Is that all true? For the Allams to stay they need to make enough money to make it worth their while; they also need to make enough to offset the hassle. Once the PL payments have ended that equation changes dramatically. 5-6000 fans returning and putting their ticket money into the club would not significantly alter that change in equation. The club will still have everyday costs to cover, the SMC will have its own costs - dilapidation won't magically disappear. Paying £30 for a ticket will change nothing exept the level of support for the team; it certainly won't alter the way the Allams view remaining at the club. Hull City is withering on the branch on the basis of a misconception. If you're sick of the football, can't be arsed or simply can't make it, then that's fine, don't support and don't waste your money on something you don't need to. But don't use the wrong reason, as they'll leave when they're good and ready and the club will need a support base - a support that is rapidly declining and unlikely to return anytime soon.
They'll leave when either... A : They've collected the last of the parachute money or... B : They are sufficiently embarrassed by the lack of support. I'd prefer B, but I know that won't happen. K.
We'll never know. How long have they been not attending games? It's being booed/jeered/insulted in public that they hate, so they avoid that. Whether the stadium is full or empty is not a concern for them, financially or otherwise.
If the stadium is empty it will become our fault ( as it always is, a ready made excuse) 'they didn't support/want us'..........followed by 'we delivered on the pitch, 'Wembley, Premier League twice, Europe, record signings, etc......the most successful owners in the clubs history.....etc....yet the fans wanted us out......etc' When all this is behind us that is how history will be re -written, as it has been about the Fish/Dolan era. Repeat the same scenario.......'the fans wanted us out, we had no money to buy players etc.......they didn't support us in numbers.....crowds were low...etc' Nothing about the total lack of investment in the team/club for 20 odd years. All forgotten, except that it was the fans fault.
That is probably right Phil. The only counter I would say is that once all this is behind us, no one will care less what the Allams say about their time anymore. In the same way that if Martin Fish piped up just now about the 90s no one would listen. And the fans will know the truth. And maybe that’s the most important of all.
Leaving aside the mess about the name, concessions, memberships etc, I think Ehab Allam will be remembered for his disastrous handling of managers, recruitment and transfers. Sine he forced SB out, we have seen increasing instability, late and poor recruitment, terrible recruitment (example: Robertson to Liverpool for £8m we get Stewart for £6m) to the extent that our squad is unbalanced, haphazard and unhappy. All totally avoidable even if he did want to recoup his family's money. It's been done in a blundering cack-handed way that has lost us tens of millions in the transfer market as we sold cheap and bought high. We no longer have any semblance of a team, just a bunch of players that Slutsky and now Adkins are trying to get a tune out of. I can't remember any other club shooting itself in the foot in terms of bad recruitment/transfers in the way we have. It's without precedent. And there is probably someone smugly congratulating himself on the money has got from it all, oblivious to the invisible millions he's really lost due to his ineptitude..
And the Get Out of Jail Card will be played............we did this that and the other and gave them the most successful period in the clubs history, unprecedented, and they didn't want us, they wanted us out........ therefore it's there fault. They could have built a club to last a lifetime, a legacy but instead we're going to finish up where we have been for most of our history, dreaming of hitting the big time. That dream has turned into a nightmare.
And the football world will think "Ahhh, they're back where they belong in the third tier. That Allam put his money in to get them up there and now he's taken it out again. Move along, nothing to see...."
the alternate 'get out of jail card' - 'things could have been so different, but they threatened to move the club out of the city, they refused to call the team by its proper name, they kicked the kids out of the Airco Arena, they increased the price for children and the elderly, they doubled the price for the disabled, they left the club in a significantly worse position than when they took over and deliberately stripped the club of all its assets and they told the fans they were irrelevant and they could die and all because they couldn't accept that anybody had the right to question their actions
