Posts

Posted on

Invitation to Annual General Meeting, Hull City Supporters’ Trust

This is formal notification for the 2015 Annual General Meeting of the Hull City Supporters’ Trust (whose registered name is Tigers Co-operative Limited).

The Annual General Meeting will commence at 11:00am on Saturday 21st February 2015.  Doors will open at 10:00am for people that wish to join the Trust in advance of the meeting.  Only shareholders with a valid membership card, or have signed up during the hour beforehand, will be permitted to enter and participate in the meeting.

The meeting will be held at the Edwardian Suite, Mercure Royal Station Hotel, Ferensway, Hull.  The room is adjacent to the ground floor bar area, which will be serving drinks during the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting is to conduct and discuss important business for the Trust going forward:

  • elect a Board of Directors nominated from the current shareholders – this election will be for up to nine board members, and will either require a vote for (if more than nine candidates) or an approval of (if nine or fewer candidates) each person standing. A further email will be sent out shortly on this subject;
  • review the work of the Tigers Co-operative and City Till We Die over the last year, as the two bodies that came together to form the Hull City Supporters’ Trust;
  • review the work of the Trust going forward, including a review by shareholders of the proposed Trust business plan developed by the interim Board;
  • approval of the current financial position of the Trust; and
  • any other business that members wish the general meeting to discuss, which can be raised by any shareholder by notifying the Secretary in advance at contact@hullcityst.com.

The Trust’s first annual report is here.

If you are unable to attend and wish to tender your apologies, please email the Trust Secretary Mike Scott at contact@hullcityst.com.

Also please contact Mike if you wish to appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf at the meeting.

We are pleased to confirm that the meeting will be attended by a representative from Co-operative Energy.  She will be on hand to provide you with a no obligation quote that might save you money on your energy bills – bring your current bills with you to see if you could save money.

Hull City Supporters’ Trust has partnered with Co-operative Energy in an effort to promote their ethical, low cost gas and electricity tariffs while helping to increase awareness and raise funding for our Trust.  Co-operative Energy will make a £25 donation to Hull City Supporters Trust for every customer who signs up under our referral.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the Station Hotel on the 21st February.

 

Mike Scott
Secretary, Hull City Supporters’ Trust

Posted on

Phelan groovy?

Guest writer Ollie Harsley looks at assistant managers and new signings in his first blog post for HCST.

Hull City fans will be delighted with the news that is being reported today as Mike Phelan has reportedly agreed to become Steve Bruce’s new number two. Phelan has previous experience of winning Premier League titles as assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson, so should bring the valuable experience needed to fight against the danger of relegation. However, Mike Phelan will officially join the club from the 1st of February so Hull will have to prepare for Saturdays game against Newcastle without Phelan there as an influence.

One other worrying issue is the fact that this January transfer window has been unusually quiet for Hull City and as the days tick away it becomes even harder to see the club actually bringing any new additions in. The club have to comply with financial fair play rules which means they have to sell before they can buy and therefore don’t have sufficient funds to search for the player that will reinvigorate Hull City’s season.

A number of names have been linked with moves to the KC Stadium these include Rudy Gestede of Blackburn Rovers and most notably Aaron Lennon of Tottenham Hotspur. There were reports that talks were ongoing over Gestede however, nothing has ever materialised since then. You expect that in Lennon’s case it could end up as a loan deal as it seems Mauricio Pochettino will not stand in the winger’s way if he wants to leave to get first team football.

One name that I think would be a very good addition to the team would be Daryl Murphy who currently plays for Ipswich Town in the Championship. Murphy is currently one of the top goal scorers in the Championship and his form this season has been terrific. A move however, could be hampered by the fact that Ipswich are challenging for promotion this season and therefore would be very unwilling to let Murphy leave for a very cheap fee.

After today, there will be 5 full days of the transfer window left and whatever Steve Bruce decides to do in this time will have a decisive effect on Hull City’s season. Even if no business is completed over the next few days expect transfer deadline day to be a very busy one for Hull City.

Posted on

Hull City Supporters’ Trust – Become A Member!

