Bruce's comical square ball that ended up halfway up the East stand genuinely made me laugh out loud.
unsurprising though Hobbs has a 100% clean sheet record in the champ currently, not surprising, forest will go up
What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/305250.html
How can the premier league "block" a name change when there has been no request to do so, as confirmed by the premier league themselves...? The statement refers to the holding company which we knew about beforehand - though I wouldn't wish to get in the way of a good media frenzy by stating facts, obviously.... Whether there is a request forthcoming remains to be seen, but as things stand there has been no genuine attempt to rename the playing side as far as I can see. A relatively high percentage of teams in the premier and lower leagues have a holding company name which differs from the team name - in fact I believe we have been run under different company names to Hull City AFC in the past with next to no media circus or fan uproar attached. At the moment that is the case with City, for the reason that it might assist commercial development overseas (or to put it simply attract investors.) Why should we react differently now? Why because as a premiership club there's media interest of course - and they just love to stir the pot and create a furore to sell copy whenever they can - usually to the detriment of the club and fans themselves. I have no problem with City fans making it clear that changing the name of the team officially would not be acceptable to supporters, but fuelling a media storm which is based on half-truths and exaggerations just makes the fans look collectively stupid IMHO. Whilst it might be a stated wish of the owners to change the name of the playing side in the future, this hasn't happened as yet and it would seem that certain criteria would have to be met to do so. The media are having a field-day with this and people are getting sucked in. There is nothing new in the statement released by the club. The only development on this story is that the owner has stated his preference for something else in an interview. If he's trying to gauge a reaction to the possibility of a change then he is getting a fairly clear answer, though it has been mentioned by some of the more sober areas of the press that this is probably an attempt to draw attention away from transfer activity at a critical point in the window on the part of the club. As far as I am concerned Allam can call the holding company what he wishes. As soon as there are tangible moves reported to change the name of the team in the league table then I'll decide whether I can live with that or not. At the moment, no such thing has happened, and the so-called "re-brand" focusses on commercial, not footballing activity. I couldn't give two ****s whether the badge includes the word "the" or not. I've seen Man U badges with "red devils" on rather than "the red devils" and I can't honestly see how it really makes any real difference. Obviously I will be a little more concerned if we get to a point when there are official moves afoot to significantly change the name on the fixture list, league table and club crest (i.e. the playing side). I'd probably weigh up what the proposed change was against the potential financial benefit - though ideally I'd like it to stay as it is, or at least as close as possible. I'm not too bothered about losing "AFC" and "The" from the badge, though things might be different if I see Hull Tigers Vs Liverpool FC on any fixture list in future seasons however....
Except the team sheet and other football related products have the name change already included. The Club Crest has changed. The official fixture list and table are not in the control of the Club. The League Officials have refused permission for these to be changed.
For something to be refused it has to be requested. The premier league said in a statement there had been no request received and that as far as they were aware the "re-brand" was focussed on commercial activity abroad. I accept that the club crest has lost "the" from it but that's hardly a significant re-brand. Have you really seen a team sheet? As far as I'm concerned email headers, till receipts, ticket stubs and the like are as a result of dealing with the holding company and based on commercial dealings. Like I say - I'll worry more if there are tangible moves afoot to actually change the name of the team through official channels, and even then I'll weigh up the potential cost (any name change) vs the potential benefit (level of investment). If for example a Chinese consortium came in offering the kind of investment that could realistically establish us as a European force but wished us to be known as Hull Tigers in return then I quite possibly wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. If the potential benefit was only minor then I'd resist it as much as possible. At the moment there has been no tangible move to change the team name, nor is there any Chinese businessman with 200 mil stuffed down his trouser leg so the whole current argument is largely a media storm based on exaggerations and half-truths. Whether it is the thin end of the wedge or not is something to be concerned about, but that is something that can be stopped and I support fans who wish to make their voices heard. I'm just not ready to jump on the bandwagon just yet for reasons stated in the above postings, and believe that fans will only resist this successfully if the arguments are sober and based on fact rather interpretation and reactions to what is pedalled by the scum press in pursuit of their own grubby agenda's. My primary interest in Hull City is what happens on the football pitch - I'm more interested in the product than the brand, though I do accept that heritage and identity do form some part of the overall product, just not all of it. I don't necessarily have a huge problem with a few relatively minor changes which could assist in the evolution of the club for a new, more successful era going forward, though any change would have to be rationally justified and based on more than a whim of the chairman though.
