][citation needed] 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.

[failed verification] 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.

[failed verification] 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.

[citation needed] 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.

[close paraphrasing][3][11] However, Taylor left the club to take up the manager's job at Crystal Palace, with Colchester United's Phil Parkinson confirmed as his replacement, but he was sacked on 4 December 2006 with Hull in the relegation zone, despite having spent over £2 million on players during the summer.

[close paraphrasing][26] Brown brought veteran striker Dean Windass back to his hometown club on loan from Bradford City,[additional citation(s) needed][27] and his eight goals helped secure Hull's Championship status, with a 21st-placed finish.

[citation not found][29] Under Paul 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.

[18][35] Despite being a firm candidate for relegation ahead of the 2008–09 season,[36] Hull began life in the Premier League by beating Fulham 2–1 at home on the opening day, their first-ever top-flight fixture.

[37] With only one defeat in their opening nine games, including away wins at Arsenal[38] and Tottenham Hotspur,[39] the Tigers temporarily found themselves joint-top of the Premier League table (albeit sat in 3rd place due to goal difference) following a 3–0 away victory over West Bromwich Albion.

[40] Hull's form never replicated the highs of the early autumn, as they only won two more games over the remainder of the campaign, but secured their top-flight status on the last day of the season despite losing, thanks to other results going in their favour.

[51][52] Despite heavy financial constraints following relegation, Pearson worked astutely to bring in a handful of transfers and loan signings upon his arrival, in a bid to strengthen the squad for the upcoming 2010–11 campaign.

[57] This allowed Hull to spend more money in the upcoming January transfer window, which included reuniting Pearson with his star striker from his time at Leicester, Matty Fryatt, who arrived for £1,200,000.

[61] Former player and Hull local Nick Barmby was appointed as his successor, initially as a temporary player-manager, but later as the full-time head coach, after retiring from professional football in January 2012.

A lengthy-stoppage for an injury to Watford goalkeeper Jonathan Bond meant the game in Hertfordshire was 15 minutes delayed, leaving Hull in jeopardy as they were forced to wait to find out if they had done enough for automatic promotion.

He started by making the loans of Elmohamady and George Boyd permanent,[76][77] before signing Maynor Figueroa,[78] Allan McGregor,[79] and Tom Huddlestone[80] throughout the summer transfer window, among others.

It took two legs to defeat Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion,[88] before a 3–0 home victory over Sunderland[89] and an entertaining 5–3 win against Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium, saw Hull reach their first FA Cup Final in history.

However, manager Arsène Wenger lifted his team back off their feet and their quality eventually shone through, with Aaron Ramsey completing an incredible 3–2 comeback deep into extra-time.

After a successful loan spell, the first piece of business the Tigers did that summer was bringing Livermore back on a permanent deal for a reported club record fee of around £8,000,000.

[121][122] Fans' desires for the club to be sold only increased after Bruce's resignation, and worries about the upcoming season were made more apparent by the fact that there had been no new first team signings since promotion.

It was that point in particular that garnered the attention of social media and national news outlets after nine of the 13 remaining fit senior players at the club jokingly posed for a squad photo whilst on their pre-season tour of Austria.

[123] At the time of the photo, Diamé, who had scored Hull's promotion-winning goal just over two months earlier, had left the club to join Newcastle United,[124] whilst a permanent replacement for Bruce was still yet to be found.

Other notable losses were the end of loans for Fábio Carvalho, Liam Delap, and Tyler Morton,[169] whilst cult hero Ozan Tufan returned to his native Turkey with Trabzonspor.

"[205] Allam justified the intended name change as part of his plans to create "additional sources of revenue" for the club, after Hull City Council refused to sell him the stadium freehold so he could develop, as he had stated, "a sports park" on the site.

"[citation needed] Before the first home match of the season on 24 August 2013, a group of supporters marched in protest against the name change, and unfurled a banner that read, "Hull City AFC: a club not a brand".

Manager Steve Bruce credited the controversy for creating " a fantastic atmosphere" but added, "I have got to have a conversation with him because I don't think he quite understands what it means in terms of history and tradition.

[close paraphrasing][210] The FA Council, which has "absolute discretion" in deciding whether to approve the plan or not, stated the next day that it would follow a "consultation process" with stakeholders, "including the club's supporter groups".

Nigel Currie, director of sports marketing agency Brand Rapport, stated that "the whole process has been conducted badly with the supporters, but [the name change] is a pretty sound idea.

"[219] In March 2015, an independent panel appointed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the decision of the Football Association Council to block the name change "cannot stand" on account of the process having been "flawed.

an inquiry at Hull City AFC, as part of the British tax authorities' targeting of football clubs over "tax-free payments to players under image rights' deals and the provision of benefits in kind.

On 18 October 2017, Hull City announced the creation of its own Hall of Fame to honour the numerous legendary figures from throughout the club's history, with the first inductees to be decided in February 2018.