Boothferry Park - 15 years on: "I'll never stop longing for one more game at 'my' ground" Tigers supporter Rick Skelton recalls his fond memories of the famous stadium, which hosted City for the final time 15 years ago today. please log in to view this image Hull City ending their time at Boothferry Park with a 1-0 defeat to Darlington was both a terrible way to go out and the perfect one. It was a bittersweet day, on and off the pitch, that perfectly captured the atmosphere of a ground that was wonderful and awful in equal measure and played host to some of the best and worst times in the club’s history. It was “mine” for a decade and a half. My first game, aged six, came after the peak of the Brian Horton era and those 15 years were like a ski-jump. Steadily downhill year on year until Adam Pearson came along and the club took off. Despite all that, I was always in awe of the place. The once record-breaking floodlights that you could see from miles around. The little scoreboard that lit up with glee when we scored. The roar that emanated from so few people in the Kempton or the South Stand. And the pitch. It felt like carpet, looked like it had been trimmed by hairdressers and shone like emerald on the first day of any new season. But it wasn’t always that way. The supermarket had originally been a mirror of the big South Stand. In the early years after its opening in 1946, gates regularly topped 45,000 – particularly during the promotion year of 1949-50. please log in to view this image Earlier in 1949, the club record gate of 55,019 was set against Manchester United in the FA Cup. That will stand for another 70 years and more. You couldn’t stand on the terraces and not hear about the history of the club and the ground. The all-conquering 1965-66 Third Division champions with Ken Wagstaff and Chris Chilton spearheading its front five assisted by Ken Houghton, Ian Butler, Chris Simpkin and Roy Henderson. The FA Cup quarter-final replay against first division Chelsea that season or the game five years later when City almost knocked out Stoke City to make the semi-finals. What you wouldn’t have given to be part of the 40,000+ crowds at those games? For the next generation, the FA Cup 5th round tie against Liverpool is the one that might come closest. please log in to view this image The ground had been remodelled under Don Robinson’s vision of putting a concert bowl on the North Stand (before playing on the moon) and the capacity was much reduced but a crowd of 20,000 was huge compared to the fortnightly average in the league. The game featured on Match of the Day and City’s goals from Keith Edwards and Billy Whitehurst were greeted by celebrations we wouldn’t see for another 12 years. We lost 3-2 having led 2-1 but frightened the life out of possibly the best team in Europe. Boothferry was far from perfect. You wouldn’t expect any less from a ground whose neon sign rarely managed to light up its own name. The incredible rail halt on Kempton Road and the big North Stand were long gone. The corners of the East Stand were dilapidated. Corporate facilities, if you’d even call them that, were more like a working man’s club. Those who sat in the “best” stand were showered with flakes of rust if the ball hit the roof. And I don’t think we need to go into the toilets. please log in to view this image It played host to a team in decline and a fanbase similar but always maintained a genuine, ferocious atmosphere. Being a part of it could be the most fun but genuinely frightening at times. It worked both ways for the players too. Former Tigers’ full-back Simon Trevitt hated playing in front of the Kempton such was the barrage of abuse he received. It’s a pity we didn’t leave Boothferry on a high. The game against Scarborough at the end of the “Great Escape” season of 1998-99 which attracted a massive crowd that filled parts of the ground that hadn’t been stood on for years or the play-off semi-final with Leyton Orient in which John Eyre’s winning goal in the sunshine sparked celebrations not felt in decades. please log in to view this image Instead we went out with a whimper in the early days of Peter Taylor’s successful reign. The walk of legends before the game, complete with fans throwing oranges at Ian McKechnie, failed to light up a damp, cold day and when the visitors – the mighty Darlington – nicked the three points it left an air of disappointment that was somehow fitting. The post-match pitch invasion was still a mild celebration but I’m not sure how much of that was relief that it was over! I still miss it regardless. I’m proud of the KCOM Stadium and it was the catalyst for Hull City achieving things I could barely dream of, but I’ll never stop longing for one more game at Boothferry Park. http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/boothferry-park-15-years-on-923072
Really good piece by Rick, I still miss the old place, it certainly had an atmosphere all of it's own.
I was one of the 60 (freezing idiots) clearing the snow in 1991, but I did the area right in the North West corner, so not in any pics I have ever seen so far.....and I vaguely remember being interviewed on Radio Humberside and making a twat of myself, by a young girl with an Australian accent...maybe work experience.......defo wasn't Kylie.
please log in to view this image that's strange bearing in mind we've always been called Hull City Tigers
The Scarborough game in the great escape season will always be one of my best days at a football ground
Still makes me happy sad thinking about Fer Ark. I might show this to me dad on Boxing day. Although it'll probably set him off again.