The Hull City Supporters’ Trust is delighted to launch its 2015 membership scheme.  The Trust has been established to continue the previous work of the Tigers Co-operative and provide an independent voice for Hull City supporters.  The Trust will attempt to exercise a positive influence on the management and direction of Hull City, as well as providing benefits to members.  In time, perhaps we will achieve a formal say in the running of the club.

For £5 anyone over 16 years old can become a full shareholding member of HCST – you pay £1 to become a Trust shareholder and £4 for your annual membership.  If you are already a shareholder of Tigers Co-operative then let us know and we will refund you £1 via Paypal. Under 16s can also join for a bargain £2, although our rules prevent younger members from being shareholders.

In return for joining us you become a part of a growing movement and independent voice for Hull City fans.  You also get the benefit of our Partners Scheme, which entitles you to discounts on a wide range of goods and services  – from driving lessons and golf practice, to chimney sweeping and a chippy tea.  To be honest, you’ll soon get your fiver back in Partner discounts if you live in the Hull area.  Some of our partners are online retailers that will allow anyone to benefit regardless of where they live.

Full details are available on our membership page – www.hullcitysupporterstrust.com/join.  We will soon be switching to a new HCST website address once we have our new graphics in place, but please use our existing site to sign up to the Trust in the meantime.

We will commence the formal work of the Trust by conducting a ballot to elect the Trust Board, then hold an Annual General Meeting open to all HCST members.  This AGM will take place at 10am on 21st February 2015 at the Royal Station Hotel on Ferensway in central Hull.  Full details will follow when you have become a member.

We hope you will join us and make the Trust a vibrant and positive community that champions the cause of not only our members but all Hull City fans.

Yours sincerely,

The HCST Interim Board

Posted on

Hull City’s Name

Like many supporters, the Hull City Supporters’ Trust has become increasingly concerned that the owners of Hull City AFC, in defiance of the English Football Association (FA), the fans and the dictates of common sense are continuing their pointless quest to change the historic name of our Club. We have seen this recently in the ongoing refusal to use the Club’s name; having already been dropped from the badge and removed from match day announcements it has now vanished from the match day programme. The name of the Club’s Facebook account has been changed. There has been an ill-judged attempt to attract people in India to a “Hull Tigers” brand with a visit to Mumbai “publicised” by a Twitter account that, judging by the followers it has attracted, has been an embarrassing – and presumably expensive – failure. Saddest of all has been the owners’ cynical use of Dean Windass to push this “Hull Tigers” rebranding, leading to Dean being booed by a minority of fans during the previous home game.

To deal with this first, though we completely understand and share the frustration of fans, we strongly condemn the booing of Dean Windass. Deano is an authentic Hull City hero and he deserves better.  In addition, he has had a number of well-publicised problems since his playing days have ended and we don’t want to see those exacerbated by his being caught in the middle of a row between the Club’s fans and its owners. This episode appears to be a distasteful attempt by the owners to split Hull City fans by using one of our own. We think Dean has been very poorly advised by the Club’s owners and we want no part of this. We condemn the booing, just as we condemned the booing of Hull City fans by fellow fans earlier in the season.

The position of the Hull City Supporters’ Trust has not changed. Unlike the Club’s owners we will continue to respect the FA’s process on the name change and will wait for their verdict, which we expect will be a rejection of the owners’ “appeal” against the original FA decision. We have recently written to the FA to inform them of the activities at the Club as detailed above, as we are concerned that these contravene at times the letter as well as the spirit of the FA’s ruling. We have been in contact with various national journalists who are sympathetic towards us so they are aware of what is happening at our Club.

The Hull City Supporters’ Trust call on the owners of Hull City AFC to halt their attempts to change the name of our Club by stealth. We remain willing, as we always have been, to work with the Club’s owners for the betterment of Hull City. Given that the owners have been clear that the club is now for sale we will be very happy to work with future owners to the same end, using our tradition to power our ambition. We won’t allow our owners to set us against other fans of Hull City. Players go, managers go, owners go. The fans and the name go on.

