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'City' is irrelevant to football': Assem Allam stands by Hull City rebrand bid
Video report by Chris Dawkes
Former Hull City owner Assem Allam has said he doesn't regret trying to change the name of the club during his tenure, saying that the word "City" is "irrelevant" to football.
Mr Allam made the comments in an exclusive interview with ITV News, saying that he only wanted to change the club's name for marketing purposes.
He said: "You can't be in the Premier League and be Hull City or Hull County. It is textbook marketing, the shorter the name the quicker it goes around the world. Look at Sky, Apple."
He added: "The club's name was Hull City Association Football Club Limited. You don't go to the world with that. You want something short.
"We removed AFC became Hull City Tigers Limited. You want to shorten in. Do you remove Hull, no? Do you remove Tigers, no? Tigers is the name for over 100 years.
"You remove 'City' - it's irrelevant to the football. Tiger is a good animal, beautiful animal, known all over the world. It would have been ideal. But I was unable to do it."
The move was blocked by the Football Association and Mr Allam subsequently put the club up for sale.
He said the rebrand would have been a "textbook" move, adding: "You can't be in the Premier League and be Hull City or Hull County. It is textbook in marketing, the shorter the name the quicker it goes around the world. Look at Sky, Apple.
"You don't act small club. You act globally, otherwise, there is no point. If you are below the Premier League you are a local club, you should act locally."
As the controversy over the attempted rebrand intensified, Mr Allam attracted particular vitriol when he told fans they could "die if they want to", but he insisted the quote was taken out of context and was a response to the supporters' chant of "City till I die".
"I didn't mean it that way," he said. "I just replied to the point, it was irrelevant to what I wanted to do."
Leaving the club "debt-free"
Mr Allam defended his record at the club, saying: "First of all, I broke the record in English football from winding-up order from the court in London to Premier League automatic promotion, to going to Europe, playing FA cup final against Arsenal in two years and five months.
"And spring cleaning the club, the finance, the management and everything. Now I sold the club with some of the best members of staff you could get in English football because they are trained not as footballers, but as management.
"From day one I said, I don't understand football, I am a businessman. I run the club as a business and I did, now we are delivering to a new buyer with very good management and I don't think he can get better than that.
"And the club is debt-free. Name another club that is debt-free in England and with cash in the bank."
Mr Allam said that his only regret with Hull City is that the club isn't a permanent fixture in the Premier League or competing in Europe, but that he was happy he was able to save the club for Hull and the community.
He also said he will always be a fan of Hull City.