Fair hearing guaranteed for both sides in ‘Tigers’ row

GREG DYKE has acknowledged the depth of fans’ feeling against the hugely controversial proposal to change Hull City’s name to Hull Tigers and says the Football Association will take ‘everything into account’ before reaching their decision.
Assem Allam and Steve BruceAssem Allam and Steve Bruce
Assem Allam and Steve Bruce

Club owner Assem Allam’s plans to rename the club from the start of next season have attracted massive opposition among Tigers fans and supporters’ groups across East Yorkshire, but also some support from influential figures, including Hull-born actor Tom Courtenay and former deputy Prime Minster and East Hull MP John Prescott, who has been vocal in his defence of Allam.

Allam, who wants the name change to make the club appeal to a wider international audience, lodged his application with the FA last month, with leading fans’ group City Till We Die due to make a written submission outlining their case against the proposals to the FA tomorrow.

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A meeting at their Wembley headquarters is then expected to follow next month. A host of other views will be canvassed, including those of Allam, Hull City Official Supporters Club, Tigers Co-op and the East Riding FA before a final decision is cast by members of the FA Council in April.

Following that decision, the club will start the following season as either Hull City AFC or Hull Tigers.

Already, Allam, who has spent around £76m of his personal fortune on the club and recently sanctioned the £14m double signing of striking duo Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long, has threatened to pull his money out of the club and walk away ‘within 24 hours’ if the FA prevent him from changing the club’s name.

Some fans’ groups have labelled this as being akin to blackmail, but Dyke, while keeping his counsel regarding his thoughts about the heated topic, says that both sides will be given a fair hearing.

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On the emotive subject, Dyke – who attended Hull’s Premier League encounter at Norwich City last weekend – told the Yorkshire Post: “It needs FA permission to change the name and the FA Council will eventually make the decision. There’s been a request and the FA are considering it.

“Obviously, a lot of fans who made their thoughts clear they don’t want it. We will be taking everything into account and we’ll see. Steve Bruce does the manager’s job and he’s done it well in a few places and he’s done a brilliant job at Hull.

“I’d be interested to know if it bothered him or not...”

Dyke is in Yorkshire this weekend and after attending Charlton’s FA Cup fourth-round encounter at Huddersfield Town on Saturday, the FA chairman will be the special guest at Doncaster venue CAST at an “Evening with” event dedicated to his life in both football and broadcasting later that evening.

Despite being born in the capital, Dyke does have White Rose connections and is the current Chancellor of the University of York, where he graduated from with a politics degree in 1974.

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On the footballing front, the Broad Acres’ landscape isn’t exactly a distinguished one, with Hull currently the county’s only representative in the Premier League, which Dyke helped to create in the early nineties.

In the competition’s maiden year of 1992-93, there were four Yorkshire teams, including the final Division One champions in Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday – who finished third in 
1991-92 and qualified for the Uefa Cup – Sheffield United and Middlesbrough.

It was a time when football across the county was in rude health, with supporters of all four clubs hankering for those days again when they can dine at the top table of English football.

Dyke is confident that the descent of Yorkshire’s leading clubs will turn around in time and is a big believer in the notion that footballing fortunes are cyclical.

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He said: “I think it all goes in phases. If I was a Sheffield United fan down the bottom of Division One, I would just look back on the likes of Reading, Swansea coming through from the division to the top, which I remember from my time as chairman at Brentford.

“Times change. Both Sheffield clubs and Leeds have big sets of supporters and with the fanbase, you do get back eventually.

“It’s a game of patience, but eventually they will get back.”

An Evening With Greg Dyke takes place at Cast, Doncaster’s new performance venue at 7.30pm on Saturday January 25.

Tickets at £16 are on sale now and available from Doncaster Ticket Office on 01302 303 959 or online at castindoncaster.com