This is the true extent of the overseas shirt market - OK, I accept we are not looking just for shirt sales but it is an indicator of the size of the market. http://www.sportingintelligence.com...l-madrid-top-global-shirt-sale-charts-081001/ The top selling clubs are Man Utd and Real Madrid who sell 1.4m each per year. Barcelona sell 1.15m per year. Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Liverpool sell eight or nine hundred thousand each. Juventus 480,000 Inter Milan 425,000 AC Milan 350,000 Where would we be compared to that lot? Even with a silly name? The top ten European clubs are huge and make good money but outside that there is a massive tail-off: Celtic just manage six figures and that is mainly in North America and Australia. If you look at China as an example. The Chinese are doing well because of their frugality. They save around a third of their income and many will be doing that by cramming into buildings living in one room. They are not mugs. They don't waste money like people in the West. Their success is export led but they also build a lot of buildings. They work hard. I'm sure whoever takes over from the Allam's will change the name back to "Hull City AFC" to emphasise our long tradition. I wonder what the "Hull City Tigers" lovers will say then!
The amount of shirts sold is much greater than that due to the counterfeit markets. When I went to Thailand, I think the only real shirts I saw were my England and City shirts. I know that doesn't affect the clubs much, but I thought I'd mention it.
That's true but it doesn't help the club - in shirt sales at least. I'm sure they have counterfeit everything over there.
Here's a thought, the Allams have said they've got no more money to put in so let's think that as we're expecting a deficit they must be looking to sell the club. What a good way to play their last bit of time in charge by (in agreement with the new buyer) doing something really unpopular that the new owners can reverse immediately, and therefore have a massive popularity surge without having to put a huge amount of additional money into the club themselves.
Don't forget the city shirt fighting for the muslim brotherhood, saying that it's probably ripped from the artillery of a tank
Actually, you really have missed the point. I do not support the change but. Assem Allam is quite right. A shorter club name is one way of improving the brand awareness of the club. Asia Pacific Breweries Tiger Beer is too long........so the marketed brand is Tiger Beer Bayerische Motoren Werke AG equals BMW In order to compete against the big clubs with history will not work so a radical approach is needed. Not to sell shirts but to have advertising partnerships. SOBET is a very good example. We will seek investment from Companies with a desire to be linked with a PL club as well as appealing brand.
If so why does he want to go down the route of changing "Hull City" to "Hull Tigers" -which is two letters longer? I'm not really sure I get your other point. Are you saying "Hull City" is too long? You are not seriously comparing "Bayerische Motoren Werke AG" > "BMW" with "Hull City" > "Hull Tigers"?
There is no escaping the truth, Hull Tigers IS a better brand, easier to sell in foreign markets. It's no good trying to say other wise. I don't like it but, the key to increasing brand awareness is being able to remember the name. I tend to use very long names for my businesses. The reason is because I want them to sound long established. I spend months on getting the name right. But in the case of Hull City AFC the long name is a disadvantage. Thankfully our history is in the Tiger name as well and it is this that needs to be exploited. As I say I am against the loss of City, but I have to accept it could be right..
Right...I've just decided to patent Peter Saxton. I will need this for when I introduce him as my new Business Idea on Dragon's Den. "But what is it..?" they will ask. "Well...it's a new torture device to break Taliban prisoners in the Guatemala Bay Detention Camp." "But how does it work...?" they will ask... "Well let me show you.... Peter, could you explain why changing Hull City AFC to Hull Tigers is a really bad idea?" <7 hours later> "Please turn him off I beg you...I'll give you any money you want" they will say. "Er.... turn him off?....er?" Shame I could have put that £11M investment to good use.
