320 The Dentists Diary

“It was the best of times it was the worst of times!!!!”

Welcome to another edition of the Dentist Diary littered as usual with such mis-used literary quotes as on one hand we have a new shirt, record season ticket sales and a good feeling around the place, whilst on the other in the ‘Tale of two Cities’ (Hull and Brisbane) we miss out on what would have been our biggest capture for years. How did I feel when I got the news on Tuesday morning that Scott Prince wasn’t coming?....Gutted that’s how I felt, bloody Gutted!!!!

It’s been a much used expression around here, but Prince was the last piece of the jigsaw as far as I was concerned and had he signed last Tuesday it would have been a massive marketing coupe and I honestly believe that season tickets would have got up to something like 8000 by last Saturday, which would have been down entirely to one players ability to capture the imagination of the fans. Scott is a prodigious talent, an iconic individual and would have been a signal that we really do mean business as a club. We came within a hairs breadth of getting him, in fact, we had even got his cap allocation and contract OK’d by the RL.

Pearson told us, as he mirrored our disappointment, that Prince received a better offer with which we could not compete unless we put the Club at risk, while Brisbane Coach Anthony Griffin said he felt "awkward" initially, before speaking to the veteran halfback and explaining to him he could earn a lot more money accepting an offer from Hull to play in the English Super League. So, you chose who you want to believe. Both Club’s were I guess trying to justify a bad situation because obviously Pearson was disappointed, while Griffin was struggling to understand why his Club had signed a player that was not that popular when he was last there and who was probably, in an ideal world, over and above what they needed.As for Prince, well he was doing everything he could to stay Down Under.

In this week’s Diary I tell you exactly what I believe happened in the Prince saga, in what is possibly the only extensive explanation you’ll get!

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So the dream of Scott Prince is shattered and we are back to square one. That, despite record ticket sales (and those continuing after the disappointing announcement), a smart new strip revealed last night and a real feeling of progress at the Club, as us fans are left licking our wounds and contemplating what could have been. In the end an opportunity to stay in Australia was what Price always wanted and was either down to him still harboring hopes of International honours, (which look pretty unlikely) or simply him chasing the money. Perhaps however it was just down to the singular fact that that he or his wife didn’t want to leave the ‘Sunshine Coast’ of Australia and maybe it was just a bit of all of those things. Whatever his motivation, as fans, once the scales have fallen from our biased eyes, we have to understand that we appear to have been his last resort and a meal ticket if all else failed. We had been used to bump up any possible Aussie contract to way above what he would have got had it just been a simple internal transfer. But none the less, from our point of view, we were still only just unsuccessful in our audacious bid to get a player that would have made everyone sit up and take notice and who would, I believe, have taken our team around the field in spectacular fashion.

The fact is of course that he has used us and our offer right up to the death to tout himself around the NRL in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to stay in Aus. However I want now to look a bit more deeply into what he has done and how by his own selfish actions, although completely understandable, Prince has managed to possibly jeopardize our chances for next season and screw us up big time. Harsh words perhaps? Well read on!!!

I have been doing some serious digging this week, at our Club, with a contact and Diary reader, Billy Neale in Brisbane, (hello Billy) with an ex-Kangaroo International who also lives in Brisbane and still works for the Bronco’s (who another pal first met on a cruise) and with my mates in the media, and what I have cobbled together is a sorry story of what can happen in transfer deals….. if you’re not careful! In fact I believe now that the whole Prince situation has impacted on a lot of things in a domino effect that makes for worrying reading and leaves our Club short changed on several fronts.

Let’s go back four weeks or so, when Gentle had been pursuing young Jacob Miller at West Tigers for about three weeks, he had spoken to him as had Adam via a video conference and the youngster was keen to join us on an extended deal. West Tigers under Sheens, (whose a big mate of Gentle) and player development supremo McDonnell (who is Shannon’s Dad and Gentles best pal) had agreed to the move and to release the lad while the Australian media, after his last game, were even asking Miller if he was looking forward to coming to England. I believe that the plan was that he would sign along with McDonnell and the wage allocated for these two would leave enough under the cap for us to bring back McGoldrick and perhaps even Aspinwall. Then we would have Miller and Holdsworth in the halves and McDonnell as Full Back with McGoldrick and Horne as backup for the three positions. That is now, when you step back from the situation, a really appealing scenario! Just over four weeks ago it was stated by McRae in a Mail interview that both ‘Goldy’ and Aspinwall were still in his plans, which reinforces that thinking too.

