Things We Think We Think page 2 (2024)

2011-2014

Highlights
Name change beginnings
2014 FA Cup final
City in Europe (Slovakia)
City in Europe (Belgium)
#18 October 3, 2011 – Allams float ‘Sports Village’ idea, genesis of rift with the Council?

#167 December 22, 2014

1. Let’s be plain – Saturday against Swansea was a disaster. Another defeat was bad enough, but its dire nature is extremely concerning. No fight, no passion, no obvious strategy for victory – for players and manager, this was an awful afternoon.

2. It’s hard to know where to point the finger of blame. Steve Bruce is the manager, and he has ultimate responsibility for this rapidly worsening season; yet his mistakes are being compounded by outright abdication of responsibility from players who can and must do better. Senior professionals at the club are not pulling their weight, the team is collectively not doing itself (or us) justice.

3. This is close to a crisis for Bruce, for whom things are spiralling out of control. Defeat to Sunderland and Leicester could make his job look extremely insecure. Whether that’s right or wrong is immaterial – things are bad, and getting worse, and if a manager looks incapable of arresting a slide, the simple fact is that he’s at risk of being dismissed.

4. The bookies now make City 6/4 to be relegated. That makes demotion slightly less likely than survival; but equally, they can only find two teams with shorter odds. It’s a very real and very serious danger, which makes the tepid performances all the more infuriating.

5. Are City planning for relegation in any serious way? Because they’d better. And when they do, the vast folly of their recent antics will become clear. If City are relegated, plenty of people will clear off, and they’ll be back to relying on their core support. Except that Assem Allam and those at the club tasked with implementing his foolish ideas have spent close to two years eagerly doing everything they can do alienate that core support – with the consequence that many of them have already had enough. Once upon a time, those people would have been the club’s insurance policy against relegation, the die-hards who’d be there whatever happens. But will that happen this time? We don’t know; but immense stupidity like Hull Tigers India, ongoing usage of Huddersfield hashtags, bickering with the FA and so on means that they’re running a grave risk of finding out that those they’ll need most in the event of 2015/16 being a Championship season have decided there’s only so much contempt for them they can stomach before finding more rewarding past-times.

6. Some of the outrage about Paul McShane’s mooted departure is a little excessive. However jovial his demeanour and formidable his application, in pure footballing terms his exclusion from the team is worthy of robust debate but not exactly the gravest error in Steve Bruce’s career. It’d undoubtedly be a shame to see him leave, as you suspect he really likes being at City (and we like him being here) – but there are plenty of things to be more cross about.

7. We attach little credibility to the rumours of the club being sold to an American gazillionaire. We’ve never taken seriouslyAssem Allam’s threat to walk away from the club if, horror of horrors, it continues to be called the same thing it’s been called for 110 years either. At the end of the season, we’ll still be Hull City AFC, and Assem Allam will still be the owner. Dull, but probably true.

8. From the magnificent people at City Till We Die, the new Hull City Supporters’ Trust has been born. Sincere congratulations and thanks to them for their hard work, we’re certain they’ll continue to work tirelessly to promote the interests of City fans. We’ve needed a strong, proactive supporters’ association for some years – we remember glancing enviously at Huddersfield’s during the West Yorkshire Police debacle – and this can only be a good thing. The very best of luck to them.

9. Let’s hope the club is keen to work with them, too. They say that supporter engagement is important – here’s a great opportunity for them to demonstrate that.

10. All that’s left is for us to wish those of you who read our outpourings a very Merry Christmas. See you for turkey sandwiches at Sunderland.

#166 December 15, 2014

1. It’s difficult to put into words the monumental stupidity of what Hull City AFC has been up to during their jaunt to India. But we’ll give it a go.

2. Overseas and therefore freed, in their minds, of the constraints imposed by the immoveable opposition of City fans, most other football fans, Supporters’ Direct, the Football Supporters Federation, the ERCFA and the FA itself, they’re indulging in their witless little “Hull Tigers” fantasy with merry abandon. A new Twitter account, “HullTigersIndia” has been set up. The word “City” has been eradicated from everything. Unlike every other club’s stall at the event, we use our nickname, not our name. “Hull Tigers” explicitly appears everywhere. Sometimes just “Tigers”.

3. It’s clear that the club isn’t going to drop this. Ever. And even a change of ownership may not help, because there are people other than just the Allams who genuinely believe in this utter rubbish with quasi-religious certainty, and for whom no quantity of facts or reason will ever help. Convinced of their rightness they press on, certain that one more push is all it will take for the scales to fall from our eyes and for mass genuflection for their visionary genius to occur. Yet history is emphatically not on their side. Few demographics have longer memories or better grudge-holding skills than football fans, and we’ll be here long after this shower have taken their GCSE marketing theories elsewhere.

4. It isn’t just the undisguised contempt for City fans and the FA that grates. It’s the epic incompetence. On Saturday, a short-lived competition was launched offering Indians the chance to go England to watch “the Hull Tigers” [sic] was launched (here), and pulled shortly after, perhaps when it was pointed out on Twitter that according to the FA’s ruling of April 9th, this is a literally unwinnable prize.

5. But it’s worse. Not only is City removed, but even our home city’s title appears only fleetingly.This appears atop the club’s stand. So what happens when giddy new Asian fans, who’ll never visit the Circle or buy anything but who pose for a photo and make Assem Allam feel all warm and vindicated, go home and see where Tigers are in the Premier League? And then see nothing?

6. And what a tragic missed opportunity. A golden opportunity to take the name Hull City AFC abroad has been deliberately spurned. Brand consistency, a term we don’t care for but whose existence we at least recognise, has become secondary to these infantile attempts to spite the fans and the FA. All because the name Hull City AFC was retained. It’s pathetic. Absolutely, cringeingly, shamefully pathetic.

7. Hatem Ben Arfa has gone to France and won’t be back. Good.

8. A huge number of people who may have been considering making the trip to Arsenal for the FA Cup tie have had their decision made for them by the BBC’s boneheaded choice to screen it at 5.30pm on the Sunday evening of third round weekend. If the commentator that day questions any shortage of numbers in the away end, then he can expect plenty of colourfully-worded tweetage regarding television company interference and restricted train services.

9.City played okay against Chelseabut were undone by a combination of the opposition’s obvious quality and the utter cowardice of an experienced Premier League referee who yet again showed that the Big Clubs™ gain favours when it comes to the antics of their players. Chris Foy booked two players for dives; a third, Gary Cahill, was let off a second caution for something Brian Phelps (there’s one for the teenagers) would have winced at, essentially because it would have involved dismissing England’s best defender in front of his home fans and a manager who is rarely forgiving of officials that dare disrupt his plans.