If we could have the moments we've had at the kc/kcom at BP it would have been Even better. My memories are all too miserable of BP, depressing football for the most part or average at best. Great pitch to play on though, especially under lights.
My sons first home game was the last played at Boothferry Park. He was about 2 years old but no way was he growing up supporting Leicester
Spiritual home. No football ground will ever come close to it. That's not because it was particularly special as a stadium but because of the impression it left on a young boy on his many visits in the 1970s. I've tried to describe in words my feelings when experiencing the terraces in the early 70s; the crowds, the noise, the fear, the hopes, the disappointments, the joys, the tension, the power, the unfolding of 90 minutes of all consuming drama, the cold, the heat, the dress, the songs and chants, the hatred, the love, the colour, the passion... But I can't. It's ineffable.
Remember the city gym? Loved playing in there. We used to hire it out for a full game of 11 a side. Got quite violent.
Good from the club this. A look back at our former home, which hosted it's final fixture 15 years ago today... Although Boothferry Park first opened its gates in 1946, its story began nearly 20 years earlier back in the late 1920s. The piece of land that would be known as Boothferry Park for over half a century was acquired by the club in 1929, although the acquisition was only made possible with the help of the Football Association, who loaned the Tigers £3,000. During the early 1930s, work on the new stadium began. The pitch was laid out and preliminary work started on the terracing. During this time, however, the club’s finances were far from healthy. As a result, progress on building the ground was slow and eventually came to halt. Ten years on from purchasing the land, the ground was still very much far from complete. Then, in January 1939, the directors of the club received an offer for the land from developers who were looking to build a multi-purpose sports complex, which could have consigned Boothferry Park to history before it had even seen any action! To their credit, City’s directors refused the offer and pressed ahead with their own plans for the stadium. Their decision was helped by a further grant of £6,000 from the Football Association and the intention was for work to completed in time for the club to move in during the summer of 1940. However, those plans were thrown into disarray with the outbreak of World War Two. By the time the war had ended, much had changed at Hull City. A group of businessmen, led by local builder Harold Needler, had bought the club and announced plans for Boothferry Park that included the construction of its own railway platform, with the target for the opening of the stadium set for the beginning of the 1946/47 season. A lot of work was required to be done, and the building was far from easy due to a lack of materials and planning restrictions. However, it was ready to host Lincoln City on 31st August 1946 - a game which heralded a new chapter in the history of Hull City. The game was played out under typical English football conditions - wet and windy - and ended goalless in front of 25,586 fans. The 1946/47 season didn't start so well though and the Tigers had to wait until mid-October for a first win on their new ground. The after-effects of the war continued to hit the Club and this, combined with an injury list which saw the Tigers use 43 players, meant they did well to finish in a respectable mid-table position. The following season started quietly but its importance lay not so much in terms of results, rather in the arrival of one of the greatest players to ever wear black and amber - Horatio Stratton Carter. His debut, in April 1948, came too late to assist the Club in their faltering promotion bid though and they finished in fifth place. It was the following season that the full impact of Carter's presence was to be felt. Although coming to the end of his playing career, Carter still possessed an abundance of talent and experience, which he used to influence events on the field to such an extent that the Tigers enjoyed their best season in the the Club's history, winning the Third Division (North) title - setting new records along the way! They won their first nine matches (a League record) and the attendance of 49,655 for the top-of-the-table clash at home to Rotherham United on Christmas Day was a League record that still stands. Coupled with this success in the league, the Tigers also enjoyed one of their best cup runs, culminating in 55,019 spectators packing into Boothferry Park to see Manchester United defeat the Tigers 1-0 in a closely fought battle. The attendance still remains the highest ever recorded at Boothferry Park and one that will never be beaten. Although it’s intended capacity of 80,000 was never reached, the planned railway platform was successfully installed, with work completed in January 1951, ensuring it was the only ground in the country to have such a facility. At the same time, work also started on upgrading the North Stand. It took nearly a year to complete, but by the time it was finished, the whole of the stand was covered with both seats and terracing available for supporters. The third element of major building work, commencing at the same time, concerned the East Stand. Originally just open terracing, the redevelopment involved providing cover for approximately 130 yards of