Posted on

Our members have spoken – welcome to the HULL CITY SUPPORTERS’ TRUST

Many thanks for the fabulous response we had to our vote for what the Supporters’ Trust should be called when it forms from the merger of Tigers Co-operative and City Till We Die at the end of the month.  Straight talking Hull people have spoken – the no-frills option of HULL CITY SUPPORTERS’ TRUST was the clear winner amongst the membership of both groups, attracting 210 votes.  The 1904 Trust got 76 votes while retaining City Till We Die garnered 78 votes.

We will continue to progress the move to a Supporters’ Trust in the coming weeks.  In a few days’ time we will launch our new membership scheme, where anyone over 16 years old can purchase a single share in the Trust as part of an annual membership fee of £5.  Discounts will be available to our younger members.

We will also publish details of our HULL CITY SUPPORTERS’ TRUST PARTNERS, who will provide a discount to all Trust members on presentation of a valid 2015 membership card.  If your business is interested in becoming a partner then drop us an email at contact@citytillwedie.com – the proposition is simple, you give our members a discount, we publicise your business on our website and Twitter.  More details can be found by clicking here.

Over the coming weeks we will rebrand this website with attractive new graphics designed to reflect the purpose and ethos of Hull City Supporters’ Trust – we will hopefully retain our Ambition and Tradition tag line.  We will rearrange our website to create a #notohulltigers archive, and provide members with access to the Rules and Policies that the Supporters’ Trust must adhere to.

We will rename our Twitter account in the next few days as well as launch a new Facebook page.  We might even get stuck into Google+, LinkedIn and Youtube too!

We look forward to travelling with you towards the exciting new opportunities and challenges that a Supporters’ Trust will provide for us.  Support Hull City, get the fans involved, show ambition and respect tradition.  That’s how we have reached today and that’s how we will continue.

Mike Scott
Secretary (temporary!), Hull City Supporters’ Trust

Posted on

Be A Supporters’ Trust Partner – building community and business links

CTWD is becoming a Supporters’ Trust, and we would like to give all businesses in the Hull area (and beyond) the chance to work with us to improve the benefits that our members receive through our PARTNER SCHEME.  We have already had a good deal of interest, with two high profile local firms and a local café already signed up. 

On Thursday 18th December we will announce the results of our vote on what our Supporters’ Trust will be called going forward.  In a few days time we will then launch our new Supporters’ Trust membership scheme in advance of our Annual General Meeting scheduled for Saturday 31st January 2015 – more details on the membership scheme and the AGM will follow shortly.

We are now launching our Supporters’ Trust Partner Scheme.  The proposition is simple:

  • Your business becomes a Supporters’ Trust Partner for the 2015 calendar year
  • We list your business, with suitable logos and weblinks, on the new Supporters’ Trust Partners page on our new website
  • We tweet about your business being a Supporters’ Trust Partner once a month to our 7,000 followers
  • We list our Supporters’ Trust Partners on our letterhead, meeting notes and other online materials
  • In return, you offer Trust members a 10% discount on your business when they show you a valid 2015 Supporters’ Trust membership card

Do you like the look of that?  We think it’s a great way to work with local business and develop our community.  If you agree, email us at contact@citytillwedie.com and we will sort it from there.

We only have 25 slots for our Supporters’ Trust Partners, and three are already gone, so please move quickly!

The CTWD Committee

Posted on

Your Ideas Please – what should we call the Supporters’ Trust in the future?

City Till We Die members will know from the recent email they received from Mark Gretton, that CTWD is transforming from a campaign group into a Supporters’ Trust by merging with the Tigers Co-operative and taking it over as a new and vital independent voice for supporters of Hull City AFC.

You can find out more about what a Supporters’ Trust is by looking at our special Frequent Asked Questions page on our new website – just click the link.

The merger will happen in the coming weeks, with a first Annual General Meeting of the new merged Trust taking place at the end of January (date, time and venue details of the AGM will be made available over the Christmas and New Year period).

