Hull City protesters: 'Our banner will be at every game'
HULL City fans have vowed to keep protesting against the decision to change the club's name.
Club owners Assem and Ehab Allam want to rebrand the club as Hull City Tigers but the move has been met with anger and derision by many football fans.
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STRONG FEELING: Hull City fans protest outside the KC Stadium before the match against Norwich on Saturday. Picture: Simon Renilson
Dozens of supporters voiced their concerns at the West Park gates before marching to the KC Stadium singing City Til I Die, before Saturday's home game against Norwich City, which the Tigers won 1-0 thanks to a Robert Brady penalty.
A banner was also unfurled that said "Hull City AFC: a club not a brand."
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Rich Fussey, of Hull City Ultras, organised the protest.
He said: "We just want the owners to sit down and speak to us about this.
"This isn't just going to blow over and that is evident by the number of fans who have turned up, even though we only organised this 36 hours ago.
Mr Fussey, 27, of Newport, believes the owners have to separate the business side from the football.
He said: "We can understand they want to change the commercial element but you can't go messing around with the footballing side.
"We just want the Allams to know we aren't happy with the name change.
"At the end of the day we are a football club, not a brand.
"We aren't an American football club and we have been called Hull City AFC for 109 years."
The Allams say they will refer to and market the club as "Hull City Tigers" locally, and "Hull Tigers" nationally and internationally.
Vice-chairman Ehab Allam confirmed that although "AFC" will remain on the club badge for shirts this season, it will be removed thereafter.
He says any possible further amendments to the club badge will be consulted upon with fans, but stressed the club's current identity change was being made for business reasons.
Tigers fan Chris Cooper, 47, living in Manchester but originally from Hull, is also equally dogged.
He said: "This banner is going to be at every game, both home and away.
"This will be a constant visual reminder that we remain unhappy about this.
"When you mess around with an institution like Hull City, it isn't straight forward.
"The worst thing is dropping the AFC as that's the essence of the club.
"The owners need to realise the club is bigger than them and the fans have to demonstrate their power.
"We have great respect for the Allams and what they have done, but they aren't football men and they have to understand what this means."
An online petition opposing the name change has attracted more than 2,000 signatures while a poll on the Mail's website attracted almost 3,700 votes in just a few hours, with 78 per cent in favour of keeping the Hull City AFC name.
16 Comments
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by TIGERscarboro
Tuesday, October 08 2013, 2:15PM
“Well said Gareth.
In my opinion those on the march are FC fans in disguise , green with envy that we
Have the Allams and they don't.
( well if the protesters want to come out with tripe so can those who aren't bothered )”
by TIGERscarboro
Tuesday, October 08 2013, 2:12PM
“The same protesters demanded ALLAMS OUT when NICKY B was sacked and look what a stroke of genius that turned out to be..
Some people are just longing to kick our owners for any excuse they can find.
ASSEM AND EHAB ALLAMS BLACK AND AMBER ARMY”
by TIGERscarboro
Tuesday, October 08 2013, 2:09PM
“300 held up the card
THOUSANDS NEVER.
like I said on the other thread
Hull City......Hull Tigers
I'm NOT bothered and I know plenty who think the same way
I think it's the new fans and the plastics complaining
Us LONG time supporters remember many mand seasons of failure and no hope that
We are over joyed to be in the top league watching our best team ever that we don't mind a name change.
The Heroic Allams can change the name if they like.
We have never had it so good but these plastics complaining don't get that”
by Waskins
Tuesday, August 27 2013, 10:52PM
“by GarethC2010
I too am a 26 year+ supporter as are alot of the fellow supporters who I know wont be buying merchandise with the new brand on.
The supporters are split over the issue, however the club is Hull City AFC and always has been so why change 109 odd years of history
Have other teams changed there names and it generated more success or money no!
Manchester United,
Manchester City,
Coventry,
Everton etc etc”
by Waskins
Tuesday, August 27 2013, 10:36PM
“by GarethC2010
I too am a 26 year+ supporter as are alot of the fellow supporters who I know wont be buying merchandise with the new brand on.
The supporters are split over the issue, however the club is Hull City AFC and always has been so why change 109 odd years of history”
by GarethC2010
Tuesday, August 27 2013, 3:18PM
“@waskins. As a 25+ season ticket holder you don't speak for me. Am I a 'band-wagon' supporter too then because I don' have any issue whatsoever regarding the name of the company or even the club for that matter.
Cardiff are a good example. Firstly they changed from blue to red and the fans kicked off. Then the team was successful, started investing in the playing squad and now they ae changing their name from the 'Bluebirds' to Cardiff Dragons with a nice new logo.
Weird but I can't hear any complaining Cardiff fans any more
I think the few people making the most noise about this would rather be Hull City AFC floundering in league 2 than Hull Tigers in the PL.
As for the other poster who mentioned a change of colour. Quite frankly if there was a significant enough reason for it I would not have an objection.
Just ignore the handful of moaners Mr Allam.
UTT.”
by Tigercol
Tuesday, August 27 2013, 9:20AM
“I can't understand why they Allams have dithered in changing the name. Well I might just beat them to it. I'm going to set up a new team, we will be playing in the 7th tier of the league and I'm going to call them Hull Tigers. We are bound to make more money than Hull City A.F.C, the fact that we will only have 100 supporters and will hardly get a mention on TV or radio has nothing to do with it. It's all in the name. (Sarcasm at it's best)”
by Waskins
Monday, August 26 2013, 7:29PM
“PremTiger,
Me like a lot of others I have spoken to have refused to buy any club merchandise with the new name branded on it. That is great BUSINESS sense isn't it. Im grateful for what the Allams have done but this is a step too far in the wrong direction while alienating the people who matter most - the fans, who were not even consulted about this. Way back in the 80's Don Robinson introduced Tiger beer etc to gain more revenue - he used the name The tigers but not changed the club name. Like other posters have said the success on the pitch will gain more commercial gain than changing the name”
by Premtigers
Monday, August 26 2013, 6:53PM
“Me thinks that the publicity achieved to date with this BUSIINESS decision has already succeeded in bringing more global revenue into The Tigers that can only be good for the club and their supporters in the long term.”
by Tigercol
Monday, August 26 2013, 4:57PM
“Looks like the web page didn't copy, here is the list again:
Bayern Munich, worth £569M
Manchester United - £554M
Real Madrid £411M
Barcelona £379M
Chelsea £277M
Arsenal £271M
Liverpool £239M
Manchester City £220M
AC Milan £174M
Borussia Dortmund £172M
Schalke 04 £171M
Tottenham £145M
Juventus £119M
Ajax £107M
Inter Milan £100M
Hamburg £95M
Galatasaray £77M
Marseille £73M
Corinthians £68M
Napoli £67M
Lyon £67M
Fenerbahce £63M
Bayer Leverkusen £60M
Paris Saint-Germain £56M
VfB Stuttgart £55M”