Hull CIty - The Athletic

[Owl Rly]

I am not sure if anyone had seen this, but The Athletic had recently done a piece on the decline of Hull in light of recent issues. I have only glanced through it and if anyone has a subscription then I imagine it is a great read, much like the one on Brum that was heartbreaking/hilarious in equal amounts:

https://theathletic.com/1885422/?source=twitteruk&redirected=1

 

I only saw the article from a few bits and bobs on Twitter, basically the club has made a statement completely denouncing the article and they have quoted and shown the email the reporter put to the club with its points. Even barmier is the fact that they shared the letter on the website with certain bits redacted though if you copy and paste the article, then the redacted pieces are still intact!

Found via Reddit, the letter is as follows:

 

Section 1: The Playing Squad

• Four players - Eric Lichaj, Stephen Kingsley, Jackson Irvine, Marcus Maddison - will not remain at the club beyond June 30.
• Our understanding is that these players turned up for training earlier this week to be informed by manager Grant McCann that they would henceforth not be part of the first-team training group. Ehab Allam also attended the training ground to formally release the players and inform them they would no longer be involved. The developments took the playing squad by "complete surprise."
• In Lichaj's case, the defender had a one year contract option to extend but the club insisted that he must reduce his salary by almost 50 per cent to secure the extension. Negotiations included an option presented from his side to extend by a year on current terms but to include a clause to leave this summer, in the event the club were relegated. This would therefore have protected the club's finances. Hull, however, declined to agree to this.
• The players who have chosen to leave were not offered an extra month's wages into August to complete the season but were instead asked to play on in July during what would ordinarily be the month of severance pay following the expiry of a contract in June.
• Players (with the exception of one individual in the first-team) have agreed to take a 25 per cent wage deferral for a four month period, to be repaid by the end of the year, after initially rejecting a 20 per cent wage cut.
• The club's highest earner is £17,000-per-week player Kevin Stewart. His contract expires at the end of this season and should the club trigger an option to extend, it would rise to £20,000-per-week.
• Hull will this summer only spend up to £7,000 per week on salaries for summer signings, with suggestions offers are even more likely at around £5,000 per week.
• Intermediaries say Hull playing contracts in recent times have been known in the industry to be frugal and "basic", featuring only a "basic wage and win bonuses" but no signing-on fees.
• The local newspaper, the Hull Daily Mail, has been banned from the club following negative coverage.
• The Chair of the Supporters Trust Geoff Bielby says: "It is a continuation of the past four years. It has been a steady managed decline. There has been a stream of very good players leaving the club or not taking up offers of contracts. Our owners are now well used to offering short and low-paid contracts and players vote with their feet. Not just players - we lost head coaches - many stating a lack of ambition. The owners decided to cash in on Bowen and Grosicki who had scored something like three quarters of our goals this season. For anyone for whom the penny was yet to drop, then the deadline day of the transfer window should have made it crystal clear the owners were cashing in on what they can and preparing for League One. It was a hammer blow to the mentality of the squad. The biggest frustration this week in losing Lichaj and Irvine is losing big club players, captain and vice-captain, what is going wrong? The same as for years: Maybe there is one reason: the owners. The club is just an asset within their portfolio of businesses. It is a cash cow."
• Bielby also alleges the club sought to exclude the Trust from dialogue with the owners as long as he remained the chair, as per meetings and correspondence in 2018, although he acknowledges an email indicating a willingness to improve relations from Ehab Allam in late

 

Section 2: Parties who have attempted to buy the club in recent years. The Athletic has held extensive conversations, both on the record and on background, with parties who have attempted to buy the club in recent years. The Athletic invite Hull to comment on any of the below points.

