LUFC Barmy Army Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 So I am manager of Hull and just finished the 2021/22 season in 6th place in the Premiership. I have been in charge of Hull for 6 seasons now, and about 3-4 months after I took over, a new chairman was appointed from within the board. The current stadium, The Circle, was built in 2002 with a seating capacity of 25,404. My first season in the premiership ended in Hull claiming 11th place and selling out about 98% of home games. At this stage I approached my chairman with a request to increase the stadium capacity. He agreed. The stadium capacity was increased to 38,000 at a cost of £13m, which was payed for through a loan. Fair enough I thought, I can live with paying £85k a month for the next 14 years... The season with our new capacity stadium proved to be a successful one and, once again, managed to sell out the stadium 9 times out of 10. Brilliant, I thought. The chairman then announced he is going to expand the stadium again. another 10,000 seats would be added to increase the stadium capacity to 48,000. This time there would be no funding and would come directly out of the clubs finances. Due to this, the next season proved to be one where I wasn't prepared to risk the clubs future by spending big on players, so I had to go cheap and invest in younger players. A couple of seasons passed with steady growth to the clubs finances. Midway through the season I asked the chairman to improve the youth facilities. At first he said no, but after some reasoning he decided to accept and planning got underway. The end of the season came and, as mentioned above I finished 6th which was a record high for the club. We also won the Carling Cup and FA Cup along the way. In terms of The Circle, we were getting an average attendance of around 44,000, and only managed to sell out 5 games throughout the season. Then my chairman comes to me again, and tells me that the stadium is, once again, going to be expanded. This time it is by 16,000 seats, bringing the capacity to 64,000. Again there is no funding for this improvement, which is costing the club £21m. This leaves me with a current bank balance of just £1m going into a new season. What's more, is the youth facilities are no longer going to be improved due to the club being unable to find the funds to cover the cost of the redevelopment. I don't know what to think really, obviously the chairman is clearly very ambitious. But is he another Peter Risdale? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.Greeny Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Why is it called 'the circle' on footballmanager? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazaru5 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 might be to do with the stadium naming rights Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUFC Barmy Army Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Most fans refer to the ground as The Circle, and this is it's name for some reason in FM. Its official name is The KC Stadium though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazza Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Im a Hull fan and we always call it the KC. I always use the editor as it annoys me that it is called the circle in FM when nobody calls it that anymore. the circle was the old cricket ground years ago where the stradium has been built on and Hull played on many manyyears ago Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUFC Barmy Army Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thanks for clarifying that wazza! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylorsmen Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 It does seem extreme that your chairman wants to constantly upgrade capacity, especially as it's costing the club millions that could be spent elsewhere (youth set up like you mentioned) What i need to ask is though, a Leeds fan managing Hull And what Wazza said, nobody has ever really called it the circle, i believe the stadium was built on the old cricket 'Circle' , hence the name. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazza Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 It does seem extreme that your chairman wants to constantly upgrade capacity, especially as it's costing the club millions that could be spent elsewhere (youth set up like you mentioned)What i need to ask is though, a Leeds fan managing Hull I ws going to mention that but didn't want to upset him lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manden Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I would be pretty pleased what that expansion to be honest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUFC Barmy Army Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 I think it is fantastic for the club in the long term. I've just come out of pre-season and sold 28,000 season tickets which has raised alot of income and i've managed to spend around £8m as a result on strengthening the squad. As for me being a leeds fan, I know it does sound bizarre but I wanted a challenge of taking a club to the top with some decent facilities and ambitions - Leeds were in the Premiership when I took over at Hull! Thanks for the reply's! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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