49 Fun Facts About Hull City

Which newspaper is credited with coining Hull City's 'Tigers' nickname in 1905?

The Hull Daily Mail is thought to have coined the name in 1905, when one of its reporters used it in reference to the team's striped kit.

Which two colours make up Hull City's traditional home kit?

Black and amber have been Hull City's colours since their first season, with only brief exceptions; an all-amber kit tried in 1964-65 was so unpopular with supporters that it was dropped after one season.

Which rugby league ground first hosted Hull City?

The Boulevard staged Hull City's first games; formed too late to join a league for 1904-05, the club filled that season with friendlies before election to the Football League.

Which stadium was Hull City's home from 1946 until 2002?

Boothferry Park opened in August 1946 with only one stand finished, and by the time Hull City left in December 2002 a supermarket had been built into one end of the ground.

The MKM Stadium is shared with which rugby league club?

Hull F.C., one of rugby league's oldest clubs, left their ground of 107 years in 2003 to share the football club's new council-owned stadium.

Who scored the only goal in the 2008 play-off final that sent Hull City to the top flight?

Dean Windass, sold in 1995 when his hometown club was in financial trouble, returned in 2007 and at 39 volleyed the goal that took Hull into the top flight for the first time.

Who did the Tigers beat in the 2008 Championship play-off final?

Bristol City lost 1-0 at Wembley on 24 May 2008, a result that completed Hull's climb from the fourth tier to the top flight in just five seasons.

Who was Hull City's manager when they first reached the Premier League in 2008?

Phil Brown took Hull up via the 2008 play-offs and kept them in the Premier League in 2009, delivering his famous on-pitch half-time team talk at Manchester City on Boxing Day 2008.

Hull City lost their first FA Cup final, in 2014, to which club?

Arsenal won 3-2 after extra time; James Chester and Curtis Davies had Hull 2-0 up inside ten minutes before Aaron Ramsey's 109th-minute winner.

Which manager led Hull City to two Premier League promotions, an FA Cup final and Europe from 2012 to 2016?

Steve Bruce walked out in July 2016, eight weeks after winning the play-off final, when his relationship with the club's hierarchy broke down.

Who scored Hull City's first top-flight goal, against Fulham in August 2008?

Geovanni, a former Barcelona midfielder, curled in the equaliser after Hull fell behind inside ten minutes, and Caleb Folan's late goal won their first top-flight game 2-1.

Who is Hull City's record goalscorer, with 222 goals in all competitions?

Chris Chilton scored 222 goals for his local club between 1960 and 1971, and in 2020 an appeal backed by its supporters raised more than £40,000 towards his dementia care.

Who holds Hull City's appearance record, with 579 games in all competitions?

Andy Davidson, a Scottish full-back, made a club-record 579 appearances for Hull City, the last of them in 1967, despite breaking his leg three times during his career.

Which owner tried and failed to rename the club 'Hull Tigers'?

Assem Allam, the Egyptian-born owner who bought the club in 2010, argued 'City' was too common a name and said he would have renamed Manchester City 'Manchester Hunter'.

In April 2014, which body rejected Hull City's application to change its name?

The FA Council threw out the application by a 63.5% vote in April 2014, after the supporters' group City Till We Die had campaigned against the owner's plan.

Which Turkish media mogul completed a takeover of Hull City in January 2022?

Acun Ilıcalı, a television presenter and producer, completed his takeover in January 2022 and sacked Liam Rosenior in May 2024 despite a seventh-place finish, citing differing 'football philosophy'.

Hull City contest the Humber derby with Scunthorpe United and which other club?

Grimsby Town complete the trio because all three clubs come from the old county of Humberside, Hull north of the estuary and the other two south of it.

What kind of ground was the Circle, Hull City's temporary home during 1905-06?

Cricket was the Circle's game: Hull City rented the home of Hull Cricket Club until their own ground opened next door in March 1906, and the club's current stadium now stands on the site.

What was the name of Hull City's first permanent home, opened in March 1906?

Anlaby Road was Hull City's home from March 1906 until the Second World War shut the club down; it never staged league football again, because the club restarted at a new ground in 1946.

Hull City's biggest ever competitive win was 11–1 in 1939 against which club?

Carlisle United lost 11-1 in the Third Division North on 14 January 1939, months before the war ended league football at Hull City's old ground for good.

Which club beat Hull City 8–0 in July 2020, equalling the heaviest defeat in Hull's history?

Wigan Athletic won 8-0, yet both clubs went down days later: Hull finished bottom, and Wigan were relegated by a 12-point deduction for entering administration.

What club record did Duane Darby set in Hull's 8–4 win over Whitby Town?

Most goals in one match: Duane Darby scored six of the eight, a double hat-trick, in a season when Hull finished only 17th in the bottom division.

What did Hull fans throw onto the pitch at Bolton in 1998 to protest the owner?

Tennis balls were thrown onto the pitch at Bolton during a 1998 League Cup tie because the club's owner was a former tennis player, whose plans for the club supporters bitterly opposed.

Which former Hull City owner had bailiffs lock the club out of its own ground in 2000?

David Lloyd sold the club in 1998 but kept the stadium, and in May 2000 repossessed it in a row over unpaid rent, locking staff out until a legal fight let Hull back in.

Who became Hull City's first manager from outside Britain and Ireland in 2002?

Jan Mølby, the Danish former Liverpool midfielder, was appointed in April 2002 and sacked that October; Peter Taylor then took over and began the climb to the Premier League.

Hull lost English football's first penalty shoot-out in 1970 in which competition?

