History of Hull City A.F.C.

Inception

Hull City A.F.C. were founded on 28 June 1904. For some years before this attempts were made to found a football club, but in a city dominated initially by rugby league with the likes of Hull and Hull KR this proved difficult.

The first season for Hull City consisted of friendly matches; because of the time of founding, City were unable to apply for membership to The Football League for the 1904–05 season. The early matches were played at The Boulevard, home of rugby league side Hull FC. On 1 September 1904, City's debut match took place against Notts County; with 6000 in attendance at the Boulevard, City notched up an impressive start holding the more experienced County to a 2–2 draw.

Hull's first taste of competitive football came 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 uneasy relationships with landlords, Hull City moved to Anlaby Road Cricket Ground.

Football League

Finally, after playing 44 friendly fixtures the previous season, Hull City were entered into the Football League Second Division for the 1905–06 season. 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. Indeed, it was Barnsley who they faced in their first game, beating them 4–1. Eventually, Hull would finish fifth.

The following season a new ground was built for Hull City across the road from the cricket ground. Still under the managership of Ambrose Langley, City continued to finish consistently in the top half of the table. They came agonisingly close to promotion in the 1909–10 season, recording what would be their highest ever finish in their history (a record which will be surpassed at the end of the 2008–09 Premier League season); Hull finishing third, level on points with second placed Oldham Athletic, they missed promotion on goal average by the slim margin of 0.29 of a goal.

Before the First World War, Hull reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1915, beating out West Bromwich Albion, Northampton Town and Southampton, before eventually going out to Bolton Wanderers in a 4–2 away defeat.

Post-War

In cup competitions, the club's greatest achievement was in 1930, when they reached the FA Cup semi-final. 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 City out at Aston Villa's home ground, the game ended 1–0.

In 1948–49, managed by former England international Raich Carter, Hull City won the Third Division (North), and their new Boothferry Park ground saw a crowd approaching 50,000 for the Christmas Day game against Rotherham United, and exceeding 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 championship in that latter season. Still, however, top flight football eluded the club. In fact, 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 1 goal the following season, Appleton left to manage Swansea City.

Hull City reached the Second Division in 1985 under new player-manager Brian Horton. They defied the odds to stay there for the next six years before finally going down in 1991, by which time the club's manager was Terry Dolan.

Striving to survive: 1990s

Hull finished 14th in the Third Division in 1991–92, meaning that they would be competing in the new Football League Division Two. 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 1995–96 condemned Hull to relegation to Division Three.

Dolan was fired by new chairman David Lloyd after Hull failed to get anywhere near the top of Division Three in 1996–97, with former England international Mark Hateley taking over the manager's job. By this stage, financial problems were taking their toll on the Tigers and it was starting to look as though the club would go out of business before long. And Hull's league form was steadily deteriorating to the point that relegation to the Conference was looking a real possibility – which surely would have meant the death of the club. The 1997–98 season would prove to be arguably the worst in the club's history, with the club earning just 41 points; any other season this would almost certainly have seen Hull relegated to the Football Conference, but Brighton and Hove Albion and Doncaster Rovers both had unbelievably poor campaigns, and instead it was Doncaster who were relegated, with Hull recording their lowest ever finish in 22nd place. Lloyd stepped down as chairman that summer and was replaced by Nick Buchanan, while 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.

Little breathed new life into Hull and managed to get good results out of the players, despite briefly being locked out of Boothferry Park by the bailiffs and with liquidation looking a real possibility. Hull qualified for the Division Three playoffs in 2000–01, and lost in the semi finals. But things could have been much worse – at least the Hull City fans still had a football club to support. A boardroom takeover had eased the club's precarious financial situation and all fears of closure were banished – had the club been relegated to the Conference the previous season, it is extremely unlikely that this takeover would have taken place.

The Tigers on their way up

Kingston Communications Stadium.