terracing, leaving something like 50 yards of open terracing at each end. It was considered an interim solution prior to the construction of a new grandstand. Following the team's success under Carter's leadership, expectation was high that the 'Holy Grail' of top-flight football would be achieved as the Tigers started life in Division Two. Alas, it was not to be. Despite the acquisition of players with experience and the purchase of promising youngsters, such as Don Revie, the Club could only finish seventh. And by September 1951, Carter had resigned as Manager. The momentum was lost and despite retaining their Second Division status for a further six years, the Tigers found themselves back in Division Three (North) at the start of the 1956/57 season. They managed to gain promotion back to the second tier in 1958/59, but it was only a brief return as the Tigers were relegated the following season. Off the pitch, floodlights were installed in 1953, with 96 lamps mounted on the roofs of both the West and East Stands. These were replaced some 11 years later when a revolutionary six-pylon system was installed, each 175 feet high. The total number of lamps was increased to 324, giving Boothferry Park the best floodlighting system in the country at the time. Shortly after the new floodlights were installed, work began on building a new gymnasium and the conversion of the South Stand from open terracing to a new Cantilever stand containing seats, with terracing in front, which was eventually completed in 1965. Back to matters on the pitch, it wasn't until Cliff Britton was appointed as Manager in July 1961, that the prospect of better times ahead seemed a real possibility. Although not having the same immediate impact Carter had, Britton built a team that was capable of resurrecting the Tigers' flagging fortunes. During the 1964/65 season, Harold Needler again provided money that allowed Britton to acquire a young forward who was to become a legend in the Club's history to rival if not surpass, Carter. Ken Wagstaff, or 'Waggy' as he came to be christened, arrived from Mansfield Town for the princely sum of £40,000. His goalscoring ability and the partnership he forged with local lad Chris Chilton, struck fear into the hearts of defenders everywhere. They were commonly regarded as the most potent strikeforce outside of the top-flight. In addition, Britton also brought in two more attack-minded players to complete the duo in the shape of Ken Houghton and Ian Butler. The Club narrowly missed out on promotion that year, but in 1965/66, the Tigers stormed back into the Second Division as Champions, scoring an impressive 109 goals. 'Waggy's' contribution of 31 goals in all competitions set a new post-war record previously held by Bill Bradbury. They also enjoyed another fine FA Cup run, holding Chelsea to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in the last eight, before losing the replay 3-1 at Boothferry Park before a gate of 45,328. 1966/67 saw the Tigers anticipating another surge towards the top-flight, but whilst Britton had bought wisely in the past, he failed to strengthen the squad sufficiently for this campaign, choosing to remain loyal to the players who had already achieved so much together. Whilst Britton's squad was good enough to head the table by the end of September, it was not strong enough to maintain the position or withstand the injuries that affected key players, eventually finishing in mid-table - a position that they were to make their own for the next twelve seasons. Despite the arrival of Terry Neill as Player/Manager in 1970, their role as promotion contenders was never one they could sustain and any flirtation with relegation was eventually overcome. By the early 1970s, Boothferry Park was in its prime. In its almost 30 years of existence, the ground had witnessed championships, promotions and relegations. It had also hosted international football and representative football and rugby league matches, whilst also being the venue for a variety of other sports from baseball to show jumping! But, in 1977/78, the bubble burst and the Club's luck ran out as they once more returned to the third tier of English football - the promised land seemed further away than ever! And things were to get worse rather than better as they were relegated once again three seasons later, in 1980/81, to Division Four for the first time the Club's history. To add insult to injury, the spectre of financial hardship also resurfaced. In February 1982, the Club was placed into administration. Harold Needler had died some years before and whilst his son had taken over the mantle and continued to underwrite the vast bulk of the Club's finances, he did not appear to have his father's passion for football. His decision, taken on the advice of his own financial advisors, meant the possibility of bankruptcy and extinction was rapidly turning into a reality. It was Don Robinson who came to the rescue, ensuring another chapter in the Club's up-and-down history that provided supporters with a much-needed period of success. Robinson appointed Colin Appleton as Manager, who guided the team to promotion in his first season in charge in 1982/83. The following campaign saw the Tigers miss out on a second successive promotion by just one goal! The disappointment led to Appleton's departure to Swansea City. Alarm bells started to ring, but Robinson made another shrewd appointment in bringing Brian Horton to the Club as Player/Manager. Horton came in and also