'Why is the culture bad?': Hull FC captain Danny Houghton issues impassioned defence amid 'toxic environment' claims

Houghton played a leading role in Hull's back-to-back Challenge Cup wins in 2016 and 2017 but has been unable to prevent his hometown club from drifting out of trophy contention and towards the foot of Super League.

Tony Smith was relieved of his duties last week with the Black and Whites 11th in the table after consecutive finishes of eighth, ninth and 10th.

Hull have struggled to shake a habit of collapsing to heavy defeats but Houghton – a player who has seen it all during his 18-year stay at the MKM Stadium – has stressed that is down to performances on the day rather than deep-rooted cultural issues.

"It gets thrown up all the time that the culture is horrible at Hull FC," said the club captain.

"Why is the culture bad? To me, a bad culture is when things are horrible, bad people are around the place and it's a toxic environment. I don't see that in this playing group.

"We just haven't performed on the field. Whether we've got enough as a whole to do that, we can all debate, but what we have enough of is self-respect.

"We need to go out there and make sure that we commit to each other and have a go for each other. Whether we've got the quality and the ability to go and beat Wigan and St Helens or not, all we can ask of each other is that we give everything to each other and the club.

"I don't see where it comes from – this horrible culture and this toxic environment – but that's what we're labelled with and the only way we can change it in sport is through results.

"If we're winning every game, all of a sudden we've got a great culture and it's not toxic anymore, so we've got to go down that route."

Hull have lost seven of their eight games this year and conceded 302 points in the process.

Houghton insists the players are doing everything they can to improve the situation.

"When people say some lads don't care, of course they care and they want to win," he added.

"Unfortunately, we haven't won and we've not performed to the (required) level but that doesn't suggest that we don't care and we don't want to win.

"We've got a few Hull boys in here: Laney (Jordan Lane), Brownie (Jack Brown) and the young boys, Charlesy (Jack Charles) and that. They care for the club and want the club to be successful.

"No player goes out onto the field and doesn't want to perform and win but unfortunately this season, we haven't been able to put our best foot forward and get that level of performance that we warrant from each other and that the club and the fans warrant. That's on us to change."

Houghton will play through the pain when Hull travel to St Helens on Friday after missing the recent defeat to Huddersfield Giants with a rib injury.

The veteran hooker is determined to put some pride back in the badge.

"It's an awful feeling when you walk off the field and you've had 50-60 points shoved up you," he said. "There's no worse feeling in sport.

"We don't ever want that to happen and we certainly don't want that to happen again.

"All we can do is what I thought when I was a fan and that's show a level of commitment on the field. I think every fan would be happy with that."