Now reading the Dull Daily this morning it appears that the Allams are looking at calling the Councils bluff by stating that if they cannot buy the KC they will move City lock, stock and barrel to Melton. Now I am sure the villagers of North Ferriby, Melton and Brough wont want a 40,000 seat stadium on their door step and should City really be moving out of Hull. It is still pie in the sky ideas awaiting a feasibility but the idea of mortgaging land to build a stadium seems like we are going to be saddled with debts and football is cyclical no matter how you look at it. Clubs rise and fall over the years (with very few exceptions) and if we fell back to League 1 how many people other than the core supporters would really bother going to Melton on a Tuesday night to watch City play Swindon. I can also see where the Allams are coming from, they need to invest in the stadium and the surrounding area but to do that on sound financial footing they need to own the land. Only time will tell but on the face of it I'm not ready for another move. UTT
It does sound very much like, as you put it, allams calling the councils bluff. It makes sense for them to buy the kc but they know they shouldn't be messed about in doing so. A stadium at Melton would be massively unlikely for a number of reasons, from a planning point of view if nothing else
Forgetting the fact that this is obviously just posturing and will never happen, it does at least reaffirm the fact that the Allam's are serious about ground expansion. The stadium was never going to be developed by the club, unless it was owned by the club, so anything the Allam's do to force the council's hand is fine by me. It's in the best interest of the city that the ground is expanded and the area around the ground is ground is developed, the sooner the council get on board with it, the better. http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Undefined-Headline/article-3288016-detail/article.html
Totally agree. There is the space to make the KC something that the whole of Hull can be proud of. I visited the City of Manchester Stadium last December for a UEFA Cup match and the area around the stadium is something that City should aspire to achieve. Football facilities, a club shop, cafe bars, plenty of covered meeting and seating areas. its great. I'm not sure how much City can encroach onto the Park but as long as the area is offered to the people of Hull to be used and enjoyed then I do not see a problem with any potential development.
As ever, the doom and gloom mongers are posting on the Fail site, i.e., dodgy Egyptian owners = D.Lloyd........Jesus f***s!!!!!! The Allams have invested in the region of ã40+ million, and, want to invest more, and our short sighted council cannot see the benefits for all!! Ffs Hull City Council, sell the KC to them, and get some money in the coffers for the people of the City! End of rant
Is his plan to build a casino next to the stadium? If so although i am not a big gambler myself i could acctualy see this working (for the Allams). Anything which makes them more money he can plough back through the club.
The City Council has always held back the city from progressing. It used to be because the labour group were afraid of losing power if the city became affluent but now it's just because there is a culture of non-action and apathy. The Allams say they want things that can only be good for the people of Hull. Things that could make a real difference to the deprived youth of the inner city areas. As you say, this psoturing illustrates how serious they are about buying The KC Stadium. However, I would not be so ready to write-off what Essem Allam says he will do. Don't forget this is a man on a mission. He aint getting any younger and he clearly wants results. I love the KC and would hate to move. But I love my club more and this guy has saved it for me from a very bad place. He has earned the right, forty million times over, to decide what is the future of the Club. I will always be grateful for what he has done for Hull City Football Club.
The key here is that they want to help the children off the streets of Hull, Melton clearly won't do that as there not in Hull. I think everyone with an ounce of sense can tell he is bluffing, but the main thing being the council just need to get a move on. He has saved our club, the council should be grateful and let us move on and let us by it, i am pretty sure they could do with the extra cash.
Council stubbornness. Council has to lay off 1000+ staff. Council ownes stadium which makes no money for the council. Council could sell the stadium and save the jobs. Jobs saved and income spent in Hull therefore keeping the local trades figures constant. Council in unique situation where it can generate funding to avoid redundancies unlike rest of UK. Council wake up and smell the coffee. Like the supporters of Hull City the council has fallen very lucky that the Allam opportunity is on their doorstep. Just sell the bloody thing. Its like holding on to the silver when you can not pay the rent.
Though the council is skint and would definitely benefit from the cash generated by selling the KC(which as you say, makes them no money, in fact it costs them money), but I'm afraid it wouldn't affect the redundancies. The money generated by the KC share sale can't be used for anything other than capital investment, so they can't use it for wages, it would have to be spent on a capital project. It would still benefit the city to have that money to invest locally, so your point still stands, it just wouldn't help those who are losing their jobs. They could use some of it to fund the addition of lighting on the Humber Bridge, we have a landmark that we don't take advantage of, though the ongoing leccy bill will probably prevent that from happening.
Thanks for the education OLM. Did not realise this. Why can the council not use its own cash for its own purposes. Would it effect future Government funding?
I am fully with the Allams on this. Of course they want to own the stadium and the land around it and develop it, It would be a great assett to the football club as a whole and would allow the whole area to be developed. The stadium is not an asset to the council and they will never expand or delelop it. As far as building a new ground goes, I can't see it happening and it is obviously a bluff, but without a stadium what do they really own, Just a load of debt. I believe they have the club and city at heart and it's about time the council started listening!
I'm no expert in this area, my info just comes from things published previously in the HDM. As far as I know, when a council sells an asset, it has to invest the money in another asset, I think it's just to stop councils from selling off the family silver, then frittering the money away.
I find this quite interesting and from what I know, I think it could actually be a DOUBLE BLUFF! i.e. Mr.Allam could actually be bluffing us fans - I'm not saying he is, as this could be a straight forward calling the council's bluff, BUT.... About a week and a half ago I was talking to a couple of high-up city councillors and whilst I was talking to them, I dug a little to see what their intentions are on the whole 'selling the KC' thing - they told me it's a little premature, as they HAVE NOT even been approached by anyone and not even had any talks about it. They said they only heard about it in the local paper and Carl Minns was approach by the HDM on his thoughts to the idea. The HDM telling him the Allam's plans to buy the KC was the first and last time Hull City Council have heard about selling the KC. So, if this is intended to call the council's bluff to get them to sell, why are they doing so having not even approached the council? Double-bluff being Allam intends to move to Melton anyway and make it look like he had no choice? Who knows, but it's just an added thought.
The only way the council can use it on something truely public-based that they can call a 'project' would be re-laying all the roads. Otherwise it would have to go into something like re-building Hull Arena to make it a proper arena like the MEN.
As for mentions of a casino - Hull is one of a few places that was granted a 'large casino' licence, but the licence was awarded to Apollo resorts a few weeks back for the Manor Mill development, and they were the only ones to bid for it.
