Hull City A.F.C.


Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the, the second level of the English football league system. They play their home games at the MKM Stadium, after moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's traditional home colours are black and amber, often featuring in a striped design on the shirt, hence their nickname, the Tigers. Hull also contest the Humber derby with both Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe United.
The club was founded in 1904 and was then admitted into the Football League a year later. They remained in the Second Division until relegation in 1930. Hull won the Third Division North title in 1932–33, but were relegated three years later. They won the Third Division North under the stewardship of Raich Carter in 1948–49, and this time remained in the second tier for seven seasons. Having been promoted again in 1958–59, they were relegated the following season and remained in the Third Division until they were promoted as champions under Cliff Britton in 1965–66. Twelve seasons in the second tier culminated in two relegations in four years by 1981. They were promoted from the Fourth Division at the end of the 1982–83 campaign and were beaten finalists in the inaugural Associate Members' Cup in 1984.
Hull were relegated in 1991 and again in 1996, but secured back-to-back promotions in 2003–04 and 2004–05. The club went on to win the 2008 play-off final against Bristol City to win a place in the Premier League for the first time. They were relegated after two seasons, but were promoted again from the EFL Championship in 2012–13. Hull played in their first FA Cup final in 2014, who despite scoring twice early on, lost 3–2 to Arsenal after extra-time. Relegated from the Premier League the following year, they returned for a third time with victory in the 2016 play-off final. They were relegated again from the top-flight just a year later, before dropping into the third tier in 2020. Hull secured immediate promotion as champions of League One at the end of the 2020–21 campaign.

History

Foundation and early progress (1904–1945)

Hull City Association Football Club was founded on 28 June 1904. Due to the popularity of rugby league in Kingston upon Hull, previous attempts to found an association football club in the city had proved difficult. By 1904, both Hull F.C. and Hull K.R. were already well-established sides with passionate local backing. The desire for a third team to represent the city in competitive sport was not particularly present at the time, but support would soon grow. The club faced some initial disruptions after foundation, as they had been unable to apply for membership of the Football League for the 1904–05 season and instead played only in friendlies. The first of these matches was a 2–2 draw with Notts County on 1 September 1904, with a crowd of 6,000 in attendance. These early matches were played at Hull F.C.'s home, the Boulevard. The club's first competitive football match was in the FA Cup preliminary round, drawing 3–3 with Stockton on 17 September, but they were eliminated after losing the replay 4–1 on 22 September.
After disputes with landlords at the Boulevard, Hull City temporarily moved to the Circle, a cricket ground in West Park. After having played 44 friendly fixtures the previous season, Hull City were admitted into the Football League Second Division for the 1905–06 season. Other teams competing in the league that season included Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as Yorkshire rivals Barnsley, Bradford City and Leeds City. Furthermore, Grimsby Town, from the southern bank of the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, were also in the Second Division. Hull and Grimsby were the only two professional teams who were granted official exemption from playing league football on Christmas Day because of the demands of the fish trade. Hull defeated Barnsley 4–1 at home in their first game, and ended the season with a solid 5th-place finish.
In March 1906, a permanent home ground was opened for Hull City just across the road from the cricket ground, known as Anlaby Road. It would house the team until 1939. Under the guidance of player-manager Ambrose Langley, Hull continued to finish consistently in the top-half of the table. They came close to promotion in the 1909–10 season, recording what would be the club's highest-ever league finish for nearly a century. Hull had ended the season level on points with Oldham Athletic, but finished below the Latics due to goal average, where a narrow margin of 0.29 of a goal had meant the Tigers missed out on promotion.
Hull would continue to regularly finish in the top-half of the table prior to the suspension of English football during the First World War, but their momentum had gone after its restart in 1919. The Tigers began to struggle, finishing in the bottom half of the table in seven seasons out of the next eleven. This culminated in relegation to the Third Division North following the 1929–30 season. Despite the league campaign ending in relegation, Hull found much better luck in the FA Cup. Prior to 2014, Hull's greatest result in any cup competition was achieved in the 1929–30 FA Cup. The Tigers began with victories over the eventual champions of the Third Division, Plymouth Argyle and the eventual champions of the Second Division, Blackpool. They then overcame Manchester City to meet Newcastle United in the quarter-finals. The first game at St James' Park finished as a 1–1 draw, but, in the home replay, Hull beat Newcastle 1–0. This meant Hull played the semi-finals, where they were paired with Arsenal, in a game held at the neutral venue of Elland Road in Leeds. The semi-final ended 2–2, and, so, was replayed at Villa Park in Birmingham four days later. Arsenal won the semi-final replay 1–0, thus ending Hull's cup run.
Hull would eventually be promoted back to the Second Division after they won their first-ever league title in the 1932–33 season. Managed by Haydn Green, they had finished above 2nd-placed Wrexham by just 2 points, mainly due to the goals of Bill McNaughton who was the league's top-scorer that season with 41 goals.

