Allam vital for dreams of sporting village to be realised

ADAM PEARSON believes a bid by Hull City’s owners to buy the KC Stadium is the only way that a bold regeneration scheme to develop a ‘sporting village’ on the site will ever get started.

Tigers chairman Assem Allam, who along with son Ehab saved the football club from financial ruin with a £40m takeover last December, wants to purchase the 25,000 capacity stadium from Hull City Council.

If successful in their attempts to buy the KC, the Allams then plan to increase the capacity to 38,000 and develop the area around the ground into a sporting village for the people of Hull.

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However, since the plan was first revealed earlier this year there appears to have been little progress – prompting Hull’s head of football operations to make an impassioned plea in Saturday’s matchday programme.

Pearson said: “We have to work together to deliver Mr Allam’s legacy for sport in Hull.

“He has spent over £40m saving and stabilising the club and he now deserves the right to build the sporting facilities around the KC that delivers the lifestyle legacy for the people of Hull that he wants.

“For his sporting village to be created we need the freehold of the stadium so that Mr Allam can build the ice rinks, swimming pools and sports facilities that he wants to create around the football stadium.

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“For too long, the stadium has stood alone as the first symbol of development when it was supposed to be the catalyst for regeneration. Without Mr Allam’s private funding, this redevelopment will never happen. Hopefully, the Council will come to the table to formulate a deal that will kick off the development and ultimately build a sporting legacy for Hull.

“One individual has sunk £40m into rescuing the city’s football club and I would have thought this should give him the automatic trust of the Council as financial gain is clearly not the driving force to this assessment.”

Built in 2002 at a cost of £46m, the KC Stadium is home to both Hull City and Hull FC rugby league club.

Despite owning the stadium, the KC is understood to cost the Council money every year with the local authority not being in a position to invest in any future expansion in the current financial climate.

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On the field, Hull’s play-off hopes suffered a bitter blow with a 4-2 home defeat to Middlesbrough but Pearson confirmed after the match that plans for next season are already well under way with Liverpool’s Daniel Ayala high on the club’s wanted list, along with a permanent deal for loanee Jack Hobbs.

Hull match report: Page 4.