History of Hull City A.F.C.

For some years before these attempts were made to found a football club, but in a city dominated initially by rugby league with the likes of Hull F.C.

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.

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.

The cup run saw Hull knocking out Leeds United and eventual Champions of the Second and Third Division; Blackpool and Plymouth Argyle respectively.

This form was not carried forward into the 1979–80 season, however, and manager Ken Houghton was sacked in December 1979 after a two-month winless run left them near the bottom of the table.

Wales manager Mike Smith was recruited to take over, and a strong end to the season saw Hull avoid relegation by a single point.

Two relegations in three years had a dire effect on the club's finances, which in turn helped lead to a dismal start to their first season in Division Four.

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.

Hull City reached the Second Division in 1985 under new player-manager Brian Horton, and again nearly earned a second successive promotion, this time finishing in 6th place.

Former Leeds United manager Eddie Gray replaced Horton, but was himself sacked at the end of the following season, following a disastrous run that saw them win only one of their last twenty games.

1989-90 proved another very inconsistent season, with Colin Appleton returning for a second stint as manager, only to resign after just five months, following the club's worst-ever start to a league campaign.

This proved a false dawn, however, and Hull's start to the 1990–91 season was almost as bad as the previous one, including a humiliating 7-0 thrashing by West Ham.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

The decision was made following a 3–1 away defeat to West Bromwich Albion the previous day, leaving the Tigers bottom of the Premier League and three points adrift of safety.

The following season, despite being in the relegation zone after 19 games - an upturn in form saw the Tigers to finish in an impressive 13th place - helped on by star man Jarrod Bowen.

Among these, young talents Jacob Greaves and Jaden Philogene were now considered ready for the Premier League,[63][64] and were soon bought by Ipswich Town[65] and Aston Villa[66] respectfully.

Other notable losses were the end of loans for Fábio Carvalho, Liam Delap, and Tyler Morton,[67] whilst cult hero Ozan Tufan returned to his native Turkey with Trabzonspor.