ExiledTiger wrote:
Uppo58 explain to me why Hull & Hull KR shouldn't merge. HKR are in financial trouble with an unfinished stadium so they should move to the KC and you can play in red & black hoops and call yourselves the Humberside Rovers. With everyone in Hull following the same team you'd be unstoppable wouldn't you?
Or is it do as I say not as I do?
Hello Exile its good point you make, but so many things are different for us. Hull FC do not have the needs and goals for survival that Cas Fev and Wakefield have. Infact we've held an 'A' Licence for a number of years so we are seen By RedHall to be a well run club. Our SL future is not on the line. Even in the Agar years which did not bring us entertaining Rugby our attendances were amongst the highest in SL. We are undergoing heavy investment at the mo in a effort to attract and nurture even more talent. Look I could go on but the point is we at Hull FC fortunately are just not in the same boat as you so we don't have the need to merge.
But HKR do suffer from many of the same key issues that you Trin and Fev do. They have limited attendance ceiling, they are losing money heavily. These are the key points for them that raise a huge question mark over their survival. But unlike you they do not have 2 partners in the same boat who are just 3 miles away.
HKR are also different from you in other ways which I can see justify their belief in their great days returning. For make no mistake, they once were not just just a champion side they were a champion club. They were able to make profits season on seaon, they had the ability to bring the worlds best players to HKR and pay the world record transfer fees if they had too. and they won trophies ....lots of em. They were definitely a big fish in a big Pool and they are hanging on hard to those days returning. Sadly for our neighbours like yourselfs its all historic talk because something went seriously wrong with the management of Rovers for which they are still paying the price today. But with real investment in the team and continued investment in Craven park they maybe have a chance. But its a big 'maybe'. Things have changed for them and though their support is fantastic and loud it is limited. And when it gets tough on the field it gets worryingly low. They cannot even survive on the best they are getting today so something big has to change at Craven Park too.
You would indeed have a point if we were in the same boat as Rovers and if you turn the clock back I can remember poor gates at the Boulevard for a long periods whch almost brought our demise. But one thing we always had even in those days was potential, and that was a potential to be amongst the best again, attract big crowds, and win things. and thats what happened. We have had a share of luck too but we are essentially a strong club and we have won trophies through every decade from the 70s 80s 90s to the noughties. But had those doldrum years continued and Rovers too like today were faced with a death wish scenario then calls would be made to merge. Your right Hull FC would always fight to stay alone because we know we can achieve 16k crowds and if Pearson can bring us silverware who knows what it could be ? you could easily add at least 3k to that.
So ultimately the fact we come from a City and we have large traditional support means we wont be calling for a merger here as there just isnt the need and we expect to have a future, a SL future, be profitable and hope to be bringing silverware home again soon. If that were true for Cas Wakey and Fev then i'm sure you'd feel the same. I believe a merger will guarantee you this.
