Quote Mild Rover="Mild Rover"While it shouldn't be the pinnacle, realistically top 6 isn't bad considering the challenges that Hull face. On the one hand is the salary cap, which is a leveller and means there are fewer easy games. Then, on the other, the almost perpetually powerful duo of Leeds and Wigan are always going to be hard to match.'"
But they [ishouldn't[/i be hard to match. And sixth [ishouldn't[/i be viewed as a good season. Not for a club with the fan base, merchandising revenues, sponsorship and salary cap space that Hull have. We have exactly the same amount of money to spend on players that Leeds, Wigan, Saints and Wire have.
I could understand this viewpoint if we were still at the Boulevard getting average gates of 7,000 and selling a thousand replica shirts a season. But we're not. Off the field, we're pretty big time.
Quote Mild Rover="Mild Rover" And while Hull are run for financial stability and the likes of Saints and Wire are run for glory, they too can invest in better support and development. FC could maybe do with a dose of ambition at the top, but without an injection of cash to underwrite it, there is risk.'"
As I said, we have the cash. We just use it really badly. Unless you're suggesting that spending, say, an extra £100,000 a season on a better coach would cause us to go into financial meltdown. We both know that a sniff of success would bring an increase in gates that would soon wipe that £100,000 off the balance sheet.
Quote Mild Rover="Mild Rover"As you point out, falling well short of even that fairly limited ambition, as they seem to be at the moment, carries risk too. I can imagine your board changing the coach, but not their fundamental approach and strategy.'"
They don't need to change their fundamental strategy, merely employ a top coach and let him do his job.
'"
