People seem to think that clubs can afford not to sign players like Martin.

Huddersfield have signed Phil Joseph ffs and Tony Tonks, both of which were shocks to the fans but both will be very good players on quite small salaries who will do what is asked of them.

Why is Tony Martin, a model pro with vast experience, such a bad thing? Nobody at the club has come out and said he is the man Hull will build a team around, he is simply a good old pro who will be low cost and hopefully high value.

Would you rather the board had pipped Wigan to Gareth Thomas's signature?

Think he had a great debut (against Halifax, me thinks), but then got tore a new one by Gleeson in his next (home) game.

The worrying thing for me is, peoples expectations have gone up dramatically now we have a new regime. That means if we start poorly under Gentle or he bloods a few of the youngsters, a lot of fans may turn on the new coach/players and it may turn a bit sour.

I'll be amazed if we start badly under Gentle with this new regime in place.

It seems as though you're deliberately missing the point. Looking at our squad, on paper at least, it seems unlikely that it's good enough to win the League Leaders' Shield or the Grand Final. We might be in with a shout of the cup, depending on the draws and suchlike. But the new team could still make an 'immediate, positive [...] impact' without us picking up any trophies. Next season is about a change in direction that can be built on for 2013. I think that has to include bringing some young players through.

I would hope fans will be patient.Rome wasn`t built in a day.Anything has to be better than the last few seasons.

wasnt this thread about martin to begin with lol