Club Overview

Hull City AFC, also known as the Tigers, is an English Premier League team that plays out of KC Stadium in Kington Upon Hill. Founded in June 1904, the club has played in every division of English Football. It has spent most of its years in the Second and Third Division, trying to get promoted. During times in which it was struggling financially, the club dropped down all the way to the Fourth Division. After a successful 2007/ 2008 season, winning the Championship League under the management of Phil Brown and chairmanship of Paul Duffen, the Tigers were able to get promoted to the top tier of English Football, the Premier League, for the first time in their franchise’s history.

Currently, the club is doing well in the EPL. They are ranked 3rd place and have upset top EPL squads such as Arsenal and Chelsea. Players Ian Ashbee and Will Atkinson are wearing the striped yellow and black jerseys.

Club History

Hull City AFC was founded on June 1904. The club played friendly matches at various rugby and cricket grounds around Kingston upon Hull until it got accepted into the Second Division of the Football League. Hull City’s first competitive football game was in the FA Cup, but they were eliminated during the preliminary rounds.

In 1909 the organization came up with the nickname, the Tigers from the colour of the club’s uniforms. That season the club also finished in third place, just slightly behind Oldham Athletic. It moved into new ground, Analby Road, where it remained till the start of World War I.

The outbreak of World War I only began affecting the squad after a year. Second Division football was terminated in England forcing the club to change leagues. It now played in the Midlands Group, which consisted of 14 teams. City was the northern most team in the division. The club performed well in this league, despite having to use guest players to fill abandoned spots on the squad.

The War ended in 1920 and Second Division League football resumed in England. Hull City finished mid-table in its first season back despite pursing promotion to the First Division. Meanwhile, it was suffered from financial hardships.

In order to not go under, the director pursued a policy of selling their best players to meet the cost of running a football club in an area where rugby is the dominant sport. Top players Mercer, Gilhooley and Steven Lee were all sold away for large sums of money.

With its best players gone, Hull City performed poorly in the Second Division. The club never finished higher then fifth place during the rest of the 1920s. In cup competitions it did not go far and despite being close to promotion was not able to make it. Even though City had the many loses, potential still remained for the club to have a good run in a competition.

In 1930 the club achieved its greatest success, when it went to the semi-final of the FA Cup. The Tigers beat the leading champions Blackpool, Plymouth Argyle,Newcastle United and Manchester City to reach the semi-finals. However, they lost to 1-0 to Arsenal and were not able to advance.

The long FA Cup run took its toll on the team. Many members of the squad were injured. They were also forced to perform under a rigorous schedule of nine games in 28 days. This resulted in the Tigers finishing, at the bottom of the table, with only Notts County below them. Due to the club’s goal average being a few behind Bristol City, the Tigers were demoted to the Third Division.

Hull City stayed in Division Three for only two seasons. The club scored a total of 100 goals and earned 59 points in order to get promoted. Bill McNaughton, scored the most of the goals for the team with a record of 41 goals.

However, Hull City AFC’s stay in the Third Division was brief. Injuries plagued the squad, forcing amateur players and players from different squads in the area to play. There were no superstar players on the squad. They finished at the bottom of the Division, winning only five games out of a possible 42 and giving up 111 goals in the process. As World War II approached and the Football League program was abandoned, the Tigers faced financial difficulties and an unpredictable future.

When league football resumed in 1946, Hull City AFC began make improvements. The first change the Tigers made was bringing in Harold Needler to lead the board of directors. Next a new manager, Major Frank Buckley was brought in to coach the squad. They also moved to Boothferry Park from their previous football grounds. Lastly, the club acquired superstar athlete Raich Carter.

Under Carter’s leadership, the club was again dominating in football. During league play, The Tigers won their first nine matches and set an attendance record of 49,655 during a match against Rotherham United on a Christmas Day match. They performed well in cup competitions, which resulted in even more fans showing up the games. A record number of attendants, 55,019 even showed up during a match against Manchester United, which they lost 1-0. Despite the newly found success, the club still remained in Third Division.

In order to get back in the First Division, the club appointed Cliff Britton to the manager position in 1961. He was offered a record breaking ten year contract to help rebuild the team. Britton brought in Ken Wagstaff, Chris Chilton, Ken Houghton and Ian Butler, the most free-scoring forward line in the club’s history. Under Britton, Hull City AFC won a Third Division championship with 109 goals and 69 points. The Tigers also went to the quarter finals of the FA Cup in which they lost 3-0 to Chelsea.

