Hull City’s Allam gets his claws out in Tiger re-naming row

Hull Tiger

August 3 – A domestic English spat that has gained widespread publicity continues to rumble on. Attempts to change the name of Hull City to Hull Tigers appeared to have been buried for good last month when the English Football Association’s council rejected the name change application for a second time.

Hull owner Assem Allam, whose club was relegated in May from the Premier League back to the Championship, has repeatedly failed in his attempt to rebrand the club to attract overseas investment.

Egyptian-born Allam took over the club in 2010 and saved them from administration. He wanted to change the name to Hull Tigers in order to improve global marketing potential.

Allam has now described the Football Association as “amateurs” after his plan was blocked.

“It is a sad day that most of the people who make the decisions are amateurs,” he told The Sun newspaper. “To go global, we need to market ourselves. The shorter the name, the better.”

“Look at Google, Apple, Twitter. You don’t go out to the world and say ‘We are Hull City Tigers Association Football Club’. “If you do that, expect to fail.”

Hull’s diehard fans were strongly opposed to the change but Allam insists most supporters were in favour of the plan. “Overwhelmingly, they are positive about what I am trying to do,” the 76-year-old businessman added.

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