More have failed than succeeded. The league is billions in debt. Burnley are hardly the norm are they? And arent we in the same league as Sheff U and WBA this year? Hardly shining examples of top-flight sustainability.
So Bruce had plenty of money and walked for the hell of it and the squad that got relegated was competitive enough anyway and besides wouldn't have cost the owners additional resources on an ongoing basis to improve and establish us in the top flight ? Okay then i stand corrected.
Nice spin on it there. As I remember it, The Allams were ridiculed over the attempt to buy/develop the stadium and surrounding land which would have given us more revenue. Before you jump down my throat, a deal was on the table and the council laughed at it. No-one has offered them anything since and they have done nothing themselves. A more professional approach was required at the time from both parties, as it is the chance has now been squandered. The name change was aimed at making the club more attractive to the overseas market. A ridiculous move in my eyes, but I'm just a supporter, not the owner. Personally I'd have rather the club concentrated on building up our fan base in the city first. But it was an attempt to raise some extra revenue which badly backfired. Then we the fans protesting and the 'Allam Out' campaign. That's when the funding stopped.
I agree with much of what you say here though I think working within those constraints will become a near impossibility in the not too distant future.Players wages in particular are multiplying at an alarming rate of knots and it's destroying the game we love.
They wanted the stadium for free, it was an attempted property development on the cheap, it was for the benefit of the Allams, not Hull City. And they were nothing more than vague ideas, that switched from a sports village to a shopping centre, when it was pointed out that sports facilities don't actually make any money. The name change was nothing more than a petulant reaction to Assem's fallout with the Council, it had absolutely nothing to do with raising revenue and the funding stopped when it was rejected (there was no Allam Out campaign then, pretty much everyone just wanted them to drop the daft name change and carry on).
By the time the name change was rejected the allam out campaighn was in full swing and they were getting dogs abuse from various quarters. Still, doesnt change the fact that they didnt have the cash resources to spend the amounts required on an ongoing basis to establish us in a league which was and still is chronically overspending.
I didn't realise you were in on that meeting with Geraghty and Assem. However a deal of sorts was on the table. It was then up to both parties to hammer one out that was suitable for both the council and for City. As I posted a more professional approach from both sides was required. I tend to agree with your view on the name change but I am assured the club took professional advice on the name change idea. In fact I know they did. It was ill informed bad advice in my opinion. The trouble started the day Assem Allam walked into that meeting and was met by Terry Geraghty.
What did they expect. You just don’t change the name of a club without some backlash. They said stupid things and got howled out. Can’t see how they expected a good reaction to their daft comments about the fan base.
The book can't be completed or viewed as a 'best seller',until the last sentence reads... "The Allams eventually left and we all lived happily everafter"!!
The **** was flying both ways by then. No one is suggesting the name change was a good idea, but it was a percieved way for the owners to market the club overseas and bring in investment - especially as Plan A surrounding stadium area development failed.
To be fair to Allam Senior when he said he knew nothing about football and was going to appoint Steve Bruce to run the club I thought he was one of the most intelligent owners I had ever heard. He backed this statement very well and we had great success. Unfortunately he forgot what he said and thought he was an expert. Always a mistake.
it was a bad idea and it was badly handled. Some stupid comments were made, true, and some were taken completely out of context. More professionalism was needed at the time. Also people forget some of the sillier comments were made by an elderly man who was not in the best of health. He was taken seriously ill not long after some of those interviews took place. How many interviews has he given since ? Anyhow the club's name didn't get changed.
Can you imagine the living nightmare we'd be in if they'd managed to get ownership of the ground and then offloaded the, let's face it, pain in the arse football club? We'd be like Coventry.