As many will know, I had a lot of criticism of Lee Radford in his first two years in charge, ranging from poor performances on the field, to comments in interviews, to some strange signings (Carvell for a few months, Howarth etc)

but got to swallow my pride and say I got things completely wrong, well done to Lee, all the team and the backroom staff for making this club something to be proud of again.

Good post, takes a lot to admit you are wrong, I know you were very vocal, but I think most where wrong about a few things.

Also well done to Pearson, he stuck by his guns and saw what was happening.

Now is the time to really get behind the club, we could really kick on from here if the fans back the club and challenge for the next few years.

I would honestly start selling passes for next season now, make it a £20 deposit.

Good times to be a Hull fan.

Fair play. Whilst others may have been less damning I'd bet no one anticipated going into August top of the league and at Wembley. Absolutely stunning turnaround.

I do think our league form will suffer a bit now and would be amazed if we got anything against Cas. The physical effort of last night was evident in the utter exhaustion and desolation of the Wigan players - ours would have been masked by euphoria but Watts tweeted he couldn't get out of bed this morning. Hope we make top 4 and get over the line in the cup.

I criticised you for your rather premature "had enough" post a few months back so fair play to you for admitting you were wrong.

Hopefully we can see a rise in attendances for the remainder of this season and into next. 10/11k is still disappointing, this team deserves more. I would like to see at least 12k there on Friday.

Viewing figure for last night was 0.8m which is not bad for BBC2 up against the soaps. The Final will be at least double that so lots of exposure for the club should help.

Fair play Ullfc. Whilst you were critical, you didn't stoop as low to abuse, make up lies, try get him sacked, make home made banners etc like others did. Good to have you back on board. I remember saying at the time that you seemed to be a different person posting, you were that fed up.

Always knew he'd come good



He's come of age as a coach this season with a better team, relieving the pressure and he actually looks like he's enjoying things now. I also love the anti rovers comments

RADFORD IN!!

We haven't won nothing yet, so I'm still on the fence.

I don't think anyone who criticised Radford was wrong to do so. He got an awful lot wrong in his first 18 months and he would probably be the first to admit that. I didn't think we were going anywhere under him, and I said so on several occasions. If it was up to me he would have been gone last Easter, but I'm glad to have been proven wrong.

Pretty much this, with the exception of one or two who went OTT and got personal of course.

Saw a Tweet last night - "Changing my Radford Out banner to Radford Outstanding". Made me chuckle.

Criticism and scathing at that was totally justified, he brought the club to a point that fans were against each other due to his incompetence, fans were leaving in their droves, saying they'd not come back. Hardened fans don't say things like that without a reason.
His continual line that it was everbody elses fault and not admit he was failing was sickening to hear/read especially the bit about the fans, in fact he actually continued on in this vein in his interview shown yesterday, he couldn't bring himself to say yes, actually I wasn't up to scratch, I made a lot of mistakes when questioned about the last few years under his stewardship, nope he continued to point the finger elsewhere.
Do i regret putting up a petition, not in the slightest, as I said, it wasn't anything serious, it was just me saying what I wanted to say to the club, it was obviously read and of that I'm glad, it tells them that I and other were not happy with the way our club was going.
Do I regret saying he was a turd of a coach, nope, because at that juncture he was fooking awful and taking us backward at a rate of knots with uninspiring rugby. If just one jot of criticism by fans has an effect in the way LR and the AP think about how they are going about things and change something for the better then that criticism has worked as a positive, if not then it is just fans letting off steam because they at that time are frustrated with how cack things were with no sign of change.

Does LR deserve the plaudits for changing things around, absolutely, I don't think a single person has not given praise and mentioned the turn around which with a little dose of luck and a vastly improved squad over anything we've had for years has gotten us to where we are.
That in itself is not being a 'bandwaggoner' or two faced or a hypocrite or even been wrong, the happy clappers post tripe and think they are untouchable with their bully tactics on the forum, fans should never fear to post criticism on this forum but the forum becomes a den of the downright disgusting behaviour by certain posters whom can't wait to jump on anyone that says something not in line with their singular/blinkered viewpoint.

Well done LR, you achieved the goals I personally saw as a minimum expectation, you turned the clubs fortunes around (ATM at least) and saved your career.
If we win nothing come the end of the season how will fans feel toward things, a question i posed a few months back? Will the massively raised expectation have a negative effect IF we come away with nothing?

Well clearly he needed time to get his team and structures in place. Fortunately Adam Pearson recognised this and stood firm in the face of some pretty unpleasant and personal criticism of his head coach.

Wiganer here, my first final was in 1959 against Hull it was there I learned 'Old Faithfull' I phoned my friend Dod in Hull and wished them well in the final, I hope I'm singing Ole Faithful again, Good Luck you deserve it this season.

Very gracious of you, thank you.

That's got to be a banner at Wembley!

Lee Radford definitely deserves the success given the work he's put in turning the club, and his own reputation as a coach, around this season. Big shouts for Adam Pearson and Motu Tony too, their work off the field, particularly with the exceptional recruitment we've had this season, has turned us from a side scraping in to the 8 into a cup final side and (currently) top of the league.

That Widnes match will go down as being our most important game in years I feel, given how that acted as the kick up the backside which has seen us where we are right now.

Best interviewee in the comp bar none.

Chuffed for him and AP.

They'll all be in the Wembley queue which is great news for the club.

COYH!

And yet almost weekly you come onto the forum on match day saying we are going to get beat when we are not playing awesome rugby, fortunately some fans have more faith in the team and the team stood firm in the face of such negativity



Do you not understand why the coach and indeed the owner were coming in for such criticism. Sack a coach getting us to 6th and a final after the Agar/Hetherington years without the benfits of a top drawer squad/halves and not the maturity of the youth system and then absolute dross for two years? Can you not see why that drives fans to act in a certain way?

Not sure that overhauling recruitment and structures to the extent required should have been expected to yield instant results. Fortunately AP could see foundations were being put in place for a medium term return even if some sections of support were unable to do so and resorted to demanding action which, with hindsight, may have been sheer folly.

As for me, well, make your mind up. Can I be a happy clapper and a negativist concurrently? Or am I someone who simply hopes for the best, expects the worst and takes what comes? Which has been pretty spectacular for the most part this year with the "steaming gap toothed turd" at the helm. Loving every moment of it.

Did you just say that; "fans having faith; bloody hell.

Old toothless done well eh knocker.

He couldn't show any humility if he tried.
Been found out without the involvement of rocket science.
Bless.

Just in case anyone missed the low levels that were stooped to, as reading that you'd assume it was all fair criticism & nothing more: retro.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php?p ... #p18071521 i.rlfans.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=30 https://www.change.org/p/adam-pearson-h ... terminated

Just in case anyone missed the low levels that were stooped to, as reading that you'd assume it was all fair criticism & nothing more: retro.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php?p ... #p18071521 i.rlfans.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=30 https://www.change.org/p/adam-pearson-h ... terminated

i think it will be the rovers game, when we came back from 20 - 0 down that will the remembered turning point. who knows what would have happened if we had lost that one

Saw him in the Mcdonalds drive through queue yesterday and wished him luck - something i didnt think id be doing after what was a pretty poor start. Pearson for me got lucky, he didnt know how Radford was gonna turn out and Radford seemed to really show he was out of his depth at times (like the Shaul on radio humberside interveiw) but hes matured in the roll and and really has come of age so well done Radders - now lets win some silverware