Shenanigans aplenty, I'm afraid.
There were a lot of concerns raised both by supporters and the wider media about how the ballot was run...
First, the question itself. The form - which incidentally didn't mention the name 'Hull City' once contained a statement from the Allams with three options...
- Yes to Hull Tigers with the Allam Family continuing to lead the club
- No to Hull Tigers
- I am not too concerned and will continue to support the club either way
Essentially, the ballot wasn't simply on the name change - the question of the club's ownership comes into the equation and unfortunately there are a lot of people scared by the thought of what will happen if they walk away/sell up/do one of the other things they've threatened to do in recent weeks. So, first concern - a loaded form with only one side of the argument presented on it.
The ballot was open to all adult passholders - our voting forms were to be emailed to us in the form of a PDF we could fill in and return to the club. I'm still waiting for my email notifying me of the ballot, as is Mrs Cake. And as are quite a few other supporters that we know. However, we downloaded the forms ourselves and submitted them so we at least got our votes in. So, second concern - have some people missed the chance to vote?
The PDF form had a problem however, which saw a number of people's forms arrive at the club blank. We're told that those affected were contacted by the club to resubmit their choice by email, however some folk are saying that they have evidence there was a problem with their form and they haven't been contacted. Third concern - did your vote actually count?
However, there's also the option of printing your form out and posting it in a ballot box at the stadium - but when trying to do so many folk encountered problems. Staff didn't know where the boxes were, or they were locked in an area where they couldn't be reached, and in one case they'd been removed early because there was a rugby game on that day. Fourth concern - were people prevented from handing their forms in in person?
If you did actually manage to get your vote in, what safeguards were in place to protect it? Email votes were accessible to club staff - a couple mentioned on social media they could see the emails coming into the inbox, so therefore they had access to the system. And what of the physical ballot boxes? Were they locked and sealed until the count? Who had access to them? Fifth concern - could my vote have been tampered with?
Going back to the form, it was necessary to write your name, address and pass number on it otherwise it wouldn't be counted. This certainly isn't a usual procedure for a secret ballot - and there were some folk concerned that as it's clear to see how they voted they could potentially be subject to some sort of blacklisting in the future. Don't forget that the ballot was going on during ticket applications for an FA Cup semi-final, and we could potentially have Final tickets up for grabs in a week or two - I'm not quite cynical enough to believe this myself, but some folk have stated that they abstained or even voted yes as they were worried that voting 'no' might mean they'd be blacklisted. Sixth concern - could my vote be held against me in the future?
Initially, it was suggested that only adult passholders would have a vote. However, it soon became clear that corporate box holders would get a vote as well. Many of these are friends or business associates of the Allams, so in all likelihood they'd vote in support of them. However, these people didn't receive one vote - if you have a corporate box which seats twelve you got twelve votes. Seventh concern - extra votes for the Allams' chums.
And who was counting the votes? We were told there was an unnamed 'independent adjudicator' at work, we only found out who they are today despite the club being asked on a number of occasions. Turns out it's a company in Bristol who do vote counts for TV phone ins and the like, and who apparently have no prior experience of a ballot of this nature. Eighth concern - a lack of transparency about who is counting the votes.
Anyway, those are the core concerns. Many others have come forward with concerning tales about the difficulties they've had in actually voting - in balance it should be noted though that these problems would arise whichever way you voted.
So, what about the results?
Following the recent ballot of season card holders, the club can confirm the majority of votes cast are in favour of Hull Tigers with the Allam Family continuing to lead the club.
Majority? Hmm...
15,033 season card holders were eligible to vote - however, only 5,874 did (or could
).
The result of the ballot is as follows:
2,565: Yes to Hull Tigers with the Allam Family continuing to lead the club;
792: I am not too concerned and will continue to support the club either way
9,159: Number of season card holders who did not vote
2,517: No to Hull Tigers
Only 48 votes difference between yes and no - or four corporate boxes, if you prefer.
Both these votes came in at around 43% of the vote, not enough to anyone to claim a majority.
But consider this - whichever way the club want to spin it, despite all of the Allams' threats, bullying, insults and bluster, despite the loaded question, despite the inept way the ballot was held, despite the divisions this is creating in the fanbase, despite loading the vote with corporate cronies, only 17% of the number of season pass holders were prepared to step forward and back them. Hardly a compelling mandate for change.
This Wednesday the FA Council will meet and make their decision. Our supporters have, on the whole, refused to bow to the Allams' bullying and we hope that the FA take an equally firm stance.
