Hull City's owner Assem Allam wants to change the name from "City" to "Tigers", but it could have been so much worse for Swansea fans
Once upon a time, there was a big bad Australian Cockney with a ridiculous moustache, who wanted to rip the heart out of Swansea City AFC. His excuse at the time was fiscal austerity, but he hadn't planned on the vociferous response his actions received from the Swansea support.
The North Bank at the old Vetch Field became a unified protest group, aiming endless chants towards the directors box after Petty sacked seven players (asking a further eight to accept reduced contracts), and that was just the start. Marches and protests outside the ground let the new chairman know that we simply weren't going to accept that kind of thing from someone who was supposed to have the club's best interests at heart, and that he'd massively misjudged the situation if he thought the fanbase would just roll over and accept whatever decisions he deemed fit to make.
Thankfully, the rest is history. A consortium of Swansea fans, plus the newly formed Supporters Trust, wrestled control of the club and we haven't looked back since. There's been a litany of successes since - the appointments of Flynn, Jackett, Martinez, Sousa, Rodgers & Laudrup have all brought varying degrees of success (but success nonetheless), as well as the continued recruitment of a higher calibre of player. The Swans have coloured in the picture of a well-run Premiership club without, seemingly, going outside the lines once.
That's why it rankles so much to see owners at other clubs operating in a manner which seemingly disregards the wishes of the fans. I doubt Assem Allem cares what the sizeable proportion of Hull fans who disagree with the potential name change think, much like I doubt Vincent Tan cares what colour fans prefer their team to play in, but the line has to be drawn somewhere or football stands at risk of becoming like the NFL, where clubs - or "brands" as I should probably refer to them given the context - are exportable commodities, with no real thought given to the history or tradition surrounding them.
Thankfully (for the Swans at least) we can rest easy knowing that those in charge always have the best interests of the club at heart. Hull's recent travails serve to remind us that getting to the Premier League isn't the be all and end all, and that not everyone gets so lucky. Hopefully their fans can exert some influence over proceedings (though I won't say that about tonight's game itself) and, if the majority view is that the name should remain "Hull City", then that's how it should stay.
There's a campaign being run by Hull fans called "City Till We Die" (link), which protests against Assem Allem's plans to change their name to Hull Tigers. They also plan on singing "City Till We Die" 19mins 04secs into tonight's match (Hull City were formed in 1904), and they (and I) heartily encourage all Swansea fans to join in. Solidarity, brothers & sisters!