In the meantime, the name of the Trust is something that we would like members’ views on.  The CTWD Committee thinks there are some issues that need to be taken into account:

  1. The merger between CTWD and Tigers Co-operative is the coming together of two organisations under one unified banner – so if there is a desire to change our name, the ideal time is now.
  2. City Till We Die is a name that has acquired a high degree of recognition amongst City supporters, and is the banner under which you, loyal City fans, have come together to oppose the name change.
  3. City Till We Die has also attracted a degree of negativity, from within the club and amongst people that support Dr Allam’s ideas regarding Hull Tigers.  We don’t imagine that a change of name will kid the club or anyone else that we are a different organisation, but dropping the CTWD name may ease relationships.
  4. There is a strong irony associated with City Till We Die, an organisation born out of opposition to a name change, changing its name – we completely understand that as a Committee.

CTWD is a democratic organisation, so it is vital that we get the views of our members in order to decide our future name, it’s a major decision for the Supporters Trust.  We intend to put to the vote a choice of names to our current members, in order to decide what we are called in the future.  We will then finalise our new Supporters’ Trust constitution in draft form using the name that the members will have chosen.

Rest assured – City Till We Die will DEFINITELY be one of those names being voted on.

Firstly though, we want your views as members on:

WHAT ALTERNATIVE NAMES WE COULD ADOPT AS WE MOVE FORWARD AS A SUPPORTERS’ TRUST?

Please email us at contact@citytillwedie.com with your ideas.  We’d like to hear serious suggestions, and we’d appreciate one or two amusing suggestions to if you have them!

Please let us have your suggested alternative names by this Wednesday 10th December – we will put the front runners to a vote amongst members, which will be completed by Friday 19th December.  We will then be ready to open memberships to the new Supporters’ Trust prior to Christmas using our newly chosen name.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Mike Scott, Secretary, City Till We Die

Posted on

Statue for Ebenezer

CTWD applauds the efforts of 15 year old Oliver Harsley who is campaigning for a statue to celebrate the life and work of Ebenezer Cobb Morley, founder of modern day football and the first Secretary of the FA.

Ebenezer was born in Hull in 1831 and we support any initiative which seeks to recognise the history and tradition of the great game, particularly where it has a local flavour. We are also pleased to see any campaign which gives recognition to Hull’s famous people, past and present. Hopefully this is something we will see more of as we move towards 2017 and City of Culture status.

We understand Oliver plans to give a presentation to the FA in the coming weeks in order to explore areas such as funding, design, sculptor and a choice of location for the statue. It is hoped the statue will become a local landmark, meeting place and focal point for both home and visiting fans. CTWD fully supports the campaign and will be delighted to see Ebenezer Cobb Morley recognised in his home city. You can follow the campaign on Twitter @ForStatue

Posted on

CTWD and Tigers Co-operative Merger – A message from the Chairman to all Hull City AFC fans

First of all, welcome to the new CTWD website. We hope you like it.

CTWD is about to undergo some fundamental and exciting changes. Last summer the CTWD and the Tigers Co-operative committees asked their memberships if they thought we should merge our two organisations to form a powerful Supporters’ Trust, representing the views of a wide range of fans of Hull City AFC. Both groups gave their committees a resounding “Yes!”

Since then, the committees of both organisations have been working hard to make this a reality. We have listened to Tigers Co-operative members’ views on what we should do with the Co-operative’s funds, we have worked on a new constitution, we have explored our various options as an independent Supporters’ Trust. Now we are pleased to report that we are in a position to move forwards as a merged force, linked with the national reach and influence of the Supporters Direct organisation.

The two organisations will formally merge on 31st of December and then the first general meeting of the new organisation will be held During February 2015. This will be an opportunity to elect the new board, share your views on what you think we should be doing and meet your fellow Supporters’ Trust members. Further details of this will follow shortly.

What will the new organisation do? It’ll do what the Tigers Co-operative has always done and strive to ensure that the voice of our fans is right at the heart of the club. And it’ll do what City Till We Die came together to do and ensure that we protect the heritage of the club as we move forward with an ambition that honours our tradition. But it’ll do more than that. It will work with the club to improve the experience of Hull City fans on match days at The Circle. It will work with local businesses to provide deals that make being a member of the organisation attractive to you, with money off goods and services. And it will provide merchandise to celebrate the sheer mad enjoyment of being a fan of Hull City AFC.

