Hull City owner Assem Allam vows to quit if FA rejects name change• Fans object to plans to rebrand the club as Hull Tigers
• Name change 'key to making club attractive around the world'Share Tweet this

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The Guardian, Tuesday 14 January 2014 15.06 GMT
Assem Allam, the Hull City owner, has formally applied to the FA to change the club's name to Hull Tigers. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images
The Hull City owner, Assem Allam, has threatened to walk away from the club if the Football Association refuses to grant his application to change the club's name to Hull Tigers.

Allam has formally applied to the FA for the name change, which he believes will symbolise "power" and be key to making the club attractive around the world and earning fortunes from selling merchandise. The change, whose projected impact Allam told the Guardian he had not yet researched, is bitterly opposed by supporter groups campaigning to keep the name City have had since 1904.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Allam, who made his money building up a generator business, Allam Marine, said of the opposition: "No one on earth is allowed to question my business decisions. I won't allow it. I can give you my CV to give you comfort, for what I do in business, what I have achieved, but for someone to come and question me is not allowed."I'm here to save the club and manage the club for the benefit of the community. It will never, never be the other way round – that the community manage it for me. But if the community say go away, I promise to go away within 24 hours."

Allam added he would also go away within 24 hours if the name change is rejected by the FA, whose council has absolute discretion to decide.

"Still the same thing. It's a free country. No two ways about it. Have I ever said something and went back on it? No," he said.

Allam did not explain the terms on which he would walk away, given that the club is heavily indebted to him. Having taken over with the club in financial difficulties in December 2010 and lent £41m immediately, Allam's company loans – charged at 5% interest – were up to £72m by 31 July 2013, the date of the recent accounts. Allam ran a wage bill of £26m in the Championship, despite the club's income totalling only £11m, so achieved promotion to the Premier League making a loss of £26m.

There are fears that if the FA does reject his name-change application he will withdraw financial support. City Till I Die, the fans' group coalition opposing the change, have said in a statement that they: "Remain confident that the FA will make the right decision, and protect the heritage and traditions of Hull City AFC, and those of other clubs whose identities may come under threat."

We've bagged the best sugar daddy by far. He doesn't just use us for his fun, he actually respects us too, and wants us to be happy. All the other clubs being butt fucked by insane foreign owners must be soooo jealous. I'm proud that he chose us, but I do have a nagging fear that he'll wake up one day and want a younger, more attractive club :(