Last week Hull City Council met with Hull City’s executive vice-chair Tan Kesler, Hull FC chairman Adam Pearson and SuperStadium Management Company to again discuss the proposals to redevelop the MKM Stadium and surrounding West Park, including Walton Street car park.
On the surface none of the interested parties came out of the discussions last week calling the whole thing off. The leader of Hull City Council Mike Ross was quoted as saying:
“There would be wider benefits for the community and the professional clubs and it was great to be able to hear about those.”
The proposal is reported to include the area north of the Stadium up to and including Walton Street car park on the corner of Walton St/Spring Bank West. Pictured here with Hull Fair on the car park.
Image credit: Hull Live https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/hull-fair-means-hull-citys-9084210
From a Tigers perspective these talks have been slowly moving progressing their plan to redevelop the area around the MKM stadium that emerged at a similar time last year. The club’s objective is to move their first team/U21’s training pitches in Cottingham and their academy/development teams in Bishop Burton to a new state of the art training facility housed within the proposed ‘Sports Village’. I haven’t read anything to confirm this but I would hope Hull City ladies would also be included in this move.
The current first team training ground in Cottingham is considered to be sub-par and lacking much needed investment in recent years with redevelopment of the existing site not really an option due to its size and location.
From a Hull City perspective this would only be a good thing. For anyone that is aware of the computer game Football Manager, it is a necessity to turn your club into a wonderkid factory to achieve competition and financial success in the simulated world of football.
In the real world, a strong flow of academy talent would be very good for the long term financial stability of the club too. Players that cost no transfer fees to sign and can be sold for a profit allow for reinvestment of that cash flow back into the football club in a sustainable, financial fair play rules abiding manner. Or even better if they are good enough to go on and play for the first team, whatever level it is at, and contribute on the pitch to help the club achieve its footballing goals. Matty Jacob being the most recent Hull City academy player to break through to the first team.
The high profile sales of Jarrod Bowen and more recently Keane Lewis-Potter are an example of developing and selling young/academy players. Their transfers have helped balance the books greatly for the Tigers in recent years with their combined fees potentially rising to just shy of £40 million subject to add on clauses being met.
The other side of the coin is young players and parents alike are more likely to be happy play for/send their child to sign on to play youth football somewhere that is setup to help them develop either on par or better than at any other club’s academy in the English football pyramid.
If the club go onto secure permission to develop the proposed area they would then hopefully be aiming to achieve becoming a Category 1 football academy (currently Category 2). If they could achieve and maintain this status long term, the effect could well be felt for decades to come at Hull City given the size of its catchment.
Read more on academy categorisation if you’re a nerd like me that finds these things interesting: https://premierleague.com/youth/EPPP
From a personal perspective I care much more deeply about Hull City and even the rugby league than I do about rigged carnival games that pop up once a year. However Hull City Council is elected to act in a balanced manner that includes the interests of everyone in the local community, including the cultural/economic benefits of Hull Fair.
The process of achieving planning permission is not straightforward as presumably Hull Fair will have to be moved to an acceptable new location in the city, particularly as a small part of the operating area of Hull Fair, is granted under a Royal Charter.
Subject to all parties concerned reaching some form of agreement and the Sports Village project moving ahead, my thoughts on the proposals are as follows…
Hull in general is in need of regeneration projects, particularly outside the city centre and ambitious projects like this can help spark positive social change. Acun Ilıcalı’s money would provide much needed investment in an area where realistically there will be nothing of the sort for years to come from national or local government.
I hesitate to say it would create jobs because I can’t imagine it would be a significant amount, but the cultural/educational impacts could be felt across the region. The trickle down effect of attracting top youth coaches/funding into the local footballing catchment area would provide more opportunities for children across East Yorkshire to enjoy the game of football at grassroots level and the talented few to progress into academy football/fulfil their professional potential.
The gold standard of a football club reinvesting in it’s local community for years after a takeover is Manchester City (the plus side is our owner isn’t a Dictator/Oligarch looking to launder their dirty oil money).
Initiatives such as ‘City in the Community’ programme have seen thousands of hours invested in worthy causes including disability football teams and mental health support for vulnerable youngsters. Manchester City also donated 5.5 acres of land and at least £12 million towards Beswick Leisure Centre, the sixth form Connell college and the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance.
Its not the people of Hull’s tax money that would pay for these kinds of goodwill investments at whatever scale should Hull’s ownership have the intent to replicate this kind of community investment, so what would there to complain about.
The Thinktank Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said psychological research suggests that fans associate the performance of their chosen team with their own successes and failures, which can have an impact on people’s dopamine levels and overall confidence. As sad as this statement is to me I can believe it, a feel good factor around the club means fans spend more.
The increase in revenues at Hull City can already be seen in their latest financial results. By having a nearly full stadium every week, how many of the fans go on to spend money in bars, local businesses and on local public transport on match days too? By investing in the footballing side now, a successful Hull City on the pitch will bring more money to the local businesses in and around Hull.
Picture a Hull City playoff final victory over Leeds United in May, how much money would be spent celebrating in Hull’s bars, clubs and restaurants. Probably a measurable amount of the city’s annual growth.
Another feather in the ‘Sports Village’ cap would be to allow community groups/programs to access the facilities and share use of the space. These kinds of gestures/facility provision could be a lifeline in future times when local services and staff are being cut to balance budgets, leaving a shortage of adequate facilities for many, much like they have been for the last decade across the UK.
I think the one caution the Council and club would have to consider is ensuring regeneration doesn’t turn into gentrification. The club will never undo decades of industrial decline and neglect but could do so much more for the local community if they are able to go ahead with the West Park/Walton Street redevelopment, not in the immediate future but for generations of Hull natives to come.