The FA Cup: Are Hull Due A Change Of Luck? By Nick Boldock @nboldock Itâs not every day you see the words âHull Cityâ and âquarter finalâ in the same sentence. In fact, as far as the FA Cup goes, the recent victory over Brighton saw us reach the last eight for only the sixth time in our 110-year history. Rarefied air indeed. Sunderland in the next round A tantalising home draw with Sunderland awaits in the next round with a semi final at Wembley (more on that in a tick) the prize for the winner. Weâve already beaten Sunderland twice in the Premier League this season (and seen them awarded no less than three red cards in the process) and even without our two top strikers â Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long are both unable to play in the Cup â we must surely have high hopes of reaching the hallowed Wembley turf for only the second time ever. Personally Iâm of the opinion that Wembley should be reserved for the final. Playing the semis there is a nonsense which has everything to do with bean-counting (as is well documented, the cup semi final arrangement exists purely to help Wembley pay the bills) and nothing whatsoever to do with common sense or, God forbid, football. Awesome as it would be to see the Tigers play there again, achieving that goal via a semi final seems something of a cheat in a way. History Anyway. Letâs not get ahead of ourselves. This is Hull City weâre talking about here. You donât have to go very far back at all to find a history littered with ignominious cup exits to the likes of Macclesfield, Crawley and â perhaps the most humiliating of all â the mighty Hednesford Town. We should know by now that cup competitions and Hull City do not usually go well together. Our last quarter final appearance â against Arsenal in 2009 â ended in tears and gritted teeth as referee Mike Riley decided to completely disregard the offside rule (for reasons known only to himself) and allow William Gallas to score a controversial winner. Donât get me started⦠So, could this be the season our luck changes? For some reason, Iâm quietly confident. This is probably the best squad City have ever had and the past is just that â the past. We may not have the firepower of Jelavic and Long available in the Cup but you only need to score one goal to win a game of football and we have a squad well capable of that. 1-0 to City? Yeah, Iâll take that. Either way, weâll find out soon enough. Massive game Lest we forget, before we go all googly-eyed over the FA Cup, there is the small matter of the Premier League. Sitting at eleventh place in a table with a weirdly compressed bottom half, City host Newcastle this afternoon [the game may have taken place by the time you read this]. With the team on form after the 4-0 massacre of Cardiff last weekend and the subsequent progress in the cup, this is a huge game and one we should really be looking to take three points from. Letâs hope we can make it three wins on the spin in the run up to that quarter final next weekend. Briefly returning to the subject of the FA Cup (in a roundabout way), thereâs one final comment Iâd like to make before wrapping up for now. You may have been wondering if this was going to be the first article on Hull City this season that would pass without mentioned The Dreaded Name Change. Well, wonder no more; Iâm afraid Iâm going to have to mention it. Next Sunday afternoon, all being well, Hull City AFC (for that is our right and proper name) could be heading to Wembley for an FA Cup semi final. Who knows, we could even make the final â which would be our first ever appearance in a major final, a monkey we would absolutely love to get off our backs. Heck, we might even WIN the thing. Stranger things have happened, right? If that were to happen, the name of Hull City AFC would be indelibly etched on the cup, and what a proud moment that would be for all of us. And what a horrible crime it would be if the team were then immediately renamed Hull Tigers in accordance with our chairmanâs irrational whim. To create history, and then immediately destroy it, in the blink of an eye â depressing thought, isnât it? http://fourfourtweet.co.uk/the-fa-cup-are-hull-due-a-change-of-luck/
Interesting article. Won't we know what the FA's decision on the name change before the semi final is played? Also, how many tickets we sold for Sunderland?
Tickets are not on general sale until tomorrow. Saturday is huge game simply because the chances to be 90minutes from an appearance at Wembley and playing at home do not come along every day of the week. I hope the local media get behind this game and give it the build up it deserves. But I'm not holding my breath. The build up should be starting this morning but all I've heard and read so far is reaction to Alan Pardew and unbelievably something on RHumberside actually putting most of the blame on Meyler. Heard on Saturday some interesting comments about the football last week end. Seems the city centre and Princes Avenue had a bumper weekend 'Like a Bank Holiday, only better' As a result of the number of Newcastle fans who were here on Friday night. Hotels did well too. Also despite dire warnings of possible riots in Cottingham by HP to the various landlords the only trouble they had was shutting their tills due to the amount of cash in them. No trouble all weekend. Good news story perhaps for the HDM ? Something positive perhaps on RH about the economic boost to the local economy because of football ? No. Not a mention. But if one person had been arrested or god forbid a window smashed it would have been all over the front pages.
I'm not surprised. They're a good bunch the Geordies/ Mackems/ North Easterners. They travel in good numbers, which is something I want us to do. I heard there was a bit of agro in Bev during the morning of the match, but that was hearsay from a non football fan. You just need to see what the areas like when it's Geordie Day in Bev/ Bev Races. They're everywhere. I agree, the local rag should be biging up this weekend. It's a fantastic opportunity to make some history.
The FA decision relates to our name from next season, we remain Hull City this season whatever they vote for.
It must just be me but I don't really take offence at people calling us Hull in a post or article title. I don't mind singing "We are Hull" either to be fair. I wonder if West Brom fans get upset if one of their own refer to them as West Brom instead of West Bromwich Albion. To be clear I am against the name change but don't mind abbreviations or nicknames.
I have it on good authority that the author of the article did not use "Hull" in the headline; it was edited by the FourFourTweet team. Though it isn't really a big deal either way really.
We ARE going to Wembley. Its written in the stars. Been singing we're going to Wembley all morning ....female friend thinks I've gone madder then usual.
There is one Newcastle hooligan who got off lightly after causing trouble at the weekend - Alan Pardew.
Ticket office have said that they are going very well to the season card holders as this is the last day before general sale starts tuesday. A so-called Sell Out is expected. No reason why 25k plus cannot get tickets. Yes. An OAP pushed into a queue in Couplands for a sausage roll. The kid stood on the poor blokes dentures. I think when the dust has settled on this Alan Pardew will suffer and not just in his bank balance. Maybe another £100k fine and a 10 game pitch ban ??
Did you mean ¿Que? Are you Manuel in disguise? [video=youtube;H-oH-TELcLE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-oH-TELcLE[/video]
Not what the ticket office is saying ? Also, many plastics are waiting for tuesday and have already been turned away.
So a 'plastic' is anybody without a season ticket then ? Always wondered what that word meant in the context of football fans
