Former Hull City captain Garreth Roberts has spoken out against the proposed name change to âHull Tigersâ. Born and raised in Hull, Roberts was a one-club man. Between 1979 and 1991 (when injury forced him to retire from the game), he made 409 appearances for his hometown team, scoring 47 goals. Speaking to Pete Mills of the Hull City Fans Forum last week, Roberts said that he was strongly in favour of retaining the name Hull City AFC, and had been shocked by some of Dr Allamâs remarks to the media. âItâs very traditional. Weâve been going since 1904. This is how it is, this is what we are. Like it or not, this is what we want to stay. We were Hull City in 1904, weâre Hull City forever. When he said that the word âCityâ is âcommonâ⦠I donât think he realises that heâs attacking everybody who supports â so if you support Hull City, does that mean youâre common? That is really disrespectful.â âI think fundamentally itâs just a bad idea to start changing names. Can you imagine Manchester Red Devils, or Tottenham Lilywhites Hotspur, or Everton Toffeemen? Itâs just ridiculous.â Although Roberts gave Dr Allam credit for the good he has done for the club, he is firmly of the opinion that the chairman is wrong when it comes to this issue. âHe did a marvellous job to keep us afloat, and everybody will be eternally grateful for that, but you canât walk all over people either. The supporters have got to stand up for themselves and stand up for the club⦠thereâs certain things that you canât just walk away from, and this is one of them.â Roberts added that his view is shared by other ex players he knows. âItâs just laughable. Everybody just says, âWhy is he doing it?ââ He went on to praise the way in which the No To Hull Tigers campaign has been conducted. âI think theyâve done everything properly. Theyâve been really respectful of the club. I think theyâve been really civilised about it.â Asked what message he would give to Dr Allam if he could, Roberts said, ââPlease have another think about itâ. But I think heâs gone too far down the line to back out. I think heâs heading for that moment when hopefully the FA turn around and say, âNo, we donât agree with you Mr Allam, weâre not going to let you change the name.ââ Roberts is just the latest former player to say that the club should retain its historic name, following the likes of Ken Wagstaff, Chris Chilton and Ian Ashbee, along with many others. You can hear the full interview (with a detailed transcript of Robertsâs key comments on the name change) here: http://notohulltigers.tumblr.com/post/76511155663/hull-city-legend-says-no-to-hull-tigers
When a man with the status he has with the fans continually says ''we'' you know he means it. Absolute Legend!!
Quality. Amazing all this support, yet we still have numpties supporting the name change. I'm sure one will be along in a moment.
Publicity seeking Lord of East Hull and director of HKR John Prescott should have been sought out by the photographs at the KC on Tuesday night, if he had of been there. In fact no journalist even asked him which was the last City game he actually saw or asked him something really difficult like name the team. One Gareth Roberts interview on this subject is worth ten million Prescott quotes.
Peter Levy did a long interview with Tom Courtenay about why he supported AA, the next day he did the same with Prescott, but there's been no interview with Roberts today, what happened to the impartial BBC?
Garreth is actually my half cousin! Luckily there'll be no family falling out as myself and him have the exact same opinion. Great to see such a legend of the football club speak out with some sense.
If he did say something publicly against the name change, you wouldn't suggest he had a historical agenda against the Allams then?
Nope. I find it surprising he hasn't come out in support of CTWD. He'd be the cherry on the icing on the cake for CTWD and would sway a lot of impartials. I might not have rated him as a manager but he's still a legend, even if he did spend most of his playing career elsewhere til the end, and yes, I do respect him for his playing skills. Sure, if it makes you happy. Why hasn't Dr Nick come out in support of CTWD then? Or isn't he that bothered, or interested? Yes. Why?
More than you respect a player who was born in Hull and played over 480 games for City, it would seem.
