven thousandish so-called fans who accept all this mediocrity with glee season after season and for those of us realists to vote with our feet as well. It's the only way results will improve as we just can't make progress with all these people getting in the way with their ridiculous outlook. Let's see how Pearson likes it playing in front of a few hundred every week - that'll teach him.

Outstanding!! An object lesson in the use of sarcasm and I agree with every word you've written. For someone to actually blame the supporters for effectively holding the club back (GM1) is lunacy. Without these supporters where is the money going to come from to try and move the club forward. We're all frustrated with the lack of progress that's been made but not rolling up on match day, or buying our season ticket, will only make the situation worse. We need to all be there as much as possible, or else I fear we won't have a super league team to support.

Rant over!!