Castleford Tigers boss Lee Radford breaks silence on his ‘claustrophobic’ time at Hull FC and ‘bizarre’ exit

Currently, Lee Radford is the head coach of Castleford Tigers, sitting in fifth in the Super League table.

But, Radford is perhaps most well known for being Hull FC head coach – where he won back to back Challenge Cup Finals in 2016 and 2017.

However, the good times at the Black and Whites crashed and burned towards the back end of Radford’s tenure in East Yorkshire.

And, now the former Bradford Bulls forward has spoken out about his time at the club for the first time.

“At Hull you have to become immune, it is claustrophobic,” Radford told the Out Of Your League podcast.

“You would lose a game on a weekend and you would be in Asda the following Friday and fans would come and say ‘what happened last week?’ and I’d only just got over that.

“You have to give them the time or else you get called an arrogant f*cker. Hull is unique and a unique city in rugby league.”

Radford, of course, was sacked live on Sky Sports following a 38-4 home drubbing by the Warrington Wolves back in 2020 and he has revealed the story of how it happened.

“I think bizarre and surreal, it was funny as my missus never came to watch games and she came to watch that game and I don’t know why.

“I had come after he game and sat in the changing rooms. I was waiting for the players to come in and Adam (Pearson – owner of Hull) wanted to see me, so I got ushered of into a small bar and Adam said ‘look I am going to have to make a change.’

“I said no problem and I understood as it was a horrendous performance. Looking back it was the right time because I wouldn’t have quit, but was it the right way to do it? Definitely not.

“I went into the changing rooms to tell the boys and then thanked the other staff. It was surreal and the day after there was a bit of numbness and relief. I actually slept that night!”