10. Tom Huddlestone is now going to miss at least three games through his red card at Stamford Bridge. The challenge was dreadful and Steve Bruce was gallant enough to admit the sending off was correct. Yet while nationally there will be howls of faux-sympathy for our plight without this allegedly great creator, it wouldn’t come as a shock if the majority of City fans actually thought we’d probably be better off in our next three games without someone whose skill is considerable but, presently, whose facility to flatter to deceive is somewhat more considerable. Against Swansea, Sunderland and Leicester, we need players who understand the need to fight. Huddlestone, at the moment, doesn’t have that trait.

#165 December 9, 2014

1. Interesting week, really. Some good, some disappointing. The good stuff first: seeing the longer-serving team players, isolated recently by Steve Bruce in his efforts to sex up the aesthetic quality of the side, return to the side and outplay semi-illustrious hosts for a fair portion of the game and eke out a point was most illuminating.

2. It was also genuinely exciting. City being more exciting when grafters like David Meyler and Stephen Quinn are in, while cultured one-touchers such as Hatem Ben Arfa get the elbow, seems most contradictory. But we saw a team, an actual team, a group of men wanting the same thing and being prepared to work and put themselves in the firing line for the cause. In a situation like ours, it’s a trait that is more vital than ever.

3. Sone Aluko got us a deserved, unexpected point with a cute goal indeed. If ever a player needs rehabilitating with all observers of the team, it’s he. Maybe that is now on the cards. The player is quality. He needs to remind himself, and his manager, and us, of it all the more often and the goal at Everton hopefully commences that process.

4. Sadly, quality was sadly lacking during the draw against West Brom three days later. After the stirring point at Everton, it was a deflating experience to see City look so uncertain when attempting to puncture the defence of decidedly substandard opposition at home. The Tigers were ponderous, one-dimensional and unimaginative, and despite eventually establishing almost complete domination of possession and territory, we rarely looked like scoring.

5. That represents a real missed opportunity. After a dauntingly difficult series of fixtures, and with the hardest match of the season looming, it wasn’t hard to identify West Brom at home as both a chance and almost an obligation to notch up a win. Perhaps it was the pressure and the almost must-win nature of the game that proved just too weighty a burden for the side.

6. It means that a tough winter is now close to inevitable. City are now in the relegation zone, and unlikely to exit it next week. A rousing rise up the table shouldn’t be discounted – we have quality players after all – but right now, this feels like a season of survival and not a season for prospering. That’s disappointing, but ultimately that disappointment will need brushing off if we’re to actually achieve survival.

7. Next up, Chelsea away. Good grief. Newcastle turning them over on Saturday will either knock them, or make them even more determined. And whichever way you look at it, on our current form, this feels like certain defeat. We’d love to be proven wrong, however.

8. After that, a friendly series of fixtures awaits, four winnable ones in succession. Steve Bruce will have a mental target for the number of points we require, though he’s probably too smart to make that public. Given our position, seven points would do nicely.

9. Speaking of Steve Bruce, there’s a modest but growing level of grumbling about the manager. It’s patently ridiculous to suggest that his position is under threat, or that it should be. Nonetheless, it isn’t unfair to wonder why City’s season is not going well. Out of Europe distressingly quickly, out of the League Cup at the earlier opportunity and in the bottom three. Hmm.

10. He won’t have welcomed Arsenal away in the FA Cup either. Even if City break with 2014/15 custom and take this cup competition seriously, another early exit is likely.

#164 December 1, 2014

1: TheMan Utd defeatlooked fairly routine on paper, and it looked fairly routine on grass too. And not in a good way either.

2: If the home side has ever had an easier afternoon than that, we’d be genuinely interested in hearing about it. City not only failed to lay a glove on them, they rarely looked interested in even trying to. It’s not really clear what City were trying to do, because all that happened is that Jelavic was desperately isolated up front while the midfield wandered around to minimal effect and the defence alternated between passing the ball straight to Man U players and then waving them merrily through.

3: Apropos of gloves, stop wearing them please, Hatem Ben Arfa. It was a mild November day in England, not midwinter in Scandinavia. And any more performances as rank as that may see him wearing gloves elsewhere – on a day when few impressed, he really stood out as being poor.

4: Mind you, glove-wearing midfielders have nothing on half-and-half scarf wearers. On anyone over the age of about 15, they’re utterly revolting.

5: Everton away in midweek will be unbelievably difficult. Actually, scratch that – it’ll be believably difficult. We’ve not taken anything from there in the Premier League era and we’re hardly in the form to do so now.

6: City are now as short as 2/1 to be relegated. The likelihood remains that there’ll be three teams poorer than us to keep us safe; but weren’t we supposed to have loftier aims than mere survival this season?

7: Someone made an interesting point regarding Hull City’s official Twitter account at the weekend; namely, using the phrase ‘GOAL!!!’ (complete with upper case letters and excitable exclamation marks) isn’t probably appropriate when it’s the opposition who have scored. A simple lower case, unemotive, non-celebratory version of the word would suffice, reserving the more exhilarative interpretation for City goals. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if and when (let’s face it, we mean ‘when’) Everton score on Wednesday and the club’s tweetmaster needs to respond.

8: The club has, of course, decided that the Huddersfield hashtag “UTT” is preferable to using City’s own name; and okay, that’s their stupid decision to make, and in years to come it’ll be remembered as just another instance of the club acting with foolish passive-aggression towards its own fans. Nonetheless, we’ll be meeting with the club again on Tuesday night, so if there’s anything else we can try to help them with, please do let us know.

9: It’sa year today since Assem Allam slandered City fans as hooligans. A year he’s had to apologise. The lack of one proves that this is genuinely his view of us. What a sad state of affairs.

10: Regarding the owner, he’s said he won’t spend any more money if he’s not allowed his ridiculous name change. Granted, he says a lot of things, and they don’t have a 100% history of being correct – but if City are in the relegation zone and his manager is crying out for a new player in January, will he really resist? And should he?

#163 November 25, 2014

1. There were good things to take from the Tottenham game. Honestly, there were. After the sordid defeat to Burnley, we saw the welcome return of application from the side, who looked up for the game and tore into Spurs from the off. Effort is the minimum requirement of course, whether you’re a Premier League millionaire or a Sunday League clogger, and its absence at Turf Moor was galling; it was plainly on show on Sunday, and that’s a positive.

2. The Tigers’ attacking intent was also encouraging. The second half overshadowed what preceded it, but with some more alert finishing we’d have been a couple of goals up, a situation from which defeat would have been unlikely. City played with panache and determination and it warmed the crowd up no end.

