The savings would be from not wasting the changed letterheads, signs and needless activity around something designed to create extra funding, but destined not to . . . . . . . .also, let's revisit the HCC negotiations. AA knew the situation, regarding the stadium, when he bought the club, so no excuses from a man who will not brook any interference in his business affairs. This is the only way for whoever owns the club. If they do not have the mallam to produce a business plan that allows for the stadium expansion, as AA claims is essential to growth and survival, whilst leaving the City (oops, sorry AA) a controlling share, then I have. The other commercial elements are bargaining chips, Hull Fair is a distraction, greed and power are in the ascendancy. As I have said earlier, we must take AA on at all levels and that includes taking HCC on. There are motives, excuses, lies and damn lies being thrown out, but the campaign must focus on getting to the truth of it, just like they did over the bubble fiasco. That, my friend, is the only way to find a way to raise the funding we need - the journey will be interesting.
So, PLT and AA, that good old vaudeville turn, could be wrong - the extension is a bit of a red herring?? Back to the drawing board.
Yet some think Mr Allam should do exactly that and demand that he do or he's a useless lying **** without a clue.
Great point Chazz, it's actually amusing how hypocritical a lot of the arguments are. For what it's worth Mel, discussing general ideas for the club to try online is hardly publishing a grand invention idea worth millions. Financial strategies for the club are hardly going to be robbed by anyone on this forum, unless try happen to own a premier league football club.
Not seen a thread on this - if Allem wants alternate methods of increasing revenue then what have we got to bring to the table From an in-the-ground way of thinking we are at capacity so the only options are to increase prices on ticket sales From a merchandising point of view we have a club shop which i won't go into on a matchday as it's simply overcrowded and they cannot balance the temperatures between inside the store and the outside temperature. I guess there is an opportunity here. Question What additional income streams are the Allems hoping to tap into and how much can he realistically get by shortening the name? This is something that needs asking. If it is <£5m per year then there are options here. At Goodison the other week there was a fan zone. Retail areas, big screens, ex-players - all with the purpose of getting Dad to bring his kids(s) early for food, autographs, photos etc. Kid then gets into the City vibe early on and then want kits, DVDs, Xmas presents etc This is a start - granted an incoherent ramble at nearly 1am What other untapped income streams are open for us to then bring to the table to try to persuade the Allems to stop this name change?
You are asking for alternative ways to make money than from a name change, but I really don't think a name change will bring financial benefit. The best way for a football club to make money is through TV and position in the league, which is done by investment in the squad and manager. The next best way is money from crowds at the stadium, so to improve this we would have to advertise much more effectively and then expand the KC or move somewhere else as we already get near capacity. After this comes shirt sales etc. which will be a very small percentage of the total. The best way to increase this in Asia would be to sign an Asian player. Look at what happened with Ji Sung Park at United or even Gedo/Fathi here. I have seen no evidence that people in China will give a flying **** that we have a tacky new name, they are looking for successful clubs with players that they know. Also, I can't stand the approach that 'Allam is a successful businessman so he knows best'. Football is not a normal economic good. We don't support city because they are the cheapest or the best quality we support them because we have grown up doing so and therefore have an inexplicable attachment to the club. We would not change our allegiances to West Ham if they offered cheaper season tickets or Swansea because they play better football. I know many people that have made a lot of money in business but they would have no idea how to run a football club.
1) Increase ticket prices 2) Get people into the ground earlier thus spending more cash on beer / pop / food etc 3) Increase the size of the club shop and enhance the range for items to cover all age brackets 4) Make sure the air conditioning of the club shop works on EVERY match day 5) Mascot per player and charge parents for the privilege 6) Beamback of every away game that sells out 7) Fan Zone around the ground - encourage people to get there early - big screen TVs / ex players / food venues 8) Get Tiger Beer to sponsor us 9) More sponsors period (to coin a Yank term) - look at some of the sponsors on other teams shirts - sell out to the corporates... 10) Sign a decent player from an emerging market The biggest obstacle is understanding what the Allems expect from this additional income they think will be had from the name change Are we talking £1-£5m per season or something bigger than this?
I think the 'signing a player from a certain market' is interesting. I wonder how much money we made on shirt sales in Egypt in 2013 compared to 2012... if this was indeed a big jump, is this something we could take forward? How about a signing from a country where a sponsor would be willing to pay big money? Something like the F1 model (that i hate, but is necessary i guess) - drivers come with sponsorship from certain companies. Worth looking into maybe?
