Hull City

At the risk of overstating things, one could say with some degree of accuracy that the first 90 years or so of Hull City’s history lacked major events. They were formed in 1904, made the FA Cup semifinals in 1930, and otherwise kicked around from the second to the fourth tier without making much news.

Financial trouble—such a common story for clubs like this—came in the 1980s when Hull were in the fourth tier. After a couple of changes in ownership, in 2000 they were briefly locked out of their own ground. Things stabilized, and in 2002 they moved into their shiny new stadium, then earned consecutive promotions up to the Championship. After yet another change in ownership, Hull won the 2008 Championship playoff final at Wembley to finally, after 104 years, make the top tier.

Thus began their yo-yo days. Four relegations and three promotions have left them probably a bit dazed and demoralized. They finished 24th and last in the Championship in 2019-20, losing 16 of their final 20 games. The next season they won League One, but in 2022 they were 19th in the Championship. They have done well in Cups: they made the FA Cup final in 2014 and scored two early goals against Arsenal, but the Gunners came back to win it late. They made the fifth round of both Cups in 2015-16 and the League Cup semis the next year, losing 3-2 on aggregate to Manchester United.

The biggest news of late is new ownership as of 2022. The previous owner tried to change the club’s official name from Hull City AFC to Hull City Tigers for marketing reasons and said, among other wacky things, that if he owned Manchester City, he would change their name to Manchester Hunter. The supporters flipped out, and in response to one opposition group, City Till We Die, the owner said they “can die as soon as they want.” The FA rejected his name change plan, and he never attended another game.

A Turkish media group, Acun Medya, bought him out in January 2022, so with that and another couple of seasons in the Championship this year, fans might be able to breathe again-although last season the team only stayed in the Championship on goal differential.

2024–25 SEASON: 21st in the Championship, 3rd Round FA Cup, 1st Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: The Championship (promoted in 2021)

Leeds United, another Yorkshire club, are the biggest rivals, but they are now Premier League. And yes, Hull is in Yorkshire, specifically, the East Riding of Yorkshire. What a name! Hull City doesn’t care for Sheffield United either. They share a Humber derby, named for a local river, with Scunthorpe and Grimsby Town, but they are rarely in the same league.

The club doesn’t have a women’s team, but there is an independent Hull City Ladies FC in town. They play in the Women’s National League North at tier 3. Their home games are at Haworth Park in Hull. See hullcityladies.com for more.

They’ll do “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and if they’re really on top, they’ll sing “You’re Getting Mauled by the Tigers.” There’s a “She’ll Be Wearing Black and Amber When She Comes,” and “City Till I Die” has taken on greater significance of late.

Clean, modern, comfortable, and usually half empty, the MKM Stadium holds 25,400 people in the usual perfect rectangle of the modern football stadium. It is surrounded by a park, it’s visible from miles away, and in fact it has won awards for its design. It opened in 2002 as the KC Stadium.

Away fans will be in the northeast corner, rowdy home folk in the south end. For night games they put on a light show with rock music and lots of screaming several minutes before the game.

TOURS: Members-only tours are offered about once a month for £5. Book way ahead if you’re interested.

GETTING THERE: It’s a 20-minute walk from the train station which, by the way, is called Hull Paragon Interchange. Numerous bus lines make the trip from the Carr Lane stop outside the station, 63, 66, and 151 among them.

PUBS: The closest is Parkers, which is filled with City memorabilia. Hull fans also like to drink in the pubs closer to the site of the old ground, Boothferry Park, which is just a few minutes away down Anlaby Road: the Three Tuns, the Silver Cod, Malt Shovel, and Brownies.

Hull being a former major fishing port, there are some proper historic pubs in the old center: The Bonny Boat, The Punch Hotel, The Empress, and The Sailmakers Arms are all worth a visit.

GRUB: These Yorkshire folk are awfully proud of their traditional delicacies—Yorkshire pudding being the most famous example. In Sheffield they eat (and sing about) chip butties, and here it’s the Hull pattie, which might sound like pâté in the local accent. This is a bunch of mashed potatoes with salt, pepper, sage, and perhaps onion—all of it, naturally, battered and fried. They are traditionally sprinkled with something called American Chip Spice, a paprika-based seasoned salt which was invented in Hull in the 1970s and is only available in the UK.

If you notice a pattern in these Yorkshire treats, you’re right: they don’t exactly scream flavor or originality. Still, the nice “pattie slappers” (an actual term) at Bob Carver’s downtown claim a secret recipe dating to 1888, so go and see what you think. You can even go crazy and slap it into a roll, which they call a breadcake, for a pattie butty! Every chippy in town serves patties, and East Park Chippy was recommended. No doubt citizens would fight over who has the best if they weren’t all so incredibly nice.

The traditional place for a full English breakfast is Thieving Harry’s, which will sound like “Theevinarries” when the locals say it.

AROUND TOWN: Hull has a beautiful downtown area that was built up when it boomed in Victorian times. You’ll want to stroll through the Old Town and Museum Quarter, which includes the Maritime Museum, the Streetlife Museum, and the Arctic Corsair, a deep-sea trawler converted to a museum. The Deep is a massive aquarium with 40 sharks and 3,500 fish. If you happen to visit in September, keep an eye out for the Hull Folk and Maritime Festival, when lots of old ships come in and people sing and dance shanties all over.

Hull City vs Reading: <BR>I Guess We Have To Do This

(Note: This post was written in January, 2018.) By the time I rolled into Hull, everything was pretty much falling apart. The night before in Sheffield, the local derby had been a passionate, loud … nil-nil. Then an alarm in...

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