Obi, your argument for not changing the name is nothing to do with Allams business acumen. If the name change had never been brought up in the first place, you would not be posting on here regarding the debt issue. Alternatively if you would still be on here posting about the debt issue, then post about it as a separate issue. This tactic of trying to persuade people not to follow Allam with the name change by scaremongering people about the debt and his ability to manage the debt is dishonest. Particularly when you then say that CTWD are not anti-Allam.
Yes Mr Allam's first scheme relied on strongarming the council. He didn't see he might lose. Duh! Then his next scheme relies on the FA giving the thumbs up. He thought he could just do the name change. Terrible research.
The FA is a standing joke, and you will see how many people disrespect the FA on here if they sanction the name change.
Hull City owner, Assem Allam is as misguided as when Juliet addresses Romeo, in the famous play by William Shakespeare named after the two characters. While Juliet’s point might be a modern one, that we are all the same at our base level, a name is not an aesthetic triviality that can be casually dismissed and replaced. ‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;’ Those are the words the Bard of Avon assigned to Miss Capulet. The trouble for Allam, is that the supporters of Hull City, do not find the smell relating to the name change he proposes in the least bit sweet. And why should they? In the last few days the club’s owner has issued a clear and unveiled threat to those opposing his prospective, insensitive name change to Hull City Tigers. Allam has stated that he promises to go away “within 24 hours” if the Hull City community tell him to do so. The owner also stated the same applied if the FA do not ratify his wish, retaining – as they do – an absolute power of veto. At least Allam’s recent comments are more moderate than his previous assertions. In December he echoed of another of the great writers Charles Dickens, when Ebenezer Scrooge speaks on people in Victorian workhouses to say: ‘If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’ Allam’s actual comments on the supporters group, City Till We Die, were that “they can die as soon as they want”. He continued, of fans displaying a protest banner: “How can they call themselves fans, these hooligans, this militant minority, when they disturb and distract the players while taking away the rights of others to watch the football, and of companies who have paid good money for sponsorship.” At the time a statement from the City Till We Die group read: “The intemperate suggestion that singing “City Till I Die”, or holding a banner with Hull City’s name on it, constitutes disorder is ill-informed, unhelpful and will be considered by many to be offensive.” Almost as offensive as to brand Hull City, the name of the club of which he is the appointed caretaker, as “lousy” and “common”. The businessman believes his choice of name symbolises power, and will increase worldwide merchandise sales. Anyone hoping that Allam might have been visited by three spirits over the Christmas period will have had such hopes crushed by his most recent statements, that he will be gone in 24 hours, if the fans or the FA oppose him in his quest to rebrand the team. The threat of the owner leaving brings with it great uncertainty given the club’s financial situation. Fans will have happier memories of Allam, from him taking over a club in financial difficulty in December 2010 and immediately lending the club a reported £41 million. Last summer the figure was reportedly £72 million, with these loans are charged at 5% interest. In the Championship, the club’s wage bill was reported to stand at £26 million, a figure which also is believed to equate to the loss they made in achieving promotion to the Premier League. The club’s income was said to be £11 million for the same season. Amongst his comments this week Allam remained bullishly unperturbed on the subject: “No one on earth is allowed to question my business decisions. I won’t allow it. I can give you my CV to give you comfort, for what I do in business, what I have achieved, but for someone to come and question me is not allowed. I’m here to save the club and manage the club for the benefit of the community. It will never, never be the other way round.” For the second time in a week I find myself writing this sentence. Football, at least within this country, is not a business like any other. Football fans are without doubt paying customers of a football club but in no other mode of business are the customers so emotionally caught up in the company they are dealing with and the product they are receiving. It is quite conceivable that the 74 year old, Egyptian born business man could change the name of the generator company that made his millions, and experience the benefits of a more marketable moniker. That is simply not the case with a football club that have played under their current name since 1904. There can be no benefit in naming Hull City anything other than that, to market it more globally, if in so doing their bread and butter fans – the ones who live in Hull, buy tickets, programmes, food and merchandise – are alienated by the move. A football club is a matter of family history, tradition and tribalism. A name gives it identity and continuity as it is passed from parent to child. A name gains value from the repetition, people know what is being spoken of and what is to be expected of it. If you blindfolded a group of people and asked them to sniff a rose, but named it as some new variety of flower, and compare its scent on a scale of one to ten, to the scent of a rose would they say it smells the same? Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet? That could be a very interesting psychological experiment. Foreign owners such as Allam and Vincent Tan at Cardiff are ditching our game’s rich tapestries in the blink of an eye, with no apparent understanding for the industry in which they are operating. Given their financial dependency on their owner, it would be quite understandable if Hull City fans did not agree, but I believe English football would be much better off if all the club owners who know the price of everything and the value of nothing, did disappear from the game in the next 24 hours. Does a football club abandoning its heritage, to whatever end smell, as sweet? No it does not. In fact it stinks.
Obviously a 'conspiracy' by those hulligans from Look back in Amber.... [video=youtube;r8OipmKFDeM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8OipmKFDeM[/video] Sally - yeah ... sure ...
Well I don't think he will win, I think there is enough past situations were so called owners have brought our game to the point of being a laughing stock. The traditions need to be upheld, and I think the FA will finally see that if they let this one go through it sets a precedence for other owners to start calling other clubs what they like. The mind boggles.
It won't just be people on here, they will have the vast majority of the sporting press on their backs for years.
Pearson, unlike you I have worked in professional radio, I teach broadcasting and I've worked on more phone ins, documentaries, radio dramas and features than you've had hot dinners. I've written, edited and directed scripts. I can tell when a script is being read and when folks are acting. Are you suggesting, given Burnsy was asking questions too, that he was in on the act? Phone ins are actually phone outs at times, that is the broadcast assistant or producer will ring back and check the authenticity of the caller. They are experienced broadcasters on that specific show and know when a ruse is taking place. Whoever told you this gem of an idea is a feckwit with the brain of a 2 year old. Anyone who believes this lady was part of a set up is beyond help. Ffs PP get a grip.
She did sound like she was reading what she was saying from a script (her own words I mean, not a CTWD plant), but I don't blame her for that... It's probably something my nan would have done if she'd wanted to make sure that she was getting her point across properly.
The reason Assem Allam gave for changing the name when interviewed was that he'd run out of money and the name change will raise millions get us into Europe. To me his business acumen and the name change are linked. I'm not anti-Allam I just wish he'd have pulled his finger out and got us more sponsorship whilst in the Championship and after we got automatic promotion.
Just listened, it did sound like she had written it down so she didn't forget. Burnsey definitely wasn't in on it, he didn't get a word in edge ways.
Would you like an introduction to Sally? I'm sure it could be arranged on David Burns show. We could cut and paste all your posts on here and say you'd like to meet her in person so that you can decide whether she's really upset or not. It would make gripping radio.
If I was going on the radio I'd write down bullet points in case I froze up and didn't know what to say
Quite probably Markkc, but only in terms of a note or two, that happens all the time. Indeed, when I was on Burnsy as a guest, I had some points written down as an aide memoire knowing I was going up against someone who was fully briefed too. However, instinct tells me it was genuine. I was involved in making a series of radio documentaries with folks who were in their late 70s and 80s who had experienced WWI. They clutched books and diaries and all sorts of notes - though very rarely reading them. When folks especially older folks have particular experiences they tend to re-live them over and over. Rehearse them in their heads if you like, and this can sound like it is scripted. There is no way this was written for her, and again my instincts and experience tell me she wasn't put up to this.