3. The problem is, we didn’t go 2-0 up. That single goal lead always felt fragile, and if Steve Bruce can have criticised his side when it still had eleven on the pitch, it’s that our dominance in the first half-hour was only rewarded by one goal. Chances were made but not taken.

4. Oh, Mr Pawson. Clueless. Not just over the red card, but it was one of those afternoon where his lesser decisions and general approach to officiating makes you wonder if you liked football as a kid. We suspect not.

5. However, City’s approach after this is worthy of examination. Most of the second half was spent in full retreat, which would happen inevitably towards the end of the game, but which felt a little premature with forty minutes still left.

6. Gaston Ramirez – back to Southampton?

7. Our ex-Tottenham trio probably came in for the most attention. Huddlestone was better (which is not saying a huge amount, sadly). Dawson was okay. Livermore was good. He can be a fine player, but he has badly underachieved this season. Let’s hope this is the start of a return to the form we know he’s capable of. And that if he scores against Spurs again, he celebrates.

8. It’s hard not to be pessimistic about City’s immediate prospects. Trips to Manchester United and Everton could easily leave us in the bottom three before the next home game, which feels a desperate shame given the bright start we made. This season doesn’t feel terribly satisfying so far – we had so hoped this would be the season we kicked on and away from danger. But we are firmly in it.

9. Manchester United, then. We may as well attack it – they’re going to score at some point so we’ll need one (or more) of our own, and against their wobbly defence that’s achievable. Plus, victory at Old Trafford would – apart from creating history – be the sort of result that could re-illuminate the season. Don’t die wondering, City.

10. (a) Look, we got through a whole TWTWT without mentioning Europe or the name change! What do we win?

10. (b) Rest in peace Iain Hesford.

#162 November 17, 2014

1. How the international break has dragged – for fans and presumably players alike. Following the Burnley horror show, they’ll be as anxious as us to remedy things, but UEFA’s calendar unhappily intervened. At least they should all be anxious bursting with determination this time next week to put things right.

2. Perhaps, though, there’s less to put right then has been said. Including by us. The nature of the Burnley debacle made it feel like more than just a defeat but a serious deterioration in our prospects. That could be the case, but equally it could be a total freak. We’ll have a better idea by 6pm on Sunday.

3. It’ll be interesting, because Tottenham arrive in a glum mood too. Their home defeat to Stoke rather epitomised the sense of decay at White Hart Lane, a ground their own players are thought to dread playing at. It could be that being the visitors will suit them; though goodness knows our lads will relish being back in friendly surroundings. Games between two downcast outfits can be horribly fascinating as each side strives to be less scared than the other. We don’t expect goals or flowing football, but total application would be welcome.

4. It’ll have been a long weekend off for those not involved internationally whose places in the side are under the most immediate threat. Messrs Livermore and Huddlestone, so weak at Turf Moor and thought to have underperformed in 2014/15 anyway, may have had particularly anxieties.

5. From the international break, it did showcase, through some of our underperforming players, the old adage that class is permanent, unlike form. Andy Robertson played superbly for Scotland, James Chester was imperious in a big result for Wales, and Robbie Brady was dangerous when coming on as a sub for the Republic of Ireland.

6: In fact, Brady’s accuracy from dead balls was as infuriating as it was admirable, given how dreadful his set-piece delivery was at Turf Moor.

7. The substitution that introduced Brady to the fray in Glasgow induced a smidgeon of pride too; he and Stephen Quinn came on together, meaning the commentator had to refer to “two Hull City players” who had been chosen to try to change the game for their national side.

8: City have recalled Yannick Sagbo from Wolves due to our striking crisis. It’s hardly going to pull up trees.

9. Wolves have now signed Danny Graham on loan as a replacement. See point 8.

10. The club’s now had a month since it promised at the latest fans’ group meeting to reconsider its refusal to use the #hcafc hashtag on Twitter that the fans and media use. They haven’t done that and now presumably won’t. “So what’s the point of you going to these meetings then?”, we were asked. Exactly.

#161 November 10, 2014

1: We can throw awaySaturday’s performancewith a familiar shrug of ‘Typical City’ if you like, as there was always something inevitable about us being the first team to lose to Burnley in the Premier League this season. But we’re not going to.

2: This is because the display was worthless. As abject and as lousy as we’ve seen in either Premier League era, and certainly up there with Barnsley away in the Championship as our worst under Steve Bruce. We have a gifted squad but they gave due credence yesterday to the unsavoury view of football-bashers that top-tier players don’t give a toss about their job, their team or their supporters.

3: We’ll offer the benefit of the doubt to three: Steve Harper was helpless for the goal and had little else to do because Burnley were suitably unambitious once they scored; Paul McShane, aside from very nearly scoring an own goal which would’ve befitted his form and status three years ago, marshalled the defence as solidly as possible as the walls came tumbling down around him; and Ahmed Elmohamady kept delivering balls from the right and always made himself available, especially in the second half. The rest, however, will hopefully have spent their extra punitive training session on Sunday morning hanging their heads in shame.

4: We offer Steve Bruce credit for his apology and for calling the players in for extra work instead of allowing them to venture off on whatever highbrow or hedonistic social occasions around the continent they choose to pursue for the remainder of the weekend. We stop offering him credit there, however.

5: We gave up Europe so we could prosper in the Premier League. That was Steve Bruce’s decision, and it therefore obliges him to oversee City prospering in the League. We’re still not a third of the way through the season, so it’s still a bit early to judge – but right now, that decision feels every single bit as calamitously short-sighted as it did at the time.

6: We have two weeks to fester on the Burnley debacle, which is going to be an unhappy time. Then a tough series of fixtures. Of course, Tottenham at home could provide the sort of afternoon to put things back on track, and we know City are good enough to bloody anyone’s nose at home. It’d be lovely to think that a fortnight off before restarting again will do the trick.

7: It also gives Nikica Jelavić another two weeks to get fit. Please, get well soon Nikica. You are missed greatly.

8: Meanwhile, in the tiny world of eggchasing, all is not well with the franchise that shares the Circle with City, with the prospect of their gates shrinking well into four figures. We wonder whether anyone – City or Council – has done any serious thinking about what would happen if their decline becomes terminal?

9: Meanwhile, the council are the targets of yet more Allam ire. It’s deeply tiresome now. Just shut up and discharge your duties quietly and effectively, all of you.

10: It can’t be too long before the FA says “no” again.

#160 November 3, 2014

1: City were acutely off-form against Southampton, and while the two previous games had seen City play with confidence and determination, these qualities were oddly lacking on Saturday.

2: It’s easy to blame Eldin Jakupović, and he carries no little blame. His afternoon was a useful reminder of why he’s City’s third keeper – he just does not inspire calmness in teammates or fans alike.

