By Andrew Warshaw
November 13 – What’s in a name? Quite a lot, it seems, when it comes to the history of football clubs. Not for the first time, fans of an English top-flight club are up in arms over plans by ambitious owners to do away with deep-rooted traditions for commercial reasons.
Already, Cardiff City’s Malaysian owners have changed the colour of the team’s shirts from blue to red in the interests of marketing potential.
Now Hull City, like Cardiff promoted to the Premier League in May, are the focus of attention with owner and chairman Assem Allam, who took over three years ago, angrily dismissing objections to him renaming the club.
The Egyptian-born businessman has already changed the company name to Hull City Tigers and now also plans to drop ‘City’ from the club itself.
Hull City fans’ group City Til We Die are fiercely opposing the move but Allam is adamant. “I honestly don’t know why a small group are making all this fuss,” he was quoted as saying.
“It’s up to me. Nobody in the world will decide for me how I run my companies, certainly not a few hundred people. No, no, no. I will not allow that. Let us establish this – nobody questions my decisions in my business.
“What the fans should be interested in – I will never change the colour, I will never change the logo, I will never remove Hull, I will never remove Tigers.
“These words were there for many years. The colour of the club, amber and black, is there. The logo is there. That’s for the fans and I will never change this without consulting the fans.”
Allam has made it clear he wants to step up re-branding early in 2014 and believes the word City is too common and lacks identity. “I would say that the majority of fans do not object to shortening to name,” he told the local newspaper in Hull. “I mix with fans greatly. I go to a minimum of four functions in a week and I mix with 150 to 200 fans in each function. I am aware of the fans’ wishes. All of them I meet say we don’t care about a short name, we want good football.
“Where are the fans who disagree? It is no more than 200 people. The media have focused on them because they carry banners and shout louder. Take it from me, I do not manage the club by banners and I certainly don’t manage it by who shouts louder.
“You shouldn’t sit and worship a name or cry over a name. I shouldn’t touch Hull, I shouldn’t touch Tigers. ‘City’ does not mean a thing to me regarding my objectives of taking the club forward.”
“It’s what you’re doing with the club. Take the big picture if you want to talk history. I want to take the club forward. When I came here I wanted to be in the Premier League. I will not be held back by history. I am here to give better football, not a better history.”
Hull lost £28 million last season and Allam believes the name change is essential for the club to become self-sustaining. “The club cannot rely on my money all the time,” he told BBC Radio. “The club should be able to survive comfortably with me being alive or dead. At the moment, the club cannot survive without my money. That is not on.”
City Til We Die spokesman Chris Cooper welcomed Allam’s input but said some things remained sacrosanct.
“People are very grateful for the saving of the club and being where we are but we don’t agree with the name change,” he said.
“We entered the Premier League as Hull City, we are Hull City Association Football Club and we want to remain that way.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734871096labto1734871096ofdlr1734871096owedi1734871096sni@w1734871096ahsra1734871096w.wer1734871096dna1734871096