CTWD Statement, 5th March 2014

City Till We Die have nothing to add to Ehab Allam’s open letter in the full page advertisement taken out in today’s Hull Daily Mail by Hull City AFC. It does not say anything new, and the name change application remains in the hands of the FA, whose consultation process we trust and respect.

Please see details of the submission we made to the FA last month here:

http://citytillwedie.com/fa-consultation/

CITY TILL WE DIE STATEMENT – 20th FEBRUARY 2014

City Till We Die has received a number of media requests regarding the views of Dr Assem Allam and Ehab Allam, as reported in today’s Hull Daily Mail. We are pleased that the Allam family are planning for their ongoing stewardship of Hull City AFC in the event that the FA rejects their name change application. We remain open to helping find viable solutions to make the club self-sufficient.

The decision on the name change proposal is now in the hands of the FA. We assume that the Club will have made details clear to the FA of any thus far undisclosed link between potential sponsorship deals and a change of playing name in their submission. CTWD has faith in the FA’s ongoing consultation and has undertaken not to comment on the investigation. We respect the FA process and await their decision.

City Till We Die encourages all fans to support our team loudly and positively on Saturday and on Monday. As throughout this campaign, we do not believe that protests against our owner have any place during the match.

CTWD will not be commenting further on the above statement.

CTWD offer support to Cardiff fans

“City Till We Die” (CTWD) would like to offer our sympathy and support for the fans of Cardiff City FC following the latest antics of their owner, Vincent Tan.

Reports broke last night that Cardiff City’s manager Malky Mackay has been given a “quit or be fired” ultimatum by the Malaysian owner. This follows the well-publicised changing of the club’s long-standing colours and the strange episode in which their Head of Recruitment, Iain Moody, was removed from his position and replaced with a young man with no experience in football.

While CTWD continue to oppose Hull City owner Dr. Allam’s plans to change the name of our football club, we appreciate the backing Dr. Allam has given to our manager, Steve Bruce, to ensure that success is achieved on the field of play.

CTWD support the team passionately and Steve Bruce has given us a team to be proud of and we thank him and Dr. Allam for that.

We feel, as do most impartial outsiders, that Malky Mackay has delivered the same thing at the Cardiff City Stadium. Against a back drop discontent, he produced a promotion winning team from scratch and has strengthened it wisely, achieving some memorable results in the top flight.

CTWD wholeheartedly support Cardiff City fans in their continued struggle to convince Vincent Tan that their team should play in their traditional blue shirts – matching their nickname of “The Bluebirds”.

The help, sympathy and exposure CTWD have received from the “football family” in the UK and beyond has been uplifting and encouraging. We’d like to ask that all of our supporters in the media and the fans of Hull City AFC who continue to campaign to retain the club’s name offer the same support to Cardiff City’s fans at a time of such great disappointment.

We also call on all football fans to support our collective cause and protect of the heritage of proud, historic football clubs. If you tolerate this then your club could be next.

CITY TILL WE DIE STATEMENT

The City Till We Die campaign group is disappointed to learn that Hull City AFC has formally written to the Football Association requesting to change the name of our club to Hull Tigers, as of the 2014-2015 season. When City Till We Die met with Hull City AFC owner Dr Assem Allam on 1 November, he assured us that any name change would not occur for two to three years, and that it would not go ahead without supporter consultation, or without the benefits being proven by research. No such research or consultation has taken place.

Commentators on the sport and experts in marketing alike have reacted to Dr Allam’s name-change plans with widespread derision, while his intemperate remarks about Hull City supporters have been roundly condemned. Single-mindedness is not the only way to win respect; listening to the counsel of others and being prepared to concede that you may have made a mistake can also be a sign of strength. Sadly, the events of recent weeks suggest that our owner may not appreciate this.  

