Everything about Hull City A F C totally explained
Hull City Association Football Club are an
English football club based in
Kingston upon Hull,
East Riding of Yorkshire. The club will participate in the
Premier League, the top tier of English football, for the first time in the 2008-09 season. Founded in 1904, the highest position Hull City have ever finished in the English Football League was 3rd in the
second division of the old Football League, a feat they repeated in 2008 when they gained promotion to the
Premier League after beating
Bristol City 1-0 in the playoff final at
Wembley Stadium. Their greatest achievement in cup competitions came in
1930, when the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
The club play their home games at the
KC Stadium in Hull. The club previously played at
Boothferry Park, but moved to their current home in
2002, with Boothferry Park set for demolition. They traditionally play in black and amber, often with a striped shirt design, hence their nickname
The Tigers. The club's mascot is known as Roary the Tiger.
History
Hull City Association Football Club was founded in June 1904. For some years prior to this, attempts were made to found a football club, but in a city dominated initially by
rugby league with teams such as
Hull FC and
Hull KR, who were both respectable teams, this proved difficult.
Hull City's first season as a professional football club consisted only of friendly matches, as due to the time of founding, Hull were unable to apply for membership to
The Football League for the
1904–05 season. These early matches were played at
The Boulevard, the old home of rugby league side Hull FC. On
1 September 1904, Hull's debut match took place against
Notts County; with 6000 in attendance at
The Boulevard, Hull notched up an impressive start, holding the more experienced County to a 2–2 draw.
Hull's first competitive football game was in the FA Cup, but they were eliminated, after a replay, in the preliminary round against
Stockton, the score was 7–4 on aggregate. After disputes with landlords at The Boulevard, Hull City moved to Anlaby Road Cricket Ground. Other teams competing in the league that season included the likes of
Manchester United and
Chelsea, as well as
Yorkshire rivals
Leeds City,
Bradford City and
Barnsley. Hull faced Barnsley in their first game, a fixture which Hull won 4–1. Eventually, Hull would finish the season in fifth place. The cup run saw Hull knocking out
Leeds United and eventual Champions of the Second and Third Division;
Blackpool and
Plymouth Argyle respectively. They then knocked out
Manchester City, to meet
Newcastle United in the FA Cup quarter finals. The first leg at
St James' Park finished as a 1–1 draw, but in the replay Hull beat Newcastle 1–0. The semi-final match against
Arsenal took place at
Elland Road in
Leeds, the game ended 2–2, and was taken to a replay. Arsenal knocked Hull out at
Aston Villa's home ground, the game ended 1–0. and their newly built Boothferry Park ground saw a crowd approaching 50,000 for the Christmas Day game against
Rotherham United, and exceeded by that for the FA Cup 6th round tie with Manchester United; the attendance of 55,019 still remains a record today.
'Yo-yoing' between the second and third tiers of English football, Hull City had promotion seasons from the Third to the Second Division again in 1959 and 1966, winning the Third Division in the latter season. Hull became the first team in the world to go out of a cup competition on penalties, which came against Manchester United in the semi-final of the
Watney Mann Invitation Cup on
1 August,
1970. By the early 1980s, Hull City were down in the Fourth Division, and financial collapse lead to receivership.
The low ebb saw the arrival of unlikely looking saviours in the form of a chairman (Don Robinson) and manager (
Colin Appleton) from the footballing outpost of
Scarborough F.C. Promotion to Division Three followed in 1983, with a young team featuring the likes of future England international
Brian Marwood, future England manager
Steve McClaren, fearsome centre-forward
Billy Whitehurst, and the prolific goal-scorer Les Mutrie. When Hull City missed out on promotion by one goal the following season, Appleton left to manage
Swansea City.
Hull reached the Second Division in 1985 under new player-manager
Brian Horton. They defied the odds to stay there for the next five years before finally going down in 1991, by which time the club's manager was
Terry Dolan. Hull finished 14th in the Third Division in the
1991–92 season, meaning that they'd be competing in the new Football League Division Two the following season. In their first season in the rebranded division, Hull narrowly avoided another relegation but the board kept faith in Dolan and over the next two seasons they achieved secure mid table finishes. But terrible form in the
1995–96 season condemned Hull to relegation to Division Three. Hull's league form was steadily deteriorating to the point that relegation to the
Conference was looking a real possibility. Lloyd sold the club in November 1998 to a South Yorkshire based consortium. Hateley departed in November 1998 to be replaced by 34-year-old veteran player
Warren Joyce, who steered the club to safety after being anchored to the foot of the table. Hull City fans refer to this season as "The Great Escape". After this feat, Joyce was perhaps unlucky to be replaced in April 2000 by the experienced
Brian Little. The
2005–06 season, the club's first back in the second tier, saw Hull finish in 18th place, a comfortable 10 points clear of relegation and their highest league finish for 16 years. but was sacked on
4 December 2006 with Hull in the relegation zone, despite having spent over £2 million on players.
Phil Brown took over as caretaker manager, Brown brought veteran striker
Dean Windass back to his hometown club on loan from Bradford City, and his eight goals helped secure Hull's Championship status as they finished in 21st place. At the end of the season, another familiar face, former manager Brian Horton, rejoined the club as Phil Brown's assistant.
Chairman Pearson sold the club to a consortium led by
Paul Duffen in June 2007, stating that he "had taken the club as far as I could", and would have to relinquish control in order to attract "really significant finance into the club".