3: That said, he was far from alone in being below his best. No-one really excelled, with even customarily combative players a yard off the pace.

4: Sometimes a club really has a hex over you and at the moment Southampton feels like the club least likely to yield points in the whole division. That’s alarming in a way, though at least it’s only a bi-annual event. Unless the Cup intervenes…

5: Let’s not panic though. This wasn’t an unexpected reverse and the rigours of the previous fortnight were clearly on show as City’s weariness in the second half was unmistakeable. Let’s regroup for Burnley.

6: That game was always an obvious target for both sides. You’d like to think the TypicalCity of yesteryear that’d virtually guarantee a struggling side victory has been banished. Let’s see.

7: Curtis Davies, James Chester, Alex Bruce, Paul McShane, Harry Maguire and Michael Dawson represent real strength in depth in central defence, don’t they? But now two – Dawson and Bruce – are injured, while one – Maguire – has yet to experience Premier League football. Combine that with our exposure of three centre backs at once on the pitch, and suddenly we’re one strained ligament or yellow card away from changing the system back to 4-4-2 because of lack of numbers. That’s a little unnerving.

8: Roy Hodgson was at the Circle on Saturday, sitting with the Allam family. We don’t imagine that his next England squad will contain any City names after that display, mind. A chance to achieve another first in the club’s history has likely gone.

9: Tom Ince hopefully will find his feet again after moving to Nottingham Forest for the rest of 2014. His early season form was so disappointing that the manager felt an urgent need to take him out of the firing line to the extent of buying more attacking players. One hopes that this young man doesn’t prove to be more about hype, a surname and an assertive father than he is about his ability to play in the top division.

10: Still no sign of #hcafc being resurrected, despite the latest fans’ group meeting quite clearly desiring it. Disappointing.

#159 October 27, 2014

1. Any draw is a good draw if you are an injury-hitCity playing away at Liverpool, and there was something bordering on the heroic about the team’s determination to keep their hosts at bay on Saturday.

2. That’s two points from trips to Arsenal and Liverpool. Given the whinging by Arsenal last week and the emphasis on Liverpool’s profligacy this week, we do wonder if anyone else but us has noticed how well Steve Bruce’s side have played.

3. Let’s warm to Eldin Jakupović. He does have that kamikaze streak in him that stops some fine goalkeepers from being great ones, but he is a most capable stopper, organiser and clutcher of high-velocity, airborne footballs. He even splits the AN hierarchy – some want him to have the solar iron ball treatment, others think he’s probably better than Steve Harper – but in our hour and a half of need, he delivered.

4. It was also nice to see fringe players not only get their chance at Anfield, but take those chances well. Alex Bruce and Robbie Brady were excellent, and it was a decent late cameo from Sone Aluko too.

5. Bruce’s typically committed “defender’s defender” display makes us mourn Michael Dawson’s injury a little less than we do for that of Nikica Jelavić, of whom we simply hope that six weeks of enforced absence doesn’t make him grumpy or unfocussed. There’s no worse time to lose an ace goalscorer than just when they’re proving truly ace at scoring goals.

6. It’s easy to ridicule the person spotted wearing a half-City-half-Liverpool shirt in the away end on Saturday. We’re just sorry that person chose to disrespect Steve Bruce and the team by wearing Liverpool red in the part of the ground reserved for Hull City fans. And as for the half-and-half scarves…

6b. We’re quite alright with revising our views in the face of a well constructed and reasoned argument, but no argument can ever be made that will change our views on half-and-half scarves. We got a bit of slavver from someone for deriding them last year, but so be it. If you’re a City fan, wear City colours, not those of our opponents, and so what if you loved Liverpool as a kid and now deign to give City your money because you deem them good enough to suit you, club swapping isn’t something to brag about, it’s anathema to those of us who’ve supported our local team all our lives, regardless of how sh*t they were.

7.Southampton at home, then. Tough one for the usual reasons, as well as the additional curveball thrown by a brilliant start to the campaign from a Saints side people assumed would struggle after their massive summer selling festival. They are *always* good against us, and it’s a courageous soul who thinks City at home to Southampton equals obvious victory.

8: We attended thelatest fans’ working group meeting last week, and one query we’ve heard a few times is whether they’re going to achieve anything or whether they’re worth giving up our time for. A fair question, particularly given that the club has pointedly refused to listen to the majority on the major issue of our time, though we remain hopeful and open-minded. The squabble over the club’s preference for using the Huddersfield Town “#UTT” and banishing the formerly used “#hcafc” strikes us as an interesting guage as to whether opinions will be listened to and acted upon. It’s an aggravating but essentially minor point, and one the club can easily act upon to demonstrate that it does care what people think. We’ll watch with interest, because it could tell us a lot about City’s willingness to work with fans.

9. For once, Ehab Allam’s ire with the footballing authorities seems justified. His irritation that Hull City AFC’s Academy cannot reach Category Two status until as late as 2016, despite only missing out recently by 2%, is a real pity. It’s a shame for City, whose youth system is still recovering from the hollowing-out it experienced way back in the 1990s, but also the Allams, whose investment in this essential component of a modern day football club is greatly underpraised. A rethink and a second chance for City to prove themselves would both welcome and consistent with the authorities’ assertions that they value long term sustainability and youth investment. On this, we are as one with Ehab Allam.

10. We’re pretty sure the club aren’t happy that it has taken until the end of October to get the third shirt on sale, but using ‘White Christmas’ as the marketing pitch caused the kit geek of our number to chortle.

#158 October 20, 2014

1. A good week on the pitch and – rarely – off it as well. Off field first, and City’s accounts were good news, in both tone and content. Tone because the club was pretty open about its figures, explaining that they were perhaps not as good as the headline profit may have suggested and stressing that the summer’s whopping transfer commitments were not included. And in content because they show the club breaking even and living broadly within its means.

2. There are flies in the ointment, of course. The debt is stable, to our considerable relief, but it is still frightening large. It’d be interesting to hear what plans the club have to bring this down in the coming years. The SMC’s performance is a concern too. Nonetheless, neither represent an immediate threat to the club’s future, and for that we congratulate the owners.

3. Needless to say, if Hull City AFC are making a profit, the need to call them something else is zero. Exactly the same as before, in fact.

4. Now, to the game at Arsenal. City were terrific weren’t they? Not thatMatch Of The Daynoticed (their one-eyed view of the game both in commentary and analysis was sick-making and pathetic) but the elongated period when Steve Bruce’s side led the match was thoroughly deserved and had it ended in a repeat scoreline of the win at the Emirates just over six years ago, nobody would have had a right to complain.

