There were less stewards between 9,500 Boro fans and Man Utd fans with no great gap than there are stood surrounding 1,000 City fans in E2 and E3 with acres of seats additionally empty.
Ironically, there’s been more exposure to a global audience in the few weeks Acun’s been here than the entirety of Allam’s ownership.
Be fair, Ehab said there was a chance of a £1 million deal if we had changed our name to Hull Tigers. We needed that to compete when we were only receiving the PL riches.
You need the stewards near me, one let a guy past holding a full pint and two bottles of beer, and it had to be pointed out to him. While he went off to try and sort it out, at least one other guy carried a drink past the second steward who was distracted gawping at the first steward - who was being fobbed off by the original guy saying he’d never heard of the no drink at your seat rule and it was an outrage. I mean, I don’t really care about the drinking thing (still working on tactics to get me flask in), but I have no confidence that if there really was a safety incident then the stewards would be any use whatsoever.
Obvuiosly slacking Brownbagtiger, i've took a flask in (chilled water cos i'am to tight to pay ) every single game in, it doesn't take to much nouse.
I’m sure you’ll get some positive feedback and ideas on that and good luck with the banner thing btw. Other than that in the fifty odd years I have been going to watch City the best way to get Hull folk back watching football is to create a winning side, it’s been done a few times and never fails to be honest. Again good luck.
Exactly this. We need to attract young people to the games who might not have looked at football as a “thing”
You may think so TOM but I suspect I wouldn't be the only person to believe it could be better. Surely even you would agree that the Allam led regime wasn't exactly famous for 'community outreach'. I am aware that there has been some good work done by certain players and by the trust but I also believe that many schools in the area have not had a visit from a Hull City representative for at least a generation. Other clubs seem to reach out to their community far better than HCAFC. Not just the big clubs either. Accrington seem to do a fine job as do Burnley, Blackburn, Ipswich and Norwich for example. I am confident that Acun and his team will look to improve our community outreach but I think it would be seriously misleading to suggest that we are already 'very good' at it.
One idea I've just posted in the match day thread for PNE, which could be passed to the new owner, would be to make it affordable for lower income families, perhaps a reduced ticket rate, I'm sure especially during these times there will be some who would like to go but can't afford it, choosing to feed their family and pay the bills as a priority.
Agreed but at the same time don’t give up on adults who may be disenfranchised with the club through the previous ownership; or have also never seen ‘football as a thing’ too. The club does some community work as you said, they organise events for all ages/visit schools but more could be done. Appoint community officers who go out into the local communities, visiting community centres, speaking to people, winning them over to the club, and visiting the groups again who are starting to meet post-Covid etc. Go to them not expect them to come to you, otherwise you only scratch the surface for this sort of exercise. Bridges can be rebuilt or built for the first time. Challenge some of their views about City and football, break some of the intergenerational pull of RL. Show them we are club that listens and values all citizens of Hull & ER. Show them, perhaps most importantly, that the club represents them nationally and Hull City are THEIR club. Over the years, I’ve taken groups of adults/families to City (last one was just as the Allams were bedding in – funny but it sort of stopped after then). Many of these adults/families had never been before, virtually all of them loved it and, who could do, started to go themselves.
Besides the football clubs community works the Tigers Trust which is the football in the community arm of the club, had 30,000 community contacts last year. 30,000 people in schools, organisations and individuals, benefited fr the work of the Tigers Trust. School visits have been offered to just about every school. If the club in some shape or other hasn’t visited a school, the chances are that the school said no. I happen to know this from personal experience as I tried to arrange a visit myself of first team players and coaching staff to a school in the area. The idea was to have an afternoon of coaching followed by a meet the player event. The school in question just said “No” we are not interested and we do not think it is something we can support. It sounds great, just involve schools, but only works if the schools want to take part. As for the ticketing, the club already is doing just that, looking at pricing.