• The owners continue to hold out for an offer higher than £30m, according to various sources, and as high as £46m, according to separate sources.
• A takeover attempt came extremely close with the American businessman Peter Grieve in the summer of 2016.
• Mr. Grieve attended the Wembley play-off final as a guest of the family and had made two prior agreements: one price in the event of a Hull win, and a different price in the event of a defeat. Despite subsequently raised demands, the proposed deal, including incentive, reached £130m.
• However, Ehab Allam failed to show for a meeting with Mr. Grieve in London in early June,
• Grieve eventually withdrew after being quoted a new price to also buy the management company that runs the stadium. Ehab Allam failed to attend a scheduled meeting with Grieve at a London hotel at the beginning of June before the deal was revived in late June. Grieve eventually walked away after being quoted a separate price for the stadium management company, in addition to a proposed £130m deal for the club.
• Elsewhere in 2016, it is understood that the Allam family gave Paul Duffen a mandate to attract bidders for the club. The 2018 consortium, involving Saudi investors and Duffen, touted a £100m deal, but the demands are now closer to £30m. This is still considered to be an excessive price for a club whose Championship future is uncertain and in a sport grossly affected by the economic impact of the pandemic. Industry experts say the club could be worth only £10-15m in the event of relegation.
• It is alleged that Assem Allam does not, deep down, wish to sell the club. He has displayed "intransigence" in negotiations and been frustrated by requests to see club accounts and the data room.
• Supporters Trust Chair Geoff Bielby insists the asking price remains £46m. He says: "The asking price factors in the loan the club owes to the owners and their business. This is interest-bearing, so it is in their interest to keep the loan high so it increases their income. The club pays the owner's parent company interest and management consultant fees. Over £20m in interest has gone out of the club alone on the loans. Player assets that have been sold have not been returned but the loans have not been substantially reduced." Section 3: The events in 2016 leading to the departure of former manager Steve Bruce and the summer in which the coach was replaced:
• A disagreement emerged between Bruce and Ehab Allam in February 2016. This is understood to have centred on a disagreement over whether a junior member of the sport science backroom staff should be afforded paid leave (as Bruce desired) when a family member became unwell.
• Following an argument, Bruce was "sacked" in the heat of the moment before Ehab Allam changed his mind.
• Bruce had previously disagreed with the ownership over the failure to sign Andre Gray.
• Sources close to the club feel that the family's running of the club can be unsatisfactory to employees, particularly on matters such as pensions, sickness pay and private health cover. Under Bruce, for example, sources say that coaching staff were disgruntled not to be afforded company cars.
• It is felt that the Allam family's running of the club can be "dictatorial" and "what the chief says, goes".
• When the family stay in London, they often reside at the Dorchester hotel.
• During this period, conversations continued between the American consortium and Hull, and Ehab Allam attempted to ensure Bruce would not remain manager in the event of a takeover. In the spring, Paolo Sousa and David Moyes were identified as potential replacements, while the summer saw pursuits of Roberto Martinez, Gianfranco Zola and Chris Coleman before Mike Phelan took over. Hull wanted to appoint Coleman before Euro 2016 but he declined the job.
• Marco Silva, who eventually became head coach, in fact first applied for the job when Steve Bruce left the club yet he did not hear back. It required a personal intervention and visit to the Allam family offices by agent Paul Stretford in the autumn of 2016 to ensure Silva's credentials were heard. There was then a delay before the announcement of Silva's position, as the coach stayed in Hallmark Hotel in North Ferriby, due to an attempt by Ehab Allam to give a knock-down agent fee to Stretford, who eventually secured his commission.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Owl Rly said:

I am not sure if anyone had seen this, but The Athletic had recently done a piece on the decline of Hull in light of recent issues. I have only glanced through it and if anyone has a subscription then I imagine it is a great read, much like the one on Brum that was heartbreaking/hilarious in equal amounts:

https://theathletic.com/1885422/?source=twitteruk&redirected=1

 

I only saw the article from a few bits and bobs on Twitter, basically the club has made a statement completely denouncing the article and they have quoted and shown the email the reporter put to the club with its points. Even barmier is the fact that they shared the letter on the website with certain bits redacted though if you copy and paste the article, then the redacted pieces are still intact!

Found via Reddit, the letter is as follows:

 

Section 1: The Playing Squad

• Four players - Eric Lichaj, Stephen Kingsley, Jackson Irvine, Marcus Maddison - will not remain at the club beyond June 30.
• Our understanding is that these players turned up for training earlier this week to be informed by manager Grant McCann that they would henceforth not be part of the first-team training group. Ehab Allam also attended the training ground to formally release the players and inform them they would no longer be involved. The developments took the playing squad by "complete surprise."
• In Lichaj's case, the defender had a one year contract option to extend but the club insisted that he must reduce his salary by almost 50 per cent to secure the extension. Negotiations included an option presented from his side to extend by a year on current terms but to include a clause to leave this summer, in the event the club were relegated. This would therefore have protected the club's finances. Hull, however, declined to agree to this.

 

Some interesting points and it has been fairly obvious for some time that the way the club has been run has turned supporters away, this has been the case since before the beat us in the play-off final.

 

Couple of points above are open to interpretation though. The 4 players that aren't continuing to play after June - who made the decision? If any of them have refused to play next month then why should they continue to train with the first team.

 

The last point about Lichaj sound like agent speak to me - he wants to negotiate a contract on the same wage, but with a clause in it that says he will leave if they are relegated in order to protect the finances of the club? Sounds like he wants a clause to protect himself from committing to playing in League One with Hull.  

[SiJ]

From he outside looking in, it appeared the owners there threw their toys out of the pram when the whole *Hull Tigers* name was rejected and met with derision. 

 

Ever since, they seem to have been going out of their way to run the club into the ground. 

 

Remind me of the Oystons at Blackpool. 

[alanharper]

Normally it'd be the fans I feel sorry for when useless owners run the club into the ground, but Hull fans can fk right off. Most weird/pathetic fanbase in the league. 