5. Arsenal still did complain, of course, indulged by a national media that cannot see beyond the fortunes and pitfalls of “big” clubs. The Gunners had a point when looking at Mohamed Diamé’s rather robust way of getting opponents out of the way on his path to goal, but nevertheless their endless bleating and woe-is-me posturing is most unsavoury and we find ourselves simply ceasing to care.

6. We have managed to concede a lot of late goals this season, mind. This could be coincidence but it should be at least a mild cause for worry. The games at Newcastle and now Arsenal, at home to Stoke and in the League Cup at West Bromwich Albion have all seen City drop points or sacrifice places in hats when victory was just moments away. Whether it’s fitness, focus or concentration we don’t know, but it’d be nice to have it stop.

7. There’s suddenly a minor injury crisis at the Circle. Our first two keepers are out after Arsenal, as could be our most expensive defender and our top scorer. It’s not a jolly thought that Eldin Jakupović could be in the starting line-up at Anfield next week, while opportunity suddenly knocks again for Paul McShane or Alex Bruce, and possibly Sone Aluko. This is why we have a squad, but that squad has to respond when misfortune befalls the first choice player.

8. By the way, Mr Motson, that’sEldin Jakupović. Just in case you get to slum it in our presence again.

9. It won’t be easy at Liverpool, of course, but they aren’t at all reminiscent of the flowing, progressive and genuinely entertaining team of the post-Christmas half of last season that nearly passed its way to the Premier League title. There is a chance for City there which is clear and obvious. And while we’ve nothing against baby Bruce, it’s be nice to see McShane chosen as the one to wind up Mario Balotelli, assuming Dawson doesn’t make it back.

10. City are now 6/1 to be relegated, longer odds than eight other clubs and rarely feature in any analysis of the contenders for the bottom three. Our current points-per-game would extrapolate to 47½ over the season whole season, which would be approaching ten more than enough to stay up. It’s far far too early to stop worrying about it – after all, 6/1 is the same price City were to win at Arsenal, and that so nearly happened. But are we allowed to start looking up rather than down yet?

#155 September 29, 2014

1. We always feared that City would go out of the League Cup weakly and disappointingly, but they almost transcended the City teams of the past on Wednesday night in the way they so blatantly and criminally failed to progress. To be 2-1 up with three minutes to go and still lose, without extra-time being required, was some going even for City.

2. It bruises us to make comments like the above, because more than ever do we want the club, the team and the coaching staff to take the competition seriously. The number of changes to the team and the resultant snatching of defeat, even allowing for its dramatic appearance from the jaws of victory, once again suggests a lackadaisical or casual attitude to any football competition which does not involve the Premier League. To us, the cup competitions represent something we can win, something we can enjoy, something we can nurture, something we can put permanently into our history. That’s twice now that this has been tossed away by club policy and decision-making that puts finishing mid-table in an unwinnable and often unlikeable league ahead of actual glory as a direct consequence of winning football matches.

3. West Bromwich Albion are now going to Bournemouth for a place in the quarter finals. Their fans will have a top night out, their team will probably win – especially as their manager is fighting to prove himself and may see a League Cup run as something to enhance his prospects – and then they’re in the quarter finals. Or alternatively, Bournemouth will be in the quarter finals. That’s Bournemouth. Not City.

4. And given that the Premier League champions were our next visitors, there seemed little sense in removing the momentum from a couple of entertaining and high-scoring, if winless, matches againstWest HamandNewcastleby altering the entire team. Manchester City should have been regarded as a free hit and the team Steve Bruce picked should have been motivated to have a pop at them whatever the scenario.

5. While still a defeat,the Man C gamewaas a little more heartening. City turned around a seemingly hopeless situation in the first half, admittedly aided by an own goal and a penalty, but their recovery reminded us that we are a team with heart and ability.

6. Nikica Jelavić has starred in recent weeks, and seems to be relishing the opportunity to be City’s senior striker. Far from being lost without his intended partner-in-crime Shane Long, he’s flourished of late. His darting runs and work off the ball are a delight to watch, and the addition of goals to his formidable skills make him a serious player at this level.

7. Defensively, how long before Steve Bruce changes things – and to what? Will he go back to 3-5-2 in order to accommodate James Chester back in the side and re-establish the formation we’ve always looked more secure with? Dare he drop England international Michael Dawson? Questions with no obvious answer, but the more the Goals Against tally rises the more pressing they’ll become.

8. We aren’t overburdened with points at the moment, even if the entertainment level is agreeably high. Crystal Palace at home next week is a game we could really do to win, particularly with some fearfully difficult games approaching.

8a. It’d be nice if the score and the time weren’t removed from the scoreboard in the 18th minute as well.

9. There’s been no shortage of complaints about the pricing of the Man C fixture. £50 only makes sense if you’re seeking to extract every possible penny from City fans – and in fairness, there’ll be those at the club whose job that is. But it results in empty seats (bad for the team), is obviously bad for the fans (either ruthlessly fleeced or priced out) and means that City are not representing the community as a whole. It’s a pity because the club has been rightly praised for lowering some matchday prices to just £16, but this simply undoes all of that. Have another think about it, City. For the club’s sake as much as us, because once people are priced out of going they may lose the match-attending habit altogether. And no-one wins if that happens.

10. Assem Allam’s done an interview for Football Focus next Saturday. Our commiserations to those at the club who’ll have to clean up the resulting mess.

#154 September 22, 2014

1. Ack, how frustrating to engineer a defensive seizure and surrender a two-goal lead at Newcastle United on Saturday. Both goals were eminently preventable not just because better goalkeeping and tighter covering would have been enough to keep the home side at bay, but also because City should have been professional and focussed enough to not panic or worry about being two goals up. It’s not as if we’ve not held on to narrow leads at Newcastle before.

2. Have we really signed Michael Dawson in order to drop James Chester? That feels like a major mistake on the part of the manager (dropping Chester, not signing Dawson) if so. He is paid handsomely to make tough decisions, of course, but our team is a better thing for having a) James Chester in it; and b) three centre backs in total. We’ve got a pair of 2-2 draws with this new structure which while not the worst results in the world, could have been so much better and a paucity of defensive strength at crucial times was key.

3. That first 2-2 draw, against West Ham, was a cracking game of football and we saw two excellent debuts in City colours. Both players scored, contributed extensively and excitingly and looked like marvellous bits of business in an instant.

4. All four goals in the two 2-2 draws were of the very highest quality. We really should get more towering headers, cool side-footers off the post, airborne volleys and blooterers from the edge of the box. They always look good.

5.The dust is still settling on the appalling spectacle of people booing City fans for singing a City song ata City gamelast week – it has bitterly inflamed tensions between the despairing majority who opposed the name change and the apparently equally despairing minority who fear that that success may drive away Assem Allam. But withCity Till We Die classily seeking to downplay things, it’s worth looking a few months ahead at how we’re all going to have to get along again.

