WHITEHAWK supporters were in jubilant mood on Sunday after the club confirmed they would not be changing the club’s name to Brighton City FC.

Fans were furious with club owners for attempting to rebrand the club without consultation and started an online petition to block the name change.

The petition, which had over 1,400 signatures, and public discontent has led chairman John Summers to scrap the plan.

Summers made the conscious effort to stand with fans on the terraces during Saturday’s away defeat to Chelmsford City.

And after gauging the reaction of those in attendance, the club have now decided to scrap the idea of changing their name.

Summers said: “I made a point of standing on the terraces with The Ultras yesterday (Saturday) at the Chelmsford match to engage with them first hand and they made it abundantly clear to me that although they understood the need to embrace the city, they dismissed the name ‘Brighton City’ as their preferred choice.

“It was good to be among them and listen to their views personally and I thank them all for their input yesterday. ”

Vice-chair Nigel Thornton accompanied Summers to the Chelmsford game but called the decision to stand with the travelling supporters “brave,” before hinting that this may not be end of the rebranding saga.

He said: “It was very brave of John to leave the boardroom and go down and speak to the fans man to man on the terraces, not many people would have had the nerve to do that and I admire him for that.

“The proposed name change has injected a huge passion back into the club, now we all need to agree our next step and stick together to take the club forward.”

Summers echoed that sentiment, saying that supporters would be more welcoming of a change to “Brighton Whitehawk” or something along those lines.

“They have made it very clear to us that if we are changing our name they prefer other options such as ‘Brighton Whitehawk’ or ‘Brighton East End’ so we will all have a beer together and work to build the club.”