Before we merge, current members of CTWD and the Tigers Co-operative have been asked for their views on the name of the new merged organisation and they will be asked to vote on this in the near future. We’ll also be opening up membership of the Supporters’ Trust to everyone. You’ll be able to join online and details of how to do so will be posted as soon as possible.

We aim for the Supporters’ Trust to be a place where all Hull City AFC fans can come together and celebrate their love for the club and its place in the City of Hull. It will be for people who love football and think that it belongs to the fans, not just owners and television companies. It will be a place where people can enjoy past memories and build excitedly for a better future. But it will only meet these aims if it has your support. We hope you’ll join us and help shape our future.

Mark Gretton, Chairman, City Till We Die

Posted on

Hull City Round Up, 30th November, 2014

A trip to Old Trafford brought little for Tigers fans to cheer with a dispiriting 3-0 defeat to Manchester United.

Predictably, the national press chose to focus on the improving fortunes of United, rather than City’s continuing struggles.

The Telegraph’s Mark Ogden lauded Robin Van Persie’s goal and return to the scoresheet following a run of poor form from the Dutch forward.

We need to look locally for any real analysis of City’s precarious position. In the Hull Daily Mail, Peter Swan urged Steve Bruce to make drastic changes to his starting XI before Wednesday’s game at Everton, labelling City’s performance against United as ‘awful’.

Amber Nectar painted an equally bleak picture, their match report describing a glum mood in the away end and a performance ‘devoid of leadership and purpose’.

City Independent’s reporter was also less than impressed by City’s efforts, but found time to praise the travelling Tigers support, who were ‘Excellent for the full 90 minutes’.

Vid of the week: OK, so Hatem Ben Arfa has been rubbish so far, but don’t forget how good he can be. Here are some of his highlights!

And.. You think Steve Bruce is having a bad time of it? At least he knows the name of his own players!

Posted on

Get The KC Rocking

The summer move of City fans from the North East corner (E1 to E3) to the North Stand has, it is widely acknowledged, seen the atmosphere at the KC Stadium improve this season.  However there is still more than can be done to make the KC a cauldron of support for the home side and a fearsome ordeal for away sides.  City Till We Die would like to work with supporters, supporters’ group and the club to get the KC rocking.

The announcement that seats in Block N5, next to the new away fans’ area, will be released to season ticket holders next season offers a great opportunity to create a new singing area.  And the existing stands around the ground – including the newly formed singing area in the North Stand led by the ‘Ulltras – can all improve their vocal support of Steve Bruce’s team.

We can’t make this happen as individuals.  We need a collective of supporters to generate ideas (such as singing areas at the back of stands, and co-ordinating singing between stands) that can be considered by the club when they make decisions about ticket allocations in the future.  City Till We Die is able to provide a co-ordinating role for this collective, but we need volunteers to work with this group, bringing their ideas and imagination so that we can approach the club’s administration with some great ideas to get the KC buzzing every home match, from start to finish.

Interested in taking part?  Then send us an email to contact@citytillwedie.com with a few basic details (your name and mobile contact details, where you live, what stand you sit in, why you think you can contribute to the group) and we’ll do the rest to get something started.

Hull City has its greatest ever team on the pitch – let’s create the KC’s greatest ever atmosphere in the stands.  Let’s get the KC rocking.

Posted on

CTWD publishes draft Supporters’ Trust vision, aims, objectives

The CTWD committee is tonight delighted to publish, for consultation with CTWD members and with Hull City supporters across the globe, its draft Supporters’ Trust vision, aims and objectives.

The vision along with the aims and objectives have been worked up by the committee over recent months and provide some guiding principles that the new Supporters’ Trust for Hull City, when it forms at the end of the year, will work towards in the short and longer term.

Our longer term objectives are ambitious, and will stand for many years to guide our work with the club on behalf of supporters, under its present ownership and future owners.

