not a real lot in it. 2007-08 home average crowd to dec 15 (11 games) 16638 2012-13 home average crowd to dec 15 (11 games) 15757 (lower by 881) i know we were lower down the league in 2007 at this stage. in 2007-8 the crowds only really got big for the last 3 home games (all against london teams). before that the biggest gates were against the sheffield teams and skunthorpe.
Just a small point about 'the Allams pockets'. Some people are sceptical not about the quantity of money being used at the moment, but its form. Is it a gift, a loan or what? I think until the Allams leave and state their terms or sale price details, we can't be sure whether this money is 'ours' or 'theirs on a loan, being utilised for Hull City, but to be repaid back to the Allams'. We've surely been through enough owners to know that the time to assess their 'generosity' is when they sever their connections with the club.
It doesn't matter if it's a gift or a loan at the moment, their investment is currently unrecoverable. If we become a very successful Premier League side, then the Allam's may be able to get a return on their investment, until that happens, it was an investment that makes little(if any) financial sense.
You are right it never made any financial sense, from the beginning they said it was a gift to the City, whether this was true or not only they know. My feeling is that they hope to get control of the KC and get their investment back in time, and they will probably do that finally. However the fact that they have saved the club and taken that risk, with the hope that they can at the end get a return on their investment, they need applauding for that in my book.
The debate isn't going to be ended any time soon either. For tax purposes it is in the club's interests for it to remain an interest free loan even if it is legitimately a gift. Unfortunately that means it has to stay on the balance sheet as repayable, which is also in the Allams' interests if they intend to take it back at some point. The "honest" camp will point at the loan being interest free when the could be charging us, whilst the "dishonest" camp will point to the ability to recall it and it being secured against whatever assets we have at the time. However, as OLM has pointed out they can't get the money back unless we're in the PL, and even if we are they can only get the money back if the cash is there to repay them. There'd be no point them trying to recall the debt without the cash being there to pay it as they'd end up liquidating their own company and getting back p/£ by doing so. The only way for them to get the money back is to get us established in the PL, and if they do that then who cares if they get their money back? (Without doing that they can't sell us for more than they've put in, and they can't recall it as it simply isn't there to be recalled)
The Allam's second gift to the city will be buying leeds, then hiring Ricardo as their CFO in order to follow through on this brilliant plan.
I was ther for 2 of those, when the Beast scored in the South Stand for the win against Leeds & I'd moved onto the East by the time we beat Palace. I'll be there next week for the Leeds game & possibly the Leicester one, but still not sure with it being Boxing Day. Looking forward to my 1st game of the season.
I'll need Leeds to pay me a big salary to do it though, I might have trouble carrying on my career if I've overseen a liquidation so I'll need my future providing for through the sale of probably Becchio.
Everything can be on the table during the negotiation phase of your hiring. Ideas like selling Becchio to fund your personal retirement are type of out of the box ideas that will get you the job.
