I know many of the regulars on this board (including myself) no longer listeen to sports talk and I do not blame them, however after a phone call from a fellow city fan this morning regarding last nights programme I had a listen to last nights programme on bbci player. To save people time and the inconenience of listening to the non relevant stuff (in relation to this thread), the Assam Allam stuff starts at 44.40 mins for those that wish to take a listen. Some interesting stuff which has great relevance to our football club. Did anyone hear this last night and have any strong opinions on what was stated? I would be interested to hear peoples onions.(opinions, well spotted Strovolos!)
I read about it on Twitter so listened on the iPlayer. First 25 mins is about Hull KR (obviously) and then Scunny so I'd give that a miss if you're a City fan. Allam was on to talk about his plan to host the Squash World Championships at the KC in 2013. Up to him, I suppose. Then he went on a lot about buying the KC. Jist is that the Council have invited him to make an offer but he's insisting that he won't until they answer the question of whether they really want to sell. Then he defended his "gift" to Hull KR and said Hull City aren't the only thing in the world. Wasn't that interesting really. And wasn't worth listening to all that Hull KR nonsense for!
EDIT, opinions, I think I must have had a loyaltigerbrian moment. He certainly knows his onions. Once again LTB, if you're out there reading, be aware you are always wecome back (IMO).
I fear the news that OLM can see exactly who's using multi accounts will probably have warded Brian away for good in case of being uncovered. Shame really, whoever it was was brilliant! On that note are you still polishing your purple turtle vespaman?
Can somebody explain to me (and i'm using caps here to emphasise my personal frustration), what assem allam is banging on about with regards to buying the kc and fairground? Maybe i'm missing something major here, but surely it's simple. He gets his people to value the kc and surrounding area and makes a monetary offer to the council. The council then say yes or no. Surely the fact they are speaking to assem indicates they are willing to sell. What the f***k is wrong with these people???? Ed: Hey where's my uppercase gone?
I do figure that he is well a bit of a weird Egyptian i am very very grateful for what he has done for the club but if it wasn't for Adam Pearson being around i would be very worried on what he would spend his money on....
I listened on iPlayer so I didn't have to listen to the "Hull KR nonsense". Allam didn't talk much sense in my opinion. Maybe it's a "negotiating strategy" but if I was supposed to deal with him I wouldn't consider him very reliable. He seemed to be saying that he didn't want to incur costs of valuation if the council were not serious. What valuation is relevant if there are specific uses? There could only be alternative uses valuations that shouldn't be too expensive to obtain a ball park figure. Whether the council are serious about selling would obviously depend on the price. If the council said they are serious it wouldn't make any difference to what happened later. If I was the council I would not want to waste time with Allam if he is messing about like he seems to. I'm sure if Adam Pearson was leading the negotiations he could have agreed a deal by now.
The only impression I would garner from this is Mr. Allam's seriousness of buying the KC. Seems the Council are all ears so the ball's in his court.
About the fairground: when did the 'Park-and-Ride' leave the site? (And is it owt to do with the KC's possible development/Allam's plans?)
I think the council are obliged to listen as a lot of the early talk concerning this venture has been done via the media. He didn't seem to come across very well. As for the suggestion that this is a negotiating tactic I am not so sure. He appeared to get quite flustered at some points, also it struck me that he has underestimated the importance of Hull fair to the citizens of Hull.
I don't think Assem got his point across very well in that interview. It seems to me that he feels he feels that there's no point in taking things any further unless the city council are fully on board with it. I don't think this is just a case of valuing the KC and if the council agree the price, then he'll buy it, it's far more complicated than that. What he needs is a council that are fully on board, who will agree planning on the ground expansion, change of usage on the Walton Street site, planning permission on the Walton Street site and favourable terms on the payments to the council for all these things, in return for the benefit that the development brings to the city as a whole. He comes across as a bit arrogant, probably because he's generally used to getting his own way and he feels he should be getting more recognition from the council for the benefit his proposals will bring to the city. I genuinely think he's surprised that the council aren't chasing him to secure this development, as I'm sure ERYC will be.
So, based on this, would you say that the 2 likely outcomes are 1) he walks away from City because he can't get the council on board 2) we move to Melton?
Mr Allam could not walk away from Hull City without suffering a massive financial loss. Should we move to Melton there is the possibility on an even greater financial loss. It's a lose-lose situation.
I doubt ERYC would be as keen as you think because of NIMBYISM if nothing else. Assam may well be genuine and well meaning, but the way he's coming across in the media is not inspiring belief or trust in him.
I don't think he has any intention of walking away from Hull City, the sport village development idea came about after he bought City and is an option to develop things further, if it doesn't go ahead, he'll just continue with the club on it's own. He must be aware that almost all fans want City to continue playing at the KC, so he'll be aware of how unpopular a move to Melton would be, so I think there's little(if any) chance of it happening, though I'm sure ERYC will do everything possible to try and make it happen if things continue to sour with HCC.
