“If they want rid of me…” – Hull FC Chairman Adam Pearson’s message to the fans

Hull FC chairman Adam Pearson has sent a message to the club’s fans following the sacking of head coach Tony Smith and the release of star players Tex Hoy and Nu Brown in what has been a hectic week for the club.

This crazy week has been the culmination of what has been an incredibly poor 2024 campaign so far with Hull FC winning just one of their opening seven Super League games, that coming against promoted side London Broncos and by a margin of only four points.

Since then the Black and Whites have lost five games with the most recent four seeing them concede 50 or more points on three occasions and allow a whopping 36 tries.

It led to the club making the decision to sack Tony Smith, as confirmed yesterday, whilst the immediate release of overseas stars Tex Hoy and Nu Brown was confirmed today and now the club’s chairman has taken to the radio to address the fans.

Speaking to BBC Humberside, Pearson answered questions for approximately 30 minutes but he concluded his interview with further news on supposed investment, explaining: “There’s a lot of work to be done but I’m actually excited that the investment has come as a real bonus because I thought it was going to be a very difficult and arduous process but there are two or three people now in the pipeline and that’s making that quite enjoyable as we push through that process.”

He had earlier in the interview confirmed that the club intend to be competing among the “top five” of Super League as he offered a timeline on when fans can expect any investment.

“I would imagine that process probably taking until the end of the season, but it is moving efficiently. The more publicity that my search for investment gets, the more people pop their head up above the parapet. The disappointing thing is that none of that interest has come from Hull,” Pearson explained.

What did Hull FC chairman Adam Pearson say about the fans?

One of the many issues that Hull FC fans have had to moan about this season has been the lack of communication and transparency from the club, a complaint often directed at the higher-ups at the club and Pearson in particular.

On that matter he explained that as an “old-school” chairman he doesn’t think that he “should be in the paper every week spouting this and that and just trying to keep fans happy”, instead explaining what he has been doing.

Pearson revealed: “I’ve been working on the investment probably for about six months now diligently through a corporate broker in Leeds and doing it professionally and therefore you just can’t talk about that process because the minute you do and conjecture gets out and people start to try to guess which rich man’s going to buy or invest in it, it all becomes a nonsense.

“We’re trying to do it professionally behind the scenes. Could we have communicated more about how poorly the team was doing? I think that we’ve got plenty of platforms already saying that. I’m not going to sit here and say we’ve been good enough. We’ve been far from it.”

He also quite comically explained that the team have been so poor, losing a total of seven games from eight, that he couldn’t possibly release statements after consecutive losses given how many there have been.

“We have to remember that we have only played seven games as well so whilst it’s not good enough by half, I can’t come out every two games and say how poor we are.”

He took a more serious tone for his final sentiment to the fans in which he seemed to offer up a veiled dig, effectively explaining that fans won’t be kept in the loop on the investment discussions for fear that fans may “frighten” prospective owners. Pearson referenced images of his own house having been posted on social media as a “veiled threat”, something he is keen for prospective investors not to be subject to.

Pearson stated: “If people want me to communicate more I will do but as far as the investment process is concerned I will be closing that communication down straight after this interview because it’s in nobody’s interest.

“If they do want rid of me that much then it’s not in their interest for me to put names and things out because people will run away from it. They don’t want to see their houses on social media media and veil threats and things like that it frightens them.”