As I said earlier I know that the club and the trust do some good work. However it would still be a mistake to believe that more couldn't be done. 30,000 is an interesting statistic - but what does it actually represent? What actually constitutes a 'community contact' in your stats? If a representative were to visit say 15 schools of 2,000 students would that count as 30,000 community contacts? How does 30,000 compare with expectations and with previous years? How does it compare with other trusts of other football clubs? You say school visits have been offered to 'just about every school'. So just how many were offered a visit and how many were not? Whilst I'm sure you experienced a situation whereby a school couldn't support a particular offer there have been many cases where schools and teachers have requested a visit without success. I feel confident that the situation will improve with our new owners but it would surely be misleading to claim that we already have a 'very good' community relationship.
I think that with Acun's drive and apparent passion for improving things, we should definitely be looking to get safe standing installed. Obviously it's still only being trialled at the moment in terms of being legally allowed to be used for football, but it's only a matter of time before it's legalised and we should look to be at the forefront of it.
Adam Pearson encouraged by SMC meeting as he eyes new MKM Stadium agreement The Black and Whites owner has met with Acun Ilicali's representatives William Jackson please log in to view this image Hull FC owner Adam Pearson Hull FC chairman Adam Pearson was encouraged by his first meeting with the Stadium Management Company’s new ownership. The SMC, which operates the council-owned MKM Stadium on behalf of FC and Hull City, was included in Acun Ilicali’s purchase of Hull City from the Allam family last month. As a result, Pearson had been keen to sit down with Turkish businessman’s representatives in order to discuss the club’s current deal to remain at the stadium, where they played since it opened in December 2002. That meeting has now taken place, with City’s chief executive Jim Rodwell and vice-chairman Tan Kesler spending three hours with Pearson. Pearson had a strained relationship with the SMC’s previous owners, but the takeover allows for a fresh start and with the club's lease at the MKM due to expire in 2027, he is keen to negotiate a new agreement. “I met Jim Rodwell and Tan Kesler,” Pearson told BBC Radio Humberside. “Jim has been around football for a long time and knows what he’s doing and I was very impressed with Tan, I thought he was a smart cookie. “It will be challenging putting together a new deal for the club with Tan because he’s definitely got a grasp of things already in the way that it’s structured, but I feel as though it will be a fair challenge and hopefully we can get a deal for FC that takes us beyond the six years left at a rate we can afford. “It’s crucial to us, the stadium was meant to be the home of Hull FC and at times over the last five or six years it hasn’t felt as though. “We’re positive, we’re looking forward to a good working relationship with Tan and Jim and if it’s challenging but fair then we can ask for no more. “I think the fans need to see security of tenure for the club, that’s the thing we haven’t been able to get and that’s what we want. “We need to take the lease back up from six to 20 or 25 years and our first meeting is positive but there is a long way to go, it needs to be fair for the SMC, it needs to be fair for the new owners and it needs to be fair for Hull FC and I think what Tan was trying to say was if we help them, they’ll help us and that suits us down to the ground.” Pearson has previously hinted at a move away from the MKM but that looks doubtful at this stage. “I’d say it’s less likely,” he said. “The funding is incredibly difficult for stadiums at the minute and the ongoing costs. “We’re obviously encouraged we can have a working relationship with the new owners and if we can get something that works for them and works for us then we’d like to stay there.” The Black and Whites are just a few days out from the new Super League season and Brett Hodgson will be busy plotting how to better last season’s eighth place finish. However, the club are down when it comes to membership figures and Pearson admits that is a concern. “We’re at 6,200 and I’d like to thank everyone for renewing, it’s fantastic support,” he said. “Obviously it’s down by about 3,000 which is a problem to us. It equates to about £1 million. “I think over the next few weeks we’ll be posting our first significant loss for a long time in the region of £1.25m. “It is a problem but post-Covid, we need to get back to winning ways, play some attractive rugby and if we do that I’m sure those people will come back. It is the elder generation in the demographic who haven’t renewed and they’re obviously still wary.”
Yes, and even more ironic that FC fans at the time thought he was the devil incarnate. As Chairman of Hull City he was overly generous to FC. Allam set about righting some of those things which AP was not happy about as FC Chairman.
