retired_j9swim

August 2006

The season doesnt get off to the best of starts, going down 3-1 at Preston with only a coonsolation strike from Trevor Benjamin. This is soon forgotten however as Delaney, Adu and Huckerby all score on their home debuts in a 3-0 victory over Coventry. Adu and Huckerby find the net again in the next match against Stoke at the Brittania stadium and Andy Gray nets his first for the club in another 3-0 win. Crystal Palace are beaten 1-0 at the KC after Benjamin dives and cons the referee into giving a penalty in the last minute! Another first goal for hi new club, this time from Robbie Blake earns a one all draw at Gillingham. We have to come from behind to beat Rushden in the league cup 2-1 and another excellent win at home against West Ham 2-0. A suprise 1-0 defeat at relegation favourites Torquay finishes off a busy month and it has been pretty successful.

September 2006

A disappointing one all draw at home to Burnley is soon forgotten after a good win over table topping Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 and an even better 3-1 win over Everton in the cup. Guarin and young spanish prospect Lopez both get off the mark for the season and Huckerby completes the scoring. Freddy Adu keeps up his good start to the season with a goal in each of the next to games, a 1-1 draw at Wigan and a resounding 5-0 thumping of Norwich sees us climb as high as second place and battling for the lead with Sheffield Wednesday.

retired_j9swim

October 2006

The goals dried up big time this month. Only 3 in 5 matches. A 1-1 draw at home to West Brom and a 3-1 reverse at the hands of Nottingham Forest were followed by us tumbling out of the league cup game at the hands of Charlton 3-1 at The Valley. Two home games followed and we failed to score in either of them. we manged to hold Reading to 0-0 but slipped up 1-0 against Sheffield United. The month went from bad to worse when Trevor Benjamin handed in a transfer request. He felt that he had achieved all that he could at the club and decided he wanted to play for a biger club. The request was reluctantly granted but he would continue to play on as he was our best striker and to keep him in the shop window.

November 2006

We found our scoring boots again although we were still vulnerable at the back as we kicked off the month with a trip to The New Den to face Millwall. We were soon 1-0 down but showed great fighting spirit to come back and go nto a 3-1 lead by half time. We were shocking in the second half and they scored three times to make it 4-3. But up stepped young Freddy Adu to make it 4-4 deep into injury time! Freddy followed up his heroics against Watford in the next game, scoring to salvage a 1-1 draw. Trevor Benjamin finally made his move this week after finally agreeing terms with West Brom he moved for £2.7m which I felt was a good return for a £95k investment! I was a little disappointed that he moved to another Championship side though as I thought he was good enough for the Premier League. I moved quickly to replace him and looked at the out of favour players in the Premiership hoping for a bargain. I found who I was lookin for in the Southampton reserves having been displaced by a couple of recent additions, I signed Peter Crouch for a cut price £650k. After signing he spoke of his 'Days of hell at Southampton' being over and hoping to get his career back on track at his new club. He went straight into the starting lineup against relegation fodder Oldham and popped up with the winner late on to make it 3-2. Leeds were the next visitors and a full house saw us keep a rare clean sheet as we won 2-0. Hopefully these back to back wins were just what we needed to get our season back on track.

retired_j9swim

December 2006

Indeed they were as we went unbeaten through December. A 1-1 draw in Bristol was followed by an Adu hattrick in a 5-1 mauling of Ipswich. A 2-2 draw against Rotherham was followed by four clean sheets. Peter Crouch found his scoring boots as he scored both goals against Preston, and once against Coventry and Stoke with a nil nil against Wolves in between.

January 2007

Into the new year and first up were Crystal Palace. We earned a 1-1 draw but it seems that Iain Dowie must have left early because after the game he told the waiting press how the confidence in his team was sky high after his side's recent victory over mine! The third round of the FA Cup came around again and we were paired against promotion favourites Sheffield Wednesday. A brace from Andy Gray and one from Darren Huckerby saw us through 3-2.Gillingham were eased aside 2-0 before a 4th round clash away at Wigan. Two tight games followed before the replay, it finished 1-1 at Upton Park and only 1-0 at home to whipping boys Torquay. The replay against Wigan proved to completely different to the tight affair 10 days before. Goals from Andersson, Lunt 2, Crouch and Gray 2 saw us record our biggest win of the season 6-0!

retired_j9swim

February 2007

Not the best of months for us, only one win in six after three draws. The first two draws came on the road at Burnley 2-2 and Norwich 1-1. The next match saw Wigan return to town but anyone expecting another drubbing would leave disappointed by the 2-2 scoreline. Next up was the FA Cup again and this time we face Premiership opposition in the form of Birmingham. Birmingham scored first and it all looked bleak for us but a Gray penalty pulled us level and then he put us into the lead before half time. Birmingham showed their quality though and brought it back to 2-2 and most people thought that we would crumble after that, but Gray completed his hattrick and Andersson scored on the break to win it 4-2. This excellent win seemed to distract our players though as we lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday and 3-1 against West Brom.

