and this from China Radio International "Hull City: Could Assem Allam’s Tigers name change benefit club? The News Team By The News Team January 16, 2014 17:48 Mindless meddling or a misunderstood masterstroke? Hull City owner Assem Allam's plan to change the club's name to Hull Tigers has outraged some of the club's supporters. 'City till I die,' roar the vocal protesters as the row over one word overshadows their side sitting in 10th spot in the Premier League. Allam has stoked the fiery dispute by suggesting he will walk out if the supporters do not back his plan. But business experts believe there is sense in his proposal, making the club potentially more attractive to a wider international audience, albeit the argument has been damaged by fractious relations with fans. "I think the whole process has been conducted badly with the supporters, but it's a pretty sound idea," says Nigel Currie, director of sports marketing agency Brand Rapport. "We are very old fashioned, with nearly half of the clubs in the Premier League [nine of the 20] called City or United, but if you're outside England and hear those names, you probably think of Manchester City or Manchester United. "It's a global game now, with a pretty saturated market, and plenty of competition." Age 74 Born Egypt, came to England in the 1960s College Studied economics at the University of Hull Career Joined the firm Tempest Diesels in the late 1970s, where he worked as finance director and eventually bought the company. He renamed the business, which manufactures and supplies generators, Allam Marine. Won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2006 Family His son Ehab is the club's vice-chairman. In 2012, the pair were rated 214th in the UK on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of £417m Community Assam has supported several grassroots sports clubs, made donations to the Hull Truck Theatre Company, and is a trustee of a local hospital appeal. He gifted £1.5m to the University of Hull, where a lecture theatre is named after him. Founded as Hull City Association Football Club in 1904, they have been known as "the Tigers" for most of their history, with the nickname a reference to the amber and black kit. Egypt-born Allam, who moved to Hull in the 1960s, said he had invested more than £70m since taking over the club in 2010 and helped achieve promotion to the Premier League. But after failing to secure ownership of the club's KC Stadium from Hull City Council, the 73-year-old claims he cannot afford further funding and additional revenue is needed. "I think he sees Hull as being not just local to the East Riding of Yorkshire, but potentially a club with national, and international significance," says Simon Chadwick, a university professor in sports business strategy. "For example, India has one of the biggest populations in the world, with a huge appetite for sport and a growing interest in football. "A teenager on the streets of Mumbai might not know the difference between, say, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Hull. "But he knows the word tiger, which has really positive connotations in India – as proud, noble, aggressive and strong." Aiming to open up lucrative new markets for shirt sales, merchandise and broadcast deals shows commercial vision, could bring benefits, but Chadwick says this needs to be backed up by a proper marketing strategy and investment. "It's no use thinking changing the name or the colour of the shirt will pay instant dividends," he says. "Whether you're targeting India, Indonesia or Malaysia, you need a commercial operation set up there." Some of Chadwick's students at Coventry University are helping the Hull Official Supporters' Club with a survey of fans to get their views as part of a consultation before the Football Association makes a decision. The fact HOSC and another supporters' group, City Till I Die, could not agree on a joint statement recently demonstrates a diversity of views. Currie says it is commonplace elsewhere to have sporting sides with 'brand' names, which can give them a unique selling point. "You only have to look at American Football, where you have teams like the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers," he says. Club name changes are rare, although not unprecedented in English football, with Stevenage Borough shortened to just Stevenage in 2010. Conference Premier side Hyde shortened their name from Hyde United in the same year. In the 1980s, newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell failed in a bid to merge Oxford United and Reading, and call the new club the Thames Valley Royals. Milton Keynes Dons were created in 2002 after Wimbledon FC's controversial move to the city. Disenchanted fans set up AFC Wimbledon, starting in the ninth tier of English football and now in League Two, one league below their rivals. Owner Sonny Werblin changed the Titans to the Jets in 1963 because he wanted "a star-studded approach", while the 49ers title comes from gold prospectors who rushed to California in 1849. While the US may be a land of opportunity, there is a word to the wise from one of America's