6. Citing two non-league clubs that are for quite obvious reasons exempt from Premier League rules, when saying Hull City’s name change application was treated with bias, that’s pretty feeble grounds for an appeal, isn’t it?

7. The club being angry that fans were given a say in the matter speaks volumes about what our owners really think of paying customers and the community they said they wanted to preserve the club for, doesn’t it?

8. The FA will surely soon clarify, but we’re pretty sure the club has no right of appeal, and that furthermore, they’ve known that since the decision was made. So, what was the real intention of that press conference?

9. Soon,Assem Allam’s appealto change the name will fail. We don’t expect him to respond with anything approaching grace or dignity, but we have no influence over that and for now it doesn’t really concern us anyway; what matters is how divisions in the stands are repaired. Towards the very end of the recent Scottish independence referendum, it dawned upon political leaders that they were all going to have to live in the same country, free of the UK or not, and there was a noticeable movement to reach out to the other side after weeks of increasing rancour. Perhaps we can do the same. When Allam’s appeal fails, there’ll be some City fans who wrongly butgenuinelythink that administration, League 8 and all that is the inevitable consequence. Maybe we ought not be too hard on them. It won’t be easy knowing you backed the wrong horse for the wrong reasons – we still encounter people who look sheepishly away when we mention Nick Buchanan and Stephen Hinchliffe, having backed them right until the final disturbing revelations while we’d loudly doubted them for some time. However, if we want to be friends again, incessant gloating won’t help in the aftermath of the FA’s second rejection. The name will stay the same, the Allams will eventually sell up (owners always do) and we’ll find new issues to exercise us. Soon, this will all be history. For their part, try to understand that our love of the name Hull City AFC is absolutely sincere, non-negotiable, and – most importantly – a TOTALLY separate issue to Assem Allam’s ownership of the club. And for God’s sake, don’t boo City songs. That’s best left to Leeds fans.

10. West Brom in the League Cup on Wednesday. Plenty at City say they want to get back into Europe, and right what felt like a wrong against KSC Lokeren last month, which is heartening. We therefore look forward to City’s strongest XI taking to the field at the Hawthorns.

#153 September 15, 2014

1. Last week, when rumours began to circulate that Hull City AFC were to call a press conference at which the owner was to outline his plans for the future, we began planning. It’s nice to have articles largely ready to upload in advance, with a few details added as they emerge. The rumours suggested that City’s 75 year old owner, Assem Allam, was putting the club up for sale and bowing out, perhaps giving his son Ehab temporary control and making thede factosituation official, maybe even handing over to Ehab permanently. So we started to conceive an Assam Allam Legacy article. It was positive, too. The name change unavoidably featured, as did his prickly remarks during the affair, but its tone and content was sunnier than expected. He’d have enjoyed reading it. We’d have enjoying publishing it, and saying fond farewell. But now we don’t need it. We may never need it.

2. Assem Allam’s revisitation of the name change is a supremely squalid act. No evidence was advanced that it’ll benefit City. No evidence has EVER been advanced, for none exists. Assam Allam claims this is not about Hull City Council, but this is simply not true. Somehow, in his mind, a vast, seething obsession with our local council has festered, embittering him to the point at which he is perfectly happy to inflict permanent disfigurement upon our identity, undermine Steve Bruce and reignite quarrels between the despairing majority and the handful of “itshisclubhecandowhathewants” diehards. All to put one over Hull City Council. It’d be funny, if it wasn’t so tragic.

3. The press conference itself was deeply worrying, if not lacking in dark humour. Allam was rambling, incoherent, mildly hysterical and incapable of understanding even the most basic facts. To suggest we’ve been called Hull City Tigers for 110 years is simply wrong. Not a matter of opinion, or a shade of grey, he is wrong. And if he really is that ignorant about the club, or that willing to recite an untruth simply because he wants it to be true, what on earth else is going on in his head? Some of the presser wasjust horrible to watch. KFC? Pilots licence? Dead bodies? Perhaps he fancies this is colourful metaphor. It isn’t. We can cope with Assem Allam embarrassing himself, that’s an inevitable consequence of him opening a mouth that so many at the club strive to keep quiet. We’d rather he stopped embarrassing our club, however.

4. It’s understandable that people want to be respectful towards and thankful to Assem Allam given the great things he has done for our club, we feel that way too, but we’re confounded when some show they are content to believe anything the man says, even when it’s patently nonsense.Many of the things said at Thursday’s press conference were word for word repeats of what he said to CTWD last year; He wants to make us a top five club and feels he’s prevented from unlocking revenue tied up in the stadium by the Council. His examples of revenue generation from grounds are a Waitrose at Reading, a KFC at Derby and a Jaguar showroom at Coventry. Sure, extra revenue from renting stadium units wouldn’t go amiss, but none of the cited teams play in the Premier League, so the revenue from their stadia certainly isn’t enough to make them a ‘top five’ club. The idea that we’d be propelled up the league if only we had a KFC at the KC Stadium is just ridiculous, and Dr. Allam seems blissfully unaware that Coventry have only just returned to the Ricoh Stadium after time spent playing in Northampton. We were stunned he didn’t know that last year, how does he not know now that a stadium based car showroom has benefited Coventry City NOT ONE BIT? Has nobody in our owner’s inner circle got the nerve to put him straight when he says things obviously incorrect so that he doesn’t look silly saying them in public? Or is he just incapable of listening?

Oh and speaking of the inner circle, where was Ehab Allam during this press conference? The solitary chair put out for his father to face the massed ranks of the media would suggest Ehab wanted no part in proceedings. Now Ehab is just as capable of insulting City fans as his father, he said on Radio Humberside that fans wanting the club to keep its name are selfish, but he at least seems comfortable talking to the press, whereas his father cuts a rather pitiable figure when the script in front of him doesn’t cover on the spot questioning.Back to the point of people accepting every utterance Dr. Allam makes, Ehab Allam told Radio Humberside listeners days before the FA’s decision was made that there was no offer from potential sponsors based on the name Hull Tigers, but on Thursday Assem said a million pounds was lost when a sponsor pulled out at the instant the FA rejected Hull Tigers. Take your pick which of them said something they know not to be true, but one of those statements is a brazen falsehood.

