We're crying out for a Swain/Fitzgibbon/Ellis type player, someone who leads from the front and can rally the players when things get tough...even sneyd had smarts about him and would have made good decisions like taking the two at the end of the first half

Yes it was baffling not to go for the 2 with such a small amount of time on the clock, it would have avoided the embarrassment of a nilling and as you say would have meant we'd have gone in 'just' 2 scores behind at the break and that changes the tone of the half time teamtalk

With Savelio I can only assume it's either a discipline issue or an injury they are keeping quiet as he has been one of our better players.

The not taking the 2 was mad. Especially when you look at the 2 'plays' we put on after the penalty

Spot on. A legendary FC moment is Swain giving everything he had got at Cardiff to charge down the Leeds drop goal. The current team are so dumb they won't have twigged a drop goal was on and then would probs stand hands on hips watching it

I think on the surface you could say the days under Hetherington have been similar to those under Pearson but that about the only similarity. Pearson has invested in the club heavily as opposed to Hetherington who did enough to ensure fans still turned up in numbers but maximised her & other shareholders take. Where I feel Pearson went wrong has been listening to wrong people in terms of rugby related matters from the off. As I said previously he should have backed Gentle instead of Radford which is where I believe the Hull mafia really took hold. McRae was another at the start who sadly tarnished his name at the club in his second spell at the club. I also don’t think appointing Clarke as CEO or involving him in recruitment has been a wise move. I think Adam has needed someone within that DOR role for far too long. That is what I believe Smith told long term at the club is

What is disappointing and frustrating to the fans must be even more so to Adam who has given the players just about every tool required to deliver success other than the right Coach, which I think he got right in the first place but he just didn’t back him.

I've been warning you for some time about the way the tide was turning you wouldn't have it.

Off the pitch the chasm is even wider.

The future is Hull Kingston Rovers.

Agree with all that, Gentle had a rushed together mix of last minute and journeyman players in 2012 yet finished 6th with I think the best home record we've had at the MKM? 2013 also was a 6th placed finish but Ellis limped off before his first game and that was a massive blow. Then the players downed tools at Huddersfield and that was the que for 2 more poor seasons before Motu Tony's signings did the business.

Sadly Pearson's record of hiring coaches was also patchy at City, appointed Peter Taylor and Phil Brown who are in the history books but there was also a list of Jan Molbys and several other flops.

It was a gimme two points and crazy to turn it down with one play the ball to go.

Enjoy celebrating, Des. Hopefully more of a game at CP later in the year, I think you may have the Clive Sullivan Trophy wrapped up already though.

Obviously with abridged accounts it's difficult, but Hull have lost about £2.5m since 2011 (think this was when AP took over). We can argue that there have been many poor decisions and also some good ones over this time period, but we are where we are. If we are stuck with a squad of the current calibre because that's all we can afford I'd rather drop down a division tbh. We can't compete at SL currently.

I think that I understand the why?
We are to have a big clear out, but TS wants to give the players we have every possible chance to prove themselves. A Derby is a very good stage to try and get the best out of them.
It's going to be very difficult to get rid of 20 players and replace them all. It certainly is a transition year and you have to be sure that a new player available, is going to be an improvement.

A part of that 2.5m will be Covid, all those behind closed doors games and a drop in merchandise sales as people generally buy stuff to wear at games.

As far as I'm aware we are spending full cap (we keep being told there's no spare cap to wheel and deal) and the backroom staff is bigger than it has been for years. So we are spending the money just spending it badly.

We're "at budget" not at full cap

True but how the debt arose doesn't change its existence or that it needs servicing. I thought we were £500k under the cap but could well be wrong.