A lot depends on the intentions of the new owners. One thing they will need is football advisors and consultants who understand the vagaries of the industry. I see one of the Allams major flaws as thinking that just because they 'understood business' so "know one can tell me how to run my business", well I'm sorry but you were wrong Assam. This might have been true in Marine Engineering but it hardly ever is a transferable truth. The second part is to have the wisdom not to surround yourself with yes-men. The third is to have openness with the media, the supporters and the council The fourth is to bring back concessions and affordable pricing in line with Hull people's incomes and not comparing with London. The fifth is to invest in the little things that make people endear themselves to the club and make them feel proud - pennypinching never works long term - put money into kids and ladies teams, local facilities, charities, training ground, cumminity schemes.. If it goes through they have a lot to do to start repairing the damage
True and I see a danger in getting over-emotional about new owners who as yet we know nothing about even if things really happen. They will really have to prove themselves as custodians. They will most probably be initially welcomed with open arms but we should be wary of false dawns..
I’ve no idea what’s going on. What’s true. If it’s PD and some hangers on it will be a debt ridden sale in the hope we can turn the tide and add value. If it was some genuine money it wouldn’t be PD. Any change is good right now but I’m not sure this possible deal is much to celebrate. Had this not been desperate times I don’t think fans would be impressed!?
The club took a wrong turn in May 2008 when they discarded the identity that got us to the PL, and tried to run before it could walk. A good example of this was the allocation of away match tickets to the corporate sponsors and other hangers-on who soon melt away when the glamour games stop. There is a disconnect between the club and the local community that has grown bigger and bigger in the last few years.Even leaving aside the antics of Vampire and Son, this had already begun under Duffen and other directors based in the SE. Whoever comes in buy the club needs to fully engage with the city, listen to opinions (and even act on them if they are sensible!) and understand how much the club has lost its way and sense of identity.
Complete myth, not only did sponsors get limited access to tickets, but guaranteed away tickets for corporate members was scrapped completely.
That's the way it will have to be I'm afraid. There isn't anything we can do about it. We should celebrate when/if the Allams go and then all we can do is get behind whoever the new custodians are. Then we cross our fingers and hope. It's all we have really.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding but isn’t that the same thing? Scrapping guaranteed tickets for corporate members was quite similar to scrapping away direct I think. Maybe different groups of people, but both had supported the club very well through thin and thinner up to then. Not the same as sponsors who I know less about, but lots of corporate members are/were proper fans imho In fact if you look at how many don’t go now through boycotting or just a general feeling of disenchantment you can see parallels with the amount of East standers who also stopped going. What should have happened was that those corporate or away direct etc who had been going before going to the PL should have had their ‘status’ protected, whereas new ones from PL onwards should have had new T&Cs, because it should have been obvious they’d stop going once we’d come back down.
I've no idea how many corporate/sponsor members we had in 2007/8, but I bet we had a **** of a lot more in 2008/9. Maybe that's why the guarantees stopped- because there were far more 'new fans' who wanted in on the fun and they couldn't all be catered for? Bottom line: proper fans shoved aside to make way for prawn sandwich fans. I went to every PL away game in 2008/9, and well remember the type of fans we had at Anfield and Man U. Well to do parents with their bored young daughter playing on her computer. How did they get their hands on tickets?
That database the club had from 2002 to 2008 had the match-attending history of proper fans. At a certain point this priceless info of the hardcore loyal fanbase was wiped/ forgotten about/lost etc. Naughty naughty. All part of the erasing of the old Hull City in favour of the blander, affluent, compliant and passive Allamhouse variant. Needs rooting out with Paraquat and the older strain reintroducing.
