Pearson turns to Radford as Hull look for home-made recipe

AT ONLY 34, Hull FC’s newly-appointed Lee Radford may be the youngest head coach in Super League but, in the eyes of owner Adam Pearson, he is now exactly what the club requires.

The frustrated chairman sacked Peter Gentle earlier this week having, among other things, grown tired of the squad’s inconsistencies under the Australian and failure to perform on the big stage.

An abject loss in the Challenge Cup final against Wigan and a record 76-18 defeat at Huddersfield in the play-offs were obvious catalysts for his departure with two years still remaining on his deal but Pearson had long had his doubts.

Yesterday he spelt out what he wanted from Radford, the local lad who played more than 200 games for the Black and Whites, captained the club and then served as Gentle’s assistant for the last two years following his retirement.

“We feel we need a leader to instil fear into the team and bring consistency into the side,” he said, having seen an expensively- assembled squad finish disappointingly in sixth.

“They cannot just turn up when they want to and there’s been too much of a difference between our good and our bad displays.

“We have lacked an attacking identity all season and that is one of the major things we want to put right too. More attacking.

“We’ve relied very, very heavily on defence – which I think Lee’s done an outstanding job on – and there’s no doubt Peter has progressed us as a club.

“But I think to go to the next stage we need to bed in all this talent that is coming through the Academy and there is a lot of it. Looking at the squad for next year, we’ve got 10 senior pros coming from the Hull academy which is unprecedented.

“It’s a large proportion that is starting to get near the number we want and we feel it’s right at this stage to put Hull people in charge who understand those talents to bring them through.

“That is a long-term plan but it needs to be moulded into the way we’re going to play, a culture and identity.”

Radford – a robust, no-nonsense former prop who made his mark at Bradford Bulls before returning to Hull – has certainly played a big role already in those youngsters’ development as has the club’s Academy coach Andy Last who is now promoted to assistant.

Former New Zealand international Motu Tony – another former Hull player who has settled in the city – has taken over as football manager as Pearson looks to reconnect with the local population.

Ex-Airlie Birds stand-off Paul Cooke is also set to play some sort of role although he may be more active in his position as coach of Doncaster with whom Hull are set to forge official links for 2014.

Radford said he consulted the Hull players and staff, including Gentle, before agreeing to take on the role and they all backed him.

“It’s a massive honour and a massive responsibility,” he said.

Changing attitudes among the squad will be a key part of his job.

“I was massively disappointed with what happened against both Wigan and Huddersfield and both being on the big stage,” he said. “Everybody’s saying consistency is an issue for us and it is something we’ll look to address. That comes down to a number of aspects we want to change within the club but (losing in the big matches) does show how far we have to go.

“Within that there was a spike of performances and then a dip right back down. I speak to a lot of people outside of our club and a common theme they say is ‘we’ll be disappointed if we get you on a good day’. We want people to be disappointed when they get us EVERY day.

“We’ve a squad that should be competing. There’s outstanding individuals but the consistency of our training has had a knock-on effect on performances.”

Radford is pleased to have Last on board, revealing he had inadvertently learned two Super League clubs still in the play-offs had recently made offers for him.

Most of Hull’s recruitment has been done for 2014 by Gentle with Radford admitting he had little input – “surprising really” – and he knows stepping up from No 2 will mean a change in the dynamic with players, many of whom are also ex- team-mates.

“I know the natural progression is to distance yourself a little bit,” he said. “But I’ve got a great relationship with the squad and I think they’re looking for a little bit of dictatorship as well.”

On Gentle’s dismissal, Pearson added: “He was very, very disappointed because quite rightly he points to two top-six finishes and a Wembley appearance which is damn sight better than what club had been achieving before him.

“But now we need something else and Lee has the direct man-management style we wanted.

“We need to make people understand players care about the club and the city as we do.”