:5j6uo6i7

Agree it'll be interesting to see, sounds like there's some ambition with the recent takeover by Martin Jepson, same with Wakey too, had an easy year being the big fish in a small pond, but will their crowds continue to hold up if they begin to struggle in SL again?

I’m not too fussed anyway about been downgraded. Scraping the provisional grade A licence was the worst thing to happen for the club, it literally gave AP the licence to throw the towel in for a season that’s likely done irreversible damage to the club long term. Maybe in future it’s for the best for both Adam and the club in general that we are kept on our toes. Also for perspective on the performance thing, Championship or not that Wakey team this season would have hammered us.

:me4j7jdx

Agree, we also got lazy during the last franchising era circa 2009. Rule/Kath would tell us we were GradeA and all was good then sign Thorman to lead the team around

Grade B confirmed which I have no problem with but the fact Cas and Wakey have got a Grade A shows the grading system is a joke.

Have you seen the things we have been downgraded on?? How many people watch our games on TV (when we play at 3pm on a Saturday we compete against the full football calendar, so I feel that is unfair) and one of the others is the quality of the LED screens! Laughable

https://www.hullfc.com/blog/2024/10/23/ ... -for-2025/ Interesting we did OK on Finance. People can complain about the criteria but I actually think it's humbling, and helpful, that we've dropped out of the top tier. The club's performance over he last 5 years has completely failed its supporters. An objective grading supporting this fact is powerful. Without significant on field improvements we will go backwards in several other measures - attendance, stadium utilisation, social media engagement. Personally I have very limited confidence in the current leadership that this will be delivered.

https://www.hullfc.com/blog/2024/10/23/ ... -for-2025/ Interesting we did OK on Finance. People can complain about the criteria but I actually think it's humbling, and helpful, that we've dropped out of the top tier. The club's performance over he last 5 years has completely failed its supporters. An objective grading supporting this fact is powerful. Without significant on field improvements we will go backwards in several other measures - attendance, stadium utilisation, social media engagement. Personally I have very limited confidence in the current leadership that this will be delivered.

:7eg8oofj
The deduction for points of the big screens is just an embarrassment. As the email says, we're the only club who have. 2 screens never mind 1, and we've been punished because by the sounds of it they're actually too big (to get the desired pixel pitch).
B is what the club deserve for the on field performance (granted caused by off field decisions) over the last few years, but some of the downgradings for things like our screens or TV viewing figures are just ridiculous.

:180qli1g
Nothing for youth development either, so the usual clubs will just sack it off with no consequences. Imagine being punished for TV viewing figures, the sooner IMG are gone the better for our game.

:15r1bwez
Edited for accuracy.

:2p3dkyw4
So you think the grading criteria will work? You don't have to invest in your youth setup to help provide a bigger player pool in the country but as long as you have a screen with a certain amount of pixels your doing alright? Maybe we should change our games to 9am on a Sunday morning as there's no football on at that time.

The club have no one to blame but themselves. All those years investing in the academy. Could have just bought some LED boards with the IMG preferred pixel count.

Cas being a Grade A club literally sums our sport up.

As garbage as the grading system is, the downgrading will at least be a metaphor for the malaise at the club over the last five years.

Let’s hope change is coming.

Adam Pearson should hang his head in shame at what he's done to our club. The guy should be chased out of the city and never allowed back. Absolute clown

:27ddcweu

To be fair the PA system is very poor as well. I'm surprised that more emphasis wasn't placed on this. Lucky it wasn't part of the criteria in my opinion.

Need to sacrifice investment in the academy and prioritise the stadium acoustics.

:3mi9cj41

Academy is linked to performance, a great academy like Wigans leads to success at a senior level. Wakey will likely only be grade A for one year, they got 0.25 points for winning the champ GF and another 0.25 for winning the 1895 cup which they won't have next year. Enjoying seeing 'the game caller ' being called out for overhyping Bradford all year

Funny how Pearson didn't moan about the big screens last year when we were grade A? Trying to deflect from other failures (onfield performance) again.

How can they rate clubs on TV viewership? Surely viewing figures depend on a whole range of factors such as what day of the week the game is played, what other games are on, which channel the game is on (some only on red button now), what else is on other channels etc etc.

I can accept the B rating based on the on-field mediocrity of the last few years but the stuff about viewing figures and screen pixilation is just nonsensical.

It's down to the club now to sort the performances out and to get the A grade for 2026.

:3pvm898t

Don't clubs choose the kick off times though (apart from the two sky pick each week)? Img wanted to stagger them so it was only one game at once but the club chairmen overruled them, so if you have 3 games at once on a Friday night, viewership will drop because the TV audience is split 3 ways, rather than having one game on TV at once

Clubs don’t seem to get graded on the quality of facilities for fans either.

No one seems to be marked down for having terrible toilet facilities, or lack of modern amenities.

What is laughable, is we are downgraded for the 2 x LED screens we have at the stadium being too big, yet Old Trafford is the showpiece stadium for the Grand Final, and doesn't even have its own screen



Also, we should appeal the perfomance grading. If the club cannot use supporters in the catchment in places like Brough, Cottingham, Willerby and Beverley, then surely the performance of our players who live in those places shouldn't count either

At least Halifax got an improved score for their financial performance.

The system works.

The measures are a joke but so is our club so we get what we deserve. Laughable that wakey and cas are classed as grade A in any scenario

:3iqej5oz

You need to revise the 1895 Cup points it's not 0.25 for winning that comp

I can take a grade B for us no issues we deserve it for our performance on the pitch, but the fact Cas and Wakey are above us as a grade A club is laughable, particularly Cas have played the system, i don't blame them, but some of that criteria is a joke. The sports needs to build and to not include anything for youth and get punished for having a big stadium is absolutely shocking. I suspect the crirtia will change, it has to.

But one thing for certain is we have to improve on the pitch, get that right and everything will improve, if we don't we could be in trouble.

It's absolutely essential we show progress and improvement on the pitch

Is there a full breakdown of every club's score by individual measure? Can see ours but but everyone else's.