Miffs campaign is a winner !!! Looks like AA understands the pointlessness of a name change and it seems how he worded his future consultations means he has a good get out clause that wont lose him any face . Not that it ever should amount to that , but those at the top don't often admit to getting it wrong . well done to everyone who got the points across too goes to show passion beats apathy sometimes
Well if I were Dr AA, then as a hard-headed successful businessman rather than as an emotional stakeholder ( former chairman PD's description of Hull City fans), then he already believes there will be major benefit, so giving his word is very easy in this context.
Am i the only one who is sceptical ? The premier league said the club would have to show they have consulted fans before accepting any name change. That process has now started and i think Allam believes he can prove the benefits of the name change out weigh any argument the consultation/protest group come back with and will get away with the name change.
I posted a couple of weeks back that NoToHullTigers should not focus on the profit cost/benefit side of the thing. Because if you do that, you will eventually lose. I actually think that Hull tigers probably WILL be more profitable, and appeal more to foreign markets. Hull City is a pretty naff name really isn't it? BUT I don't care that it is a naff name! Profit should never have even been an argument. Don't change our name because it is our name - simple as that, not because it won't have any profitable outcome. I wasnt there, so maybe this is actually a face saving move by Allam to withdraw in a dignified way. However, if he is still keen on the name change, then this meeting seems a long term blow to the move. Now he has a mandate for change. He only needs to prove the profitability of the name (which shouldn't be hard) - rather than appeal to sentiment and public opinion.
The thing about the name change is, that ALREADY people overseas know us as Hull City. I really do not see how changing City to Tigers will have any commercial impact whatsoever, as I don't really think people overseas would care. If they wanted to invest in us overseas, surely they would have done already?
But who does he have to prove it to & what proof does he need to provide ? All he needs to say is that he has guaranteed new income streams if we change the name & simple as that the name will be changing
Or he can simply say that his investigations show there will be financial benefits. We cannot demand to see proof of that so when he does the name change goes ahead. The financial benefits have not been quantified, so a far east investor offering £2000 a year could be taken as financial benefit
The question you have to ask yourself is what is more important to Assem Allam, building a football club that can compete in the Premier League over the next 10 years or finding a research company that says, if you change your name you may get additional income from Asia. I think he'd rather see a successful football team called Hull City than a team in the championship called Hull Tigers. The important question has always been why do people spend money on a football club?Is it because of the name or because of what happens on the football pitch? Why do Asians spent so much money on Liverpool and Manchester United, is it because they were the same colour shirts as Barnsley or because they have dominanted English football over the past 40 years?
Let's be honest this campaign has already achieved more than most expected. You are correct but dont underestimate the guys representing Fans. They will know full well this is only a step in the right direction and there's a long way to go. That said fans now have dialogue with the Chairman, have demonstrated they are not simply a minority group, have shown passion and that history should not be discarded on a whim. I hope those blindly agreeing with Papa Allam, fearful he will take his cash out, will now see he's bigger than that and by listening to fan arguments and "hopefully" binning the name change he will earn even more respect than he already has with fans.
#NoToHullTigers ‏@NoToHullTigers 1m Assem Allam: "I give my word - I won't change if no benefit is proven" Did anyone clarify if that was purely financial benefit or if that was short or long term? All in all, excellent work from the team. There are far less grey areas than I expected. One down side is that the campaign is now liable to be effectively mothballed as we all wait and see Mr Allam's next move. To the team: Give yourselves a massive pat on the back. You've earned it. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
Of course he won't change the colours, why would he ditch black & amber when his intention is to change our name to 'Hull Tigers'?
Well he wants to change the name to Hull Tigers. He knows it would make no sense for tigers to change their colours.
As many have described, there are plenty of ways to 'prove' a financial benefit. I don't even think it would need to be dubious evidence, you could probably do it pretty easily if you have the motive. NoToHullTigers are fighting the argument on Allams terms! You are never going to win once you do that. Once you admit that profit is an important (or even relevant) part of the debate, then you have lost. NoToHullTigers should have always been about the intrinsic worth of the name, nothing to do with profit. When Allam says "How about I prove there is a financial benefit to the name?", they should have responded "We don't care" (if it wasn't NTHT that actually suggested it). All it does is weaken their position down the line. Once Allam has proved there is a financial benefit, NTHT look weak/indecisive/unreasonable when they still say they don't want to be called Hull Tigers. The whole campaign should have been about Allam not having the moral right to change the name. Instead, the whole argument has been determined by Allam in a way which makes it easy for him to win.
I had a strong feeling prior to the meeting, that Assem might use it to attempt a 'bridge-building' exercise. Think about it: one positive result of the summit could be the establishing of links and communication between the Club and the fan-base. One could be cynical and say that Assem has left us all with that impression; or, alternatively, one could look on the bright side and wait/work for developments along those lines. In the words of the Reverend Tickles - TWT.
Fair enough, Gawge - but how do we yet know what was said? The whole meeting lasted about 3 hours, so it's possible that many speakers put forward the 'history' angle to the name.
The reality is, that no expert in marketing is going to tell Assem that this is a good idea, it will not generate extra income at all(we already established that the extra income would have to be many millions to make the change justifiable(at least to him, to me it will never be justifiable). The only issue comes, if he doesn't employ marketing experts to advise him, but merely brings someone in with a brief to try and make a business case for this daft idea, which would seem rather pointless. Overall, it was a positive meeting, he obviously went in expecting a battle and was a little surprised when he got a positive attitude and a proposal of working together in the best interests of the club. He goes off on a tangent a lot, much of the meeting was not straight forward, I now know nearly as much about Hull Uni's cancer research, as I do about Hull City! The driving factor in all this is definitely money, Assem wants the club to be self sustaining and to be competitive at this level, the club needs to generate more income than it does at the moment. The KC development was supposed to generate this extra income through rentals of a hotel/supermarket or whatever else was on there, but this wasn't to be. That remains a very bitter topic, I believe that had all that not happened, there would not be a desire to see City dropped from our name.
