We paid off likely much bigger contracts in Reynolds, Evans, Fonua etc when we were not hiding the fact we were skint. I honestly have no idea the type of wages that Ock and Pele were on but maybe we didn’t take too much of a hit. Bradford wanted them and they’ve seemingly thrown a decent amount of cash recently for players.

Smiths position was simply untenable really, there’s no way Pearson could have stuck with him investor or no investor. Teams in financial trouble have sacked coaches before as they gamble to get results.

I’m not claiming to be in the know but the hinting at investment has done the job and took some of the pressure off and I certainly sympathise if it was just a ploy, I want AP to do whatever it takes to keep us going as a club. The word toxic has been thrown about a lot recently but if we’d have carried on without the changes in April the club would be beyond toxic.

The problem with RL expansion is a lack of money and patience. I actually think Crusaders were onto something in Wrexham. As the Hollywood Football owners have spotted it's a big town with not a lot going on and a wider catchment area to the north Wales coast to attract. But by the time Crusaders ended up there money was tight, there was a drama over visas and it all ended just as they were making the playoffs on the field.

Catalan has worked but crucially they were playing RL there for like 100 years and the 3 years exemption from relegated let them plan and build.

Toronto was a complete farce never going to work with those travel distances and they couldnt even play at home for the first few weeks of a season.

With the benefit of hindsight Maurice Lyndsey was into something when he suggested SL needed teams in big catchment areas but soon as the word merger was used there was uproar. Had SL just created new teams in Cumbria, Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool and got on with it who knows where the game would be.

We dont know but it doesnt cost money to sign new players pre season so in reality he has spent nothing unless as part of the deal he has paid something up front to Lord Lucan

Two more marquee signings I think!

I'll bookmark that

My gut instinct is the investor will take over at least a majority share and Pearson will step down to be just CEO.

Something prompted those changes after Easter. If we were doing things on the cheap then just sacking Smith and appointing Grix would have been the plan. Instead we've recruited an NRL coach and made a number of changes to the squad. And of course Myler being appointed with no experience and no links to the club but a rich future father in law is too coincidental.

I over heard that the new investor will take full control with Adam staying for two years as CEO to ensure a smooth transition as he knows the club!

Thats fairly standard practice in a takeover to keep the previous owner on for 2/3 years and make part of the package earnout related based on the profits of the earnout period so that there is some incentive rather than just going through the motions

AP did say that Smith would be his last coaching apppointment so that either meant Smith had a job for life or plans were in place then for AP to relinquish control of the club

Or more then likely IMO he just genuinely believed with Smiths record he would do a good job for 2-4 years or whatever and then let him take the DOR role after so he’s be appointing the coaches for the foreseeable after that, which I believe was the plan.

Even if it didn’t go smoothly on the field, I think AP was of the opinion (As 99% of the fanbase) the squad needed a major overhaul and he would back TS with the rebuild regardless of a few bumps in the road and short term pain. I just don’t think he predicted just how badly things would go, he had to act and that in hindsight made his comments look a little silly.

When he made that statement I think he was bullish about appointing a ‘proven head coach’ that Hull fans had literally been banging on and on about for 20 years non stop. I don’t think you can read too much into it, as we know AP has often got a little carried away in the media with this kind of thing. Think it was said with good intentions.

Too much of a coincidence for me that tony smith got sacked when he wasn't expecting it and myler rocks up a few days later. Myler spent 5 years at wire under smith so maybe he just didn't like him or think he was any good any more

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