A lot of people are quick to blame Clarke and Pearson but without them we’d be finished. They provided us with 2016-2017 where we were fantastic.
I’m pretty sure we averaged 13-15k attendances that year. Now we’re averaging 11k and we’re proud of it. As a fan base, the glory fans are letting the club down. 3k tickets probably generates the club just shy of 100k per game.
With that we’d be in a much better position. I know it’s tough with standard of living etc but the reality is most that have walked away have done because they wanted to, not because they need to.
If you can’t be here now, you don’t deserve to be there when we hit gold again.
Fans say they want big signings and complain we don’t get them. If as a fan base we get the half hearted fans through the door, then we will see those sorts of signings again.
People keep saying the club needs to speculate to accumulate, maybe that’s what we need to do with season tickets, merchandise etc
Great post. We've seen in the past that the big signings don't always work out. Reynolds been a recent example of this.
A lot of people are quick to blame Clarke and Pearson but without them we’d be finished. They provided us with 2016-2017 where we were fantastic.
I’m pretty sure we averaged 13-15k attendances that year. Now we’re averaging 11k and we’re proud of it. As a fan base, the glory fans are letting the club down. 3k tickets probably generates the club just shy of 100k per game.
With that we’d be in a much better position. I know it’s tough with standard of living etc but the reality is most that have walked away have done because they wanted to, not because they need to.
If you can’t be here now, you don’t deserve to be there when we hit gold again.
Fans say they want big signings and complain we don’t get them. If as a fan base we get the half hearted fans through the door, then we will see those sorts of signings again.
People keep saying the club needs to speculate to accumulate, maybe that’s what we need to do with season tickets, merchandise etc
Disagree with the part about the fans letting the club down. Our attendances are staggering considering the dross we have been served for the last five years. I’d say we have roughly 6k die hard fans who will turn out regardless. The rest need to be enticed. The only way we can do that is by improving on the field. The club have let the fans down.
Your always going to have a percentage of casual fans. And what the diehards need to realise is that the years and years of shoddy culture, towels thrown in and big defeats at home are going to erode that casual support its very understandable, especially with a cost of living crisis.
Pearsons communications been abit shoddy recently but hes rectified that with the recent interview. The main concern for me was the covid loan repayment which sounds as though we can now cover and survive.
I do think even though weve heard it alot in recent years, that now is a crucial time to back the team and have patience.
Were in the middle if a rebuild, the clear out weve needed has happened, but due to financial restraints weve not being able to rebuiild currently as strong as some fans want.
Im looking at the bigger picture and its a case of picking your battles, surviving the covid loan is the main one, next is the stadium lease, if Adam can negotiate a cracking new lease it could potentially free up alot of fundage. As well as attract extra investment thus pushing us towards marquee signings.
This cannot all be done at once, but there is light and positivity to be found. I think we l see alot more workmanlike team this year being a tougher nut to crack.
Buy the shirts , get to what games you can, and i dare say in a season or two we l hopefully be through the financial gloom and signing marquees.
Personally im looking forward to some academy products this season and a bigger pack.
Disagree with the part about the fans letting the club down. Our attendances are staggering considering the dross we have been served for the last five years. I’d say we have roughly 6k die hard fans who will turn out regardless. The rest need to be enticed. The only way we can do that is by improving on the field. The club have let the fans down.
Agreed, at the end of the day, rugby league is about entertainment, you can't just rely on die hards to keep a club sustained, time off from work is limited, family budgets are getting more and more stretched, if the team are serving up half ar$ed performances, the club need to ensure those "glory fans" leave the games being entertained and wanting to come back, you can't just keep saying "in any kind of weather" forever and hope it sticks, need something on the field to back it up
:CLAP: Unfortunately we have a few of those. Just winge and moan sat in front of there radio . Hull FC is in my blood . Yes I rant and stamp my feet kick the cat. But always finish up going back. Without us happy clappers we wouldn't have a club. Of course it's everyone's right not to go and a part of me can see why. But don't sit listening to Radio Humberside sprouting on here how crap we are in everything we do. We really do need every penny we can get. As others have said without Pearson we would be in real trouble
Yeah part of what you say is true, but also, if fans are new converts, after 16/17 , then you cannot blame them for not wanting to spend the best part of £80, for 2 people with pre drinks and a few after, to watch an ordinary team come and put 50 plus points on your team, with many games we have seen , over as a spectacle for us after 3o minutes. So if any club is to grow, it needs the new fans , or as some wrongly say "glory supporters" because that's how you then convert them into diehards. I have missed a few this year, partly because of work and partly because , inside, I knew what script we'd all be reading come Monday morning. This despite me having a pass and I'll do the same again, if attitudes don't improve , because despite me not quite being one of the happy clappers, as you call them, I cannot stomach teams like Salford putting 60 points on us, home or away.
See your point. But if we all decided enough is enough the club would fold within 2 years. It's a juggling act. I agree we need to start to up our performances. Can't argue we have been crap the last few years. But we have a new coach and a fairly new team. Our facilities and reserves etc are one of the best in SL. Imo we need to get behind them . But in return the team needs to start strong as well to give us all something to get behind. Always the optimist. Ps Happy clappers a name given to me
Graham isn't suggesting that he will give up, he's pointing out that even having bought a season pass, he didn't turn up for some games because he knew what to expect (a probable 40/50/60 point dubbing). Cards on the table here, I did exactly the same; and really wish I'd done it for the last two home games as well.
The club had already had our money (and vital point here, will get it again next year despite the home "performances"); if anything, this is showing a true level of commitment that many of our players utterly lacked, and have done since 2018.
IMHO, the club needs a massively improved offer to firstly retain, and then hopefully attract those who are not "diehards" (or insane masochists as we seem to have become).
Not just on the field - and I am hopeful (it's the hope that kills you) that the squad changes will see that begin next season, but also off it.
Revenue streams have been mentioned often, and one in which our club has historically done well is in merchandise sales. Whilst the kit itself has looked good, the standard of the rest of the stuff in the club shop (again IMHO) has been dreadful in the Hummel era. On several occasions each season I have been in one or other of the shops, 100% willing to spend a decent wedge of cash if there is something worthwhile for sale, and EVERY time have come out empty handed. The gear in there would not be out of place on a tatty market stall selling knock offs - screenprinted or ironed on club badges on thin polyester rubbish in colours that bear no relationl to the club's colours or kit, either home or away (or third, fourth...).
The club has seemingly been drifting for some time now, and there are lots of examples beside these two.
Venting on here isn't going to change anything; but for a game in a seeming death spiral, the degree to which our club has taken things for granted is baffling - that's why even "diehards" are almost in despair.