Then it all started to unravel as out of the blue Bomber receives a call from Steve Robinson, who is Prince’s agent, saying that the player fancied a move to England and “where we interested”. All of a sudden, this was the one, this was the quality player who would solve all our on field attacking problems and who would also prove to be ‘The Golden Child’ as a big commercial ‘drawing card’ for

Adam Pearson. Let’s face it as well, when all this is put to one side, Prince is without doubt a ‘proper’ number 7!

Negotiations began and Prince appeared really keen, but it quickly became apparent that the phenomenal size of the salary he demanded, meant a big decision had to be made, and the question must have been asked, do we go gung ho for this one iconic player? When that was decided upon the fall out was that Aspinwall and McGoldrick had to be told that they could no longer be housed within our cap, McGoldrick had hung around wanting to stay on, but decided to make plans to jet back to Australia and Aspinwall despite a ‘get out clause’ in his Leigh contract was reluctantly resigned to heading off to Lancashire too.

Then while the positive vibes continued to flow from the Prince camp, West Tigers ‘sacked’ Tim Sheens and brought in Potter who immediately said that Jacob Miller was going nowhere anyway, so as a Club we had sacrificed the opportunity to sign McGoldrick, Aspinwall and now Jacob and put all our ‘eggs’ in the Prince basket! But who cared? Not us lot, or our administration, as we were about to snare the biggest coupe of the British closed season. Even Prince’s agent announced it was a done deal and his saying that, prompted a Mail headline a week last Friday of ‘Prince will sign For Hull’. Then as the fans clambered for season tickets as if they were buying Mars Bars, at the very last minute when the contract had been agreed and even faxed to his agent, the bombshell was dropped. The posturing and double dealing that had been going on behind our backs without our knowledge for over a week was revealed and saw Prince renege on his promises and even on the agreement he had given Gentle the previous weekend. He instead opted to move just down the road to the Bronco’s, to whom he had gone cap in hand, when everyone at the KC thought the deal was done.

When the bombshell dropped, McGoldrick had obviously already had enough and appeared to be determined to return home, Aspinwall’s get out clause at Leigh expired at the end of October

and Jacob Miller if not feeling decidedly second best anyway, is none the less unable to leave Wests, even if he still wanted to because his new boss won’t release him. For me the whole plan or if you like ‘House of Cards’ collapsed just because Prince wasn’t honest from the off about his real feelings and used us!!! Pearson says it was all going well until the Aussie press found out but he is very naive if he thinks that you can do this sort of audacious deal behind the media’s back. With modern technology and social networking those days have gone!

It’s certainly interesting what you can find out when you speak to the right people isn’t it, and although I have elaborated a bit here and there, I think that’s, roughly speaking, what happened. A lot of you will poo poo all this as pure speculation, but by what I have been told particularly from the Aussie end, I honestly believe it’s true, England was, for Scott and his wife, the last resort, although it’s very unlikely that our Club and the Prince camp will ever admit it…. However for me we have been well and truly screwed!

Still to his unending credit, the fact remains that our leader once again did everything that he could to get his man and he should be commended for that. We have got used to disappointments and although the harbingers of doom on message boards etc, (who prefer hard times to good ones), were delighting in the Club they are supposed to support’s demise, there are, you know, a few plusses in all of this. In the euphoria, rejoicing and optimism the news of Scotts possible signing brought, I was quite prepared to over look a few gut feelings and worrying little concerns that I had tucked away at the back of my mind, because that’s what we supporters do. I think it’s called ‘Blind Faith’. However, I have to say they were there just the same, gnawing away as they probably were with some of you lot as well. But as long term sufferers of the ‘I don’t want to admit to having reservations’ syndrome that we have all experienced whilst we have followed the soap opera that is our Club…… we have to admit that we’ve seen all this before haven’t we?

