I think one of the most important things to know about Hull City is that historically (i.e. until about 5 years ago) we were one of the worst performing clubs in the history of the football league. In over 100 years we had never reached the top division (out of 4 fully professional divisions) and spent a good chunk of that time in the 4th division. Hull is one of the biggest cities in the UK and has an enormous catchment area yet had a terrible (but lovable) football team. We were mostly in the headlines for being the most populous city in Europe to have never had domestic top flight football, and for a string of bad asset stripping owners that bankrupted the club a number of times and got us locked out of our ground. There were games in the 90s where the players were paid by supporters throwing spare change into a bed sheet. Then the millenium happened, and like a reverse millenium bug everything good that could happen, happened. We got a new stadium (kindly paid for by the city council), got a great owner with commercial know how, got a highly rated manager and charged up the league from the 4th tier to the top, setting a record for doing it in the fastest time. Along the way, we took 4 players who played in every division with us, most popular of which is talismanic captain Sir Ian Ashbee, he-who-is-above-criticism-of-any-sort-ever.
Dont worry about relegation but do worry about it. Your friends who got Man U, Arsenal etc have had the bad luck of the draw. Unlike American sports there are consequences for poor performance. There is no first pick in the draft if you are the worst team. Poor performance on the pitch draws the possibility of relegation. That possibility means that every game is vitally important, every goal can mean the difference between existing as a club, and slipping down the pyramid to obscurity with the possibility of having to listen to the radio to catch a game. Even relegation brings the promise of promotion which is like winning the super bowl times 10. Its like that time that you made the final 4 in college and you took over the campus and actually did shots with cops off the back of their cruiser in celebration. (George Mason Baby!) Man U fans cry and complain if they lose 1 game in 4. You on the other hand will lose 4 games in a row and still be chipper about it all realizing instead that what matters is your place in the league and how many points you are picking up a game on average. The difference is that everyone is going to assume that they picked Man U because they were bandwagon fans (you know like cowboy fans, or patriot fans). You on the other hand will have something to talk about when you talk about your club. People wont know about you, you will get to tell them about the hard times, the good times, and it is that combination of the two that brings about a love of a club. They on the other hand will brag about trophies you will get to brag about Windass's goal at Wembley and what it felt like to watch it occur. The point being. If relegation does come (actually when it comes) be negative about it for sure but just remember that it is what will stand you apart from everyone else. Hey tigerscanada was that good marketing?
Heck of a post, elle. You made a whole lot of good points. It definitely gives me something to think about. And I should probably add here that if Hull continues to develop a more attacking style of play, that would definitely increase the odds of me becoming a Hull fan for life. In the little bit of soccer I've watched, I've found that I prefer that style moreso than the defense first, counter attack style. Plus, as I said above, I think Hull is putting some good young pieces together. That's in your favor right now, too, as I'd get to grow as a fan with the young core of players.
WMD, you'll find that after watching a few games it'll become part of ya, it'll enter you're mind and get into your blood. The thing about it is, you won't even realise it's happening to ya, it just creeps up on ya. I've followed this great Club for 45 years and never regretted it, as I said above, get ready for a hell of a ride.
I'm excited for the ride! As a gift, here is a popular chant that some Tigers I'm my neck of the woods do. It's vulgar as hell, but I doubt you'll care. http://youtu.be/fPsAZpNuaGk In regards to not bandwagoning, the person that I have the biggest problem with on my home forum drew Man U, so it will be overwhelmingly easy to hate on them for me.
I'll echo Elle. Down here in Aus for a number of years when I said I supported City, people would say "Who?" and I'd have to quickly follow it up with "They play in the second division." But now that they're back in the Prem, not only does it set me apart, but I have a huge amount of respect from mates for having followed them through the good times and the hard. Sure it was heartbreaking when we went down in 2010, but I managed to watch a bunch of games via streams whenever we were on TV in the UK, listened to radio broadcasts the rest of the time, or even simply followed live score updated on the Sky Sports Score Centre while mates watch their PL teams. The enjoyable thing about the Second Division (Championship) is that we end up winning a lot more games, which in some ways is a lot more enjoyable than the one win in five we'll get in the PL.
That's a great chant, not sure it'll catch on at the KC though. Out of interest, are the fans there doing a "mauling" gesture? [video=youtube;tgS1RFk1cU8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgS1RFk1cU8[/video]
No doubt, Rover. I imagine it's much like American football (or any other sport for that matter) in that way. Kinda like how I became an MSU fan. My dad & grandad both went to school there, so I grew up listening and watching us play. Some of my earliest memories are of our games in various sports. When it came time for me to go to college, I didn't even have to think about it. I was going to MSU, period. We have a saying amongst our diehard fans that we "bleed maroon." That pretty accurately describes me.
I think that's what it is. That team also has a live tiger mascot that they wheel out to the area where the visiting gets off the bus to go into the locker room pre game. LSU has cool traditions, but godawful fans.
We have a similar saying but with us, it's ''we bleed Black and Amber''. It is never yellow or orange or any other variant on the colour, it's always Amber. A true City fan will always correct anyone who calls it differently.
some other things you may need to know some bits you will probably be scratching your head over TWS = the white ****e (Leeds Utd) Blunts = Blades (Sheffield Utd) CTWD = City till we die , a campaign group battling to keep the clubs identity (there is a detailed piece on the hull city wiki page about all that) Lawro = a moaning ex footballer who is now a pundit/color commentator and basically bemoans defensive displays like Alan Hansen who thankfully for you has retired . the Circle = KC (our current stadium ) BP/Fer Ark = Boothferry park (our old stadium) SB = Steve Bruce our manager NP = Nigel Pearson our last manager and now back at Leicester City (a fan rivalry only on this forum really) AA = Assam Allam our Egyptian Owner who has lived in the Hull area for well over 40yrs i think Pattie = a sage n potato delicacy in batter then fried - served with Chips (not your fries ) ive seen US "british chip shop vans" our season kicks off with european football , so dont miss writing those reports and rub it in hard to those who drew Man Utd
A 'fact' that was never true. Welcome aboard to the two newcomers, let's hope we can give you plenty of positive stuff to feedback to the rest.
