Hull City Association Football Club are an English football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. They play in the Premier League, with the 2008–09 season being the first time in their history participating in the top tier of English football. Founded in 1904, the highest position Hull City have finished in the English Football League was 3rd in the old second division in 1909–10, a feat they repeated in 2007–08 when they gained promotion from The Championship by beating Bristol City 1–0 in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium. Their greatest achievement in cup competitions came in 1930, when the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
The club play their home games at the KC Stadium in Hull. They previously played at Boothferry Park, but moved to their current home in 2002, with Boothferry Park set for demolition. They traditionally play in black and amber, often with a striped shirt design, hence their nickname The Tigers. The club's mascot is Roary the Tiger.
he new chairman ploughed funds into the club, allowing Little to rebuild the team. Hull occupied the Division Three promotion and playoff places for much of the 2001–02 season, but Little departed two months before the end of the season and Hull slipped to 11th under his successor Jan Mølby.
Hull began the 2002–03 season with a terrible start, which saw relegation look more likely than promotion, and Mølby was sacked in October as Hull languished fifth from bottom in the league. Peter Taylor was named as Hull's new manager and in December 2002, just two months his appointment, Hull relocated to the impressive new 25,400-seater Kingston Communications Stadium after 56 years at Boothferry Park. At the end of the season Hull finished 13th.
The two seasons which followed the opening of the new stadium were hugely successful. Hull were Division Three runners-up in 2003–04 and League One runners-up in 2004–05. These back-to-back promotions took them into the Championship, the second tier of English football.The 2005–06 season, the club's first back in the second tier, saw Hull finish in 18th place, a comfortable 10 points clear of relegation and their highest league finish for 16 years.
However, Taylor left the club on 13 June 2006 to take up the manager's job at Crystal Palace.Phil Parkinson was confirmed as his replacement on 29 June 2006, but was sacked on 4 December 2006 with Hull in the relegation zone, despite having spent over £2 million on players. Phil Brown took over as caretaker manager, and took over permanently in January 2007, having taken Hull out of the relegation zone. Brown brought veteran striker Dean Windass back to his hometown club on loan from Bradford City, and his eight goals helped secure Hull's Championship status as they finished in 21st place. At the end of the season, another familiar face, former manager Brian Horton, rejoined the club as Phil Brown's assistant.
Adam Pearson sold the club to a consortium led by Paul Duffen in June 2007, stating 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". He resigned from the board on 31 July 2007, thus severing all ties with the club.
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 place. They beat Watford 6–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals and played Bristol City in the final on 24 May 2008, which Hull won 1–0 at Wembley Stadium, with Hull native Dean Windass scoring the winning goal. Their ascent from the bottom division of the English football league to the top in just five seasons is the third fastest ever.
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[34] - ten years previously they had been bottom of tier four of the league.
Andy Davidson holds the record for Hull City league appearances, having played 520 matches. George Maddison comes second, having played 430 matches. Chris Chilton is the club's top goalscorer with 222 goals in all competitions. Chilton also holds the club record for goals scored in the League (193), FA Cup (16) and League Cup (10).
The club's widest victory margin in the league was their 11–1 win against Carlisle United in Division Three in 1939. Their heaviest defeat in the league was 8–0 against Wolves in 1911.[48]
Hull City's record home attendance is 55,019, for a match against Manchester United on 26 February 1949 at Boothferry Park, with their highest attendance at their current stadium, the KC Stadium, 24,924 against Arsenal on 17 January 2009.
The highest transfer fee received for a Hull City player is £1.25 million, from Crystal Palace for Leon Cort in June 2006. The highest transfer fee paid for a player is £5 million, for Jimmy Bullard from Fulham in January 2009.
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