Take for instance the length of time it took Prince to make his mind up, did any of you worry just a little that perhaps he was looking at every other possibility before he plumped for the KC, which now looks to have been that last resort. Was he totally committed to ‘Pearson’s Revolution’ or just chasing the money which was obscuring the realities of a move away from the beach and the sun to the wet and cold environs of Northern Britain? Someone Tweeted to his wife on her birthday last weekend, that she would be enjoying her next one in ‘Rainers’ which although obviously sent in jest has a kind of hollow, haunting resonance these days. Would we therefore have seen a ‘Family McKinnon’ type disdain for the City, the region and its people if, once it was raining and cold in mid February and his wife, who was finding it hard to even contemplate moving Cities in Australia, wanted out?

These were the concerns that I and no doubt a lot of you all had, but which the hype of the signing made me at least refuse to face. Then there was his age and the three year deal, the effect that the money we were paying him would have on the rest of the squad and indeed his ability to avoid injuries and keep his speed and sharpness in the three years until he left, aged almost 36, with a wheelbarrow full of money. Some reading this will say, “Oh Wilf’s just trying to look on the bright side” and in fact they probably have a point! However I will be the first to admit that all the disappointments thrown up by my years of watching the FC and seeing the situations thrown up by our chasing of Derek Fox, Martin Offiah, Michael Crocker, Rangi Chase and many, many other ‘nearly men’, had no effect whatsoever. You see I have to admit that I refused to consider any of these presidents and the concerns gnawing away at me, because I just wanted his signing over the line, his name on the team sheet and his charismatic presence here at the KC.

I wanted to go in the Drum and Monkey and brag about it!

I’ll never bloody learn will I? But will any of us, because that’s what we’re like as fan’s isn’t it? Now of course these considerations and

all those other ‘Thank goodness we missed out’ scenario’s are back at the front of our minds and being spoken everywhere as we struggle desperately to find reasons to justify our failure and disappointment.

But, and it’s a big but, whether we like it or not we have failed big time and I’m gutted we missed out on all the excitement and the hype that Prince’s capture would have brought, but I’m also really, really disappointed in Prince as an individual, (although I don’t suppose that will bother him) however on this occasion I would completely exonerate Pearson who I still believe did his best for the Club and the Fans. Furthermore I trust him to pick up the pieces and sort it out……eventually! But at present it’s still a bitter pill to swallow for this fan.

So, whilst we are on the worrying stuff, I see that Tom Briscoe in an interview on Sky on Friday refused again to rule out a move to the NRL at the end of his commitment to Hull FC. Although still admitting that he had yet to talk to Adam about his future, I wonder if already offers have been made from Down Under, because sadly folks I think he will be off. All the posturing that he is showing at present, points to him preparing us all for the worst and his head being turned when he and his Fiancé went Down Under last year for a holiday to be openly courted by three different Clubs.

Quite frankly who can blame him, we will offer a big contract but the fact remains that the best young players in this country are slowly but surely draining away towards the game Down Under. Look at this week as another young Rovers players sets off over there, and the more mature (in years at least) Gareth Hock is talking of chancing his arm in the NRL. Then, just last Friday, St Helens and Huddersfield Giants hooker Scott Moore became the latest Super League player to secure a move to the NRL after finalising a two-year deal with North Queensland

Cowboys. This is a player who has like Briscoe won International honours with three caps for England in 2009 and a player who is just 24 years old. We have to do something about the salary cap and the drain of our talent abroad, otherwise our game will sink without trace and that ain’t an idle threat it’s a certainty. What is the Rugby League itself doing about this exodus of talent Down Under? Well it appears to me…..bugger all! The game is in decline fella’s do something about it, we are losing our best players here, the Clubs are hemorrhaging money, the fans are desperate for attractive rugby, the game needs a national profile and you are doing nothing to address the prime issue. The problem is the Clubs who want to pay these players a bit more money to retain them, but can’t because of an inflexible salary Cap. These latest departures are pushing the game to the brink of crisis. Perhaps it’s time for them to look at central contacts as are used in Cricket for say our top thirty British Players, if that what it takes to retain them.