The shorter term objectives will guide the work of the Trust for the next 6 to 12 months and provide CTWD with a focus to become a voice for supporters of our great club Hull City as it continues to experience thrilling and unprecedented levels of success on the field.

The name change also remains an issue we will keep a watching brief on – although right now we continue to consider the matter closed until such time as Dr Allam’s appeal to the FA is concluded.

So, our vision, aims and objectives are set out below. Please feel free to let us have your views. If you are a CTWD member, please let us know your name when you reply. If you are not a CTWD member but want to be, click the the “Membership” link above and sign up before telling us what you think. If you are not a CTWD member and don’t want to be, we still welcome your views as long as they are constructive and polite.

You can provide us your feedback in a variety of ways:

> by registering with tumblr and adding a comment below;
> by emailing us at contact@citytillwedie.com;
> by tweeting or direct messaging us @notohulltigers; or
> by putting a post on our Facebook site at facebook.com/notohulltigers.

We have also set up threads on the Amber Nectar, City Independent and not606 Hull City message boards as a means to open a debate.

Please get involved – we look forward to hearing from you!

Mark Gretton,
Chairman, City Till We Die Group

========================================

CITY TILL WE DIE: VISION, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

» VISION

CTWD’s vision is to have a real and significant influence, on behalf of all Hull City AFC supporters (locally, nationally and globally), in the running of our club.

» AIMS

We aim to achieve this vision by:

(a) Preserving, protecting and developing the identity and community of Hull City AFC, embodying ambition with tradition

(b) Being the voice of supporters as an independent, democratic, community-based, grassroots organisation and being a key representative in any Hull City consultative arrangements

(c) Being at the heart of partnership working with Hull City AFC, Hull City Council and other stakeholders

(d) Acquiring a stake in Hull City AFC and attain representation on its board in order to exert real supporter influence on the governance of the club

(e) Promoting the development of the club through supporter involvement, initiating and leading supporter-based social and community initiatives that engender that involvement

(f) Actively campaigning at local and national levels on issues that impact on our membership and the wider supporter base

(g) Adhering to our core values of integrity, behaving ethically and supporting local businesses, organisations and communities

» OBJECTIVES

In order to achieve this we have set ourselves some objectives that will guide our work in the short-and long-term. These are:

Short-term objectives – to establish our independent offer

(1) Becoming an independent supporters’ trust
In June 2014 we received overwhelming support from our members for starting the process of becoming a fully fledged supporters’ trust for Hull City AFC fans. We will fulfil this objective through the merger of CTWD with the Tigers Co-operative, hopefully by the end of 2014

(2) Influencing the direction of Hull City
Supporters’ Trusts across the UK (including those for Premier League clubs) have a role in influencing the decisions made by the club that most affect supporters. We don’t necessarily want a say in every inner working of the club – but where key decisions affect supporters, we think it is right that supporters are heard

(3) Broadening our appeal
We want to broaden our offer to encompass Tigers fans’ wider interests: events, travel, merchandise and wider campaigns. We are proud to have begun as a campaign group that successfully defended the historic name of Hull City. And that commitment to oppose a name change will not change.

(4) Exploring the opportunities that being a Trust gives us
Becoming a supporters’ trust opens up options for funding, ownership and employment that City fans don’t currently have. We won’t rush into anything, we will explore things carefully and determine in consultation with our members which of our long-term objectives below can really be achievable

Long-term objectives – to reflect that Hull City is part of a community, not just a business

(5) Giving supporters a voice on the Board
We don’t imagine that the current owners are interested in giving CTWD an official seat on the Board, but in football things can change fast and we need to be ready. This isn’t about grabbing power for the sake of it, this is about ensuring that fans become positively involved with the club and exert influence at the highest level

(6) Bringing benefits to community assets
Hull City is more than a football club, it is part of the community. It is part of the city’s soul, and in the KC Stadium it is part of the city’s infrastructure. We want to explore how we can ensure supporters get a say in how these community assets are managed and developed in the future. The Supporters’ Trust gives us the ability to run companies, employ people, make a difference

(7) Developing productive relationships with other supporter groups
CTWD does not exist in isolation – it is but one of a number of vibrant Hull City supporter groups. And the issues and challenges we face are largely common to fans throughout the country. We will develop our burgeoning relationships with Supporters’ Direct and the Football Supporters’ Federation and lend our voice to help influence the wider football family

Posted on

CTWD call for Hull City fans to unite in support

No civil war on 1904.