biggest sports. David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, warns: "I would say a wise owner would view his ownership as something of a public trust, in addition to the profit motive, and you really do want to allow the fans a little bit more input than I think is being allowed, with respect to Hull. "I can understand the fans being upset with the change. We take polls, we have mini-elections and we have things like that, because if you lose the support of your home-town fans, you've lost a lot. Certainly seek input from the fans, rather than say 'I don't care what you think.''' Allam is a successful entrepreneur, with a thriving firm which manufactures and supplies generators, and does not take kindly to his business nous being questioned. He believes the title Hull Tigers is shorter, snappier, more marketable. "What the fans should be interested in is that I will never change the colour, I will never change the logo. I will never remove Hull," he told BBC Radio 5 live last year. "The Tigers logo is there and I will never change this without consulting the fans. "As for the commercial decisions, they are my decisions. The club cannot rely on my money all the time." Chadwick, who has worked with clubs such as Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur, states it is hard to put a price on the commercial difference a rebrand can have. He notes that controversial Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan's decision to change the club's shirts from beloved blue to radical red has yet to cause a big stir in the Far East, where red has the reputation as a lucky colour. Hull are 10th in the Premier League under manager Steve Bruce, but there is a danger long-term commercial gain could mean short-term pain if off-field distractions dominate. "The man in the middle of all this is Steve Bruce who is doing a fabulous job," says Phil Brown, who managed Hull, for four years until 2010. "The owner brought him back in for the wilderness, and he seems to be having more headaches as the guy who is running the show. The team are playing well, the supporters are right behind him. It's a really difficult situation for a manager." "I do a lot of work in China and South Korea, and I'm not hearing anything about Cardiff," he said. "I understand what Vincent Tan is trying to do, but I don't have the sense the numbers are there, and he needs to be transparent about that." Rebranding exercises can come unstuck if opponents organise themselves. "The Gap clothing company tried to change the design of its logo in 2010 without fully consulting its customers, who organised a social media campaign against it, and the company backed down," said Chadwick, a born-and-bred Middlesbrough fan. While club merchandise sales could theoretically rise abroad under the revamped Hull Tigers banner, there could be damaging implications at home, where 25,000 fans gather for big games. Fans have threatened to boycott matches, cancel season tickets, stop buying club products and to hold protests at the ground. In an area famed for its rugby league roots, and the legendary Hull Kingston Rovers, it is worth marking that this was one sport which underwent a successful makeover. "It wasn't easy because in England we are largely traditionalists and don't like change," remembers Maurice Lindsay, who helped drive the formation of the Super League. "When we wanted to change the names of clubs like Wigan [Warriors], Leeds [Rhinos] and Warrington [Wolves] there was a lot of huffing and puffing, but I think it went successfully," he said. "Life moves on and if you look at sport around the world – from rugby league in Australia to English cricket, clubs are branded. "It adds a little bit of modern youthful zing." Allam does not see much zing about the word 'City'. He has called it "lousy", which is an irony as Hull recently celebrated being named UK City of Culture 2017. The next few months may tell us whether his Tigers rebrand is a lousy idea or brings a dynamic new culture to the club."
so what you're posting is utter bulls**t plus san francisco 49ers have been that way for what 70 years? where's the point lol
People need to get this idea out there head that some kid in Asian will support Hull City if we change our name to Hull Tigers. They might start supporting us if sign Ronaldo and win the league. We'd probably lose money because our current fan base would be pissed off and stop buying merchandise.
no kid in asia is going to support hull tigers it's laughable really... idiots still claim it's because allam wants it for extra income.. how can people be idiotic... if i was asian, id be offended
the tags on this page i'm just about to **** to this pic please log in to view this image ctwd must be gay now, since a ctwd member has said this... right?
1. nobody knew that there were financial problems during most of bartlett's tenure. 2. ctwd is not and was not opposing allam's running of the club. that's totally false (but i'm sure that won't get in the way of you writing more of it). they opposed the name change, full stop. 3. it is not ironic in any way because your suppositions are incorrect.