There is little doubt that the factors in Australia, their increased salary Cap, the Aussie Dollar and the increased scrutiny of Visa’s, along with our own quota system and salary cap, have weaned clubs off the reliance of bringing in overseas players to fill out their squad, and that can only be good for our game. We only need to look at the exciting young talent in the England squad to see how that has allowed clubs to give young players the chance to shine, but we can’t allow the continued siphoning off of this top talent to the NRL, because if we do, it will be the end of lot of good work and for me the death knell of our game. You see I feel that the lack of transfer movement and incoming Aussies will make the 2013 Super League season the one that is most recognisably as our own domestic competition, be it only made up of the British players the Aussies don’t want!!

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Shirt Launch down at Minstergate Hyundai last night at 6-00pm and it was an

interesting affair. The shirt was revealed when a customised Hyundai car in Club colours was uncovered to reveal Lynchy and Ogre wearing the new home kit, which at first glance I must say I was impressed with. OK it’s a bit 2010, but there isn’t that much you can do as far as variation is concerned and quite frankly although I’m a big fan of the irregular hoops (of course I am) I understand the need for a change and this will do for me. I like the use of the gold but would have perhaps have taken the front white V down to a conclusion before featuring the sponsor’s name but that’s a minor point. However what I like most about strips with a black background is the solid intimidating feel that they have. It’s a great shirt and will be very popular and I’ll be getting one! Incidentally the Club have taken two of the branded cars to highlight their Be13ive campaign and they really look smart, as you’ll have seen the shirt plastered all over the place but perhaps not the cars here is a sneak preview I took last night.

There were some interesting bits of news about the place this week and in one snippet away from Rugby I heard from St Paul’s Boxing Club that local hero Luke Campbell will be featuring as a contestant in Dancing on Ice this year, while over at Caravan Park the Dobbins are planning a pre season jaunt to Tenerife in mid December for a training camp. There was plenty about yesterday too about the possibility of Richard Horne heading off to Rovers and some bits of stuff about Dobson coming the other way. According to those in charge of our Club, Dobson was offered to us back at Easter last year, before Hudge changed his mind, but with increasingly frosty relations between the two Clubs I simply can’t see him letting his prize asset leave. Meanwhile several posters on the ‘secret’ Rovers message board state that ‘a broadcaster with a leaning towards Hull KR’ (I wonder who that can be) had indicated to them that he is

in the know that there was big news about new finance coming out of their Club this week.

There’s already some big news breaking this morning from the Kirk Yeaman Testimonial Committee too, with the launch of ticket sales for one of the biggest events of the Year, Yeamo’s Xmas factor. The event to be staged at the City Hall on Monday 17th December will be a real fun night with players from Hull FC and across the game competing for the Yeamo Trophy in an X factor type event themed around Christmas. Compered by the ubiquitous James Clarke it’s bound to be a really good laugh and tickets are now available from the City Hall priced at just £10 for adults and £5 for kids under 16 and that for what should be a great night and a chance to get behind Yeamo in his big year.

So season tickets have soared again and that after the deadline was extended last weekend, as once again the fans, (remember them? They’re us lot who, year after year, shell out and …hope), came good and backed the Club despite the utter disappointment of the Prince saga and the prospect of facing another season without a ‘proper’ number 7. Who would have thought 4 weeks ago today when we were on 3,267 sales that by the end of the discount phase we would be well on our way to 7,500 sales. Three weeks ago Pearson said on Humberside that previous sales trends indicated that providing we got 5,500 by the end of the deadline, we would reach 10,000 because of the take up of children’s tickets after the initial deadline for adults. You know, when you consider the fact that the region has seen the loss of possibly 1000 jobs this week and has shops everywhere saying that business is at least 12% down on the same period last year that’s pretty spectacular. I spoke to an old guy who owns a card shop in Beverley on Friday and he said he had never known it so quiet at this time of year in his 42 years of running the shop. He said no-one had any money which for me made the effort and dedication the fans of FC have show in backing Adam and Peter and the players by buying into the dream for next season simply phenomenal. Over at the other side