This press conference was ostensibly ‘to clear the air’, but it generated yet more fog (many journalists assumed the appeal was to CAS in Switzerland till the club later said arbitration was between club and FA), and makes it even harder to trust the veracity of anything that comes out of the mouths of the club’s owners.We would love to be able to trust statements from the club, but how is that possible? Yet some people are clearly capable of swallowing vast amounts of bullsh*t before asking for more, we just can’t bring ourselves to do it, can’t maintain the blissful thought that everything is hunky dory just because the team is doing so well. It brings to mindthis Sunshine Room comic strip…

5. What next? Several more months of bitter argument and uncertainty, for which Assem Allam is entirely to blame. Tonight’s match against West Ham is certain to see lengthy vocal protests against this latest bout of madness, as will all future games. Allam and his apologists probably think they can bludgeon City fans into submission, but that just isn’t going to happen. We’ll instead see City Till We Die return to prominence – and a huge tip of the hat to them for remaining so restrained in the face of Allam’s provocation and the lies regularly aimed their way by the Premier League-obsessed. There’ll be flags. Banners. Arguments. Ill-feeling. And for what?

6. It’s back with the FA. Quite why Assem Allam thinks they will reverse their own decision simply is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, season ticket holders money is being frittered on expensive lawyers who seem quite content to feed him the fantasy that this is still winnable. We can all see how badly that first defeat hurt. Goodness only knows how he will incorporate a second into his personal God complex.

7. And then what? Premier League clubs aren’t easy to sell, particularly not ones laden with debt and without their own stadium. It could take months. Perhaps a couple of years. All the time during which Assem Allam will remain in charge, loathing the fans, obsessed by the council, ranting and raving and blaming everyone. How can that possibly end well?

8. We’re cross, as can be seen. But we’re also sad. What did we do to cause Assem Allam to hate us so much? He was welcomed to Hull decades ago, and rightly hailed as a saviour of our club. But now he clearly despises us. He has no respect whatsoever. The hooligans slur was close to unforgiveable, but his ongoing refusal to listen, to be straight with us, all points to a man who hates his own customers. Again, how can that possibly end well?

9. It’s now 4½ months since Hull City AFC first promised us full details of the deeply flawed ballot that apparently forms part of Allam’s strange self-justification for continuing this sorry saga. We still haven’t heard anything. Perhaps we ought to contact some of those people the club said they were waiting for replies from? Just to be helpful.

10. West Ham tonight. Give the lads a cheer, and give the club an earful on 19’04″.

#152 September 8, 2014

1. A week after the nonsense that is transfer deadline day, and we’re still excited over the on-field aspects of it. The expense is concerning, but it’s been fun to watch the forums and social media attempt to crowbar such a talented squad into a regular XI.

2. We also can’t wait to see how Steve Bruce keeps everyone happy. Or whether he can. Not only are City’s new signings laden with talent, there are also some players with a high estimation of their own abilities who won’t taken kindly to not starting most weeks. It isn’t the worst problem to have, but it’s a consideration.

3. Might it all prompt a few deparatures? Stephen Quinn, David Meyler, Paul McShane and Alex Bruce are likely to experience a sharp drop down the pecking order. They’re a quartet of proper professionals for whom we have high regard and they’re characters who’ll prefer fighting for a place over public sulking…but like any player, they’ll also prefer playing games to not.

4. Of course, with significant outlay and high-profile recruits comes increased expectation. Last season, we’d have all taken 17th. This time, wouldn’t that represent a slight disappointment? We think it may do. Quite what is a fair expectation is difficult to assess, but it’d a shame to see the Allams’ investment result in anything other than a higher finish than last season. And a decent crack in one of the Cups.

5. So, West Ham at home next. Every game matters in every division/competition, but this’d be a nasty one to lose. Four points from four games, all against sides unlikely to trouble the top seven, would be a below-par beginning. Conversely, seven from four is a solid opening.

6. Good to see the club pro-actively trying to drum up support for this game by taking out adverts in the local press, something we’ve wanted for a little time – this was not the first regime to have taken their support in the city of Hull for granted, but at least their are now signs of improvement. Literal signs too, as posters on buses and in shopping centres are now visible. A shame that they still struggle to use the club’s name, but never mind. More of this please, City.

7. Tickets for Hull City v Manchester City are now on sale. At £50 each. That’s fifty pounds. For one City game.

8. Europe is gone, and after the initial anger, all that’s left is sadness. Please take the League Cup seriously, City. There’s a wrong that needs righting.

9. Rumours about the club’s ownership abound. Friday saw an apparent false alarm on Twitter, with whispers about an imminent sale suddenly appearing, and while that came to nothing, plenty seem to expect a statement this week about the future of the Allams at Hull City AFC. Our view is largely unchanged: they’ve done a lot of good, a little bad…and no to Hull Tigers.

10. Apropos of the owners, and rather overshadowed by Europe this, but the micro-spat between City and Hull City Council was fascinating – and for a change, we find ourselves in agreement with Ehab Allam.Councillor Terry Geraghty’s commentsabout a fans’ park for European fixtures were dismally small-minded (“Hull City are going to get a decent gate for the match so I think it should be up to them to do something.”). Few people have ever mistaken Councillor Geragthy for a man of open-mindedness or vision, and we know he’ll not be reading as we fancy thatGerrumonsard Weeklyis more his scene than digital media, but it is deeply worrying as inhabitants of this marvellous city to think of him having any responsibility for Hull 2017. We also know that the club’s hierarchy has little time for him. Might the council usefully find someone better to deal with the club?

#151 September 2, 2014

1: It’s been a truly awful week on the pitch for Hull City, and Steve Bruce has to front up and shoulder the responsibility. The noises he made before the home game against KSC Lokeren suggested he was all prepared to set up some famous European nights at the KC Stadium, declaring his love for continental competition and his understanding of how much it meant to the supporters. Then he picked a team missing its most creative midfielder and proven striker, changed the formation and, although City very nearly pulled it off at the death, saw a disorganised, unmotivated team fail to break down a Lokeren side who were limited, if very industrious. Frustrating, yes; infuriating, definitely. This was an adventure we never thought we’d see, and yet when it happened, the obsession with Premier League points contributed to it being chucked away before it had barely started.

2: And that brings us to the next point. The numerous apologists for the policy, unofficial or not, of discarding or marginalising the Europa League campaign have always used the importance of the Premier League at the expense of all else as the crux of their argument. Yet in picking weakened sides against KSC Lokeren, it only helped City to one point from six in winnable fixtures against Stoke City and Aston Villa. It’s one thing to underperform in a competition seen – wrongly, in our view – as the lesser being, it’s another to then do so in the competition that the club hierarchy have down as the be-all and end-all. ‘Resting’ players has proved counter-productive; the exit from Europe could have just as easily demotivated them, or robbed them of momentum, as it could have kept them fresh for allegedly more ‘important’ fixtures.

