So why did the council and the university drop out? The boulevard one was pulled under the previous council administration. I'm not expecting you to know the answer BTW, the same as I don't, however if there had really been the will there to build a training facility then I believe it would have been built or at least underway by now.

there was a will on FC's part, but the Council decided to play politics with the whole thing and the funding was cut by the time decisions were made, I am as critical as you Jake of the previous board in some aspects of their management, but I honestly believe they were trying to improve things, maybe not as vhemently as they should have, but the intent, imho, was there.

I'm sure they didn't want things to get worse but, like I said, they lacked the vision to see what could be achieved and therefore none of it ever got done

I think that is a bit unfair, remember the board didn't really function properly, Kath was very much in charge and the others were more "invested supporters" than actual decision makers, I know for a fact it was the Weatherills that forced the sale to AP, I hope we end up with a shared training facility with City, it seems a bit of a nonsense not to.

I'm sure we'll have the much needed training facilities fairly quickly now that pearson is in charge. I always like the weatherills and thought they were the most capable of taking the club forward

For me, Costello Sports Stadium has always been a good choice. The infastructure is there and with a little bit of investment it could be the ideal venue. It plays host to occasional track meetings and school end of term sports days but other than that the outdoor arena area only seems to be used by the athletic club for training.

What a great interview and bring on next season and the following seasons.....next season maybe too soon but after that.....watch us go.

I'd love to know what really went on on the board over the last few years.

Sounds like Pearson made a bid in 2002, but at this point the balance sheet was crud so guessing there'd probably have been a pretty low valuation at that point. After 2005 we started to turn in a profit (quite a big one in a couple of years), and supposedly Kath turned down prospective bid(s) as being too low. After some years of stagnation, Pearson rocks up with £3m which the Wetherills persuade the others to accept and implies a split board in terms of ambition. So sounds like they acted in the club's best interests and that, applying a conspiracy theory, Kath would have been happy to have kept us "in our place" (behind Leeds Rhinos) and to continue to collect a chairperson's salary. If all this comes off, therefore, and we re-emerge as a decent team under Pearson, maybe we should build a statue to Wetherill as the unsung catalyst of change.

I'm guessing falling income and a potentially large tax bill was what pushed kath over the edge

Quite possibly. Would have liked to have witnessed the negotiations though.

Wonder where we would be now had Pearson's 2002 bid been successful?

Dunno, but I'm guessing the board meetings used to be like the tory cabinet meetings in the thatcher era

If you recall the "synergies" quote from the intial takeover announcement, I wouldn't be surprised to see all three pro clubs sharing a single training facility

I can see it with city but I'd be surprised if we shared training facilities with one of our SL rivals

And both were at the game on Friday, as fans rather than directors.

Bit of a late comment i know, but all the signals were right in that interview for me. I'm guessing they're either still interviewing or the new coach doesn't want his move to be public knowledge till the end of season. I would also guess that Agar won't be told to leave till the end of the season, and will no doubt believe that he's in with a chance of staying till that point. I don't see him getting a job as a superleague head coach after us, not even at Wakey.

is that Pierson or Windass ?

making his mark already www.thisishullandeastriding.co.u ... story.html

making his mark already www.thisishullandeastriding.co.u ... story.html

On a super-optimistic note, I've pondered that this might be that we are signing a big name (maybe current head) coach in the NRL and are waiting for the end of their season to do so. On a more pessimistic/realistic note, perhaps he is waiting for Steve McNamara's England duties to be completed for this season - I think he did say October/November.

So things are beginning to take shape already
[urlhttp://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/Hull-FC-school-site-sporting-stars-future/story-13141206-detail/story.html[/url

got to love the quality of HDM reporting, 7 people in the picture, 8 names in the copy!

i count 7 & 7 , has it been amended

possibly, or I am going mad!

Judging by your posts over the last 10 years , id say so

going, or gone!?!?!?!

I must be mad to still be an FC fan after some of the $41t we've put up with over the years!

Taken me a while to work out you're talking about the avatar!

It's Pearson, and is not supposed to refer to City at all... I'm only an FC fan. (It's actually a rip off of an Obama poster i saw)