they are rejoicing at approaching 3000 sales whilst in Castleford they have put the bunting out for their sales reaching 1500, we are so lucky to have such a fan base ain’t we? So a big well done to everyone who has bought a season ticket and with a new Direct Debit scheme coming in today there’s still time to subscribe and one thing’s for sure, there should be a great atmosphere at the KC next season.

Here’s a picture Yeamo sent me this week I think the caption should read “Are you sure you won’t come out of retirement for one last season mate?”

So to Codgers Corner and the other day I was looking through the clubs Hall of Fame and I must say, for this supporter at least, it has some great memories and perhaps a few omissions too! However if you can only include 13 players it’s pretty obvious that although there are some really big stars of the past in there, there will be by definition a distinct lack of the bread and butter, one club for a whole career, type of players that have served our great club so well over the years. To me these guys are every bit as important when it comes to warranting recognition, as are the big name players who started at our club and moved on, or joined our club as already established performers. It takes a certain type of loyalty to stick at your hometown club throughout your career particularly when times are hard. However that was just what some players did back in the 60’s and 70’s and what I hope Yeamo and perhaps even Horney will one day be acclaimed for doing at our club too!

Of course these are ‘prophets in their own land’ and as such never have the memorable impact that those Big star signings have. When you look at these things from that angle you could never leave out a player who played his entire 15-year RL career at the

club, making 410 appearances and scoring 107 tries? This week’s Codger Corner looks at the career of one man who despite playing through a tough and unfashionable period of our great club gave unparalleled loyalty and service to the cause! Brian Hancock was in fact the only player to feature both in that infamous game at the Boulevard in 1975 against Huyton when we played in front of a record low attendance of 985 supporters and the famous Challenge Cup Final 5 years later against Hull KR at Wembley, which was watched by 95,000 people. Brian Hancock was never a star, nor was he ever going to be an icon for future generations to look back on and yet without him, and players of the same ilk, like Keith Boxall, Alf Macklin, Terry Devonshire, David Doyle Davidson, Alan McGlone, Chris Davidson and Keith Tindle our club probably would not exist today. In the really bad times when the club had little money to pay wages and crowds were small these guys committed their lives and sometimes their health to Hull FC. They were all probably owed wages at some time or other, many in fact probably in the end never even received them on occasions.

I can remember Brian Hancock signing for our club. I was 16 at the time and a pal of mine Steve Johnson played a bit for the Beverley R.U. club in those days. He told me that there were rumours that one of their star young players was having trials with the FC and training with them in secret two nights a week. In those days if you were a Union player who was caught playing for a league club you were immediately struck off ‘sin die’ and that was your Union career over, at any level!

Once he had signed, Brian became our regular stand-off and saw the club’s tranformation from the really bad times, until we were up there again at the very top of our game. Any of you who remember Brian will recall him as a ”Bread and Butter” 80 minutes player who gave his all. However I remember one particular game in which he really excelled, and it is one that stick in my memory even to this day!

The game in question was played when Hancock was Club Captain and he was on the way to leading us to the John Player Final in January 1976. We were drawn to play Leeds in the second round of the competition and managed a creditable 9-9 draw at home. The reply was played at Headingley in, I think, November 1975, and I went there on the train to witness the game. There were only about 2800 in the ground that night. Leeds had won their previous 12 games at home and was favoured to win easily, but they never got good crowds back then.

Funnily enough Leeds had wanted to play the game a week later because they were in the Yorkshire Cup final that year, but the League ruled that they should play the replay two days before the final (Can you imagine that happening now?). It was a miserable wet and cold night! The game started and the most memorable touch-own I can remember from Hancock soon followed. We were pushed straight into our own 25 from the kick off and were hanging on grimly when after about 5 minutes a scrum was formed just 15 yards out from our sticks.

