Out of interest, when we went to Sunderland or Burnley for example they either had posters up for the away team of club legends or the kiosk staff had away team t-shirts on. Is that ASI funded? Probably small beer in the scheme of things. Is that what we are doing? Can't see it costing that much. At worst it should have been a 50/50 split on away fans at the KC and some payback for our fans on the long trips to Swansea or Southampton. I know that is the crux of all of this, but it certainly seems we are less valued than our visitors by the club. A change is definitely needed at the top.
I wonder if Ehab has complained about those clubs that haven't spent the money in accordance with the Premier League rules. After all if its meant to be spent on the away sections of their own grounds then Hull City supporters have been short-changed. He doesn't mention anything about that in his interview with the HDM.
Do I? Stating your opinions as fact is something you do on other occasions. You were wrong on quite a few of those too.
HCST - Hull City finally reveal the whereabouts of the “missing” £200k Hull City’s co-owner, Ehab Allam, has finally admitted in an article published by the Hull Daily Mail (30/04/15) that the £200,000 of Away Supporter Initiative (ASI) funding provided by the Premier League to each of its clubs this season has been spent on tarting up the visiting fans section of the KC Stadium and subsidising the price of their beer and food consumption. Ehab Allam told the Mail: “The initiative is about improving the experience for away supporters at your home ground. It is not supposed to be meant as a subsidy for your own fans, and a selection of your own fans at that, to attend away matches.” Funnily enough, he didn’t hold that opinion last season when all of the ASI funding received by Hull City was spent on providing free transport to the first seven league and cup fixtures. Hull City Supporters Trust (HCST) recently wrote to the Premier League for clarification of the rules on appropriating the ASI funding only to be advised that it was at the discretion of each individual club. We were informed that the Premier League recommended each club involve fans in the decision making process. This season Hull City’s ‘Fans Working Group’ has urged the club to spend the money on subsidising the price of away tickets so that all the club’s traveling supporters would benefit. This request has clearly been ignored under the pretence of fairness. Ehab Allam: “The principle of subsiding one set of away fans rather than another set of my home fans is fundamentally flawed. It is not something I am prepared to do. I treat all of our fans equally and fairly.” The ASI fund came about in the first instance to address dwindling away attendances at Premier League games where the cost of tickets and travel is constantly rising. It is nothing to do with any sense of unfairness to people who choose not to travel to away games. Ehab continued: “There is evidence that we have been very successful at this and I believe the other clubs have got it wrong by just subsidising the cost of away travel elsewhere. I think that is fundamentally flawed, fundamentally wrong and will come back to bite them because the more you give something away for free, the more people will want something for free. They have put themselves in a very difficult position going forwards.” HCST understands that virtually all of the other 19 clubs have spent some, if not all, of their allocation on subsiding away ticket prices for their own fans. To suggest that these fans want something for nothing is a despicable claim. We would suggest it is Ehab Allam whose argument is fundamentally flawed as he appears to be the only person who does not understand the spirit of which ASI was intended – to make a small dent in addressing the ever rising cost of football. However, given that Hull City have recently announced a 6% rise in season ticket prices – while lots of Premier League clubs are freezing or even lowering prices – this display of contempt should not surprise anyone. @ben_smith1987: He won’t build an extension on a house that isn’t his own, but will spend £200k decorating the guest bedroom with Plasma TV’s. #hcafc Mr. Allam’s last claim: “We’ve spent the money wisely and we’re bucking the national trend which is for dwindling away support because we have had a five per cent increase in away attendance at our games at the KC. Perhaps he hasn’t considered that the five percent increase in attendances is something to do with other clubs using their ASI money to subsidise their fans. Just as Chelsea did recently when they reduced the cost of our tickets by ten pounds. Whatever measure the club are using to pat themselves on the back over this, it should be pointed out that the only publicity they’ve had on away support this season has been the furore surrounding the recent boycott by Liverpool fans and the subsequently very empty away end last Tuesday night. They obviously live by the motto “No publicity is bad publicity”. We wholeheartedly disagree. We asked Mark Gretton, HCST Chair, to comment: “We’re please we’ve at least forced the club into the open about their motivation, but bitterly disappointed that the club has once again treated it’ supporters in an utterly disdainful manner, a manner that, sadly, we are becoming used to. We do wonder, in passing, what the value of this ‘wonderful away fan experience’ is worth when we charge away fans so much that so many of them feel the need to stay away, as Liverpool fans did on Tuesday.” We hope the club will learn from another disappointing episode and make use of the forum they have put in place to gauge fans opinions on such matters. We won’t be holding our breath. http://hullcitysupporterstrust.com/hull-city-finally-reveal-the-whereabouts-of-the-missing-200k/
If the other clubs have misspent the money he shouldn't just criticise he should make a formal complaint to the Premier League. The supporters of his club have been short changed whilst he has spent the money in accordance with the rules. Is he going to put his mouth where the money went and stand up for us or not?
I agree with the excellent content, but could you correct some of the apostrophes, please, otherwise it looks a bit ****. In Mark's quote, it should be "treated its supporters" (possessive so no apostrophe), and in the last sentence it should be "fans' opinions" (i.e. the opinions belonging to more than one fan).
"The principle of subsiding one set of away fans rather than another set of my home fans is fundamentally flawed. I treat all of our fans equally and fairly." It's called the Away Supporters Initiative. The clue's in the name dipshit. But let's be fair to the lad. He is equally ****ing over the home fans. Consistent they are. Consistent.
We've all clearly missed the point of the ASI When I heard about it, and mention of the desire to increase away support, I thought it was an acknowledgement that travelling away was very expensive and the Premier League realised that without reasonable away support their product would be gradually worsened However it must have actually been about them being concerned that reductions in away fans would mean a reduction in income for owners Ehab has therefore achieved the aim. Visitors are up 5% Well done That's why we're not all successful businessmen £200k well spent Target of increasing income achieved as it is 5% up......at a guess around £50k increased income? All makes sense now
It's a little odd that despite James Mooney requesting of the board that the ASI money be spent on reduced ticket costs for our fans, going back to at least October 2014, he is only this week made aware that all the money has been spent on away fans of other clubs. If I didn't know better I would think the Allams had been trying to hide this fact.
