Tradition and Ambition
Warning – AN podcasts often contain bad language!
Looking back at West Ham, looking ahead to Middlesbrough and Manchester City, and snorting with derision at the latest effort by the Allams to justify/prolong the membership scheme. All this rolled into a snug, fun-filled, action-packed, value-for-money 45 minutes. We spoil you
We are getting to the business end of this turbulent season, and the widely held view is that it could be the home form that keeps City up. Because of the international break the Everton away game seems like an age ago, and despite the FA appeal, Tom Huddlestone was still (wrongly) suspended. Sam Clucas replaced him and Niasse also returned to the starting eleven, with Elabdellaoui missing out through injury.
A 3-5-2 formation took to the field as follows-
Jakupovic
Maguire – Ranocchia – Davies
Elmo – Markovic – Clucas – N’Diaye – Robertson
Niasse – Hernandez
It could well have been the pressure of this “must win” game, but City started poorly, and continued to under-perform throughout the first half.
Ex-Tiger Robert Snodgrass was in the Hammers midfield, but the Scot was seen more as Pantomime Villain than returning former hero, and was roundly booed from the off.
Mark Noble had been dropped to the bench following a number of lacklustre performances for the Hammers, so Andy Carroll wore the captain’s armband for the visitors. And it was he who opened the scoring. The lanky target man was dominating all the early exchanges, and on 17 minutes a cross came into the City box, Davies mistimed his jump, Carroll chested the ball down and fired past Eldin Jakupovic. 0-1.
City didn’t seem to take the goal as a wake-up call, and continued to play poorly, constantly coughing up possession, with the back three looking all at sea. It wasn’t looking good as the ref blew for half time.
However Marco Silva could see what was wrong, and just as importantly knew how to fix it.
Grosicki replaced the struggling Davies, switching things to 4-4-2. More cover on the wings cut-off the supply line to Carroll, who only had one real chance in the second half – a header straight at Jakupovic. The flat back four settled things down, and it was from a well-worked break that City equalised on 53 minutes.
Markovic broke quickly and found Grosicki with a cross-field ball. The Pole tried to cut inside his defender and Robertson, who had followed up intelligently picked up possession before slotting the ball low into the West Ham net. 1-1.
The goal seemed to deflate the visitors, and City tried to press home the advantage with N’Diaye hitting the post and Grosicki shooting just wide from the rebound.
Henriksen and Maloney replaced N’Diaye and Hernandez with 10 minutes of normal time remaining, but it was another defender who scored to take all three points. Grosicki played a decent corner into the near post on 87 minutes, and Ranocchia powered his header past Randolph to make it 2-1.
Not a great performance from City, but a crucial win nevertheless. A case of Never mind the quality, feel the three points. Silva now has an impressive run of 39 home games unbeaten (spanning back to his previous clubs). ‘Boro at home is next, another “must win” home game against a struggling side. More of the same please Mr Silva.
Mark Sellers (@mrmarksellers)
City welcome relegation rivals Middlesbrough to the KCOM on Wednesday night in what is a classic example of a bottom of the table ‘six pointer’.
Both sides currently find themselves in the bottom three, and will have been eyeing up Wednesday’s fixture for a long time as an opportunity to put three points on the board. There is still certainly hope for City and Boro, but a loss for either team under the lights at the KCOM would surely prove fatal for their chances of survival.
Steve Agnew returns to his old stomping ground having worked under Steve Bruce during his time at the Tigers, and he will be looking to record his first win as Boro’s caretaker manager. His side produced a solid performance to take a 0-0 draw away at Swansea on Sunday, yet it is wins they need if they are to retain their Premier League status come 21st May.
City fans can take comfort in Marco Silva’s outstanding record in managing teams at home – the man who is looking to perform a ‘miracle’ by keeping City up has not lost a home league game as manager in over three years (spanning four different clubs). At the KCOM Silva has led the Tigers to six wins in seven, but the harsh reality is that this will count for nothing if Boro come out on top on Wednesday.
City looked far more effectual playing a 4-4-2 system than they did in a 3-5-2 in the win over West Ham, so Kamil Grosicki could be recalled to the starting line-up on Wednesday at the expense of Curtis Davies. Harry Maguire and Andrea Ranocchia both picked up knocks on Saturday but should be fit to play.
Boro left-back Fabio has been ruled out after suffering concussion in the game at Swansea, and George Friend looks favourite to replace him. There could be changes up front for Agnew’s side who have netted a miserable four Premier League goals since Christmas.
Given City’s recent home record it is no surprise that the bookies fancy us to win, with most offering odds around EVS. Boro are outsiders at 3/1, with the draw – a result that would suit neither team – at 9/4.
