August 31 – Hull City, who surprised everyone with a storming start to their return to the Premier League winning their first two games, expect to be under new ownership within the next two weeks according to vice-chairman Ehab Allam.
Owned by the Allam family since 2010, they fell out with fans bittlerly over plans to change the club name to Hull Tigers and subsequently fell out of the Premier League. With the Football League failing to rubber stamp the name change, Aseem Allam followed through on a threat and put the club up for sale.
Now with a return to the Premier League and the unexpected winning start, most pundits have Hull has relegation certainties, the Allams may have the last laugh. A Premier League club is worth considerably more than a Championship one.
Allam bought Hull in a £40 million deal in 2010 and is reckoned to have spent a further £85 million on the club while it was in the Premier League. The sale price is believed to be about £100 million, though it is very unlikely Allam will lose any money on the deal.
The new owners will be a Chinese consortium led by brother and sister of Dai Yongge and Dai Xin Li. Their representatives have been spotted at Hull’s opening day win over Leicester City, though the Allam’s have not formally identified them as the buyers.
Writing in his programme notes before Saturday’s match against Manchester United, Ehab Allam said: “As has been highlighted in the press in the past few weeks, a takeover of the club is at an advanced stage – a deal has been agreed and due diligence is well underway.”
“We have enjoyed our time as the custodians of the Tigers, but we appreciate, as with (departed manager) Steve (Bruce), we have taken the club as far as we can.
“The time has come for new owners to come in and take over from us and we hope to have more information for you all on that in the near future.
“At this point we do believe that today could be our last game as owners of this football club.”
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