March 2007

Our poor form continued into March as we went down at home again to a promotion chasing team, this time to Nottingham Forest 2-1. Wingers Elliott and Andersson kept us in the game at Reading, an action packed game finished 3-3. The FA Cup had reached the 6th round and rather surprisingly we were still there! Our reward for the magnificent win over Birmingham was a trip to the City of Manchester Stadium to play Manchester City. The sheer pace and skill of Nicolas Anelka was too much though and his hattrick knocked us out 3-0. It had been a good cup run, brought in plenty of revenue and showed that we could beat Premiership sides (if you forget about the 'magic of the cup' factor!). We put the disappointment of the cup exit behind us and began to play really well. Successive 3-0 home wins over Watford and Millwall and 3-1 win at Oldham saw us move back up the table and into the playoff places again.

retired_j9swim

April/May 2007

April didnt get off to the best of starts losing 2-0 to Sheffield United. But then followed a run of 4 wins. A topsy turvy match at Elland Road went our way 4-3. Bristol City and Rotherham were seen off 1-0 at home and in between Ipswich were hammered 4-0 away. We finished the regular season away at Wolves and with an outside chance of automatic promotion. Nottingham Forest were top, four points above us so the title was out of our reach but Sheffield Wednesday were only 2 points away. As it happened we could only draw 2-2 at Wolves so it would be the playoffs for us. It was academic really though as Forest somehow lost their match and Wednesday won theirs so they went up as champions!

retired_j9swim

The Championship Playoffs 2007

For some reason there was a draw to decide who would play who in the playoffs. IRL the team finishing third plays the team finishing 6th and 3rd plays 4th but this didnt happen and we got paired with 4th place Preston. The first leg would be at home (IRL we would have been away first to 6th place Wolves).

Playoff Leg 1: Hull City v Preston NE
Att: 35,967

The first half was a cagey affair with neither side wanting to give too much away and make a mistake. Being the home side however we had to take the advantage and we pressed forward. It was ironic then, when we finally took the lead in the 74th minute following a swift counter attack, Peter Crouch was on hand to finish it off. The goal seemed to lift us and two quick fire late goals really swung the tie our way. First a great run from Peter Crouch left him one on one with the keeper but as it was a tight angle he squared the ball to Darren Huckerby who couldnt miss from 6 yards. The third was a spectacular volley from Carlos Martins after a corner was headed out to the edge of the box.

Hull 3 (0 - 0) 0 Preston

Stack; Soma, Delaney, Mullins; Martins, Guarin; Anderson, Adu, Elliott; Crouch, Gray.

Subs: Myhill, Roberts, Healy, Fernandes, Huckerby.

Playoff Leg 2: Preston NE v Hull City
Att: 20,461

The three goal cushion meant that we were able to rest several big players as they were still recovering from the first game. Also a few were on their final yellow cards and would be suspended for the final had they picked up another.

The game itself was a bit of a non event. Preston had to go for it and come at us and we were happy to let them do it and soak up the pressure. As long as we kept them at bay and didnt concede early then it could be all over at half time. And indeed it was because on 37 minutes we caught them on the break. Robbie Blake threading a beautiful through ball into the path of Andy Gray who kept his cool to slot the ball home. That goal really killed off the tie, we were 4-0 up and had an away goal, Preston would have to score five times in the second half to go through. They never even looked like they would get one goal back let alone five, and with 9 minutes to go another Blake through ball found Darren Huckerby clean through and he cheekily chipped the on coming keeper to round off an excellent evening. The Tigers will play Wolves at Wembley.

Preston 0 (0 - 1) 2 Hull

Stack; Roberts, Delaney, Mullins; Soma, Healy; Lopez, Blake, Fernandes; Huckerby, Gray.

Subs: Myhill, Heikkinen, Andersson, Elliott, Crouch.

retired_j9swim

Apologies to those following this story, what a time to get tired of this save and start another! Just got back into this game so I will continue where I left off!

Playoff Final: Hull City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Att:89,959 (at Wembley)

With so much riding on this one game and almost 90,000 fans watching in the stands the early exchanges were understandably nervy. Neither side wanted to risk giving away an early goal but then disaster for Wolves, as a freekick was swung over Gray was pushed to the ground by Craddock, the incident was spotted and a penalty was awarded. Gray picked himself up and calmly slotted home the spot kick. Half of the stadium erupted and with only 14 minutes gone Hull were in the driving seat.