The Watney Cup semi-final of 1970 went to English football's first shoot-out, where Hull keeper Ian McKechnie saved from Denis Law, then hit the bar with the kick that put his own side out.

Which former England international was player-manager when Hull won the Third Division North in 1948–49?

Raich Carter, an FA Cup winner with Sunderland and Derby, dropped into the third tier to join Hull in 1948 and, as player-manager, took them up as champions a year later.

Hull's record home attendance of 55,019 came in a 1949 FA Cup tie against which club?

Manchester United won the sixth-round tie 1-0 in front of 55,019, more than twice what Hull's present stadium holds, at a time when the home side was in the third tier.

Hull City Council largely funded the club's 2002 stadium by selling shares in which company?

Kingston Communications, the city's own telephone company with its white phone boxes, was floated in 1999, and cash from the council's share sale built the roughly £44 million stadium.

Who was appointed Hull City's permanent manager in January 2012?

Nick Barmby, a Hull-born former England midfielder, was caretaker from November 2011 and permanent manager from January 2012 before being sacked that May after criticising the club's transfer policy.

Which player captained Hull City in all four divisions, from the bottom tier in 2002 to the Premier League in 2008?

Ian Ashbee led the side through three promotions in five seasons, despite a bone condition in 2005 that his doctor warned could have left him unable to walk.

Who did Hull City beat in the 2016 Championship play-off final?

Sheffield Wednesday lost 1-0 at Wembley to a 25-yard Mohamed Diamé strike, which sent Hull straight back to the Premier League 370 days after relegation.

Which Hull midfielder celebrated a goal in the 6–0 win over Fulham in 2013 with an on-pitch haircut?

Tom Huddlestone had vowed for charity not to cut his hair until he scored again; when he did, in the 6-0 win over Fulham, a lock was snipped at the touchline and later auctioned for Cancer Research.

Hull City's first-ever European match, in 2014, was a 0–0 draw away to a club from which country?

Hull drew 0-0 away to AS Trenčín of Slovakia in July 2014 and won the return 2-1, before Belgium's Lokeren knocked them out on away goals.

Which two players did Hull City sign together on 29 July 2014?

Harry Maguire and Andrew Robertson both signed on 29 July 2014, from Sheffield United and Dundee United respectively; both left in 2017, Maguire for Leicester and Robertson for Liverpool.

Which winger's January 2020 sale to West Ham set Hull's record transfer fee received?

Jarrod Bowen left for more than £20 million in January 2020; Hull, eighth on New Year's Day, then lost 16 of their last 20 games and were relegated in bottom place.

Under which head coach did Hull win the League One title in 2020–21?

Grant McCann, who had been relegated with Hull the previous season, led them straight back up as 2020-21 League One champions, the club's fourth league title and first since 1965-66.

Which Oscar-nominated actor famously followed Hull City from his home in Paris?

Omar Sharif was introduced to the club by Hull-born actor Tom Courtenay, his Doctor Zhivago co-star, and said he would telephone for the score whenever he couldn't reach a television.

Which former Deputy Prime Minister was a well-known Hull City supporter?

John Prescott was born in Wales but made Hull his home for 60 years and sat as Hull East's MP for 40 of them; his funeral was held at Hull Minster in January 2025.

Which 1961 Elvis Presley song do Hull City fans sing as a pre-match anthem?

'Can't Help Falling in Love' borrows its melody from an 18th-century French love song, 'Plaisir d'amour', and Hull are one of several English clubs whose fans sing it before kick-off.

Which future England manager broke into Hull's first team in the early 1980s?

Steve McClaren played more than 170 league games in Hull's midfield before leaving in 1985; as England manager he lasted only 18 matches, sacked after failing to qualify for Euro 2008.

Ian Goodison and Theo Whitmore, signed in 1999, were internationals for which country?

Theo Whitmore and Ian Goodison, both members of Jamaica's 1998 World Cup squad, joined Hull together in October 1999; Whitmore had scored twice against Japan in France.

In 1935–36, Hull City swapped their usual shirts for which colour, taken from the city's civic colours?

Blue shirts with white shorts, in the city's municipal colours and carrying its three-crowns arms, lasted a single season: Hull were relegated and went back to their stripes.

Which Hull midfielder celebrated a 2009 penalty at Manchester City by mimicking his manager's on-pitch team talk?

Jimmy Bullard sat his team-mates in a circle and wagged a finger at them, parodying the half-time lecture given on the same pitch a year earlier; his manager called it a fantastic celebration.

Which head coach, appointed in June 2025, led Hull City to promotion through the 2026 Championship play-offs?

Sergej Jakirović inherited a side that had stayed up only on goal difference the season before, then took it into the Premier League at the first attempt from sixth place.

Which Russian coach spent six months in charge of Hull City in 2017?

Leonid Slutsky, whose playing career ended at 19 when he fell from a tree rescuing a neighbour's cat, had coached CSKA Moscow and Russia before his six months at Hull ended by mutual consent.

Which club did Hull City beat in the 2026 play-off final to return to the Premier League?

Middlesbrough, reinstated in the final when Southampton were expelled for spying on their training, lost 1-0 to a 95th-minute Oli McBurnie goal.

Which former Crystal Palace and Charlton boss failed to keep Hull up in 2010?

Iain Dowie was announced as a 'Football Management Consultant' in March 2010, and relegation was confirmed by a 2-2 draw away on 3 May 2010 with one game to play.

Under which manager did Hull win promotion as Third Division champions in 1965-66?

Cliff Britton, a former Everton and England half-back, won the 1965-66 Third Division title, the start of a twelve-season stay in the second tier.