The Telegraph saw it as a game of two halves, but mentioned Morley/CTWD/Brucey's stomach bug: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...08/Hull-City-0-Stoke-City-0-match-report.html Stalemate for the Mirror: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/hull-city-0-0-stoke-city-2853467 Lack-lustre for the Star: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...r-but-little-class-in-front-of-goal-at-the-KC Begovic v. McGregor for the Yorkshire Post: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...r-but-little-class-in-front-of-goal-at-the-KC The Express lauds 'Sickboy' Begovic (but then praises McGregor): http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...-0-Brilliant-Asmir-Begovic-foils-Hull-raiders A gritty stalemate and an Ireland offside disallowed, for the Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ort--Tigers-Potters-battle-goalless-draw.html The Guardian rated Begovic's performance (I can't open all the report!): http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/14/hull-city-stoke-city-premier-league For the Independent, the game was 'ordinary', with the 'off-the-field' action having more import: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...ans-up-the-ante-over-name-change-9004993.html
GLENN Moore in The Independent yesterday:- On 17 February 1900 Newton Heath beat Small Heath 3-2 in the Football League Second Division. A calendar month later New Brompton defeated Thames Ironworks 3-1 in the then-powerful Southern League. What happened to those teams? Well those fixtures would now be known as Manchester United v Birmingham City and Gillingham v West Ham United. Assem Allam’s attempt to rebrand Hull City as Hull Tigers is not unique; name changes have been a feature of football since it began. Nor is he the first to do so for overtly commercial reasons. New Brompton’s switch to Gillingham in 1913, after 20 years with their original name, was done with the financial encouragement of Gillingham Borough Council, which had gradually swamped the village of New Brompton and wanted national recognition. Small Heath’s switch to Birmingham appears to be another early attempt at gaining greater brand awareness, not that it would have been couched in those terms then, while Thames Ironworks became West Ham as they wanted to sign professional players and had thus outgrown their factory origins. Manchester United, incidentally, was chosen as the new name of Newton Heath in the wake of the club’s recovery from being placed into receivership. Many teams changed names in the game’s early years, often because clubs had moved beyond their origins as works or church teams, or come to represent a larger area than on their formation. But significant name changes in the last 100 years have been rare. Woolwich Arsenal dropped their geographical locator when the club moved north of the river in 1913 while The Wednesday added one a decade later. Several teams have changed from Town to City in line with their locality while Leyton Orient were Clapton Orient until 1946 and have also been plain Orient. Aside from the fiasco that led to Wimbledon becoming MK Dons, the only major change has been Headington United’s conversion to Oxford United in 1960, two years before their election to the Football League. Which is one reason why Allam’s plan has met with such dissent. Fans are unused to name changes. Cricket and rugby (both codes) appear to have accepted various Bears and Bulls, Sharks and Spitfires, but football clubs are supposed to be United and City, Rovers and Wanderers, not Tigers like an American franchise operation. The other reason is the owner-chairman’s approach. He has acted like an old-school factory boss: “It’s my club, I’ll do what I want.” Many a self-made millionaire has this view on life, as Cardiff City fans have found, but it is surprising Allam has been so high-handed given his long residence in a city which has a strong sense of self, from the white phoneboxes to its relatively isolated location. His suggestion to the Independent on Sunday that the City Till We Die protest group could “die as soon as they want” was appalling. Back in the Edwardian era there was sufficient democracy at Small Heath for what was presumably a diverse group of shareholders to reject a suggestion that the club be called Birmingham City, settling instead for Birmingham. “City” was added in 1945. Similarly at New Brompton the shareholders, who appear to have been numerous, voted in the name change at an emergency general meeting, and then after the club had trialled the change for a season. There is a degree of logic in Allam’s plan. Overspending linked to Hull’s last flirtation with the Premier League, 2008-10, ended with bankruptcy looming before Allam rescued them. Through Allamhouse Ltd he has since loaned (not given) £72m (at five per cent interest), bankrolling losses of £20m, £9m and £26m in successive seasons. Allam, notes the current Private Eye, can use these losses to reduce tax on profits by Allam Marine, but would rather turn a profit and cut that debt. Premier League TV income will help, but there may not be much left with a mushrooming wage bill to meet. It is not just the club that is in the red. There is a reason Hull’s shirt sponsors are a company specialising in pawnbroking and payday loans. Last month the government’s Money Advice Service identified Hull as Britain’s most heavily indebted area, with 43 per cent of the population enduring serious financial problems. Clearly there is a limit to how much money, either individual or corporate, can be leveraged from this supporter base, especially as the KC Stadium is council-owned (another source of contention with Allam). Allam is thus looking overseas. Yet while the Premier League TV coverage may be all-pervasive, most