We all agree that a change in attitude/culture/mind-set/whatever is undoubtedly required at the club, but that is a mid/long-term stratagem. A process which, hopefully, will evolve over time.

But it shouldn't then follow that whilst that is taking place, we have to perform, in the here and now, at a level which has been, quite frankly, barely above championship standard. Just because a club is in 'transition' doesn't mean they have to plummet down to the depths.

I know they are different, far more successful, clubs than us, but 'transition' for Wigan and St. Helens usually means dropping down as low as 4th for two seasons before they resume their normal trophy winning ways.
'Transition' for us seems to entail scrabbling around the bottom end of the table for nigh on a decade!

This simply comes across as yet another excuse to me, another excuse to mask dreadful mistakes, past and present, which have led to us being barely competitive in 2024. They're fudging the issue as always, hoping that we won't notice somehow!!

While he inherited a much better team that had just had a few medicore months, you could see within a couple of games the impact Peter Sharp had the team instantly looked sharper (pardon the pun) and he arrived mid season with none of his own signings in place.

Even if Tony improved one aspect defence, attack, fitness, discipline while the rest of our game still struggled id at least see some positives.

First rule of holiday camp

Dont question holiday camp

I remember Paul Cooke talking about Peter Sharp once (it was after both had moved on from us) and he mentioned how, in one of the very first sessions he took, Sharp simplified a set-piece move that Cooke-Horne had developed. Not only did this make the move easier to enact, but it also made it more effective with a far higher percentage chance of succeeding. I think that is what you call coaching the best out of your squad of players.

This culture reset is a separate issue to how we are performing (badly) in March 2024, albeit issues which longer term are interlinked, if that doesn't sound too contradictory to everyone!! I'm sure you all get the point here!!

Clifford didn't even so a proper pre season with us. He didn't come until December, all the fitness and testing was already done. I'm not saying it's on par with NRL but he missed the toughest parts

irrespective of that i still dont think we are on the level of fitness we should be to compete with most teams.
Love them or hate them Rovers are a very fit side and were last season too which played a huge part in their success.
Their coach said when he arrived that he would get the team supremely fit and he has and its paid dividends.

Reading the Mail last night I can’t help
But wonder what the hell Uncle Tony is
Banging on about

“My job here is to change the culture”
“I was brought in to manage a culture change”

To me that’s absolute complete BS

It’s Adam’s job to change the culture and always has been!
Adam manages everyone in the Club inc Tony Smith
The fish rots from the head and vice versa
So a culture change for greatness comes from Adam and if it’s failing then it’s Adam

Tony ! Tony ! YOUR JOB IS TO WIN MATCHES AND MAKE FINALS !!!!!!

Jaysus H Christ Tony - don’t you get it ?

WIN baby WIN - the by product of winning is a winning culture !!!!

So by focusing on WINNING all the culture falls into place

Adam and the HR people and managers in the Club can sort the rest of the culture out

Where is the Hull FC Mission Statement ?
It surely mentions success ahead of culture as this business is SUCCESS not a Club to make just better men of men ??

Let’s just assume we have a good culture and we are family friendly !

If we do , and I am sure we do , then surely WINNING is all that’s left for the Coach

If I was the head coach my only job list would be to WIN - I wouldn’t see it any other way

Come on Tony
Drop the culture blurb and just focus solely on WINNING

Probably where we are getting it wrong. If TS is tasked with culture change then he should be in some sort of "Director of Rugby" role with coaches who are responsible for team performance reporting to him. Having a hierarchical structure where everyone understands and fulfills the responsibilities of their role is key to performance / success.

I've no more mental tolerance for Smith and his diatribes and utterances about culture.

Culture is an attitude and ours is poor.

If we were 0 from 8 but showed up with a good attitude i'd be happier than I am now.

In fact the only time I've held optimism this year was when we lost to Catalans. I think, for me, it's not losing I struggle with, it's the way in which we lose.

If he states he is here to shift a culture then he is admitting failure.

We are never going to be at the level of fitness we should be when we don't even have a strength and conditioning coach.

I'd love to be able to tell my boss that yeah I'm underperforming now, but don't worry, it's a long term process and I'll come good in 2 years or so...maybe, but keep paying me well in-between, and yeah things might get a lot worse and all our customers are suffering in the meantime...and things might not actually improve, but yeah, trust me

With the squad we have we are going to lose many more games than we win. As you state however unpalatable losing is as long as there is effort and improvement I would accept that.

