It’s been three years since Hull City defeated Fulham on their Premier League debut. Three years since that glorious opening to their first season in the top flight, one hundred and four years in the making. Things have certainly taken a turn for the worse. At this point three years ago, the Tigers sat in the dizzy heights of 5th position in the Premier League, ahead of the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool. It was a time that Tigers’ fans around the world could only ever have dreamed of, but how quickly those dreams turned to nightmares. After a sensational opening to the season of twenty-eight points from seventeen games, which included the famous victories at the Emirates and White Hart Lane, Hull deteriorated dramatically and recorded only one win in their remaining twenty-one games. Despite this, Damien Duff gifted Hull Premier League status for another year when he found the back of his own net for Newcastle on the final day of the season. This condemned them to a shock relegation, ending their sixteen year stay in the Premier League. If it had not been for their early-season form, the Tigers would certainly have replaced their fellow Northerners in the painful process of relegation. It appeared that even Damien Duff could not save the Tiger Nation from their inevitable doom, as they were relegated one year later, in far more uncertain circumstances. It then came to light that the infamous Paul Duffen, chairman of Hull City at the time, had guided the Tigers into a financial position of imminent destruction. As soon as the club's figures were made public in October 2009, Duffen resigned, never to be heard from again. Adam Pearson, who had held chairmanship prior to Duffen’s reign, agreed to return to the club after a spell with Derby County. And so the clear-out began, beginning, perhaps somewhat unfairly, with the departure of Phil Brown, although he spent quite some time on gardening leave. Iain Dowie was the man to replace him, but he took over the reigns for as little as nine games. He departed along with almost the entire squad, so that, with a few exceptions, only home-grown players and Hull City veterans such as Andy Dawson and Ian Ashbee remained. With the KC residents on the brink of administration, things were not looking promising for the Tigers. When Nigel Pearson took over in the summer of 2010, there was still a major amount of turmoil in the Hull City camp. Despite the squad now being almost unrecognisable, with a much lower wage budget, things were not looking good for the Tigers, who still owed transfer fees for players of whom were no longer contracted to the club. If it hadn’t been for the Allam families’ takeover a few months later, the unthinkable really would have been extremely likely. At the end of their first year in a return to a very competitive nPower Championship, things were certainly looking up for the Tigers, with a good mix of youth and experience delivering an 11th placed finish. Nine signings later, and a brilliant pre-season behind them, including a spectacular 3-0 win over Merseysiders Liverpool, Nigel Pearson had gathered a team of real promise and was at the helm of a side who looked likely to put up a real fight in their efforts to gain a play-off place. Yet the start to the 2011-12 season has been far from magnificent. Three losses in their opening four games, including an enormously embarrassing loss to Macclesfield, has led Tigers fans to lose that early-season feel-good factor extremely prematurely. Whether Nigel Pearson and his streak of Tigers have enough about them to turn it around and mount a serious play-off challenge remains to seen. It is far too early for judgement yet, though the Tigers’ goalscoring credentials are questionable, with a return of only one goal to date. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Only scanned for proof reading, so please point out any mistakes! It's far from perfect, and only a first draft, but I thought I'd ask your opinions (Please be honest) as I need to prove that I have the potential to become a good sports journalist by sending in an example of my work to gain a place on the course. For those of you that could be bothered with the effort of reading/commenting, thanks in advance!
Very Good, you should try a match report one day and post it, so we can see what you write like for a current story rather than an historical article based on facts, i want to see how you describe peoples emotions.
Thanks guys. Miff, you're probably right, it's a lot easier to write something like this than a match report or something in the present. I'll have to get myself a notebook for the next game I tried to do a match report last season but as I was describing things from the painful memories of a loss, it was pretty inaccurate. Come to think of it, I think it was the Boro game, so you can understand why my writing was affected what I'd just seen. That game still hurts now.
Good effort well done. Too many adjectives though, "extremely prematurely". "streak of Tigers"?? 3rd paragraph "It appeared" 4th paragraph "It seemed" doesnt read right for me but again well done mate.
Reads well to me . Only thing I would say is that if you are writing a piece on the last three years then Phil Brown should at least be mentioned. Both Pearson's, Duffen and the Allam's all get named but no Brownie ?
Yeah I know, it was a five-minute job done in the early hours of the morning. Like I said, a quick first draft, nothing too spectacular. Thanks for the input though.
Sure. Only £50 per report In all seriousness though, I'd love to, but without a season pass this year, considering I'm going to Uni, I'll struggle to give reports without seeing any of the action.
The only error I can see is here - "As soon as the clubsâ figures were made public in October 2009," which should be club's, as it is referring to ourselves which is a singular club. A lot easier to get on the ladder than when I was young. Then you had to have shorthand and getting into journalism was very diffucult. There were high minimum requirements of O and A levels to get into journalist training college. The only other was to get in was having got a rlevant degree in English subjects. Good luck anyway.
Thanks, I agree though, I think you only have to have a C in English at GCSE to become a potential candidate for a journalist now. From what I can remember, the kids that got Cs were the one's that didn't know the difference between their, they're and there. It really gives you an idea of the standards these days. Not the case for me, although I got a rather disappointing C in A Level English today. That said, it was all analysing poetry, not article-writing.
Sheffield, I know it's not far away to get to the City home games but it's not just the cost of the season ticket, it's the travel. Plus I'd plan to come back on separate nights and days to see my girlfriend, who refuses to be dragged to the KC
That isn't the example you plan on using is it? That isn't a comment on the quality, it reads fine, just that putting it on the net before they have seen it and asking for feedback probably isn't a great idea. I'm pretty sure Universities have access to the web these days and they might not be too happy if they find your sample elsewhere with people making corrections!
