Just a year ago Hull City were preparing to play in their first FA Cup final in 110 years of history yet May 2015 has a very different feel. The club are heading into the final two matches of the season facing the deep threat of relegation and the suspension of the midfielder Jake Livermore on Friday, after he tested positive for cocaine use, has added to the malaise.
In 18th place, two points from safety, Steve Bruce’s team travel to Spurs on Saturday then host Manchester United next Sunday. If Bruce’s players do not recover from last Saturday’s crucial loss to Burnley sufficiently to gain the points they need, relegation will end a curious two-season stint in the Premier League, which has been supported by loans from the owner, Assem Allam, of £67m.
City have been in the top flight for only the second period in their history. The first was 2008-10, a promotion achieved after 104 years of Football League sweat and struggle, punctuated by the occasional crisis. Last season at Wembley, City fans in their thousands cheered a valiant performance: 2-0 up within eight minutes, only for Arsenal to win 3-2 with an Aaron Ramsey winner late in extra time.
Yet for many fans and people in Hull this period of historic achievement has not felt like the best of times, and has instead been soured by bad feeling over issues which have looked unnecessary and avoidable.
Allam’s insistence that he wanted the club’s name changed to Hull Tigers, which he said would dramatically improve its commercial prospects, was opposed by many fans who have supported City through bad times and good, and the Football Association council ruled against it. Allam has won his appeal against that ruling, not on the substance of the FA’s argument but on a procedural point based on an opinion expressed by a member of the relevant FA committee to a fans group. It is unclear whether Allam will pursue the name change assertively again – the FA says it requires a new application and is waiting to see if the club will make one.
That running sore was followed last month by a saga which has further tarnished the club’s reputation. In March, community sports groups which had been using the Airco Arena, alongside the KC Stadium, since both were built by Hull city council with public money in 2002, were suddenly told they had to leave. Allam and his son Ehab, City’s vice-chairman, had decided that Hull City wanted to use that arena to build an indoor 3G pitch for their own academy’s exclusive use, so that they could be passed by the Premier League for category two status.
Thousands of people were regularly using the arena, which was fully booked by indoor sports groups, some competing at national level, including gymnastics, netball, trampolining, inline skating, basketball, volleyball and badminton. It emerged that in discussions with the council, which was trying to find an alternative site for the 3G pitch, Ehab Allam had asked that the council guarantee planning permission for a new facility would be granted, or, if it were rejected, pay half the £850,000 cost of the facility. Last month the council leader, Stephen Brady, issued a statement spelling out that it is illegal to guarantee planning permission.
Brady said the council had “bent over backwards” to support the club’s bid to upgrade its academy, but had not even been consulted on the plans to evict the community sports groups.
“We are extremely sad and disappointed to learn today that the decision has been made to go ahead with the installation of a 3G pitch at the Airco Arena, despite our stated major concerns about the impact on community users,” Brady said.
The council has stated that it considers the exclusive use of the arena for a professional club’s academy a breach of the lease requiring community use, and has threatened legal action.
Julie Williams, of the Hull High Fliers trampoline club, which is run by volunteers, said they were given very little notice to leave. Some, not all, clubs have managed to relocate, but to less high-quality sports centres where they cannot host competitions. A gymnastics and trampolining club for pre-school age children has had to be cancelled.
“I think it is selfish,” Williams said. “The council built the facility with public money – and the stadium, which helped to put Hull City where it is now – but now the club is looking out for itself, not for the rest of the community.”
The owners are understood to believe it is not a breach of the arena lease to convert it for its academy and the club continues to highlight the community work that it does. The club did not respond to a request for an interview with Assem Allam, including for an update on the status of the Airco Arena dispute.
Mark Gretton, chair of the Hull City Supporters’ Trust, said he feels “great sadness” about the arena, name change application, and the Allams’ falling out with the council, which has resulted in a proposed expansion of the stadium not being pursued.
“These should have been the best of our times,” Gretton said, “but they haven’t been. A large proportion of fans are alienated, and in 30 years of supporting, I have never felt further from the club.”
If Bruce’s team do not clamber to Premier League survival, this will be an ignominious way for Hull City to go down, with a star player testing positive for cocaine, and owners having evicted community volunteers.
