HULL City Council have hit back at Hull KR following their criticism of the new North Stand development, saying they won't be blamed for the club's 'financial difficulties'.
It comes as Rovers officials today labelled the new £8m development 'shambolic' and claimed repeated delays had cost the club between £750,000 and £1m in revenue.
Rovers chairman Neil Hudgell said failings over the development, for which he blames the council and project managers NPS - a company part-owned by the authority - had put an extra financial strain on the club.
But in a second statement on the issue today, the council said Rovers had been involved in every step of the development, and questioned why they had now publicly attacked the work.
"We are disappointed at our North Stand project team colleagues from Hull KR for not flagging up problems they had with the North Stand project earlier, on designs that they have signed off with us at every stage of the development," said the council statement.
"We are also disappointed that they have used this to blame us for their financial difficulties. We have no responsibility for the running of the finances of the club.
"Changes requested to the design, have led to the 4-5 weeks slippage, which is not uncommon for a project of this size and we believe that the stand will be better than the original design. The club has been part of this process.
"Also we have already committed to addressing issues of concern to us and the wider project board, such as the colour of the stand as part of the project board meetings.
"We have asked Hull KR to reconsider their position but they have refused."