The goal really settled the Tigers down and they started to pass the ball around with more confidence and it paid off in the 26th minute as a long throw from Freddy Guarin was met by an excellent header from Stuart Elliott. 2-0 and the game was pretty much done. Dropping a little deeper in defence and making sure we kept the ball we kept Wolves at bay, only allowing them half chances and ambitious long shots. The final whistle blew and Hull City were in the Premiership!

Hull 2 (2 - 0) 0 Wolves

Stack; Soma, Delaney, Mullins; Martins, Guarin; Anderson, Adu, Elliott; Crouch, Gray.

Subs: Myhill, Heikkinen, Healy, Fernandes, Huckerby.

retired_j9swim

Preseason 2007/2008

Having gained promotion through the playoffs were are obviously favourites to go straight back down. I am fairly confident however that we can avoid this. The board have given me £4.1m to dabble in the transfer market and have upped the wage budget by £90k to £240k. They have also announced that the stadium will be expanded again and will be just under 43,500. The works will cost £9.5m and will be complete in mid November.

So into the transfer market we go and despite the wage budget being expanded a few unnecessary players are sold on or released. Markus Heikkinen has slipped down the pecking order and will be out of his depth in the Premiership, he is released and continues his career in his native Finland. Andy Dawson is also released to play at a lower level, he signs for Preston. John Hardiker, one of my first signings is now way out of his league and joins Leyton Orient. Fabrice Fernandes has not really broken into the team and after being offered around, he joins Spurs for £1.2m. Labinot Harbuzi had promised much when he arrived but hadnt shown any real signs of improvement and joined Chelsea in a deal worth £750k.

The squad strengthening began with the free transfer of David Healy from Preston. A strong striker who will feature heavily in the clubs fight for survival. Two new goalkeepers were added to keep Graham Stack on his toes although he is likely to be on the bench this season. Michael Rensing is expected to be first choice between the sticks after a £1.4m move from Dortmund. Greg Etafia is a relatively unknown Nigerian picked up from Moroka Swallows in South Africa for £190k, he will compete for the bench with Stack. Strong centre bcak Robert Huth was brought in from Chelsea for £1.4m and I am really pleased to have him as I believe he could be in the side for many seasons to come. As we dont have a quality left back at the club Christoffer Andersson will be asked to play there for the time being. He has been playing on the right wing since arriving but can play on either side of midfield or defence. He is predominantly right footed but hopefully this shouldnt matter too much. We will need to bring in a replacedment for Anderssoon on the right hand side and available on a free is Jan Gunnar Solli another good young player who has already tasted european football. Those were the main signings, apart from that we made a real investment in the youth team, bringing in many promising talents from around the country. Te most promising of these is an attacking midfielder by the name of TJ McClory-Cuthbertson, a bit of a mouthful for any commentator!

With all these comings and goings in the summer we only played on friendly. Solli (2), Martins and Huckerby scored as we saw off Lille 4-1.

retired_somi

Good luck in the Prem! :thup:

retired_j9swim

August 2007

The first month in the Premiership showed that we were going to struggle unless we learnt fast. It didnt help that our first game was against Liverpool at the New Anfield. We battled hard in the first half but in the second their class showed and we eventually lost 3-0. Our first home game gave us a glimmer of hope though as we defeated Aston Villa 2-1 with goals from Freddy Adu and David Healy. It seemed that we would struggle on the road as Newcastle were too good at St James' Park and we again went down 3-0. A home game against Charlton would be a good chance to get another win but when Freddy Adu was sent off we never looked like threatening them and might have been fortunate to draw 0-0.

September 2007

Things start to pick up a bit in September. First up is a trip to Sheffield to face Wednesday in front of the live TV cameras. They went up ahead of us last season so would be one of the best chances of picking up away points, and we do. Freddy Guarin bags a brace in a 2-0 win. Next up is another 2-0 win at home to Leicester. Its the Healy show as the goals are scored by David and Colin. We squeeze through the second round of the League Cup against Portsmouth. I decided to field a lot of the promising youngsters and it was one of these, Danny Smith, that salvaged a 1-1 draw. We eventually went through 2-1 in a poor quality penalty shootout. David Healy rescued a point for us at Nottingham Forest and then we finished the month hosting moneybags Chelsea. We put up an excellent fight but its just not enough and we go down 2-1. Its been a pretty successful month, picking up 7 points and Stuart Elliott picks up the Player of the Month award.