Recent picture of Boothferry Park

New Chairman Adam Pearson ploughed funds into the club, allowing Little to rebuild the team with the aim of immediate promotion. Hull occupied the Division Three promotion and playoff places for much of the 2001–02 season, but Little was sacked two months before the end of the season and Hull slipped to 11th under his successor Jan Mølby.

Hull began the 2002–03 season as most people's favourites for promotion from Division Three, but a terrible start to the season saw relegation look more likely than promotion and Molby was sacked in October as the Tigers languished fifth from bottom in the league.

Peter Taylor was named as Hull's new manager and in December 2002, just weeks after his appointment, Hull relocated to the impressive new 25,400-seat Kingston Communications Stadium after 56 years at Boothferry Park. After this move, Hull's attendances were some of the best in the division but their results were rarely this impressive and they were unable to finish above 13th place in the final table.

Hull's new stadium was one of the most impressive stadiums outside the Premier League^[1] and it has helped influence an upturn in Hull's fortunes after a decade of misery. The two seasons which followed the opening of the new stadium were hugely successful. Hull were Division Three runners-up in 2003–04 and League One runners-up in 2004–05 – back-to-back promotions – which took them into the Championship, the second tier of English football.

2005–06 was hardly the most exciting season in the history of Hull City football club; it was more a season of consolidation after two successive promotions. Hull finished 18th in the final table – a comfortable 10 points clear of relegation and their highest league finish for 16 years.

2006 and onwards

Championship struggles

Graph showing Hull City A.F.C's progress through the English Football League System 1983–1984 to 2012–13 (last position shown: 9 May 2013, 2nd in the Football League Championship)

The successful stint at Hull City saw Peter Taylor's name linked with the Charlton Athletic manager's job before it was given to Iain Dowie. On 13 June 2006, Peter Taylor left Hull to take up the job vacated by Dowie at Crystal Palace, a club at which he had enjoyed considerable success as a player. Phil Parkinson was confirmed as his replacement on 29 June 2006, with Hull paying Colchester (with whom Parkinson was still under contract) £400,000 compensation. Phil Brown, who had recently departed his job as manager of Derby County, joined the club as Parkinson's assistant.

Defender Leon Cort became Hull's first million-pound player when he followed Peter Taylor to Crystal Palace for a fee of £1,250,000. Parkinson wasted no time in spending the majority of this money on strengthening the City squad in readiness for the 2006–07 season.

Chairman Adam Pearson has stated his ambition to take Hull into the top flight for the first time in their history^[2] – and he believed Phil Parkinson was the manager to do it.^[3] However, their dismal start to the 2006–07 season was hardly the form of a team attempting to gain promotion, and on 4 December 2006 Parkinson was sacked as manager with Hull in the relegation zone, despite having spent over £2 million on players. Parkinson had achieved two notable firsts, under his management Hull City won for the first time ever on live television and also won a penalty shoot-out for the first time.

Phil Brown was appointed as caretaker manager, and by 4 January 2007 Hull had moved out of the relegation zone and Brown was rewarded with a contract as their new manager until at least the end of the season.

Hull's Championship game against Sunderland AFC on 17 March 2007 at the Stadium of light saw an attendance of 38,448, a record to a Hull City game since they visited Stamford Bridge on 14 May 1977.^[4]

Hull City all but secured their place in the Championship next season with a 1–0 victory away at Cardiff City, on 28 April 2007. This left them 3 points clear of Leeds United, the only side with a chance of overtaking them, but with a vastly superior goal difference this was only a mathematical possibility. This crucial goal was scored by Dean Windass, who had rejoined his hometown club on loan from Bradford City.

By 4 May, due to a lack of any realistic chance of them remaining in the Championship, Leeds went into administration^[5] and in doing so received the 10 point penalty such a move incurs. This deduction left Leeds at the bottom of the championship on 36 points, securing Hull's place in the Championship for the 2007–08 season.