[Owl Rly]

2 minutes ago, alanharper said:

Normally it'd be the fans I feel sorry for when useless owners run the club into the ground, but Hull fans can fk right off. Most weird/pathetic fanbase in the league. 

 

Why so bitter? Did you once get mauled by them?

[Road Runner]

Also banned Hull daily mail entering the Staduim now. 

[Rob2304]

Such a waste seeing as their opportunity came at our expense

[owls maniac]

We need to be VERY careful the same doesn’t happen to us. Absolutely disgraceful how these owners can just run a club into the ground. Really feel for the supporters. 

[mattitheowl]

It's easy to say they are running the club in to the ground but last season they turned a profit.  

 

It might not be palatable to some fans that they want to live within their means but a lot more clubs are going to have to start doing it (us included).

 

They've done well over the last 15 years based on the backing of the Allam family, but now they want to run the club properly the fans don't like it because it makes them realise they are small club that can't attract big names.

 

Clearly the family aren't the greatest when it comes to PR but it's hard to accuse them or running a club in to the ground when it's making money!

 

I'd happily argue that DC has done a FAR worse job with Wednesday!

[0wl18]

Can we have Irvine please?

[Guest]

15 hours ago, mattitheowl said:

It's easy to say they are running the club in to the ground but last season they turned a profit.  

 

It might not be palatable to some fans that they want to live within their means but a lot more clubs are going to have to start doing it (us included).

 

They've done well over the last 15 years based on the backing of the Allam family, but now they want to run the club properly the fans don't like it because it makes them realise they are small club that can't attract big names.

 

Clearly the family aren't the greatest when it comes to PR but it's hard to accuse them or running a club in to the ground when it's making money!

 

I'd happily argue that DC has done a FAR worse job with Wednesday!

 

It is much easier to run a profit when you have the benefit of parachute payments.

 

Having policies such as trying to change the name of the club and not offering concession tickets are hardly going to endear you to the local community. As a business he may have run the club OK but imagine not offering kids, fans with disabilities or OAP's reduced prices.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Guest

[Utah Owl]

58 minutes ago, 0wl18 said:

Can we have Irvine please?

Show us your badges!

[Ronnie Starling]

We will see more of this (players terms reduced) in the coming months with overpaid footballers getting a reality check when it comes to signing new contracts.

[hullite]

compare play off  final record attendance in 2008 look at hull fans end 4mins 20

 

then v your lot half of us didnt go and wanted you to win. getting promoted just delayed our owners departure.

nice goal though innit. nearly as good as diames goal?

[Taximark]

Football is broken.

Money has killed the game.

Agents and players demanding stupud money.

Not just at Hull but a lot of clubs are struggling.

[2soon]

The owners bad PR and recently being a successful club are counting against them.

It looks like they are trying to get the wage bill under control given the immediate future.

 

Wednesday would be wise to do the same.

 

[hullite]

ever since the fa and the fans stopped them changing our name they seem hell bent on making life hard for the fans. moving the NE corner singers (the ones singing allam out) and numerous petty things. a membership scheme asking children to pay adult prices. i could go on. but we got a bigger crowd v boston in the bottom division than we are getting now. 

they are taking millions out of the club and running it on a shoestring.

the players now dont want to play for the club

get your money on us to go down!!!

[fudge27]

On 26/06/2020 at 12:08, hullite said:

ever since the fa and the fans stopped them changing our name they seem hell bent on making life hard for the fans. moving the NE corner singers (the ones singing allam out) and numerous petty things. a membership scheme asking children to pay adult prices. i could go on. but we got a bigger crowd v boston in the bottom division than we are getting now. 

they are taking millions out of the club and running it on a shoestring.

the players now dont want to play for the club

get your money on us to go down!!!

I have. Buying money that. You are in free fall. Hull, Barnsley and one from Luton,Charlton or Huddersfield for me (unless we get deducted a fair whack of points) 

[bradowl]

On 26/06/2020 at 10:01, 2soon said:

The owners bad PR and recently being a successful club are counting against them.

It looks like they are trying to get the wage bill under control given the immediate future.

 

Wednesday would be wise to do the same.

 

 

It is a very difficult situation for all clubs, how can they budget with signing players during summer when this season is complete when they have no idea how many if any fans are allowed to attend next season? 

[DlNGLE]

2 hours ago, fudge27 said:

I have. Buying money that. You are in free fall. Hull, Barnsley and one from Luton,Charlton or Huddersfield for me (unless we get deducted a fair whack of points) 

I think we need four wins from our next seven games, it’s doable, we’ve just won four and drawn one in our last seven, if we repeat that in the next seven that’ll put us on fifty one points. I think that’ll be enough this year. 

Edited June 28, 2020 by DlNGLE