Lower-league success and stagnation (1945–1982)

After the Second World War, the club moved to another new ground, Boothferry Park. In the 1948–49 season, under the tutelage of former England international and now player-manager Raich Carter, Hull won promotion from the Third Division North as champions. "Yo-yoing" between the second and third tiers of English football, City had promotion seasons from the Third Division to the Second Division again in 1958–59 and 1965–66, winning the Third Division title in the latter-season. For the majority of the 1960s, Hull was managed by Cliff Britton, who has since achieved cult-status with supporters of the club for the successes he achieved, especially the Third Division title win in 1966. The side that year featured record club appearance-maker Andy Davidson and record club goal-scorer Chris Chilton as well as striker Ken Houghton and a young Ken Wagstaff, among others. It is widely regarded as one of the best squads the club has ever had.
On 1 August 1970, Hull became the first team in the world to be eliminated from a cup competition on penalties, beaten by Manchester United in the semi-final of the Watney Cup.
By the early 1980s, Hull City were in the Fourth Division, and financial collapse led to receivership.

Robinson years and fall to the fourth tier (1982–1996)

Ahead of the 1982–83 season, Hull were saved from their financial troubles. Don Robinson, a businessman who had made his money as a promoter of professional wrestling, bought a majority stake in the club. Robinson arrived having been chairman of Scarborough, and brought the non-league side's manager, Colin Appleton, in as Smith's permanent replacement. That season may have seen big changes amongst the backroom staff, but on the field Hull relied on their own talents to turn things around. The early 1980s had seen a new crop of young players break into the first team, with most of them going on to do great things in football. Winger Brian Marwood made an appearance for England in 1988, whilst midfielder Steve McClaren would manage the national side between 2006 and 2007. Elsewhere, the Tigers' efficient strike partnership of notorious hard man Billy Whitehurst and creative veteran Les Mutrie had become feared throughout the Football League. Additionally, local lad Garreth Roberts captained the side from midfield as Hull earned promotion with a 2nd-placed finish.
After narrowly missing out on back-to-back promotions in May 1984, Appleton left his position at Hull, having been enticed to become the new manager of Swansea City. His replacement was player-manager Brian Horton who would first join the Tigers on their summer tour of Florida the following month, where they visited Walt Disney World, and played the Tampa Bay Rowdies, managed by Rodney Marsh, in the return leg of the Arrow Air Anglo-American Cup. Mark Herman would direct and edit a short documentary film of the tour, with Priestman composing its music. Herman released the finished version online in 2016, titled "A Kick in the Grass". Promotion followed in the 1984–85 season under Horton, with the young City squad now not only talented but experienced too.
Hull remained in the Second Division for the next six years before being relegated in 1991, by which time the club's manager was Terry Dolan. It was during this period in the Second Division that Hull fielded a black player for the first time, when Ray Daniel made his debut on 23 August 1986 in a home game against West Bromwich Albion. He would make 58 league appearances for the Tigers before moving to Cardiff City in August 1989.
The Tigers finished 14th in the Third Division in the 1991–92 season, meaning that they would be competing in the new Second Division 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 mid-table finishes. Financial difficulties hampered City's progress, as key players such as Alan Fettis and Dean Windass had to be sold to fend off winding-up orders. In the 1995–96 season, Hull were relegated to the Third Division.