I was in the South Stand with about 300 FC supporters as we watched the drama unfold. Kenny Foulkes got the ball out of the scrum and fed Hancock who shot through their halfbacks and started to motor down the centre of the field. Their full back, I think it was Marshall, was lying deep and confronted him as he crossed the half way line, but he side stepped him and set off on an arcing run to outpace Syd Hynes on the 25 yard line. Then we spotted their flying winger John Atkinson coming at him from the other side. Hancock somehow then adjusted the curve of his run the other way and just held off Atkinson whose last ditch tackle carried him over the line! I can honestly say for a split second the whole Stadium went silent in shock and awe of the try, before the FC Faithful let rip with applause followed by a loud and long chorus of Old Faithful.

The game finished 23-11 to us and Hancock went on to drop three goals as he led the FC to a great win. Just how great can be illustrated by the fact that Alf Macklin scored two late tries against

his opposite number international winger Atkinson to seal our victory!

Brian Hancock led the club to the Final and then the next season led us to the Second Division Championship. He was a great captain! In 1978/79 with the influx of big name players he switched to centre and despite losing the captaincy to Vince Farrar, scored some memorable tries as we won all 26 Second Division matches to be promoted again.

For me personally the Brian Hancock type of player would always find a place in my Hall of Fame because through some difficult times he was a great servant, a great team captain and one of the most dedicated individuals I have come across!

Last Monday at the Drum and Monkey I had a small and very informal book Launch. I would have liked to invite you all, because in one way or another you have all encouraged me and kept me going with your support for this rubbish and my efforts to produce the ‘difficult’ second book. However that was impossible as the place only holds around 70 people and so I just invited some friends, acquaintances, folks and ex players who had helped with stories, resources and ideas for ‘Roamin the Range Together the Sequel’ It was a great night but next morning the book went on sale and that’s when ‘reality bites’.

I trudged off to the Burnsey Show on Radio Humberside and did a bit on there and then sat back and waited. Launching a book is a bit like setting off those fireworks tonight; you light the blue touch paper and then stand well back and hope for a bang!!! The response however was phenomenal and by the end of the first day I had sold over 100 copies from the various outlets, which was just amazing! Next of course comes the point when folks actually start reading it, now that is scary! Still if you are willing to give it a go, it’s on sale at the Club shops, from Kevin and the guys at Barkers in Cottingham and by Mail order from http://www.ypd-books.com/220_pete-allen. Just paste that into

Google and it tells you all about the books and how to buy them. Thanks to everyone who has bought one and if you haven’t, at least please spread the word!

However despite the book launch, great sales and the new shirts, the Prince saga has made it a depressing old week in many ways, and although there is the fans forum this Wednesday and a first chance to see Yeamo’s Testimonial shirt, in the end perhaps all we can do is turn our attention to the festive season and what lies beyond in the 2013 Rugby League campaign. So, what do I want for Christmas? Well, it’s nice of you to ask, and the answer is simple. I only want what I have wanted for the last 5 Christmases or so, a proper, fit and talented scrum half and certainly, not a poor substitute or a hard working 9 or 6 trying to play at being one. We got that as usual last year, this time with Seymour and Ellis, only to soon discover that Seymour was broken before we even got him out of the box and with Ellis the batteries weren’t even included!

So, it looks very much like a Threepenny Bit and a tangerine again this time around, which is something that seems to have become the annual lot of the long suffering FC fan, as on Christmas Morning as we fumble about in the darkest recesses of our ‘pillow cases’ muttering “Well never mind, we can always play Richard Whiting there, can’t we?”. Still as Tiny Tim (not Wilby) once said at the end of a much more famous few days of despair and epiphany; God bless us one and All!!!!!!

Of course as always we’ll just have to see what happens! Thanks as always for your continued support and for buying the book in such numbers, FC fans eh, are there any better?

Keep Believing

Faithfully Yours

Wilf

P.S This week’s unusual photograph comes from my good pal Ian Puckering who sent me this picture of a his son Simon in a “guess who I bumped into” moment at Johannesburg Airport.