CITY council leader Steve Brady has paid tribute to Hull City owner Assem Allam as the club stands on the brink of promotion to the Premier League.
Councillor Brady singled out Mr Allam for special praise during his monthly leader's statement at yesterday full council meeting.
He said: "I think a proper tribute should be paid to a man who has sunk a lot of money into that football club and has brought them back to the point of going back into the Premier League.
"That is a real achievement and I think what Mr Allam has done should be acknowledged."
The council and Mr Allam have previously been at loggerheads over his ambitions to take over the ownership of the KC Stadium.
The authority has refused to contemplate giving up its ownership of the stadium, which was funded through the initial flotation of its shares in Kingston Communications.
At one point during the stand-off, Mr Allam even suggested building his own stadium at Melton.
But Cllr Brady hinted at better working relationships between the two parties in the future.
"I do look forward to a bright future for Hull City and any joint venture we might do with Mr Allam," he said.
He said if promotion was secured, the city could look forward to seeing its profile raised around the world.
"One of the advantages for the club will be that people will be talking about Hull City around the world," said Cllr Brady.
"The same applies to Hull itself. If the club does achieve promotion we need to be selling weekends in Hull, hopefully on the back of that.
"This new team plays exciting football and I wish them well."
