Hull City: Tigers chairman dismisses fans' protests

Hull City chairman Assem Allam has angrily dismissed the efforts of fans to dissuade him from renaming the club.

Supporters' organisation City Til We Die has voiced hope that the Football Association can stop the club name changing to Hull Tigers.

"I honestly don't know why the fuss, why a small group are making all this fuss," Allam told BBC Radio 5 live.

"Nobody in the world will decide for me how I run my companies, certainly not a few hundred people."

He continued: "No, no, no. I will not allow that. Let us establish this - nobody questions my decisions in my business."

The Egypt-born businessman first announced in August the company name had changed from Hull City AFC to Hull City Tigers. Allam stated a 'Tigers' brand would be more marketable, and considered the word 'City' to be "lousy" and "common".

The 74-year-old, who moved to Hull in 1968, said he had to find other income streams for the newly promoted Premier League outfit as the KC Stadium is owned by the council.

A decision on further shortening the club's name to simply Hull Tigers is expected to be made early next year. But any such plans would need to be ratified by the FA.

Despite vowing to alter the club's name, Allam declared he would consult supporters about changes which he did not consider were "commercial decisions".

"What the fans should be interested in - I will never change the colour, I will never change the logo, I will never remove Hull, I will never remove Tigers," he said.

"These words were there for many years. The colour of the club, amber and black, is there. The logo is there. That's for the fans and I will never change this without consulting the fans.

"As for the commercial decisions - my decision."

Allam has told the Guardian the club will announce this week that it made a loss of £27.8m in its promotion year, with the accounts also set to show he has put in £66m since taking over in December 2010.

"The club cannot rely on my money all the time," he said. "The club should be able to survive comfortably with me being alive or dead.

"At the moment, the club cannot survive without my money. That is not on."

Hull are currently 12th in the Premier League following the 4-1 defeat by Southampton on Saturday.