overseas fans follow England’s big clubs. Thus the thinking behind an eye-catching “Tigers” ID. The club certainly need to spread the word. On Twitter they rank last in the Premier League, with 63,000 followers. But there is no obvious indication that being renamed Tigers will do the trick – it does not seem to have hugely increased the support bases of Castleford’s rugby league team or Leicester’s rugby union side. Success and television exposure drive support, especially overseas. Rather than call the club Tigers, Allam would be better off buying the most popular players in China, South Korea and Japan if that is his market. Leaving aside doubts over the value of Allam’s re-branding, the gratitude felt towards him prior to this initiative, and the stranglehold he has over club finances, meant supporters might well have been prepared to consider a name change if they had been engaged with rather than dictated to. “Hull City Tigers” is not that outlandish, given the club have been nicknamed Tigers for more than a century. Fans appear to accept all manner of changes to club kits (such as a stripe-less Southampton, or Hull’s own tiger-print shirts of the 1990s). But so autocratic has been Allam’s attitude it is hard to envisage any rapprochement. Which leaves the Football Association, who must agree the name change, consulting interested parties including supporters and, no doubt, its lawyers. Rule A3 (l) looks watertight. It states: “Council will use its absolute discretion in deciding whether to approve a change in a Club’s playing name.” But what if Allam threatens to withdraw his support if he does not get his way? Without his cash Hull City’s Tigers are as imperilled as the real thing.
The Independent said: "Apparently without irony, Hull managing director Nick Thompson used his programme column to suggest the match against Stoke was a chance “to celebrate a great traditionalist”." I think Nick was making a point and his view is why he is leaving.
If this is true then it's another reason why this ridiculous mess is harming the club. Nick Thompson did well in transfer dealings but would appear to have been hung out to dry by his boss. The club needs the best person for the job in this position, not just a yes man.
I might be wrong here, but wasn't it you, or someone else, who said they knew NT personally and he was definitely leaving because of his wife's poor health?
Almost. PLT inferred they are besties and he was leaving because of made up problems at the club, whilst it was posted by Nick himself on the actual reasons.
That was the official line. I have no knowledge of what happened but it is common to not mention the real reasons.
His wife is definitely ill and needs more of his time which is one reason why he's leaving. He was also completely hung out to dry by Allam by sending him out to deny any name change was happening only a week before admitting it himself. There's still people on here who still think he's a dick for lying, but he wasn't lying at all. Allam was keeping his chief exec in the dark with the rest of us. Like everyone at the club apart from Assem, he doesn't want a name change and knows it's ridiculous. He wasn't forced out for not being a yes man or anything, it's very much his own decision, but his choice was also definitely to do with this name change and he's happy to be leaving now. Contrary to the announcement when we first heard he was leaving, he's not involved with appointing a successor at all. It's a weird job being a chief exec who doesn't actually have any power, and like most jobs at City it's underpaid compared to what other clubs offer, so it'll be interesting to see who comes in instead. I'm told a lot of people have applied, but have no idea about the quality of the applicants.
He needs a shave as well, to wear some clothes that he didn't buy from a charity shop in 1989, lose some weight and stop being generally dodgy. I'd be happy to dispatch this advice in his presence.
Allam is going to appoint someone. He hates CTWD for exposing his lies like Barmby did, so it won't be anyone from CTWD.
GTF. Barmby took the money and ran he could have spoken out but didnt. So dont be giving it that ****.
I can't understand for the life of me why anyone would really believe a manager chose not to have a transfer budget, particularly in our position at the time. Allam cares about his own ego more than anything and he orders people to lie to protect it, making them look like dicks in the process. The exact same thing happened to NT over the name change.
Again GTF. Barmby was sacked he had no need to lie then but took the money. As for NT yes I'm sure he came out with all the 5% who want to go back to putting money in buckets in a script from the Allams. NO he ****ing didnt he's the marketing expert isnt he?? mpve along this old ground. Where are we now, where is Nick Barmby?
Nothing Allam says can be trusted, we know that now and it can no longer be ignored after his more recent crap. He put NT out to deny a name change. His own chief exec ffs. Then a week later admits it. Even weeks after that NT was convinced it was still only the business side changing. It was a ridiculous situation caused by Allam's extreme level of dishonesty. The fact Barmby had to be paid to keep quiet says it all. If he was in the wrong why would he be paid off? Allam pays no one anything unless he really has to. He'll have absolutely hated having to make that particular payment which effectively admitted to Barmby that he was wrong. He hates nothing more than losing a personal duel like that. Agree about the old ground, the original point was you said it would be a perfect opportunity for CTWD to get someone on the board. I said it obviously wouldn't be possible but you must have known that anyway so what were you getting at?