Harry Drew (@hdrew95)
HCST is disappointed yet unsurprised by Friday’s reveal of the latest version of Hull City’s Membership Scheme.
Despite what has obviously been a season of poor attendances at the KCOM Stadium (particularly compared to previous seasons when Hull City played in the Premier League), which has seen many lifelong fans being forced out of watching their local football team, the club has again shown its utter contempt towards fans of Hull City AFC.
What Happens Next?
HCST will have a senior representative at the Premier League fans meeting on April 25th where concessions (in particular those at Hull City) are on the agenda and Chief Executive Richard Scudamore will be in attendance. We will also be writing to the Premier League again this week to confirm whether or not these ticketing arrangements for next season have been approved by the Premier League or not.
We will also be continuing to try to arrange a meeting with the club. It was hoped that issues like this could be discussed at the Fans Forum which was due to be set up by the club by the end of January – unsurprisingly this has not been forthcoming.
It is clear the club has missed yet another opportunity to give the team and manager Marco Silva the support they deserve. The aim should be to fill seats by offering affordable tickets to all fans, including concessions to those that need them, not to take tickets off sale, close areas of the ground and alienate your own supporters.
Hull City Supporters’ Trust Annual General Meetings:
Hull City Supporters’ Trust Board Meetings:
Minutes of the (post-merger) HCST Interim Board:
Minutes of CTWD since its first general meeting in 2014:
Minutes of the original CTWD campaign group:
Minutes during 2013-14 of the Tigers Co-operative:
Some of these problems are potentially quite serious, and we would recommend supporters think carefully about the implications of signing up to these terms and conditions as they currently stand. We hope the club will see sense and change them, following the Trust’s intervention.
In summary:
The full letter to the club can be read by clicking here.
More detail on HCST’s concerns about the membership scheme terms and conditions can be read by clicking here.
The Trust is looking to appoint a new Secretary over the coming weeks – the current Secretary Mike Scott is still in place but is hoping to relinquish his role, having left the Board of Directors last month. Mike is willing to handover the role to a new Secretary over a period of weeks if necessary.
The role is to deal with the administrative aspects of running the Trust, and being an independent voice that ensures the Trust’s Board enacts its own rules. There are some relatively mundane tasks, such as submitting an annual report to the Financial Conduct Authority and preparing agendas/minutes for the AGM and bimonthly Board meetings (hosted in Beverley).
But there are also some really interesting challenges – being at the heart of the Board’s communications with stakeholders, plus ensuring that the Board’s rules and policies are also being complied with and dealing with people that step out of line.
The Trust’s administrative assets are in good shape and a full handover will be available.
Interested? Drop us an email at contact@hullcityst.com to arrange an informal and totally non-committal chat.
An expert group put together by the Government to consider the relationship between football clubs and fans has today published its recommendations and agreed actions – as members of this panel, the Football League and the FA Premier League are committed to delivering these actions through their constituent clubs.
The recommendations include valuable commitments in relation to supporters’ ownership of clubs and supporters’ involvement in the management of their clubs. This includes a formal recognition of the role of properly constituted Supporters’ Trusts such as HCST. While these provisions are of little relevance to Hull City right now, with the financial future of club being at little immediate risk, they may be of relevance in the medium and long term should the darker days of our history over the last 30 years ever be repeated.
The recommendations also place a requirement on clubs for senior representatives (either club owners, directors and/or senior executives) to meet with their supporters – including the Supporters’ Trust – at least twice a year to discuss the strategic direction of the club and matters that are of particular importance to fans. Hull City’s performance in this regard is patchy – the Fans’ Working Group is good practice, but hasn’t met for some time and has not considered recent changes at the club (after goal music, new ticketing arrangements) that would have benefited from early supporter engagement.
Finally, the recommendations discuss heritage matters in football – club assets that supporters value such as the club name, the home ground, club colours and the club crest or badge. The existing FA regulations in relation to name changes were endorsed by the Expert Group – there is a process in place that may not be perfect but clearly manages to recognise the views of supporters, the successful campaign to resist the Hull Tigers name change proposal confirms this. Similar provisions are in place to ensure supporters are heard when the relocation of a home stadium is being considered – an issue that may raise its head at Hull City in the future. The Expert Group also makes a commitment to supporter engagement when colours and crests are to be changed – a welcome development that may come too late for Hull City and our new “1 904” badge, but will assist many other clubs in the future.
Hull City Supporters’ Trust fully supports the findings of this expert group, and we look forward to working with Hull City to put its recommendations into action. This will require a change of approach by the management of Hull City, which currently does not communicate formally with the Trust. We stand ready to build a positive relationship once the club changes its stance.