This matter is now in the hands of the only people who have the right to make such a decision: the football authorities. On 2 December, City Till We Die supplied the FA with a timeline dossier on the name-change proposals, for their consideration. On 4 December we met with officials of the Premier League, who told us that any such material changes to the heritage of British football should be carried out in consultation with supporters and wider stakeholders in the game. They also assured us that they would approach the FA to discuss how these important matters can be protected within the framework of their respective rules.

The FA is an organisation with a rich and proud history; this year, it is celebrating its 150th anniversary. This Saturday, as part of those celebrations, numerous FA dignitaries will be at the KC Stadium to honour Hull-born Ebenezer Cobb Morley, one of the founding fathers of Association Football. We remain confident that, with the eyes of the whole footballing world upon them, the FA will make the right decision, and act to protect not only the heritage and traditions of Hull City AFC, but also those of other clubs whose identities may come under threat in the future. This issue matters for all football supporters, not just the people of Hull, and the decision the FA makes will set a very important precedent. 

We urge Hull City AFC supporters who wish to keep our historic name to continue the peaceful and dignified campaigning which has brought us messages of support from all around the world, to make their voices heard by the FA both this Saturday and over the coming weeks, and to sign our petition at citytillwedie.com/petition.

CITY TILL WE DIE

“WE ARE HULL CITY” BANNER

On Saturday 23 November, during the first half of the home game against Crystal Palace, a banner reading “We Are Hull City” was displayed within the ground. Stewards attempted to remove the banner by trying to pull it out of the hands of its owners. The resulting tug of war caught the attention of television cameras and the national press, and has aroused strong emotions amongst many Hull City supporters.

City Till We Die would like to clarify that this banner was not produced or financed by our group, and that we were unaware of its existence. Our 25-foot wide City Till We Die flag was paraded in front of supporters before kick off. We sought permission to do so before the game, and this was agreed to by the club.

Our No To Hull Tigers campaign encourages supporters to make their feelings on the name-change known by singing City-themed songs, as a way of simultaneously backing the team. We have no desire to cause disruption which might distract the players.

However, we think it is a sad state of affairs when a banner with a message as harmless as “We are Hull City” is deemed unacceptable in our own ground.

We believe the actions of the stewards who tried to confiscate the banner were ill-advised, could have had very unfortunate consequences, and were certainly not in line with Dr Allam’s assertions that City supporters can “say what they like” and “call the club what they want”.

We hope there will be no further attempts to deny Hull City supporters their right to engage in peaceful protest.

Links:

The Guardian’s match report:

 “Other than forcing three or four corners, all of which were easily cleared, the crowd’s interest featured on a protest in which some of the many supporters against the club’s mooted change of name to Hull Tigers were initially prevented from parading a banner reading ‘We Are Hull City’ in front of the East Stand… Eventually the stewards relented, taking the heat out the situation, but the chanting continued, and the episode left club owner Assem Allam’s assertion that most supporters do not care about the issue looking ridiculous.”

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/23/hull-city-crystal-palace-premier-league

The Press Association’s match report:

“It was a grim and forgettable outing at the KC Stadium, as notable for the home fans’ protests against the proposed renaming of the club as anything that occurred on the field.

Owner Assem Allam looks set to proceed with plans to rebrand the side as Hull Tigers, but there was nothing for the locals to roar about as they turned in arguably their limpest display of the season… Most of the best entertainment involved fan protests against the proposed name change, with a large ‘WE ARE HULL CITY’ banner being paraded around the stands before stewards waged an unsuccessful tug-of-war with the ring leaders. When the message was once again unfurled, it was met with deafening approval from all four corners.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/hull-city-0-crystal-palace-1-match-report-barry-bannan-scores-last-minute-winner-for-10man-palace-8959470.html

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/hull-city-0-crystal-palace-1-tony-pulis-watches-on-from-the-stands-as-10man-palace-claim-first-away-win-of-the-season-8959410.html

http://www.itv.com/sport/football/article/2013-11-23/premier-league-match-report-hull-0-1-crystal-palace-tony-pulis-watches-his-new-team-snatch-precious-three-points/