On Monday evening during the West Ham game, the singing of “City Till I Die” on 19 minutes and four seconds was met by sporadic booing from some sections of The Circle. The booing led to arguments between fans at the game, and on message boards and fans’ forums afterwards. This was particularly disappointing, given Steve Bruce’s plea ahead of the game for the fans to unite behind the team.

City Till We Die were appalled and saddened by the booing. When we chose to publicise and energise our campaign against owner Assem Allam’s plan to change the historic name of our club, we chose a song sung at a time that demonstrated our commitment to our club, our city and our history.

“City Till I Die” is a song that has been sung by Hull City AFC supporters all over Britain, Europe and the world, for more years than any of us can remember. We chose to do this in line with our campaign aims of always positively supporting the team as we attempted to protect the club’s name. We knew we had been successful in this when club Vice Chairman Ehab Allam said on Radio Humberside earlier this year that he enjoyed hearing the 19:04 singing, as it was the loudest and most enthusiastic our home support ever became.

The name change campaign ended on April 9th when the FA voted overwhelmingly and unequivocally to accept the recommendation of their Members Committee that our club would retain the name Hull City. Since that point we have not asked fans to sing “City Till I Die” on 19:04 as the campaign has ended, in success. We make this point as it seems likely that the booing has been provoked by Assem Allam’s press conference last week, in which he repeated previously made claims of initiating legal action and of using various appeals processes against the FA’s decision. City Till We Die was disappointed to hear this, but believe it changes nothing.

The club first talked of making an appeal in March before the FA had even made their decision. The FA has no appeal process for this type of decision and their process – taking evidence from the Club, the East Riding FA, the Hull City Official Supporters Club and City Till We Die, as well as local and national elected politicians – was clearly fair and equitable. City Till We Die therefore believe the name change debate is over.

We are now putting our energies into setting up a Supporters Trust, in line with the wishes of our members.

Though we are no longer campaigning, we’re not surprised that fans have continued to sing “City Till I Die” on 19:04. Like Ehab Allam we believe it has enhanced support for Steve Bruce and the team. We know that a lot of fans sing this to celebrate our historic identity and our current success. It is not an anti-Allam song. It never has been. Because City Till We Die have never been an anti-Allam organisation. But we do ask all fans, whether you sing at 19:04 or whether you don’t, to respect your fellow Hull City fans.

Sing whatever you like to support the manager and the team. But please don’t boo. We hope that means that all of us, the fans and the club, can move on together, supporting our team loudly and passionately, everywhere we go, as our football adventure continues. We want to enjoy supporting our team. We want no civil war on 19:04.

City Till We Die Supporters Group.

Posted on

CTWD statement on arbitration and ownership

City Till We Die is confident that the Football Association’s decision to reject the “Hull Tigers” name remains fair and just and that Hull City AFC can prosper under the current or new ownership.

CTWD is disappointed to learn that Chairman Dr. Allam intends to appeal to the Court Of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the Football Association’s rejection of his plan to rename Hull City Association Football Club to “Hull Tigers”.

Hull City has enjoyed a period of relative stability since the FA turned down the name change application after a thorough and fair process. The Allam family have continued to support the club’s manager Steve Bruce in the transfer market and the club has experienced a first ever FA Cup Final and a historic, but sadly short, European campaign.

These momentous firsts, continued Premier League football, a record shirt sponsorship deal and strong season ticket sales in spite of a massive price rise have been achieved by Hull City AFC, our best ever manager Steve Bruce and owners Assem and Ehab Allam.

CTWD continue to support the Allams’ ownership of the club. We remain grateful that in 2010 they secured the future of the club when it was uncertain and we appreciate their positive contributions to the club’s history in the four years since.