Wembley Stadium before the Championship play-off final against Bristol City

Phil Brown and players celebrate on promotion to the Premier League in 2008

Championship success

That summer saw Adam Pearson move on, declaring that he felt he had taken the club as far as he could and new investment would be required to progress further. He sold the club to a consortium headed by new Chairman Paul Duffen and severed his ties with the club, eventually taking over as Charirman of Derby County. Under 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 place. 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.^[6][7]

Their ascent from the bottom division of the English football league to the top in just five seasons is the third fastest ever.^[8]

Premier League football

The 2008–09 season saw the Tigers play in the Premier League with home games at the KC Stadium. Hull City sold out all 20,500 season tickets.^[9] Hull have released four of their players: David Livermore, Jay-Jay Okocha, Frank Belt and Brewster Frizzell.^[10]

Despite being one of the favourites for relegation, they began life in the Premier League in great form, beating Fulham 2–1 on the opening day in their first ever top flight fixture. With only one defeat in their opening nine games, Hull City found themselves (temporarily) joint top of the table, third on goal difference, following a 3–0 victory over West Bromwich Albion^[11] – ten years previously they had been bottom of tier four of the league. Hull City's form never replicated the highs of the early autumn, winning only two more games over the remainder of the season.^[12] Despite the drop in form and slow slide down the table, Hull City went into the final game of the season in 17th place and above the drop zone. They ultimately lost the game against Manchester United 0–1, however Newcastle United and Middlesbrough also lost their games against Aston Villa and West Ham respectively, thus securing a second Premier League season for Hull City.

On 10 June 2009, Hull City were officially announced as part of the Barclays Asia Trophy 2009.^[13] In this 4-team tournament Hull City competed against two English sides, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, as well local side Beijing Guoan, who they beat 5–4 on a penalty shoot out after a 1–1 draw.^[14] On 31 July 2009, Hull City faced Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy and were defeated 3–0.^[15] On 6 August 2009, Hull City acquired American international striker Jozy Altidore on loan from Spanish side Villarreal, with an option to buy him after the 2009–10 season.^[16]

On 29 October 2009 chairman Paul Duffen resigned his position with the club^[17] and was replaced by former chairman Adam Pearson on 2 November 2009^[18][19] and on 15 March 2010 manager Phil Brown was relieved of his duties after a run of four defeats left Hull in the relegation zone.^[20] Brown's replacement was former Crystal Palace and Charlton boss, Iain Dowie and the appointment was met with some disbelief by supporters who were hoping for a "bigger name" replacement. Dowie's first move as manager was to bring Tim Flowers and Steve Wigley onto his backroom staff, with former Hull City manager Brian Horton joining Phil Brown on gardening leave.^[21]

Return to the Football League

Hull City's relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on 3 May 2010, after a 2–2 draw at Wigan Athletic.^[22] On 3 June, season tickets for the club's 2010–11 season in the Football League Championship went on general release sale.^[23] After relegation, the club handed over their share on Friday, 4 June.^[24] Phil Brown's contract as manager was confirmed ended on 7 June 2010,^[25] and the search for his replacement was to continue past mid-June as the club confirmed that Iain Dowie would ultimately not be retained in a managerial capacity.^[26] Nigel Pearson was confirmed as the new manager on 29 June,^[27] lured from Leicester City in part by the Championship ambitions of the Tigers.^[28] Perceived lack of support at the Midlands club and permission to bring along staffers Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh from the Foxes helped seal the deal.^[28]

On 10 November 2010, it was announced that father and son Assem Allam and Ehab Allam were to take over Hull City in a deal worth £150 million.^[29]

Return to the Premier League under Steve Bruce

On Saturday 4 May 2013 it was confirmed Hull City would return to the Premier League after a dramatic 2–2 draw against Cardiff City on the final day of the season after fellow promotion challengers Watford lost 2–1 against Leeds United at home.^[30][31] In the 2013–14 season they achieved their highest ever league finish of 16th and were runners-up to Arsenal, losing 3–2 after extra-time, in their first ever FA Cup Final appearance.^[32] There were relegated from the Premier League on the final day of the 2014–15 season,^[33] but made an immediate return by beating Sheffield Wednesday in the 2016 Football League Championship play-off Final at Wembley Stadium.^[34]

References