Hull FC owners apologise for 'difficult' season

Hull FC are second bottom in the Super League table with five wins from 19 matches this year [swpix.com] Hull FC's owners have said they "take responsibility" for the club's terrible 2026 campaign. The Black and Whites have won just one of their past 10 Super League matches and are second bottom of the table. They announced in early April that head coach John Cartwright would be leaving at the end of the season to be replaced by former England coach Steve McNamara but Cartwright subsequently left 10 days later after saying he had been "betrayed and disrespected". "We are sorry that this season has been so difficult. We accept that mistakes have been made, and we take responsibility for them," Andrew Thirkill and David Hood said in a statement on the club website. "Meaningful change, however, requires ambition, difficult decisions and the courage to act. "Those who genuinely attempt to improve an organisation will not always get every decision right. The important thing is to recognise mistakes, learn from them and continue moving forward with honesty, determination and purpose." They added: "Hull FC is a sleeping giant. Our responsibility is to awaken it, rebuild it and create a club capable of competing consistently at the highest level." The duo, who took over in December 2024 to end Adam Pearson's 13-year spell in charge, have offered to provide free official coach travel to supporters for the team's remaining three away games this year. Interim head coach Andy Last has lost nine of his 11 matches since stepping in after Cartwright's exit. The Black and Whites trailed Leigh 28-0 at half-time in Saturday's 32-22 home defeat and Last acknowledged after the game that he would "probably have booed" the team off at the break if he had been a paying supporter. "I'm proud of the second 40 minutes but bitterly disappointed with the first half, which was not a reflection of what we are as a group," he told BBC Radio Humberside. "It was a tough half-time. I didn't shout and bawl, I just questioned the lads' character and their effort, and their heart for 80 minutes in the competition, which is a horrible thing to challenge them with." They welcome cross-city rivals Hull KR on Thursday, with last season's treble winners on a run of three defeats in their past four matches.