One thing I don't understand, speaking from the point of view of the very market you're all brainstorming about how to appeal to - the International market who have never been to Hull, but should suddenly take an interest in the team. The reason I started following the team in 08/09 was fourfold: 1) The romanticism of the team having been promoted to the Premier League for the first time 2) The kit was identical to my school kit 3) Richard Garcia 4) The success of beating Arsenal and Spurs What I don't understand is the lack of weight being put purely on the success of the team. That is first and foremost the best way to increase interest in the team and generate revenue. If the team makes Europe, we'll have more sponsors jumping on board. If the team finishes top 10, the PL rewards us with more money for every place higher we finish. If we're constantly in the PL we'll have more and more International fans start following the team. As I read in an article, we're in a unique market where we're actually being PAID for having increased International exposure. In any other industry, to have 120 minutes each week beamed out around the world to huge television audiences of your product would cost a fortune, but we're actually being paid for the privilege. Why is there no focus on this fact? On the fact that pure investment in the team is the best way to reap rewards. End of this season the Cash Converters sponsorship ends, and we should be hunting for a big-time shirt sponsor, as well as other sponsors to get on board. Maybe CC will want to stay involved and we could offer them short sponsorship, or sponsorship of another element of the club, who knows. Sustained success is the best revenue generator.
the best idea for extra income for the club would be to create a fans zone area on West Park , including activities for all - old and young . easy ! As for the extra investment BECAUSE of a name change , i cant see how , At no point do i envisage there is a bloke in China somewhere with £10 mill burning a hole in his pocket wishing there was a club called Tigers FC so he could invest it all - that is the only scenario that Allam will succeed with his name change plan Lets just assume there is an investor with say £10 mill spare ,he will have a bit of common sense surely and can figure out how to pick through a list of 20 . The investor is looking for a Premier league club - he can at the simplest level , look at the league table run their finger down the list till he comes to a club he feels his investment will get him a return and some sort of stake . At 10 mill we are probably looking at a couple of clubs , so all he has to do is go on WIKI to find out a bit about City - for example .
With regard to expanding the stadium, someone with a lot more financial knowledge than me can maybe put me straight, but if AA was to get the stadium and then expand as is thought, where would the money come from to do it? Would he borrow the money to undertake this, and if so would their be something to guarantee the loan, i.e. the stadium itself. Surely if he was borrowing the money it would be done through the SMC. Or alternatively would he be using his own money to finance the expansion. To me if its the former and money will be borrowed against the stadium then why does he need to own it, if the SMC was to take out the loan. As i say someone with more financial knowledge could put their opinions down on the matter.
As a campaign group, we're investigating the potential ways of generating new income, I can't go into too many details yet, but we will be hopefully be talking to the council and AP. There are several areas that can bring in more money that they do currently and some of them are very easy to sort. The most basic is the fact that our club shop is probably the worst in the league, it won't bring in millions, but it could bring in more and does need sorting. We also have by far the worst kit sponsorship deal in the Premier League, half the clubs in the Championship generate more revenue from their shirt sponsor than we do. The kit deal is also poor, but we already have a new kit supplier for next season, so hopefully this has been addressed. Bringing in a player from a country with a large population increases interest in the club(exactly as it has with Elmo, Fathi and Gedo), but it doesn't necessarily generate any income. Only if we had all three playing every week could we potentially expect someone like Air Egypt to be our shirt sponsor, but that's rather hit and miss. The reality is, that changing the name will not generate extra income at all and addressing the other issues mentioned could at least generate some. If the name change goes ahead, we're only going to see merchandise sales fall as a consequence, this is an almighty shoot yourself in the foot exercise.
I did, she was in the year below me and hung around with my sister. I used to go to their house a lot as a spotty teenager, she was quite popular with the lads and I only lived round the corner. Assem was scary when I was about fourteen, but he scares me even more now...
I could be wrong here - but don't Manchester City Council own The Etihad? Man City have recently built the best fan area that I have seen outside the stadium, and appear to be shortly undertaking stadium expansions and massive work around the ground. I think Allam is being despicable here. He can't steal the stadium off the people of Hull for pennies - so he is holding fans ransom in attempt to sway the council, or find other ways to get more cash in his pocket.
Manchester City were given a 999 year lease on the stadium, which is effectively the freehold, hence all the development. Had HCC offered AA a 999 year lease, we wouldn't be in this position.