The full report can be found here.
The agenda for the meeting has been prepared to meet the requirements of the Trust’s Rules, and can be found by clicking here.
The Trust’s annual report, which sets out the work the Trust has done during the 2015 calendar year and summarises the Trust’s financial position, can be accessed by clicking here.
You will see that Item 5 of the Agenda includes the election of at least 3 new Board Directors for the Trust. It is a Trust Rule that a third of the Board Directors are re-elected every year. It is important that the Board of Directors attracts new and diverse people to help guide the work of the Trust for many years into the future. If you are interested in joining the Board of Directors then please let me know at mike.scott@hullcityst.com by sending through some basic details:
While there is an element of formality about the AGM, the Board is also eager to ensure that the meeting is interactive and provides shareholders with the opportunity to have their say about the Trust’s business. This can be achieved in two ways:
If you wish for the AGM to consider your Member’s Resolution then please let me know as soon as possible at mike.scott@hullcityst.com. I will let you know the format that the resolution should follow, and I will happily give you some help with wording your resolution, if required.
There is no need to submit a suggested HCST priority to the Secretary in advance of the meeting. Just stand up when it’s time for Agenda Item 7 and say your piece.
The HCST Secretary is currently busy compiling an Annual Report on behalf of the Board of Directors. This will be made available on our website prior to the meeting, and will be presented to the meeting by relevant Board Directors on the day.
Two final matters for you to consider:
The Board of Directors look forward to welcoming you to the 2016 AGM on the 12th March 2016. We hope that you can make it and contribute to work of the Trust in the future.
Note 1: This invitation references the Trust’s Rules at a few places, you can find the full set of Rules along with accompanying standing orders and policies by clicking here.
Note 2: An Election Management Group (EMG) has been formed to oversee the election of new Board members at the AGM, in accordance with the Trust’s Rules. The EMG members are Peter Forster, Chris Johnson, Mike Scott (HCST Secretary), Jackie Smith and Richard Weatherill.
The proposed name change to Hull Tigers has been rejected once more by the Football Association. As a consultee nominated by the Membership Sub-Committee of the FA, Hull City Supporters’ Trust provided a comprehensive submission that set out why it opposes the name change on behalf of its shareholders, on behalf of a wider group of Hull City fans that do not support the name change, and on behalf of the wider footballing family who as a result of today’s decision will hopefully see an added layer of protection given to their club name.
The HCST submission can be accessed by clicking here.
A critical aspect of this submission is the call for the club that is still called Hull City, to once more recognise that name in its public facing communications. The stealth rebranding of the club needs to be reversed, this is a critical aspect of healing the divisions between supporters and the club and should start straight away. The Trust is developing a programme of initiatives and ideas, hopefully with the blessing of the Football Association and national supporters’ organisations, that will encourage the club to reverse the rebrand, while at the same time provide resources and ideas for how supporters themselves can take the rebrand into their own hands.
Watch this space!
Supporters of Hull City who don’t wish to support a club called ‘Hull Tigers’ could be forced to renew season tickets before knowing the name of the team they’ll be supporting, or face being charged extra for waiting to find out.
In response to the latest application by the owners of Hull City to change the name of Hull City to Hull Tigers, The FA has begun a consultation exercise with interested parties, including HCST. Submissions from stakeholders are due in by Friday 8 May (the Trust’s will be submitted on the 5th). However the timescales associated with the FA decision process are such, it seems probable that this could all drag on until the next full FA council meeting in July.
In recent weeks, many Hull City fans have suggested to us, media outlets and through social media that they won’t support a team called ‘Hull Tigers’. At a recent Fans’ Working Group (FWG) meeting, the club’s representative agreed that he was “minded to provide refunds” for those who want them should they buy season tickets and the name change situation continue.[1]
Yet the club’s announcement and literature regarding season ticket renewals features no mention of refunds, indeed recent correspondence from the club states that they have made no arrangements for refunds at this time. The announcement did however state that fans renewing after May 23rd will be charged extra for doing so – well before the probable FA decision date for the name change.[2]
This means fans could be in the crazy situation of having to buy a season ticket before knowing the name of the team it is for, or pay even more for their season ticket. That is unacceptable, especially in light of price increases at a time when many are finding it harder and harder to finance their passion.
This situation is entirely down to the owners of Hull City. They’ve decided to go through with this process yet again, at this particular time of year when season ticket renewals are made. It’s therefore their responsibility to make arrangements for the season ticket sales process to fit around the process they’ve started with The FA, without penalising fans.
We call on Hull City to deal with the situation they’ve created by extending the deadline for renewals until after the name change process has been concluded or by providing a written guarantee of refunds upon purchase of season tickets which can be claimed if the name is changed to Hull Tigers.
