In this Hull City Paper Talk special, we bring you all of the reaction to the news that broke yesterday afternoon of Assem Allam's name change application to the FA.Bruce reacts quickly to end negativity surrounding club
City boss Steve Bruce has called for an end to the negativity surrounding Hull City and urged supporters to 'take on board' Assem Allam's vision for the club.
Speaking to the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show on TalkSPORT, the City boss says he understands the fans' anger over the move, but insists it is well within Allam's rights to do what he feels is best for the club.
"To put £70million into Hull City is a big, big sum of money," said Bruce.
"He is not somebody who has just come from afar. He has been in Hull for the best part of 50 years. He has earned his fortune and he didn't want the city without a football team.
"He obviously thinks Hull Tigers is the way forward. He thinks it is going to make the brand bigger and better. We have to take on board what he is saying.
You can read the rest of the interview with Bruce here.Colin Murray says he won't use the changed nameTalkSPORT presenter and former Match of the Day 2 host Colin Murray tweeted his opposition to the rebrand.
He told his 56,000 followers: "I can't imagine ever calling Hull City by the name Hull Tigers on the radio or anywhere else. In fact, I won't."White sees red over Allam's decisionThe Telegraph' s Jim White holds nothing back in his column today, and his headline reads: "Chairman's act of vandalism wholly undermines Hull fans".
White says Assem Allam's attempt to change the club name breaks the vital rule that the paying supporter is the most important customer.
He writes: "So that is how long a period of consultation lasts in Hull. When seeking to upgrade to HD, I have been held on BT's customer service line listening to Dvorjak longer than this. Frankly, this one was so short-lived - Michael Appleton has had longer spells in club management.
"Ehab Allam says the name change will 'strengthen the brand'. With whom exactly? Surely the brand's core strength lies with its existing fan base. Does he really think that supporters in the Far East, who are fickle enough to seek association with a club simply because they carry an animal name in their title, are really worth persuing at the expense of those who have stood by the team for a century?
"It seems the most simple of marketing rules in football that the first priority is to nurture what you have. And then build from there. What matters are the people who clack through the turnstiles, not those based 5,000 miles away who occasionally tune in to television coverage. In football local is all."
Read the no holds barred column here.A watershed moment in football?Football.co.uk writer Adam Page says the Hull City name change decision would mark a watershed moment in football.
"Intellectually, we all know that football is a business for many owners. I've listened to interviews where football chairmen have admitted that the club doesn't have fans but in reality has customers. For many owners of clubs football is nothing but a special sort of moving spreadsheet showing profits in one column and loses in the other," Page says.
"This is why the news that Hull City owner Assem Allam has gone to the FA seeking a name change is so interesting. Not for the commercial questions but for the issue of whether the officials that run the beautiful game in this nation accept that the opinions of fans matter that it is their clubs.
"Should the FA choose to allow Allam to change the name of his team against the wishes of many of the fans then an important watershed will have been reached.
"Football will have truly become a business instead of a sport.
"Pounds and pence will have conquered passion."
Read Page's full column here.Branding goes to Hull in a handcartMarketing Week's Mark Ritson has given his take from a business point of view.
"You might imagine that the supporters of Hull City football club are enjoying this season, but all is not well at the KC Stadium," he writes.
"The reason for the tension? For once it's not results or the manager that is enraging the fans. It's brand management – or the lack thereof.
"Along with his on-field success, Allam has a clear vision for the club's long-term commercial strategy.
"Allam has recently decided to rebrand the club with the more internationally appealing Hull Tigers. According to the owner it's a classic marketing ploy.
"The response from Hull's supporter base has been, perhaps not surprisingly, furious.
"Rick Skelton, well known among supporters for his Hull City Live Twitter feed, said the decision "would go down as one of the saddest days" in the club's history.
"'It may be just a name to Mr Allam, but to us it's the name of something we love, we've cherished and will be cherished long after the current owners,' he wrote.
"'The saddest part is that this has come at a time when fans should be excited for top-flight football, not angry at a ridiculous rebrand. And the feeling towards the Allam family – who have done wonderful things for our Club and our City – should be one of fondness, not fury.'"
Read his full column here.What are your thoughts, Tigers fans? You can now vote in our poll below.Mobile users may prefer to fill in this basic version of the following poll.
