The Fulham Jaguars? New owner Shahid Khan has 'no intention of messing' with the club's name

Fulham owner Shahid Khan has ruled out rebranding the club as the Jaguars in the wake of Hull City having added Tigers to their name.

Khan believes a club's name is sacrosanct and does not plan to follow the lead of the Assem Allam who wants the club to be known as Hull City Tigers nationally and Hull Tigers internationally.

It is a month since Pakistan-born billionaire Khan completed his purchase of the Barclays Premier League club.

Khan has been busy making his mark at the west London club, with on and off-field plans continuing apace.

One of his immediate goals is to create a links between Fulham and his NFL franchise Jacksonville Jaguars, who will play a regular season game at Wembley for the next four years.

Khan, though, is keen to stress such a tie-up will see both retain separate identities and promised never to mess with the club name like the high-profile case of Hull.

"We won't be becoming Fulham Jaguars," he told Press Association Sport.

"I don't think they are the things [we would change].

"Fulham Football Club is how it was way before my lifetime and that is hopefully how it will be a long time after I am gone.

"Both Fulham and the Jaguars really have to operate as their own entities and they have their own core fans and obviously the sports are unique.

"We want to look for areas where they can work together and I think most of those are going to be on the business side.

"Anything historical like that, I absolutely have no intention of messing with."

Khan has big boots to fill at Craven Cottage having replaced Mohamed Al Fayed as owner after 16 years in which he transformed the club.

The new owner has spoken to the Egyptian a few times since completing his takeover and plans are afoot to honour the former chairman.

Some fans suggest the renaming of the soon-to-be-redeveloped Riverside Stand in his honour would be a suitable gesture and is one of several ideas under consideration.

"Let's face it, I don't think the club would probably be around without Mr Al Fayed," Khan said.

"I think he is a huge part of Fulham and, with the role he played, you have to respect and honour him in some way.

"What exactly it is, there are a lot of irons in the fire but definitely I think you have to honour all his contributions towards Fulham."

Khan has been splitting his time between his Florida home and London since completing the takeover and will be at Craven Cottage for the first home game of the season against Arsenal.

He revealed a new signing is set to be announced imminently and more could follow before the big match as he looks for a year of improvement.

Asked what would represent a successful first year in charge, Khan said: "It is very simple: we got better. That would be for me what we want to do on and off the field.

"Number one is performance on the pitch. We finished 12th last season and I would hope we do better.

"Performance off the pitch is important and it is indicative that in future years that we have supporters, corporate and otherwise, that will help the club move forward."

PA