Having had a few days to digest the news of the sacking of Tony Smith and the appointment of Richie Myler as DOR. My conclusion is, this 'appointment ' can only be an improvement. The reason, I state an improvement, is because since Motu left, recruitment, retention and hiring of backroom staff, has been underwhelming to say the least . I hope Myler has already spoken to Brett Hodgson and or Tony Smith on the dynamics of the club Unfortunately, the club is in a no win situation, the rejection of this offer, would mean no investment, no marquee players, and pass sales and merchandise would be significantly reduced. Pearson stated 4 months ago, the covid loans would be repaid, in the first half of 2024, this is now changed , he stated last week,some of the loans will be paid at the end of the year.. The culture phrase, in my opinion, is a smokescreen, the reason for the poor performances, I feel this is a lack of ambition from the owner, due to a lack of financial resources. The lack of quality of backroom staff employed, the facilities, all presents an attitude of amateurism. This apathy has filtered throughout the whole club, Personally I feel the squad are not adequately physically prepared for Super League., the blame can also be apportioned to Tony Smith, with his attitude of "overcooked", in truth the squad were barely cooked at all.
be interesting to see who is selected as Head Coach..
I dont think it was all about resources. Smith failed miserably as a coach Failed to get the squad supremely fit to help make up for the lack of quality on the field Failed to implement a defensive strategy to make us difficult to beat knowing we dont have the strike to score many tries Failed to clamp down on the on field indicipline which was bad in his first season but even worse this season. I agree we didnt have enough quality players in the squad but he was the one who continued to play two nines in the halfs when we all could see it wasnt working,and continually flogging Houghton for near 80 minutues knowing he had a hamstring problem as though Houghton was the answer to our prayers and would turn our season around. I cant see Grix been our future coach but even he cannot do any worse than Smith
Fair points. I will say that I have said in the past that Smith wasn't blameless so I wasn't trying to exonerate him with my comments, more pointing out that he wasn't entirely to blame either.
Of all three of the potential investors we are talking to , Are we just looking at accepting the one linked with Myler or possibly all three ?
Personally I think it's too much of a coincidence that we've appointed Myler to not be accepting that investment. Beyond that I have no idea. I think Pearson said that the offers were all different levels of investment so I guess there's potential to accept more than one offer.
Personally I think it's too much of a coincidence that we've appointed Myler to not be accepting that investment. Beyond that I have no idea. I think Pearson said that the offers were all different levels of investment so I guess there's potential to accept more than one offer.
Investment aside, I wish people would give Myler a chance to prove he got the job on merit. I'm just finding some of the negativity surrounding his appointment to be disrespectful. Let's give the guy a chance first before people tear into his appointment or only think he got the job due to someone else's money.
Investment aside, I wish people would give Myler a chance to prove he got the job on merit. I'm just finding some of the negativity surrounding his appointment to be disrespectful. Let's give the guy a chance first before people tear into his appointment or only think he got the job due to someone else's money.
FWIW, I'm fully behind him and wishing him the best of luck. I've been advocating both on here and on social media that he deserves a chance and our support. The investment angle is pure speculation on my part based off the link with Thirkill. But even if I am right in my suspicion, Thirkill won't have gotten were he is today by simply giving jobs out to those close to him so regardless of whether it is a coincidence or linked to the investment, Myler will have been given the role because they believe he's got the qualities needed.
Broken birds The Richie Myler as director of rugby appointment at Hull FC is totally bizarre. Myler only retired from York this week and has zero experience or qualifications. One of his former teammates told us this: "It's another poor decision by Hull FC. They should be a top four club making top four club decisions. There is a reason why successful business/ sports organisations ask for experience before employing people within these roles. Some big decisions need to be made at that club and the director of rugby needs to own and be front and centre of every single one of them. Unless someone does the dirty work for him I can’t see it happening." The rumour mill says that it is not Andrew Thirkill, father of Stephanie Thirkill, Myler's partner who will be investing in Hull FC in the future, but Stephanie herself. Andrew Thirkill is worth more than £170 million and is also the president of Leeds Rhinos. Leeds sources suggest their president won't be involved directly with the Airlie Birds.
Pretty much marries up with what I was told earlier on in the week. Dan Tomlinson also specifically mentioned Stephanie Thirkill and her roles in her fathers businesses, which I thought was interesting at the time.
Broken birds The Richie Myler as director of rugby appointment at Hull FC is totally bizarre. Myler only retired from York this week and has zero experience or qualifications. One of his former teammates told us this: "It's another poor decision by Hull FC. They should be a top four club making top four club decisions. There is a reason why successful business/ sports organisations ask for experience before employing people within these roles. Some big decisions need to be made at that club and the director of rugby needs to own and be front and centre of every single one of them. Unless someone does the dirty work for him I can’t see it happening." The rumour mill says that it is not Andrew Thirkill, father of Stephanie Thirkill, Myler's partner who will be investing in Hull FC in the future, but Stephanie herself. Andrew Thirkill is worth more than £170 million and is also the president of Leeds Rhinos. Leeds sources suggest their president won't be involved directly with the Airlie Birds.
Pretty much marries up with what I was told earlier on in the week. Dan Tomlinson also specifically mentioned Stephanie Thirkill and her roles in her fathers businesses, which I thought was interesting at the time.
Either way we're in the money.
I'm open minded on the D.O.R/Myler situation, ok yes he lacks experience in the role, but will certainly have important contacts within the game and he'll know how the game works both on and off the field in terms of players/agents etc. We've had two very experienced people in McRae & Smith at the club and failed dismally in player recruitment/retention and its notable our most successful spell in SL era came under the inexperienced Motu Tony who didn't do too shabbily. It's also not just about contacts within the game that's important these days but also in the wider world of business, which Myler has access too.
It may or may not work but as we have seen at Hull FC there are simply no guarantees whichever road we travel but its clear something needed doing in terms of radical change and we are seeing that, time will tell if it works or not but do feel looking at things as a whole we are already in a much better position.
I have it on good authority that Myler was not first choice as Director of Rugby. A present incumbent currently a DOR at another Super League club was approached but declined FC's offer.
I have it on good authority that Myler was not first choice as Director of Rugby. A present incumbent currently a DOR at another Super League club was approached but declined FC's offer.
Last edited by weaver93 on Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.