He resigned from the board on
31 July 2007, thus severing all ties with the club.
Under
Paul Duffen and manager
Phil Brown Hull City improved greatly on their relegation battle of 2006–07 and qualified for the play-offs after finishing the season in third. They beat
Watford 6–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals and played
Bristol City in the
final on
24 May 2008, which Hull won 1–0 at
Wembley Stadium, with Hull native
Dean Windass scoring the winning goal.
Colours and crest
Throughout the majority of the history of the club, Hull have worn black and amber shirts with black shorts. These black and amber colours are where Hull's nickname,
The Tigers, originated from. Following the end of the Second World War, Hull spent another season wearing sky blue, but changed to plain amber shirts, which they wore until the early 1960s, when they swapped back to stripes.
During the mid 1970s and early 1980s, the strip was constantly changing between the two versions of plain shirts and stripes. During the late 1980s, red was added to the kits but its duration went no further than this. The early 1990s featured two 'tiger skin' designs, which have since featured in a number of 'worst ever football kit' articles. The 1998-99 season introduced a kit with cross-fading amber and white stripes; another experimentation which proved unpopular. After the turn of the century, the club wore plain amber shirts until 2004, when the club celebrated its centenary by wearing a kit similar to the design of the one worn 100 years ago.
Hull City didn't wear a crest on their team shirt until
1947. This crest depicted a tiger's head in a yellow-shaded badge, which was worn up until
1955, when it was changed to just the tiger's head. This was worn for four years, when the shirt again featured no emblem. Then, in
1971, the club returned to showing the tiger's head on the shirt. This was used for four years, until the club initials 'HCAFC' were shown for five years. After this, a logo with the tiger's head with the clubs name underneath was used from
1980 until
1998. The next logo, which is currently used by the club, features the tiger's head in an amber shield which shows the clubs name, along with the clubs nickname,
The Tigers.
Stadia
Between 1904 and 1905, Hull City played their home games at
The Boulevard. This ground was used by Hull on a contract, where they'd be allowed to use it when not used for Rugby League, costing the princely sum of £100 per annum. Hull built their own ground, Anlaby Road, which was opened in 1906. With the threat of the rerouting of the railway line through the Anlaby Road ground, the club was convinced it needed to secure its future by owning its own ground.
During
World War II, Anlaby Road was damaged by the Blitz, with repairs costing in the region of £1,000. The Cricket Club had served notice to quit at the same time and in 1943, the tenancy was officially ended.
Statistics and records
Andy Davidson holds the record for Hull City league appearances, having played 520 matches.
George Maddison comes second, having played 430 matches.
Chris Chilton is the club's top goalscorer with 222 goals in all competitions. Chilton also holds the club record for goals scored in the League (193), FA Cup (16) and League Cup (10).
The club's widest victory margin in the league was their 11–1 win against
Carlisle United in
Division Three in 1939. Their heaviest defeat in the league was 8–0 against
Wolves in 1911.
Hull City's record home attendance is 55,019, for a match against Manchester United F.C. on
26 February 1949 at Boothferry Park.
Players
Current squad
» As of 10 May 2008.
Out on loan
Player of the Year
Managers
» As of 10 May, 2008. Only professional, competitive matches are counted.
Current staff
» As of 17 June 2007.
- Manager: Phil Brown
- Assistant Manager: Brian Horton
- First Team Coach: Steve Parkin
- Head of Youth: Billy Russell
- Youth Recruitment Officer: Neil Mann
- Development Director: Colin Murphy
- Centre of Excellence Director/FITC Officer: John Davies
- Goalkeeping Coach: Mark Prudhoe
- Head Physiotherapist: Simon Maltby
- Assistant Physiotherapist: Liam McGarry
- Fitness Coordinator: Sean Rush
- Kit Manager: Barry Lowe
Other teams connected with Hull City
Hull City A.F.C. Reserves
Hull City Reserves play in the
Central League Eastern Division. The team plays home fixtures at the Church Road Ground, home of
North Ferriby United.
In the
2006–07 season, Hull finished in fourth place in the league table after picking up 31 points from their 18 league meetings.
Hull City A.F.C. Juniors
Hull City Juniors play in the Puma Youth Alliance, playing their home fixtures at
Winterton Rangers F.C.'s home stadium.
Recently the juniors have had a successful
2006–07 season, winning the league title by a 10 point margin. They also reached the fourth round of the
FA Youth Cup, losing 2–1 to eventual semi-finalists Arsenal F.C. Juniors.
Hull City Women A.F.C.
Hull City Women play in the
Northern Combination Women's Football League. In the
2006–07 season, the team finished seventh in the table with 33 points.
Rivalries
According to a 2003 poll, Hull City fans consider their main rival to be
Leeds United, though this isn't reciprocated. Much of this was due to the high numbers of Leeds fans living in the Hull area during a period when Leeds were in the upper and Hull in the lower divisions. The rivalry had increased further in recent times with the return of league meetings when both teams were present in
The Championship.
Other rivals include their neighbours from across the
Humber,
Scunthorpe United and
Grimsby Town.
The club also has a traditional rivalry with
Sheffield United, chiefly from the 1970s and 1980s when the clubs spent several seasons together at different levels. In 1984 Sheffield United won promotion at Hull City's expense by the narrow margin of one goal scored, giving further credibility to this East and South Yorkshire rivalry, and 33 of their goals were scored by former Hull City striker
Keith Edwards. City's final game of the season against
Burnley had been rescheduled due to bad weather; they went into the game knowing a three-goal victory would mean promotion, but managed only a 2-0 win in front of a crowd made up of Sheffield United fans as well as those of the two teams playing.
Additionally
Lincoln City and
York City name Hull amongst their rivals.
Honours
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hull City A F C'.
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