I predict at least 40 pages for this thread.

Does this loss include the 100k for Westerman or was that the previous year ?

No too bothered this year as long as the trend continues downwards. AP is right. "If you build it they will come"

He's been quite impressive over the last few weeks, his honesty has been refreshing.

AP comes in ,
1, covers the tax debt and god knows what else himself,
2, listens to the fans,
3, is honest with the fans wether we like what he is saying or not its warts an all honesty .
4, bins all the deadwood and brings in the best he can get his hands on to turn the ship around .
5, promotes the youth internally.
6, looks to invest even more cash than he already has
and asks nothing more than support of the new regime and a chance from us lot!!!

we should all be thankful that AP has taken over FC as he clearly seems a man of immense integrity and honesty, the more i see what he says in the press etc the more I like the guy and we should ALL get behind him 100% and push those gates back to where they should be and reward Mr Pearson for taking on what is clearly a huge job on all fronts but a job he has done quietly and professionally whilst steadying the ship at the club I love ..

in AP we trust and my family will support the new regime at all times!!

well said sheldon, in a nutshell mate!

One thing he (Pearson)saidat the 1st fans event was he'd never lied, and he had no intention of starting now. We may not always want to hear what is said, but it will be the truth.

I'd sugest that the past few weeks, and the latest announcement have shown that to be true.

As you say, very refreshing.

Parasol's sponsorship of Rovers last year was £nil according to their accounts.

So, just as Rovers have "10,000 break even gates" thrown in their faces every verse end, it appears you need 14,500 to break even? Good luck with that, lets hope you get 2 home derbies per year (as per 2007) to prevent you missing this target every season.

That old line

How many years you gonna use that for. You're a SL club end of and therefore should be competing like every other club.

If Rovers get over 8k fans they see it as a success.

Hull have got over 8K season ticket holders and see it as disappointing.

Says it all!

Aye. Fair enough.

Looking forward, I think Pearson and the HDM make some interesting points in the two articles released today, covering related issues.

The 2007 peak attendance of >14.5k did include 2 home derbies, so maybe ~13.8k would be a better figure for comparison. Although the previous era now seems to be considered disasterous, it did include a successful period in the middle of the decade, when gates increased - but not massively. A winning team, by itself probably isn't enough.

I think Pearson is effectively acknowledging that with the talk about changing the tenancy agreement, and delivering more attractive pricing. I've been playing with the figures and it is difficult to see a silver bullet. If you lower prices significantly, you're immediately offsetting a big part of the increase you get by getting more people in. A small decrease likely only has a small effect.
He presumably wants to persuade SMC to take a smaller fraction of the cash from the gate above 7.5k, providing the club with a greater incentive to increase attendance. SMC would be wise to take that, IMO - depending on what they get in return. The possibilty of more people above 7.5k works... to an extent. On top of that I'd want the crowd threshold lowering and/or a bigger basic ground rent. Assuming it is a business choice.

I agree that Pearson seems like the right man for the job. It does now look like a big job though. Investment takes time to bear fruit, and he seems to accept that further losses are possible or even likely.

On a more positive note, Hull FC have paid a number of fees for players in recent years, so they probably have more than most to re-direct to where it is needed most.

There may also be an element of painting this as the darkest hour before the dawn, given the ill-will between the old and new owners. Sets up next years figures as a good news story 12 months on. Spin never really dies, it just changes direction.

No it doesn't. Who exactly said Rovers see 8k+ as a success?

Success should be measured in the trophy cabinet when talking about sports clubs and in that respect both clubs are failing to meet aspirations.