won promotion in his first season in 1984/85. The Tigers again came close to joining English football's elite in 1985/86, before eventually having to settle for a sixth-placed finish. The following seasons saw the Tigers reside in the lower half of the table and Horton's departure was followed by a succession of managers who failed to provide the Club with the desperately needed place in the top-flight of English football. A second spell for Appleton was short-lived and unsuccessful. When Robinson announced his own departure as Chairman, Appleton was swiftly replaced by new Chairman Richard Chetham, who then appointed Stan Ternent - a man with no previous managerial experience - as his successor. It proved to be another unsuccessful appointment and Ternent's dismissal saw Terry Dolan appointed in January 1991. During the next six years, the Tigers were relegated twice to find themselves in the basement division of the league once again. In addition to the problems on the field, they also faced a constant battle to stay afloat against the rising financial tide that threatened to engulf them. Martin Fish, who had replaced Chetham as Chairman, spent a lot of his time in the High Court defending numerous winding-up orders brought against the Club, whilst Dolan fought a losing battle against the dwindling band of loyal supporters whose patience had worn thin with the lack of success and the style of play he adopted. In the summer of 1997, the ownership of the Club changed once again with former Tennis player David Lloyd taking charge. He installed Mark Hateley as the Tigers' new Player/Manager to replace Dolan and expectations were raised amongst supporters that the good times would return to Boothferry Park, which had gone into decline since it's heyday in the 1970s and was now a tired and distressed former shadow of the magnificent stadium that Harold Needler built. The hope was to be short-lived though as Lloyd was to become even more unpopular than his predecessor as Chairman Martin Fish. Lloyd sold his interest in the Tigers to a Sheffield-based consortium in November 1998, but retained ownership of Boothferry Park. By Christmas 1998, the Tigers were six points adrift at the bottom of the Division Three table. The new owners had sacked Hateley and appointed Warren Joyce - at the time a member of the Tigers' squad - as his replacement. It proved to be an inspired move! In a season that will forever be known in the Club's history as 'The Great Escape' - a combination of Joyce's leadership and astute purchases of players saw the Tigers move away from the bottom of the league and live to fight another day! Expectations of better times increased once again, but progress was mundane. As the 1999/2000 season drew to a close, with the team in no-mans land of mid-table, Joyce was sacked and replaced by Brian Little. Little had managerial experience of the highest level and much was expected of his Hull City side as the 2000/01 campaign approached. The expectation was shattered when financial wrangles with former owner, but still landlord of Boothferry Park, Lloyd saw the Tigers locked out of their stadium. Eventually an agreement was reached but the high level of the debts that burdened the Tigers didn't go away. By February 2001, the Club faced extinction yet again when a winding up order was served against them in the High Court for money owed to the Inland Revenue. Compounding the problem was the fact that just days before a home league fixture against Leyton Orient, Lloyd had sent in the bailiffs and locked the Tigers out of Boothferry Park. With only hours to go before the Tigers were likely to become extinct, the Club was once again placed into administration and up for sale. Amazingly, given the Club's problems off the field, the team confounded the experts by their performances on it. Despite not having been paid for weeks, their performances were such that a place in the end of season play-offs looked a strong possibility. The administrators received a number of enquiries from potential purchasers, but eventually recommended one which they felt would secure the Club's future. Announced as the Tigers' new owner in March 2001 was Adam Pearson - a former Commercial Director at Leeds United. With their future secured, attention turned to on-field matters and a remarkable season ended with the Tigers in the play-offs, although they lost out to Leyton Orient at the semi-finals stage. With the financial backing of Pearson, Little was able to bring in a host of new players, but he failed to deliver promotion and was replaced by Jan Molby in April 2002. But, by October the same year, Molby had also departed with the Tigers nearer to the foot of the Division Three table than the summit. The new manager brought in to revive the Tigers' fortunes was Peter Taylor, who was introduced to the Boothferry Park crowd ahead of a 3-0 win over Rochdale. Within two months Taylor had departed Boothferry Park, but it wasn't a dramatic dismissal, for Hull City had left their home ground for pastures new. Moving to a new home was an option considered by a succession of owners during the 1990s, but it wasn’t until the arrival of Pearson that move was finally rubber-stamped with the building of the now named KCOM Stadium. Darlington provided the opposition in the club’s final-ever Boothferry Park fixture, with the Quakers inflicting a 1-0 defeat on the Tigers in front of 14,162 spectators on 14th December 2002. 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