Britton however did not get the club promoted out of the Third Division, which caused him to get fired. He was replaced by Terry Neill. Under Neill the club finished fifth place, its best in post-war seasons. In the FA Cup the club lost at home to Stoke City. The club eventually replaced Neill with John Kaye.

Kaye lasted only 3 seasons with the squad and after a terrible campaign in the 1977/78 season was replaced by Bobby Collins. Collins was not able to improve the squad either and after a single season, was replaced by Ken Houghton, the popular Ex- Tiger.

Houghton however was not able to prevent the club from being relegated in 1979, ending a streak of 12 years in the Second Division. That same season, the club paid a transfer fee of £150,000 for Carlisle United midfielder Mick Tait, in order to reform the squad. The organization also fired Houghton along with Coach Wilf McGuiness and chief scout Andy Davidson.

Taking their place was Welsh Team Manager Mike Smith and assistants Cyril Lea and Bobby Brown. This new team of managers was not able to prevent the club from spiraling even further down into the Division Four. The club was only in terrible financial situation, almost becoming bankrupts.

However, as time went on, the club fortunes began to get better. Hull City finished 8th place in its first season of the Fourth Division. The financial situation was resolved when Don Robinson, chairman of Scarborough FC took control. Colin Appleton took control of the team’s affairs.

Appleton’s reforms brought the team success. In his first season at Boothferry Park, the club was runner up in the Fourth Division having a total of 90 point and got promoted. A year later Hull City defeated Burnely in the deciding game by a score of 2-0, but was not able to advance into the Second Division. Ironically that same year in 1984, Appleton resigned and Brian Horton took his place.

Horton led Hull City to promotion in his first season with the club. The club stayed there for the next five years. The club went up and down in the league with its best finish being 6th place. However, in 1987, The Tigers finished 14th place in the Second Division and struggled to maintain good form. As a result Horton was sacked.

For the rest of the 1980s the team continued to struggle. It appointed a string of coaches who did not led the team to any success. City also brought in new players such as Ian McParland and Peter Swan who were ineffective. The club was at the bottom of the tables and exited quickly from major cup competitions.

The club’s failures continued into the 1990s. It was in a poor financial situation and was trying to remain in the league. The organization went through the hands of several different owners, none of which were successful in re vitalizing the team.

It was only on April 2000 that the club, under the direction of experience manager Brian Little began to perform well again. Hull City AFC qualified for the Division Three playoffs, but lost in the semi-finals. That same season, Adam Pearson took over the club’s board of directors and brought it back to financial stability.

Little was sacked after the team dropped to 11th place and former Liverpool FC star Jan Molby took over his position. Under Molby, the team continued to struggle despite having acquired 8 new talented players. During October 2002, Molby was replaced by Peter Taylor. That same season, Hull City moved into a brand new stadium, Kingston Communications Stadium after 56 years at Boothferry Park.

Taylor greatly improved the squad. Hull City finished Division Three Runner up in 2003-04 and League One runner up in 2004-05. The got promoted back into the second tier of English football, the Championship. In the Tigers first year, they finished 18th place, 10 points above relegation, and their highest finished in 16 years.

Taylor joined Crystal Palace on June 2006, giving up his position to Phil Parkinson. Parkinson signed Michael Turner, Sam Ricketts, Dean Marney and David Livermore to the Hull City AFC squad. Hull City failed to win a league game during the first month under Parkinson’s management. After the club was defeated 5-1 at Colchester and 4-2 at home against Southampton, Parkinson gave up his job to his assistant Phil Brown. At the same time the chairman Pearson sold his club to Paul Duffen.

Under the chairmanship of Duffen and the management of Brown, the club improved even more and eventually got promoted for the first time in its history to the top tier of English football, the Premier League. The Tigers currently are continuing their success, as they are ranked third in the EPL. Recently, they defeated Arsenal in one of the biggest upsets of 2008/2009 season.

Club Rivalries

Stars of the Current Squad

Club Legends

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Team Honours

Club Management

Uniforms

Away	Home

Stadium

KC stadium was built in 2002 and is the current home of Hull City AFC. It was designed by The Miller Partnership and holds a total capacity of 25, 404 seats.

Sponsors

Kingston Communications

Important Links

www.hullcityafc.premiumtv.co.uk

References

www.hullcityafc.premiumtv.co.uk