Fans shuffled past a stall selling black-and-amber scarves next to Hull City’s KC Stadium before yesterday’s riveting five-goal match against Manchester United.
The message on them read “City Till I Die”. It’s a song that fans of one of England’s many City clubs sing, especially in times of adversity. When Manchester City were relegated to England’s third level in 1998, their fans sang “City Till I Die” as a sign of defiance and loyalty; they even had a fanzine named City ‘Til I Cry.
Hull City fans have been singing this for years, yet times are currently not tough at East Yorkshire’s only league club. Far from it.
Steve Bruce’s side surprised many by winning promotion to the Premier League in May after starting last season as the 12th favourites in the 24-team Championship.
They were strong contenders to be relegated this term, yet sat comfortably in 12th before the United game with a better defensive record at home than any other team. That would change by the end of the match, as would the fact that Hull had been beaten just once at home.
Defeat hurt Hull, but they were loudly applauded off at the end by their fans. They have exceeded expectations this season, and even their most optimistic fan could not have hoped for so many good results.
Yet there is a storm brewing that troubles fans, like the recent record high tide that caused flooding, in what was the largest English city never to have a top-flight football club, before 2008. All is not well, and Hull City’s fans, like those of another promoted club, Cardiff City, are not happy with their owner.
“There’s a difference between our situation and the one at Cardiff,” said the long-time fan Andy Medcalf. “We’re largely happy with our owner. He’s been a popular man, locally. He has saved this club, which was probably within a day of liquidation in 2010. But we can’t understand why he wants to change our name from Hull City to Hull Tigers.”
The businessman Assem Allam for decades has put his family fortune into various projects in one of England’s most deprived cities. He bailed out a club who were £27 million (Dh162.8m) in debt, then oversaw a rise from mid-table in the Championship to the Premier League. By the English Football Association’s admission, no club had recovered from financial meltdown that quickly.
Medcalf said Allam’s “stock fell marginally” when he fired Nick Barmby, a coach popular among fans, in 2012 after a rumoured, “but knowing Nicky’s personality probably true”, behind-the-scenes fall out.
Since then, however, Medcalf described Allam’s actions as “truly bizarre”.
Medcalf outlined a scenario in which the owner fell out with the city council, leading him to push for a name change removing “City” from the club’s name, citing global marketing opportunities.
“He admits he’s done no research” to back up the assertion that changing the name from Hull City to Hull Tigers would reap financial benefits, said Medcalf, who added that Allam is “the master of the bonkers media interview, once claiming that we would sell between three million and 184 million Hull Tigers shirts in the Far East”.
Allam has branded a group of fans in the “City Till We Die” group as “militants” and “hooligans”. He also suggested that they “could die as soon as they wanted”.
James McMath, a journalist who covers Hull City, said fan protests have been peaceful but obvious. He described a “farcical tug of war” between fans and stewards over a “No To Tigers” banner.
“The fans have tried to have a meeting with the owner, but he’s famously stubborn,” McMath said. “The best hope for fans is that the FA, who need to give it a stamp of approval, say no.”
The FA have the power to throw out the name change in April, but Allam must understand the strength of feeling. As his team left the field, they were cheered for their efforts in taking a 2-0 lead against United before losing 3-2.
“Oh City we love you,” they hollered. “Stand up if you love City.”
sports@thenational.ae