Welcome to the Tiger Train to ... er....ffs, that started off ok and ended badly. Ok probably a good metaphor. <cough> Welcome aboard guys, good to see the USA slowly getting into soccer (No, I'm not bothered about that word, some will be). Couple of warnings: We have a VERY harsh sense of humour on here, so I hope you're not easily upset/offended. Take any comments that seem nasty with a shrug and a smile. The @usasoccerguy probably has the right approach to it all. Send out a line, get a bite, then suggest the catch takes a swim in lake awesome. Secondly, please for the love of god stop using BPL. There is no British Premier League. We play in the English Premier League. The Scots have their own PL, which frankly is a joke, but thats a story for another day. We are not British when we discuss football, we are English. Don't worry about the Welsh, they want to be English anyhoo. One of you mentions getting a kit, please, for all of us, unless you're 12 years or younger, do NOT EVER wear a full kit. A shirt is fine, the rest, no. Unless you're actually playing of course.
A couple of things already mentioned which may need explaining better: Ian Ashbee - he captained us from the bottom division to the top. No one else has done this in world football ever apparently. He wasn't an attacking player, or even particularly skillful, he was just hardworking, tough in the tackle and a proper leader who made sure everyone else put a shift in too. What made his achievement extra special was that every time we got promoted he was expected to fail at the higher level and need to be replaced, since he didnt have the technical ability of some of our other players but each time he raised his game and performed and scored at every level, while other players were replaced by players more suited to the higher level, Ashbee remained captain and one of the first names on the team sheet though. On top of that, he had two career threatening knee injuries along the way, at least one of which made some doctors think he wouldn't walk again, but he came back as good as ever both times. Sadly, he left the club in the middle of a season when the manager at the time didn't like him and he got another offer from a smaller club who offeree him better terms, and were managed by a former City manager who arguably got the best out of Ashbee when he was here. He came back to play against us that season and at the final whistle he quickly ran down the tunnel in an attempt to hide his emotion at playing against us and being cheered by us all game. He retired not long after that after yet another knee injury. 'The Irish Messi' Paul McShane - he's our longest serving player and a fans favourite but it wasn't always that way. He was utter **** for about 4 years for us, but when current manager Steve Bruce came in he gave Macca a chance and he's got gradually better ever since. He's still not one of our better defenders but a reliable backup which is a lot more than he was before, when we would dread losing a defender meaning we would have to call on McShane. While on that gradual journey of improvement, which was mostly during the 12-13 promotion season, fans started ironically singing his name more than anyone else. It's hard to explain really but it just became a City fans in-joke to sing for McShane more than anyone else. He ended up scoring the goal on the final day which sealed our promotion, although there was some further drama after that but his was effectively the goal that did it, a typical City fairy tale ending to a season. There's a good video on YouTube of our fans singing McShane's song straight after that goal. The song is Don't Sell McShane, to the tune of Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Rae Cyrus. How far we've come in the last decade is hard to explain. I'm in Turkey now where I've been holidaying for years and you used to have to explain how Hull was near Leeds etc etc but now you say Hull and everyone is like Ahhh Hull City?! We're actually famous worldwide for the football team, whereas 10-15 years ago we weren't even popular in Hull.
Welcome. I guess that you, (unlike Happy), are aware that BPL stands for the "Barclays Premier League", after the bank which sponsors the league. Not everyone on here (including me) is as knowledgeable as they might like to appear.
ellewoods has done an excellent job of giving you some background info. I don't understand why Wise Men Say is being put forward, it's a Sunderland song and other than us giving a great rendition of it at Wembley once, it's been **** since and has now quite rightly been binned. We actually had better chants when we were rubbish, but some of the old ones continue 'silverware, we don't care, follow City everywhere', we're quite big on irony round here. The Leeds rivalry is a bit one-sided, they have traditionally been our nearest 'big' club, but they've been **** for years and never really saw us as rivals anyway(our traditional rivals are well down the leagues now and these rivalries have pretty much died out).
Or main chant is I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN! And I don't know why you'd find a team over style of play over the season, you'll probably find at least half the teams in the league will play a different style at the end of the season from the stray, and the same again next season. This is football, it's a manager merry go round and when a manager gets sacked the style of play goes with him. As you've no local team to support (obviously) I would pick a team on these criteria, the way English would pick a team, and I'd recommend it to the 38 others in your draft. 1. Is it a big trophy winning club that lots of people around the world decide to support? Avoid any of these clubs, they're boring, too many people latch on to them and you just become another plastic statistic. The joy of football isn't so much seeing your team win everything every season. It's about being the underdog, building your way up to being something that matters and hurting the big boys. 2. Do they have a manager who wears a baseball cap, a track suit and has a pony tail? If yes, avoid this club at all means. If this man ends up manager of your club, start a campaign to see his head on a spike. 3. Do they play in unusual colours? By that I mean, do they play in an interesting colour patterns not a boring red/blue/white like more than half the teams in the world. 4. What is their logo/nickname? Finding the one with most ferocious predatory animal is a very good way to confirm your support for an interesting club. Avoid anything with foxes, eagles, potteries, hammers or devils. Thee generally turn out to be **** clubs to support.
Does nobody remember that Grimsby Town are/were our main rivals and their nickname is "The Cod-heads"?
