Thought some might be interested in an e-mail I sent to Adam and the reply I got back from him not so long back. His reply was sent back just before the Catalan game, interpret the reply as you wish. I read into it that perhaps Lee Radford isn't bullet proof from being sacked.

My e-mail:

FAO Mr Pearson,

I am writing to you with the hope you get to read this message. I am a season pass holder at the club and have been supporting Hull FC all my life. First off may I say thank you for everything you have done for the club since you purchased it. I and I'm sure most of the fan base are extremely grateful for all the investment and hard work you have put in. However, with that in mind I would like to ask you why you still feel Lee Radford and his assistants are the right people to take the first team forward? All the facts that I can see point to the appointment being wholly unsuccessful. Especially when comparing him to his predecessor whose record you deemed to be unsuccessful.

When comparing Super League records (not including playoffs), Lee has coached 32 competitive games and won 11 giving him a 34% winning ratio scoring on average 23 points per game. Compare that with Peter Gentle who coached 54 games and won 28 giving him a 52% winning ratio scoring on average of 25 points per game. So not only did our previous coach win 20% more games, he also had a team scoring more points on average per game. With that in mind, I refer you back to an article in the Hull Daily Mail dated Sept 2013. In it you are quoted as saying "I want us to have an attacking plan that every player and every supporter knows, I want this club to be known for playing hard rugby and attacking rugby. Lee is charged with bringing in an attacking plan that mirrors the defensive plan he's put in place. He has the ability to do that." Now as we are scoring less points per game and are winning fewer games, I can't see how Lee has delivered in what you wanted? I know I and most other fans I speak to cannot identify any obvious attacking plan in games. It's evident that most of the players do not understand it or do not have the ability to deliver it. Our style of play has to be the most boring to watch in the entire competition. It's also the least effective when you look at our league placing. Our attacking play has actually regressed under Lee. Also you have to say if the players cannot deliver it then that's is down to poor recruitment and or poor coaching.
Another example of poor coaching I believe is that our 'Club Hull' players are distinctly average in their respective positions when compared to their peers in the competition. Over the past two years Green, Bowden, Houghton, Yeaman, Cunningham, Hadley have been the definition of average. The younger players seem to very quickly hit a limit to their development and don't progress as players to the extent of Wigan / Saints / Leeds / Cas youth players. Hull born players are bringing the overall quality down of the squad and the coach is not developing to their potential.
I'm sure Lee is trying his best but the evidence suggests he is not up to the task of delivering what everyone wants so why are the club persisting with a plan that is clearly failing? The excuses that are used by him are painful to hear as every team has to deal with the same issues with injuries and short turn arounds.
Please Adam, employ an experienced Super League coach with a track record of success rather than gambling on coaches who do not have the experience.
Regards and best of luck for the rest of the year

Adams response:

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your email.

I have noted all of your comments I promise, and I am obviously aware of Peter’s more successful win record. There are though other factors which have to be taken into account and on these Lee scores far better than Peter.

I assure you I will be monitoring the situation, as with an unsuccessful team it becomes a very heavy burden financially for me personally. However at this stage after just five very tough fixtures I am backing Lee and the squad to turn the corner and get points from the next batch of five games.

I thank you for your constructive letter and continued support.

Regards,

Adam Pearson
Chairman, Hull FC.

Hull FC | KC Stadium | West Park | Hull | HU3 6HU
T: 01482 358440
F: 01482 587002

Ok if we’re are posted our e-mails to Adam and the responses we received, here’s mine from a month or so back