As kids on the streets in India don't know who Hull City are they'd have no problem following a team called The Tigers. All we have to do to get untold fortunes is push our nickname. Will they really care if its our nickname? Will they really care if the "The" is dropped and "Hull" put in its place? I don't think so. Assem Allam has had over a year since his announcement to test the water and he's hasn't even tried. Sorry, if he has tried, we've got nothing, or very little from the effort. Yaslav, you forgot to add one other reason for the name change, he hates Hull City Council because Geraghty refused to say please and thank you.
I read it, you missed nothing, except a sneaky admission that he doesn't go to games and stopped being a City supporter years ago. The rest was simply the same, tired nonsense put to bed time and again, and ignores the key element, that it's not a business reason, but a petulant spat that's behind the name change. His second example gives a quote from Allam saying he won't change the badge and mentions HKR in a reference to name changes in RL, and even then ignores the financial crisis they're going through and the fact Hull Sharks changed back. It also cites a lack of a joint statement from CTWD and the OSC as proof it's not a universal opinion. The article then continues by pointing out it's a daft idea, and quotes examples of changes that failed due to a lack of consultation and support. If that article is what his opinion's based on, no wonder he's got the wrong end of it.
It's full of errors, it states Tan changed the kit to red to emulate Man United and Liverpool, but the actual reason he gave for changing it was that red was lucky and more popular in Asia, exactly the reason Allam is giving for Hull Tigers, both are equal nonsense. As for citing China Radio International as a source, they're the Chinese state broadcaster, their main role is making sure that people don't find out that some provinces are still shooting starving people for stealing vegetables. Though this bit did make me laugh... "It wasn't easy because in England we are largely traditionalists and don't like change," remembers Maurice Lindsay, who helped drive the formation of the Super League. "When we wanted to change the names of clubs like Wigan [Warriors], Leeds [Rhinos] and Warrington [Wolves] there was a lot of huffing and puffing, but I think it went successfully," he said. Erm...Super League isn't successful at all, it's a complete ****ing mess.
As a side note, I do find it interesting that people see, (or at least claim they see) the CTWD fans group as issuing orders and controlling fans. CTWD are there to represent fans, they're not leaders, they're spokes people. I have a gripe over their lack of support over the stand move, and I have and will continue to raise that with them, but that issue doesn't stop me seeing the overall benefit to fans and the club of having the group. They're unlikely to ever represent 100% of fans as we're a very diverse group so raise objections by all means, but don't cut your nose off to spite your face. They'll make mistakes and there will be decisions we personally don't like. That, I'm afraid is life. A well run, representative fans group should be win, win for us all and the club.
My favourite bit was the assertion that one of the names we as a nation "love best" is... CREWE ALEXANDRA.
Apparently the Rugby League clubs rebranding has been very successful . I saw a bit of a play-off game the other day , one of the most important of the year , and the ground was half empty
It's hard to believe someone would go to the trouble of writing so much, when most can see the opinions are ill-considered and not fully thought through. It would have been a better use of time to actually look into the actual issues.
CTWD are there to represent their fans, they are the chosen leaders, they're the spokes people for Ctwd. So it suits you because you have a gripe but not when others have a gripe with them, bit of double standards is it not?
We are indeed and not all of our members are going to always agree with everything we do, I wouldn't say that was double standards, as the saying goes, you can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
CTWD are not there to represent their fans at all, but I wouldn't criticise people for disagreeing with them, my critisism is of people dilsiking the full package over one solitary issue. That's not hypocrisy or double standards at all.
RIP your mum in law Mr L B I A . she lives on in your thoughts and your heart always . Live for her as she so wants you to. Hugs
CTWD are no longer a single issue group, they haven't been since April. I don't have a problem with what the group was, nor the fact it's changing. In fact I support the principle of having a fans group. I do question what issues it's liable to take on, and some issues I feel it should have taken on and didn't. I see that as something that should be viewed as positive criticism.
