Is that due to your "reputation" with the hull board, or say, if someone new dealt with approaches to the club they would say the same?

Which was only set up as an after-thought when Kear was given the elbow

But you don't know unless you ask!!! A change of personel and a new committee might do the trick, no disrespect to Hutchie by the way but there is a bit of baggage about, and Karl has a lot on, and a clean start might help. So who is willing to take up the baton from Hutchie?

As I said at lenght earlier in this thread FC Voices is a different animal altogether, and you should not presume that they would act as a conduit between an independant supporters club and the club itself. The club in turn would be foolish to mix the two up as well!

Funny how this only comes up when times are hard aint it?

If I thought the club were receptive and genuinely wanted to engage with the supporters, I'd love to do it. However, realistically it's not an option as I work full time, have 2 kids and live 65 miles from the KC.

TBH I think it's a really difficult job. Right now, for example, people are having a right go about the coaching staff and demanding that the club "do something". What do you do? First meeting with the club, say "we're not happy with the coach. We want you to pay him out and hire a new world class one, please." I think I'm reasonably well balanced and could probably articulate fans concerns OK, but in that scenario the response you'd get from the club would be "We've got a binding contract with Agar. We want some stability after 3 coaches in as many years. To pay him out would mean us increasing our level of debt. etc" There'd be a bit of challenging back on the fact that income would reduce anyway unless results are turned around etc, but ultimately I can't see the club would say "We've listened to the supporters and agree Agar's time is up". The report back to the fans would be the dialogue that went on, and there would then be a general bollocking of the supporters group as "toothless", a waste of time etc. It's a thankless job.

Which is why I think going through the media with concerns is better than trying to build up a relationship with the club. Even at this level, media influence can have a strong effect on a club

How do you see this working? Realistically the media as far as the club goes are Radio Humberside, KCFM and the Hull Daily Mail. Rule already does an hour a fortnight on KCFM and takes calls, some of which are quite blunt, and gives standard responses. I'm not being dismissive in any way, I'm just not sure what form the media relationship would take.

In times like these, where it seems that many fans are upset about one thing or another, I'm sure the media would love to run stories about how sections of support are unhappy. If there was a group who went to the media when the majority of its members where unhappy about something then the media would probably run it and therefore put pressure on the club. A group wouldnt then need a relationship with the club

Thanks - I could see how this would work for something like the Friday night switch, for example. Just not sure what we would go to the HDM with in the current circumstances. "Fans not happy with losing run and blame the coach and/or board". I think the club probably already gets that. Are you thinking of something like a comparison of the current squad with the 2004 one to illustrate the concerns with the board and the general weakening of the playing squad?

Humberside would, but the HDM and KCFM wouldn't dare. Since the HDM got banned by Pearson from City they've barely said anything bad about any of the Hull clubs, and KCFM's USP is that they have good access to the clubs board and staff

I feel the urge to stick in my 3d worth.

HISA has played a vital part of the clubs survival, indeed it was crucial back in the autumn of 99. We have not "needed" HISA since in any real major way and to many of the new fans they know little of its existence or aims. I strongly believe we could very well need a strong independent "pressure group" in the near future.

FCVoices was never meant to replace HISA and can and does serve its primary function of communication between fans and club. It has been a difficult time for HISA to operate in since 99, the fans have been happy and grateful to the current board for the survival of the club. Dissent against the club management has, and is still looked upon by some people as being wrong due to the debt we owe them. It’s now time to move on and clearly the club has on the playing field being going downhill for the last couple of seasons.

I would have willingly taken up the HISA baton at one time, I love a good scrap and I am a member and will continue to be a member.

Alas my failing health is at the moment stopping me from doing so much. True I have fallen out with the clubs management and that’s another reason why I walked away from this board, I do not do bitterness and hate.

I will help where I can and I urge anyone who loves this club and who is willing to stand up and fight for the club to do so.

You desert HISA and let it fall into decline at your peril, which would speak out then if we faced another Lloyd like situation ?

I would say both in my honest opinion, possibly more weighted towards me though, which is why i stepped back from my position and even left the FC voices committee (which i was on due to being the HISA rep).

I will have to dig out the letter HISA got sent from the club regarding this , but in a nutshell it said all communications from fans groups etc etc should be via FC Voices.

But then again they do meet with the disabled supporters group regularly, so that i guess is contrary to what they said. And they do allow the Vice Presidents and The Black and Whites association (both of whom do sterling jobs and put very good monyey into the club) to organise events independantly too.

I did 3 years ago

They didnt like what i said

So now there is no relationship

But for me HISA was more than this, we did a lot of good work but people only saw the negative sides.

For years we sponsored the Fans POTY award and had a table at every dinner etc, we also sponsored in some form and helped promote things like Party in the Park, FC Irregulars, The Allstars shirts, donated money or other things to Dove House and West Hull rugby club as well as running 2 or 3 'free' Fans Forums per year, some which were broadcast live on Humberside.

Then there was support for the Paul King testimonial events and i know they did a hell of a lot for Lee Jacksons when the club did not seem to be interested in it.

And finally, over £4k raised on a race night (with the help of a few others) for Steve Prescott, i may be wrong but i thnk it was the first event that was put on after Steves illness was diagnosed.

try posting that sentence on the dobbins forum

I think the club need reminding that HISA is not just "Hutchie" its an independant supporters group that, whether you beleive it or not, had a strong influence on the club through the views of its members at the turn of the century.

They might want reminding that HISA sponsored the match ball for a game, and raffled the VIP places off to its members so that "normal" fans could savour that experience, which many will not experience now due to the inflated prices. The committee and my dad were heavily involved in arranging Lee Jacksons testimonial, like hutchie stated, the club were not interested in helping out a player that the city produced and ended up having a successful stint in the NRL and a GB international.

They always sponsored end of season trophies, gave fans the opportunity to meet the players at quiz nights and forums in an informal setting, unlike what the FC voices group have. HISA recognised the achievements of former players with honoury memberships and gave leaving presents to players such as Tony Grimaldi, David Maiden and Luke Felsch, players who helped us to become the club we are today and gave us, as fans, the belief that we were getting back to where we rightfully should be.

And i wont list the amount of times the commitee met with Shane Richardson and Adam Pearson about the stadium, addressing FC fans concerns and relaying the answers back to the fans.

Or how about the club asking HISA to walk round the pitch at Headingley with a "sorry" banner after the McAlpine incident, only for Gary H to cancel it due to safety concerns.

HISA is missed in my opinion and should it recapture its old memebership numbers then i think the club would be wrong to ignore it