What Next For The Allams?

Stephen Quinn decided Stephen Quinn wasn't going to stay. You can't pin that on the Allams.

Just Steve Bruce.

 

Because he knows the only way he's going to get his money back is to get us back in the PL and to do that he'll have to invest somewhere along the line.

 

He doesn't need to write it off - just convert it equity.

But he probably likes the idea of having his foot on the club's throat.

 

Except, you know, to fund a promotion push.

 

Unless he converts as he goes - i.e. puts another 30m in for buying players, but converts 30m of debt to equity - so the debt doesn't increase and we therefore pass FFP, but he can bring in the players necessary to get back to the PL and sell.

 

More (from Amber Nectar) to chuck in the mix:

Things We Think We Think #192

1a. A weekend for unadulterated celebration. The Football Association emphatically rejected Assem and Ehab Allam’s ridiculous Hull Tigers idea, there’s no scope for appeal this time and the margin of 70/30 was even greater than the first application. This stupid, vindictive tiny minded idea has been absolutely dismantled at every stage of its conception by absolutely everyone. Hull Tigers is dead and can never be resurrected.

1b. There’s so much to rejoice in. That the margin of defeat actually increased this time proves that the FA have no appetite for this lunacy, and never will have. Had the scale of the Allams’ defeat been lowering, they’d doubtless have thought “third time lucky”; and indeed, they may still be thinking that anyway. But the governing body’s opposition has only increased.

2. Ehab Allam’s whinge on the official website was every bit as comical as we’d hoped for. There was an attention-seeking bleat about “taking time out” – what, and leave the club rudderless? Isolate Steve Bruce when his squad badly needs reinforcing? How dismally self-obsessed, putting their own hurt feelings above the good of the club. Then there was the laughable contention that it was “important to fight for what you believe in” – as though believing that malovence towards a local authority and the people of Hull is somehow laudable. It isn’t, it’s utterly contemptible.

3. Meanwhile, brickbats for some at the FA. After being unveiled in the Sunday Telegraph as a supporter of the name change and with the insane “League Three” suggestion already on his charge sheet, Greg Dyke is obviously not fit to be the FA Chairman. That’s probably one for the FSF to tackle, but just as troubling was the notion that the professional chairman were also minded to side with the Allams. That should alarm fans up and down the land: your owners would sell you out in the same way ours wanted to, given the chance.

4. Now that the name change is dead, it’s time to reverse the rebranding that has already taken place. The old (and still functioning) official website URL of hullcityafc.net must be restored. The club’s various social media outlets must be amended to reflect the club’s actual name. Stories, press releases, promotion literature and the suchlike must once more use “Hull City”. The “#hcafc” hashtag must return. The matter is settled, and it’s time to graciously accept it.

5. In the aftermath, lots of calls for unity. It’s a noble idea, but it seems unlikely. There’s no need for the supporters to compromise in any way, for our opposition to the name change was correct, principled and wholly vindicated. If we’re to move forward together, it requires a significant gesture of rapprochement from the Allam family. Frankly, we doubt they have it in them.

6a. All of which makes us wonder what comes next – or perhaps, who comes next. Barring an improbable reconciliation with the present owners, the mutual dislike is only going to fester, inevitably impacting upon everything. They’ve repeatedly said they’ll sell, fondly imagining it to be a threat of unimagineable ghastliness; perhaps it’d be best for all if they now make this a rare instance of a keeping a promise.

6b. Meanwhile, we should pour undiluted praise upon the Hull City Supporters’ Trust for their efforts in fending off this offensive rubbish. Their submission to the FA (read it here) is a stunning document, outlining in forensic detail the multiple follies and falsehoods of the owners and management at Hull City AFC. It is little short of the complete record of this squalid affair, and they deserve the very highest praise. They’ve also made noises about “reversing the rebrand”, as we allude to above. We wish them the very best, and recommend everyeone joins them. Please, do so right here.

6c. Compare and contrast with the OSC, whose silence and equivocation over this matter has been utterly pathetic. There are some decent people within that organisation, but its decision to represent the club to the fans instead of the fans to the club has rendered it terminally irrelevant.

7. Steve Bruce denounced Norwich’s initial bids for Robbie Brady as ’embarrassing’, but it can be argued that Norwich are just being canny, and that it’s actions such as spunking £10M on Abel Hernandez that are truly embarrassing. Is Robbie Brady worth more than the £2M offered? Of course, but player prices are entirely subjective and not fixed, so who can blame Norwich for trying a low bid and seeing if we bite when we’ve failed to move on Huddlestone, Jelavic and N’Doye? We spent £40M last summer, ending up relegated and counting the cost, so it’s hard to fault Norwich for being sensible. Meanwhile, we’d also say there is an embarrassment to attach to City being unable to persuade Stephen Quinn to stay at the club, with the Irishman choosing Reading over a new contract at the Circle, tarnishing Bruce’s man-management reputation further.

8. One thing that the Allams have been wholly praised for is their unequivocal backing of Steve Bruce, they’ve readily supplied transfer funds and previously there has been no suggestion of interference, sensible given a lack of football knowledge, but laudable nonetheless. The sale of Tom Ince, reportedly over Steve Bruce’s objection, may indicate a change in their willingness to indulge Bruce’s every wish, and maybe that’s not a bad thing after a slew of costly failures. Bruce needs to accept the financial reality of wasted money and relegation, and if the Allams overruled him over Ince to balance the books a little having seen the player signed and then almost immediately packed off on loan (only to be deemed crucial upon relegation) then it’s unfair to blast them for it, even if strengthening a Championship rival is unwise.

9. Of course if the Allams vindictively begin a fire sale after a second no from the FA, they’ll deserve all the ire that would generate, though incredibly there are some twisted sorts suggesting that our owners have been given a mandate to do so. Fancy being a fan of the Allams over being fans of Hull City AFC.

10. Flamingo Land are our new sponsors. Meh. It’s a bit naff and small-time, but it was hardly going to be a gigantic global corporation given our recent relegation and a marketing team inept enough to think a name change was the key to untold riches. We’ve had worse and it really doesn’t seem worth being too annoyed about.

http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2015/07/things-we-think-we-think-192/

 

I don't disagree with you, Chazz, it is madness to expect him to write anything off unless there might be a long term advantage in him doing so, but that was not what I meant. If he is not desperate to get his money back then he can do as I said, set up the business to run down, gradually withdraw his funding whilst taking interest, step away and focus on his other businesses. I couldn't criticise him for doing that as it is his prerogative. The danger is that more errors of judgement are made (you surely can't deny there have been some?) and one or more of them prove to be critical to the club's position in the Championship - dropping below that is something we and he should not wish to consider.

 

I would agree there's been errors of judgement. No one's perfect. I hope its sold and he gets his money and quickly. Let him enjoy his dotage.
Him buying those players got us where we were/are so selling them is reasonable. It will put us back exactly where we were after Bartlett.

If we drop through the leagues then we do, so be it.

 

Yes, I agree.

 

It's definitely a good start that it said 'Hull City's new shirt', it could have quite easily just said 'our new kit'. It was a definite conscious effort to make sure that the name was in their. Hopefully this is the start to some bridges being rebuilt between the owners and supporters, personally I'd like to see them stay.

 

Aye, that submission, page one. 'We are East Hull and West Hull' It's all well and good mentioning the poorer people like that, but what about North Hull Eh? It's just reverse elitism.

 

Under Dog's privilege Dutch. Let em feel a little important.

 

Not including NHE doesn't add up