Under Smiths tenure we are getting neither.

Unfortunately its all down to finances and Adam Pearson needs new investors into the club so we can start to compete.
We don't have money for decent players let alone a decent coach/manager.
Pearson goes on about Covid loan but every business had one, not just Hull FC.
Pearson goes on about the cost of the stadium but cannot do anything about it.
All his decisions over the past couple of years are all based on what we can afford.
I think we are well and truly ***** unless we can get fresh money into the club.
I cannot see anyway out of this mess we are in unless we get new investment, but who would want to invest in us. Rovers somehow manage to get some though?
Most of the players we have now are championship level if I'm being honest and our coach/manager seems as if its not working for him, but then you cannot improve the players if they simply are not good enough.
This season is going to be miserable for us again and we have to accept it.

If his priority is to set and improve culture throughout the club then he needs to communicate effectively with all stakeholders. He needs to ensure that the supporters (as key stakeholders) know the current benchmark of team capability (I know.... it's easy to recognise rubbish) and what the kpi's for measuring improvement / success are, otherwise support will wane (is already waning if this forum is a reflection of the whole supporter base). This squad are not going to compete at the top of Superleague but if we know the team is competing to their full capacity (this might be the best the current players are capable of) and there is a clear recruitment strategy for improving team performance then they will retain my support.

Yep you've got it in one I expect we all agree with that however can I just question the use of the word invest or investors that seems to get bandied about on here a lot of late. the definition of an investor is ; 'Someone who puts money into financial schemes or a commercial venture with expectation of making a profit'.

I think we need some 'benefactors' to be honest. I once asked Simon Moran when he was at Hull City Hall as a promoter what he got out of financing Warrington Wolves he said, "I only get the satisfaction of giving something back to the club that has given me so much" (Or words to that effect

its a while ago now)

What investor is going to be happy with the Pearson taking a sizable salary out of the club? I suspect every cost has been cut back to the point we're at now to sustain his level of salary.
It's all well and good when the we're making cup finals and competing at all levels but once it starts going wrong for whatever reason then you're only heading in one direction. Covid was probably the one single factor that shafted him and the club. Not just from the 'loan' point of view but a huge loss of income that he/we can't recover from without outside investment, this then takes us back to the start of my post.
One big vicious circle.

As an admirer of Hull FC & Tony Smith for years I have watched the nightmare start to the season.
I reckon any coach in the world would have struggled with what's been thrown at you. It will get better. Good luck.
(Wire Supporter)

We have had some misfortune for sure, although alot self inflicted.

Even with our squad the performances against Leigh and London just aren't acceptable.

He is making very odd decisions with his team selection.

We will be well under cap, but so are Salford and they seem to recruit the right players and play with passion, well structured and brains.

I wonder if the "power board" at Rover's are benefactors or investors (obviously Grudge hull is a benefactor). If they are all benefactors how the heck do they manage to attract them?

Ive stopped using the Sewell garage at the top of street as my own private protest against him putting money into Rover's. His takings at least £50 worth of fuel and a packet of Polo mints down each week. That'll teach him!!

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... n=sharebar Is smith losing it? Can you actually compare an international/NRL legend in SKD and Okunbor?

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... n=sharebar Is smith losing it? Can you actually compare an international/NRL legend in SKD and Okunbor?

They are both but the difference is they will all be linked and benefit from the future building schemes around the ground.

He has lost it.
trying to make a case how good he was at his previous clubs despite the obvious failings all last season and even worse this season is a bit pathetic.
This changing the clubs culture is just an excuse for his abject failure and poor selection decisions at times.
I cant see one improvement in anything related to the club since Smith has been here.
As fans we are focussed on what we see on the pitch.Even the most ardent and passionate fans on here who hate criticising anything about the club have to admit the club is going backwards on the pitch under Smith.
Pearson has to get his head together and stop wasting time getting rid because miracles wont happen.
A defeat on Saturday and another pasting at HKR means he will have to sack him so why leave it another two weeks.

I get the point he's trying to make. Remember plenty of Rovers fans writing SKD off after that 2020 season. Difference is SKD had a proven NRL track record

I remember that quote from Tim Sheens years ago: We lost but we didn't get beat.

You can hold you head up high in defeat when you know you gave it your all but the other team were better on the day. It's something the coaches, the players, and the fans can all accept.

Right now though we don't just lose, we get truly beat most weeks.

A better comparison would be with Sims, Takairangi and Vete. It's frightening to think he signed all three.