Hull FC chief executive officer Richie Myler has given his side of the story on the saga that has seen John Cartwright stepped down as head coach.
In early April, the club confirmed that John Cartwright would leave at the end of the season with the Australian’s deal cut short by one year, however, his explosive press conference effectively brought about his end much quicker.
Whilst still an employee of the club, Hull FC announced that Cartwright had ‘stepped down’ from coaching duties with Steve McNamara announced as the club’s incoming head coach for 2027.
Having heard Cartwright’s version of events, in which he claimed he felt ‘betrayed and disrespected’, via his presser, Myler has now spoken out in an interview shared on the Hull FC YouTube channel to offer the club’s version of events.
On Cartwright’s exit, Myler explained: “This isn’t a reaction to something that John has done or hasn’t done. John has been a great appointment for us… He’s come in and really galvanised the group and the fan base. The team are putting a proud performance in but it’s okay to want a bit more.
“That’s ultimately what the board reviewed over a period of time and the opportunity of securing another coach who we thought could take us to the next level, we just didn’t want to miss.”
That coach is of course Steve McNamara, whose incoming appointment was reported just minutes after the club’s official announcement that Cartwright would leave at the end of 2027.
On the motivation to move coaches on, Myler said: “Our intention was just to secure a really good coach and the future of Hull FC for the next four years, as it is.
“We have a clear understanding that John was doing a good job for us and we wanted him to see the season out.”
How Richie Myler broke the news to John Cartwright
Sharing his version of events regarding how the conversations went with John Cartwright, Myler explained that both he and club owner Andrew Thirkill spoke with the Australian to the point where there was ‘clear understanding’ of the situation, despite Cartwright’s claiming he did not know the reasons for his early exit when speaking to media.
Myler explained: “Me and John had a conversation in person on the Monday before the derby. It was a short conversation that lasted no more than ten minutes and my understanding of that conversation was clear.
“Obviously, John recalls that probably slightly different and that’s led to the events that have come out of that. But from that meeting the conversation was that the club had made a decision that for ’27, we’re going to go in a different direction.
“He still had the full support of us for ’26 and that was the message. The intent of that was that he heard it from me and the board, and not from a newspaper… Maybe it’s a failure from me that I didn’t deliver that message as clear as John needed it.
“Following that I had a meeting with Andrew Thirkill about that meeting with Andrew then having an hour phone call with John that reiterated a lot of those points. For me there was a clear understanding of what we were doing as a club.”
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Hull FC CEO explains Steve McNamara move
Myler was quick to affirm that the decision was not based on performance, even admitting to the fact that Cartwright had taken the club forward quicker than expected.
“Credit to John and credit to the club. We’ve progressed quicker than I thought we would and this club, and the ownership of this club, are so ambitious that they want to achieve excellence,” he said.
“There are so many people in our club doing a fantastic job, I just think we’ve exceeded the level of recovery.
“This isn’t a performance decision by the way. This is a progressive move where we feel there is an individual who can take our club forward quicker than John can.”
That individual being Steve McNamara, whose availability was the reason why Hull FC moved so quickly.
“The timing of it is linked to Steve McNamara,” admitted Myler, outlining fears that the former Catalans boss could even end up at Hull KR if FC did not strike.
“Me and Steve had a conversation where things were very clearly progressing. It wasn’t a done deal because obviously he was under contract at Warrington but we were on the same page that this was happening subject to fine tuning.
“The speed in which it happened was all down to circumstance. If you look at the market for English coaches at the moment, Huddersfield just let Luke Robinson go, you’ve got the situation with Brad Arthur at Leeds, and then the big and obvious one is that Willie Peters has decided he is leaving Hull KR.
“In my head, I’m sat there thinking I think we need a bit more and I know that there is a guy who is in an assistant role at Warrington. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity and I think if I was in a different position, let’s fast forward 12 months, and Steve McNamara is the head coach of Hull KR and I had an opportunity and I didn’t take it, I think we’d be having a different conversation because I think our fan base would be extremely annoyed.
“The timeline and timing of how it happened unfortunately affected John and John’s position. Our intention was to be honest with him and tell him the situation and what we were doing but obviously how he’s responded to that news, we’ve had to react accordingly.”
Surmising the decision, which many fans felt was harsh, Myler said: “I don’t really want to apologise for wanting excellence. I’m not perfect, there’s things I’ve got wrong, but it’s okay to want excellence and want more and that was the thinking of this decision. It’s not a reflection of any individual.”
