LONDON (AFP) - Controversial plans to change the official name of English Premier League club Hull City appeared to have been thwarted on Monday by the Football Association.

The membership committee of English football's governing body said it had made a "unanimous recommendation" to the FA council to reject a plan from the club's wealthy Egyptian owner Assem Allam to change the name from Hull City AFC to Hull Tigers.

Although Hull's longstanding nickname is "Tigers", many of the Humberside club's fans were up in arms at the proposal while Allam, who has invested millions of pounds into the club, threatened to quit if the plans were rejected.

It was a threat he reiterated at the weekend, having previously told fans chanting "City till I die" that they could "die as soon as they want".

However, Ehab Allam - Assem's son and a Hull vice-chairman - said the name change could still happen.

"The proposed name change is not about a quick win. It is a long-term change," he told BBC Radio Humberside.