My e-mail

Adam,
You’ve asked us all to believe since you took over our beloved club, yet here we are in our 150th year staring the at the abyss (and yes I do think it’s that serious). What exactly are we meant to believe in?
Last year you had the good grace to entertain Paul Walmsley and myself on a Friday afternoon in July, we talked about many aspects of the club and it’s future. I attended, with a sense of trepidation however I came away feeling enthused and positive for the first time in a long while. Now here I am several months later and that enthusiasm and positivity has gone. In fact I am struggling to motivate myself to attend games anymore, my family despite buying season tickets do not want to attend either, it’s a demoralising situation. I’m certain that many other supporters will be having similar thoughts.
Crowds will fall that’s an absolute certainty, the longer we languish at the foot of the table the more people will stay away I’m afraid. Can you afford for this to continue? Can you afford to do nothing? I’m not going to call for Lee Radford’s head but something needs to change, doing nothing is not an option in my opinion. There has been a catalogue of poor decision making under your stewardship we are not where we are by chance. We are now rock bottom of the table and I can’t see that situation changing anytime soon. We still struggle to score points (lowest in the league) and can’t win tight games, nothing has changed – Nothing! The team play a standard of rugby that is dull, one dimensional and uninspiring, despite having brought in new halves and spent as long together in pre-season as I can recall. Why is this? The club Hull philosophy is all well and good but by the time it comes to fruition it may be too late. Lower league rugby is becoming a real possibility and with that a generation of supporters may well be lost.
It’s time to start putting things right Adam, before it’s too late.

His reponse

Thanks for the email Ian..I note all your points...
There is not a lot else I can say to you....you have your view I have mine..
We will have to agree to disagree..we will see soon enough who is right.
Hopefully you will want to be proved wrong...

I'll think you'll find Andy that you're sadly mistaken.
Radford is bullet proof, bomb proof and would probably survive a nuclear explosion.

I sent a similar e mail to him yesterday and got this response ;

Thanks **** your comments are noted...the gates are low and it is costing me money ...I do wish sometimes that the supporters would allow the coach and team time to develop but obviously thats not the case...

The coach continues to have my support so unfortunately I cant grant you your wish at present..the team actually needs your support at times like these but I suppose that only happens at clubs when they go into administration these days.

Genuinely sorry you are not happy..by all means organise a boycott if you want to bankrupt your club as trust me there aren't a queue of solvent people trying to buy a rugby club..

Sometimes in life the goings tough and you have to support ...whether it be a coach or your club.

Hopefully you will return when we are winning..although im surprised the catalsn game was the one to stop you coming...

Adam Pearson

So it would seem complacency has set in and that fans are being taken for granted something he said he would not let happen when I spoke to him prior to the start of this season.
He has no intention of getting rid of this inept coach.

Is a season and a half not enough? Strange thing to put.

if he wants to lose money and continue to do so, then great for him sticking with Radford. I'm sure we have given Radford time to develop his squad and it has got worse since last season. how can he still believe he is the man for the job???? any idiot can see Radford is taking us down at a rapid rate

How much time does he want, he voted for the season now only being 23 games long before we drop to play Fev etc.

Next 5 games are Salford,Warrington,Saints,Rovers and Widnes.I can see 1 win out of that lot

Reads like a bit of a dummy spit IMO.

As for the allowing time comment, the truth is a little inconvenient. The further into a coach's tenure you get, the more it is about them and less the situation they inherited. It has to be. It's not just that we're not giving Radford time to bring about the necessary improvement, the further we get into the Radford era, the stats do show that we are we're actually still getting worse, particularly in attack:

Winning %:
2014 - 37%
2015 - 36%

Average points scored:
2014 - 24
2015 - 17

Effectively, that's 2 scores worse!

Total points scored in comparison to rest of SL:
2014 - 8th out of 14
2015 - 12th out of 12

Defence is slightly better, but more worrying is that whilst last year there was much pointing to our positive points difference as evidence that we were better than our league position suggested, that has now gone. To me, this shows that the decline in our attack is outstripping our improvement in defence. We were promised attacking, exciting rugby, that's where I think most people are most disappointed/angered. It's not just a sulk because we are losing games, we're fed up of paying to watch dull, repetitive 'rugby' that is less entertaining than you can see in the local park. There's a saying in sport that the way a team plays is a reflection of the coach's philosophy, and it appears that ours is 'defence is King' when the main job Radford was charged with was supposedly to make us more attacking. We've actually regressed.

Maybe Adam hasn't come across the law of diminishing returns. I'm amazed that he seems content to let his investment wither away due to his own stubbornness. Pride doesn't pay the bills and an admission of his mistake in appointing Radford will go a long way to regaining the confidence and support of the supporters.

Has anyone got an email address for Adam Pearson or are you just emailing from the contact us link ?