[1] http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2015/03/notes-from-the-latest-fans-working-group-meeting-3/– These notes were agreed as a true record of the meeting by James Mooney at Hull City.
As Secretary of the Hull City Supporters’ Trust I am pleased to announce the outcome of the vote conducted by the Trust in relation to the proposal by Hull City owner Assem Allam to change the playing name of the club to Hull Tigers. In total 770 votes were cast, 767 by email and 3 by telephone. The total number of Trust shareholders and junior members eligible to vote is 1,086.
The outcome is that:
The result is clearly an overwhelming rejection of the Hull Tigers proposal by the membership of the Hull City Supporters’ Trust, some 99.2% of the votes cast supported retaining Hull City as the club’s name.
The results also provide some significant findings:
The outcome of this vote will be included within, and influence the content of, our submission to the FA regarding the proposed name change. We thank you once again for your participation in this vote.
Mike Scott
Secretary, Hull City Supporters’ Trust
HCST has today issued a press release calling on the Allams to take stock and call a halt to the divisive and pointless name change proposal, following its savaging by the FA and the arbitration report issued on Monday.
The press release can be read in full by clicking here.
The main body of its text is reproduced below.
Hull City Supporters’ Trust is delighted to learn that the club’s playing name will remain Hull City A.F.C. for the foreseeable future in spite of the arbitration process embarked on by the club’s owners, the Allam family, with the Football Association.
HCST urges the owners to abandon the name change application once and for all. It is clear from the evidence set out in the arbitration document that a strong and compelling case for change does not exist.
The FA has published a thirty-page arbitration document that describes why the FA Council’s decision to reject the club’s proposed name change has been “set aside” on a very minor technicality, having rejected most of the arguments offered by the club. The Trust is disappointed with this finding – the FA Council made a sound decision made in the interests of football in general, not just those of Hull City supporters.
We are dismayed to see in black and white the contempt held towards Hull City supporters by vice-chairman Ehab Allam. Mr Allam was quoted stating he wanted the FA to make its decision without fans’ views being taken into account, while the club took the position that its supporters were irrelevant.
It is, to say the least, disappointing that Ehab Allam thinks so little of supporters – who are the life-blood of the football club.
The arbitration document also reveals that the club agreed to present a business case for the change and then failed to do so. We believe this is because there is and has never been any evidence that “Hull Tigers” would generate a financial benefit. The report also stated that the heavily-weighted ballot of season ticket holders the club ran was “poor”, “unimpressive” and the outcome was “unconvincing”.
In what is something of an understatement, the document added that “Ehab Allam confirmed the club had not handled liaising with supporters or the public relations well“.
In setting aside the previous decision the arbitration panel says that the Allams could re-apply to change the name for the 2015/16 season. As they were entitled to do so anyway, this means nothing has changed. It does beg the question as to whether such a new application was the motivation behind the club’s reported attempts to demand that the FA delay announcing the arbitration. Such delay would have meant the application could have been re-submitted without the knowledge of the supporters. In any event, HCST wrote to the FA twice to remind them they agreed to inform supporters as soon as a decision was reached. We are pleased that the FA took note of this and published the arbitration promptly.
Assem Allam stated last September that there would be no further application to the FA, but the club’s statement issued on Monday was far from clear as to whether they will honour that pledge.
It is vital that the club makes clear its intentions for any re-application before supporters are asked to renew season tickets for the 2015/16 season.
Now is the time for the owners to show our City, our history and our supporters the respect they deserve and allow us to put this saga behind us, so we can unite as fans of Hull City A.F.C. and focus on keeping the club in the Premier League.
The Supporters’ Trust has long been a supporter of the Hull City Fans’ Forum podcast that local media stalwart Pete Mills produces for his Hull Kingston Radio enterprise. The latest version from last Friday can be heard using the following link.
https://soundcloud.com/hk-radio/hull-city-forum-130315
We have ten people that are willing to volunteer to be Board Members for the Hull City Supporters’ Trust. The Trust Board will meet regularly and make decisions on behalf of the Trust’s shareholders. Whenever possible, and whenever there is sufficient time, the Board will consult with shareholders on significant issues before it makes decisions.
There are up to ten places on the Board available, so at the moment there is no need for a full election vote at Saturday’s AGM. However it is important that all shareholders know who the Board Member candidates are. To this end, all candidates will each introduce themselves to the AGM before the meeting ratifies (or not) each appointment to the Board with a show of hands.
Information about the people standing to be Board Members is provided below. If you have asked Mike Scott to cast your proxy vote and you don’t like the look of any of these characters, please let him know asap at mike.scott@citytillwedie.com!