However we still see no justifiable reason to change the name of a football club that has existed and been a pillar of the local community since 1904 and we know that a significant number of the club’s fans agree. The Football Association were convinced that this was the case in April and we are confident that there are no grounds for CAS to overturn any decision achieved by such a rigid process.

Should CAS support the FA’s decision – Dr. Allam will look to sell the club. This was always going to happen at some point as the Allams are not, by their own admission, “football people” and they stepped in to secure the club for the city and ensure a lasting legacy.

Their input means the club is in far better shape on the field than it was when they took over and for that – we thank them. We remain happy to work with the owners, old or new, on issues that matter deeply to fans of Hull City AFC and especially the 1,800 members of City Till We Die.

Posted on

CTWD ask Humberside Police for Europa League calm

 

City Till We Die ask that the Europa League Play-off round game between Hull City and Lokeren on Thursday is policed sensibly. Mistakes made by the Belgian police after the first leg should not be repeated and genuine Lokeren fans should not be subjected to an inappropriate police response.We were appalled by reports of Hull City fans, many of whom were CTWD members, being herded by Belgian Police past a pub containing people who were banned from attending the game, with some fans suffering minor injuries as bottles and glasses were thrown.

This resulted in an accusatory statement from Humberside Police focusing mainly on the arrest of three Hull City fans and threatening that “The disorder witnessed last night will be taken into account as the return leg approaches and we will police the match accordingly”. 

The statement did not take into account the particular circumstance surrounding a frightening, but isolated, incident. Hull City fans found the vast majority of Lokeren fans to be hospitable and friendly and insist that the incident did not detract from the otherwise excellent experience.

The level of policing for football matches is set by a Safety Advisory Group (SAG). Every club has such a group which is made up of representatives of the club, the stadium, the council and the police. It is the feeling of CTWD that there should be fan representation on Hull City’s SAG – as other clubs have. This would allow the concerns of fans to be expressed during the consultation on each game and ensure informed input on matters such as segregation, stewarding and the amount of police present in and around the stadium.

In the meantime, we would therefore ask that the innocent Lokeren fans who will be travelling to the city for the return game are welcomed with the same level of hospitality as Hull City fans enjoyed in Belgium. The mistakes made by the Belgian police should not be repeated by our local force and Lokeren fans should not have their experience of football in this country soured by heavy-handed policing.

Any Hull City fans who have concerns over their treatment by police or stewards at any football match can contact the Football Supporters’ Federation through their website www.fsf.org.uk/

Posted on

City silent so far on name change issue

Fans will recall that on 4 June CTWD wrote to James Mooney, Hull City’s Marketing and Online Commercial Manager, raising issues of concern arising from the season card renewal forms that had been sent out to supporters.  These issues were the conspicuous absence of the terms “Hull City” or “Hull City AFC” in any part of the form and the use instead of “Hull City Tigers”, “hulltigers” and “hullcitytigers” in email and postal addresses.  This, of course, preceded the club’s announcement of a new badge that too had had the words “Hull City AFC” obliterated from it.

Mr Mooney was on holiday when the club received the letter, but we were told he would deal with it upon his return.   He has today – almost a month later – informed us that our enquiry has nothing to do with him, it is for the owners to respond.

It is surprising – to say the least – that the member of staff with responsibility for the marketing of the club, including the very season card renewal forms that were sent out to supporters, is unable to answer some basic questions about his own public communications.  It is dismaying that the club feels it acceptable to take so long to reply to an important and legitimate enquiry sent on behalf of its most loyal customers, the very same season card holders it was asking to pay 30% more for the cost of their support.

This response, or rather the delay in supplying one, comes barely a week after the Ehab Allam revealed the new badge, introduced without the supporter consultation the club had promised.  It does not appear that the club’s owners’ attitude to their customers is improving.

The Allams’ refusal to use Hull City as the club’s name comes across as childish and vindictive.  This uncertainty about the very name of the club is damaging to the club itself.  We know of long-term supporters who are not renewing their season cards, and they are doing this not because of increased costs but because they can no longer tolerate the owners’ attitude to City supporters.

We have asked that our letter of 4 June be passed on to Ehab Allam for a response.  We now await that reply.