YouTube

http://youtu.be/FSGXO5xpD_E – view from the East Stand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q04lat8lgck

Club Statement: A CTWD Response

The City Till We Die campaign group has reviewed the statement issued today (11/11/2013) by Hull City AFC. 

http://www.hullcityafc.net/news/article/201314-club-statement-name-1169297.aspx

We remain puzzled that Dr Allam cannot distinguish between the name of his holding company and the football name of the club he owns.  Until he registers a new name with the Football Association, the club remains Hull City AFC. His belief that we are already called Hull City Tigers, a name ripe for shortening, is therefore spectacularly ill judged and erroneous. 

Our group has already had extensive contact with key figures at the FA, and we anticipate they will take a dim view both of this announcement and of Dr Allam’s rubbishing of our club’s proud history at the meeting we had with him last week. 

Let us be clear – Dr Allam CANNOT change the football name of the club without approval of the FA, who in turn require consultation with fans of the kind promised by Dr Allam when we met. By claiming we are now called Hull City Tigers, he has announced a new name and gone back on that promise – it took him 10 short days.

We have seen the academic paper that Dr Allam has based his name shortening strategy on. He has apparently only read the first page, we have read all 59. The paper is entirely irrelevant in that it has nothing to do with sports businesses and nothing to do with business success.  It is a paper about stock market gaming – apparently stock brokers are more likely to trade shares in companies with shorter names. 

To conclude – we remain eternally grateful to Dr Allam as the saviour of Hull City AFC and the man whose money propelled City to the Premier League. But we believe a man that breaks FA rules, breaks his own promises within days and rides roughshod over our club’s proud history should not go unchecked. We remain determined to do everything we can to retain Hull City AFC as our club name. Our campaign continues – indeed with today’s announcement it is clear that it has only just started. 

HULL CITY SUPPORTERS OPPOSE NAME CHANGE

Press release issued by CTWD, 04.10.2013

Supporters of Hull City AFC have formed a new community group and are campaigning to protect the club’s historic identity.

On 12 September 2013, in an interview with The Guardian, Hull City AFC owner Dr Assem Allam said, “By next year I will change the name to Hull Tigers”. In a Hull Daily Mail interview on 9 August 2013, he stated, “Hull City is irrelevant. My dislike to the word City is because it is common… City is a lousy identity.”

City Till We Die is a community group formed by the coming together of a broad range of Hull City supporter groups. We believe that changing the club’s name will break with 109 years of history and tradition, and are calling for proper consultation with supporters on any change to the club’s identity.

Formed on Tuesday 24 September, City Till We Die have already had a great deal of success in uniting Hull City supporters opposed to the name change.

On 28 September, in advance of Hull City’s home game against West Ham, City Till We Die volunteers handed out 2,800 free No To Hull Tigers badges to fellow supporters, along with 9,000 leaflets explaining the aims of the campaign. Further badges have been posted to City fans around the world.

On 5 October, before Hull City’s home game against Aston Villa, we will be carrying out the second action in our campaign. Another 3000 badges will be handed out, along with a new leaflet with the number “1904” on the reverse – the year that Hull City AFC was formed. At 19:04 minutes into the game, City supporters will be holding up the leaflet and singing “City till I die” to acknowledge the club name’s long history in the community, and to support our team.

Further actions are planned, including the production of free postcards for supporters to sign and send to the FA and Premier League, outlining our opposition to the name change and urging them to consider our views.

An online petition against the name change (www.citytillwedie.com/petition) currently has 3,802 signatories. The campaign also has a thriving social media following on Twitter (@NoToHullTigers) and Facebook (facebook.com/NoToHullTigers).

Our group recognises the tremendous contribution Dr Allam has made to both Hull City AFC and the local community and we strongly support his continued ownership of our football club.

If you would like to know more about the City Till We Die community group’s No To Hull Tigers campaign, email notohulltigers@citytillwedie.com, or visit our website: www.citytillwedie.com.