This article takes a more in-depth look at recent seasons than is provided in the main Hull City A.F.C. article, including a selection of team and player statistics as well as a list of incoming/outgoing personnel.
The season 2008-09 is Hulls first ever top tier season in their 104 year history. Home games will be played at the KC Stadium. On Friday 6 June2008 Hull City announced they had sold out all 20,500 season tickets.[1] Hull City's first ever top flight fixture will be a home game against Fulham.[2]
On 11 June2007 at 12:00 midday, it was announced at a press conference broadcast live on BBC Radio Humberside that Adam Pearson had sold the club to a consortium consisting of Paul Duffen, Russell Bartlett and Martin Walker. Pearson stated 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".[4] It was confirmed that Paul Duffen would take over as Chairman, but Pearson would remain on the board of directors to provide continuity. Duffen pledged to invest in the team with the aim of achieving promotion to the top flight for the first time in the club's history.[5] He confirmed that Phil Brown would continue as manager. Former manager Brian Horton also made a return to the club as Brown's assistant, nineteen years after he had left the club.[6]
City's first signing of the summer was to bring Dean Windass back on a permanent deal from Bradford City. Talks with former Middlesbrough star Juninho made the national headlines, but the Tigers decided not to proceed with the signing, much to the annoyance of the player's agent.[7]
City fans were dismayed when Adam Pearson was reported to have made a bid to buy Leeds United, however controversial chairman Ken Bates fended off rival bids to retain control of the club.[8] On 31 July2007 Pearson resigned from the Hull City board, thus severing all ties with the club.[9] He later took the reigns at Derby.
However, it was on-loan striker Fraizer Campbell whose 15 goals helped propel City into the playoff zone and their final position of 3rd - their joint highest ever (City also finished third in the old Second Division in 1909−10 season, however at that time the playoff system did not exist).
In the playoff semi-final they played Watford, winning the away leg 0−2 and the home leg 4−1.[13][14]
The 6−1 aggregate win set up a playoff final match against Bristol City, which was the Tigers' first ever visit to Wembley. A 1−0 win meant that Hull will be in the top flight for the first time in the club's 104-year history.[15] The goalscorer, fittingly, was Dean Windass.
Defender Leon Cort became Hull's first ever million-pound transfer when he followed Taylor to Crystal Palace for a fee of £1,250,000.[19][20] Parkinson wasted no time in spending the majority of this money on strengthening the City squad in readiness for the 2006-07 season.[20][21]
Chairman Adam Pearson stated his ambition to take Hull into the top flight for the first time in their history[22] - and he believed Phil Parkinson was the manager to do it.[23] However, their dismal start to the season was hardly the form of a team attempting to gain promotion, and on 4 December2006 Parkinson was sacked as manager with Hull in the relegation zone, despite having spent over £2 million on players.[24] 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,[25] and by 4 January2007 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.[26] City all but secured their place in the Championship next season with a 1-0 victory away at Cardiff City, on 28 April2007. 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.[27] This crucial goal was scored by Dean Windass, who had rejoined his hometown club on loan from Bradford City.[28]
With no realistic chance of avoiding relegation, Leeds went into administration and in doing so received the 10 point penalty such a move incurs.[29] This deduction left Leeds at the bottom of the table on 36 points, guaranteeing Hull's place in the Championship for the 2007-08 season.
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. City suffered a nightmare run of injuries, largely negating the squad strengthening undertaken in the summer by manager Peter Taylor. Captain Ian Ashbee played six games with a knee problem before an exploratory operation revealed this to be a degenerative bone condition in the femur, requiring major surgery that would rule him out for the remainder of the season. New signings Steve McPhee and Danny Coles made only four and nine appearances respectively before injuries ruled them out for the rest of the season too. Few players escaped the jinx, with the majority of the squad spending time on the treatment
table. 'Keeper Boaz Myhill was a rare exception, missing only one game all season, through suspension.
Despite this City only briefly flirted with relegation, spending only four days in the dropzone all season and placing 18th in the final table - a comfortable 10 points clear of relegation and their highest league finish for 16 years.
Local boy Nick Barmby made all the headlines at the start of the season, the former England international returning to finish his career at his hometown club. City fans were sad, however, to see captain Justin Whittle depart the club for the promise of regular first-team football at Grimsby Town. Stuart Elliott was soon to be the name on everybody's lips though; a magnificent season for the left winger saw him score 27 goals, topping the League One goalscoring charts (level with former Hull player Dean Windass of Bradford City).
At the other end of the pitch, new signing Leon Cort made almost as much of an impression, forging an impressive central defensive partnership with Damien Delaney, and running Elliott close in the voting for Player of the Year. With Boaz Myhill behind them in goal and Andy Dawson consistent at left back, City's defence were almost as stingy as Elliott was prolific - right back was the only problem position, with Alton Thelwell missing almost the entire season through injury, and no player able to make the position their own.
It didn't matter though - Elliott's goals helped propel City to their second successive promotion, finishing second behind Luton and 7 points above third place Tranmere Rovers. They clinched promotion with a 0-0 draw at home to Swindon on 16th April, Craig Fagan's despair at missing a penalty in the final seconds turned to joy as news of Tranmere's result filtered through.
In his first full season in charge, Peter Taylor lead City to their first promotion in 19 years. They finished second with 88 points, behind Doncaster on 92 points, and ahead of Torquay on 81 points. Promotion was clinched with a 2-1 win away at Yeovil on 1st May, with Ian Ashbee scoring the winning goal. City were the division's highest scoring team, new strike partners Ben Burgess and Danny Allsopp scored 18 and 15 league goals respectively, with Stuart Elliott not far behind on 14. However, Burgess suffered a serious injury near the end of the season, which would rule him out for almost a year. Towards the end of the season, Taylor brought in on loan a player he had already signed at four previous clubs, Junior Lewis, who was later to join the Tigers on a permanent basis.