3: It is only just September, as well. We’ve played just three Premier League games, hence there are 35 to go, and we now have an international break, and yet somehow there is this misguided belief that relegation will be inevitable if we pursue other dreams that don’t involve finishing 15th in the table. We need to establish a few facts here: firstly, we got to an FA Cup final last season while in total comfort in the Premier League. Secondly, nobody has ever been relegated in the same season that they’ve contested the Europa League. Thirdly, nobody gets relegated in August, even teams docked 20 points for going into administration. Fourthly, playing Thursday-Sunday is the same as playing Saturday-Tuesday, which some people genuinely don’t appear to have grasped. And on top of that, those in suits who run the club’s affairs seemed incredibly primed for a proper tilt at Europe once they’d seen the queues heading round the block for tickets to attend the home game with AS Trenčín and the subsequent trip to KSC Lokeren. Perhaps they should have asked the manager whether they should have bothered.

4: KSC Lokeren were great, mind. Their team was full of endeavour, their fans were bloody loud, they looked after us well in Belgium (that ambush from their knuckleheaded splinter group notwithstanding) and they held up a ‘No To Hull Tigers’ banner. Oh, and they sat down in the middle of Anlaby Road to sing a song during their walk from Admiral Of The Humber to the Circle, which amused us all. Even some Humberside Police officers were able to crack a smile at that, though that may have had something to do with the overtime they were getting for doing nothing too arduous. The menacing presence of the constabulary helicopter after the game was typical overkill from a police force who simply cannot help defaming City fans. KSC Lokeren now have trips to Poland, Turkey and – yes – Ukraine to look forward to. We couldn’t have got that draw if we’d won as we’d have been placed in a different pot, but boy are their fans going to have some fun now while we look on enviously, and dense people around us drone on that Crystal Palace at home is far more important.

5: Steve Bruce’s stock has fallen, but he has proved he has the class and gallantry to acknowledge mistakes. We don’t think there has been a proper explanation for the team he picked and the performance it then put in against KSC Lokeren, and we’re concerned that he wasn’t massively upset by it, but at least he had the balls to declare his contempt for the subsequent display at Villa Park, admitting that he knew fans would want their money back after travelling to Birmingham on a Sunday to watch such painful trash. And it really was, too. The only notable thing about it was that a City player –Nikica Jelavić – finally scored a goal against Aston Villa – the last to manage it was Pat bloody Heard.

6: It’ll be interesting now to see what his attitude is to the League Cup, after City were drawn away at fellow Premier League side West Bromwich Albion. If City had still been in the Europa League, then this third of three domestic prizes would have been low on the agenda; now, however, it now suddenly becomes very important indeed, if only for the way Bruce is seen to handle it. Football may be a business, as someone in a suit with an Egyptian accent is wont to remind us every so often, but when fans have forked out for trips to the continent and then night-time trips to the West Midlands only for their commitment to be not matched by the management or team, that’s when those within the game need to remember there is a sport and community responsibility etched into the reasons for football clubs’ existence. In other words City, don’t piss off the fans again when the Premier League isn’t on the agenda.

7: Deadline day saw City do plenty of business and catch a lot of attention nationally. Mohamed Diamé is a midfielder from whom opponents find it very difficult to steal the ball, and a protective player in the centre of the pitch has been a necessity for some time. His debut for City against the club that sold him to us will be fascinating. The £9.5m Abel Hernandez gives City a striking partner for Jelavić that was much needed, especially as Yannick Sagbo and Sone Aluko simply don’t look at the races any more. Gastón Ramírez, a fellow Uruguayan amusingly born in the town of Fray Bentos, is a sharp midfielder of real international pedigree and will add some proper zip to an engine room that has been a tad lumpen this season. And just the sight of Hatem Ben Arfa high-fiving City fans at the KC when he arrived for his medical with a rictus grin on his face was enough for us to be pleased at his arrival, let alone his known quality with a ball.

8: This is where Bruce clearly excels – attracting good players while persuading the money men that they are necessary for the squad and sound investments for the club. We don’t want all mention of him to be on a downer this week as he doesn’t deserve that, and these new arrivals are genuinely exciting. The fees are big, but we’ve got £15m for George Boyd and Shane Long and the TV money has doubled – we got about £68m last year from the Premier League, plus a million extra for making the FA Cup final.

9: We’re slightly surprised that more of our players haven’t left the club after yesterday, but the one who has left for pastures new we really wish well. Boyd’s first touch is a delight, his appetite for the game admirable – unsurprising for a chap who has scrapped his way to the top from non-league – and that winning goal at Huddersfield on a day when non-football issues dominated our thinking will always be fresh in the memory. It was a pity he couldn’t command a regular place after promotion but the fact that he’s staying in the Premier League says plenty about the player and the man. And we still don’t think he spat at Joe Hart.

10:Caravan Of Loveon the speakers was lovely to hear, though we obviously were a bit put off by the editing. We appreciate the club taking note and acting on our suggestion, but is it possible to simply play the whole song about five minutes or so before the kick off and let the fans join in organically?

#150 August 26, 2014

1. We were angry with Steve Bruce. His team selection at KSC Lokeren left a lot to be desired, and while all of us would suggest that the starting XI should still have been good enough to not lose the game (or, indeed, a goal) he was making a rod for his back by dropping the most prominent five outfield names that we have. Not including all, or even most of, Davies, Huddlestone, Livermore, Elmohamady and Jelavić was a massive risk, opening the manager up to accusations of not caring about the Europa League enough, despite the noises coming out of the club about how much it means to be partaking in European competition. And while we understand that the expense incurred by supporters can’t be paramount in the manager’s mind when making his choices, nevertheless many who’d arrived in Belgium by plane, boat, train and automobile and also paid for accommodation would have felt justifiably short-changed.

2. The formation didn’t work – playing 4-4-2 with James Chester in midfield and a debutant in his usual role was always hazardous – and the application of a couple of players left much to be desired. Robbie Brady needs to take a hard look at himself at the moment, as he’s starting to regress into the lairy loanee who didn’t know how to play for a team under Nigel Pearson. Yannick Sagbo’s big chance to impress totally passed him by, and given that his Premier League ban was about to end and Shane Long has been sold, it really was his moment. Harry Maguire, meanwhile, though a big unit and evidently a decent reader of the game, had spells where he seemed quite frightened. It would surely have been judicious to give him his bow alongside the club captain, even though Paul McShane did plenty to encourage him.

3. Allan McGregor is a goalkeeper and by definition will make howlers. There haven’t been many in his time, and the cliché about his place of birth has never felt more irrelevant, and the fact that only a brainstorm from a fine custodian gave Lokeren their goal will give City plenty of opportunity to claw it back at the Circle. However, the big guns have got to play, all of them – they have a three-day rest before Aston Villa away and then there’s an international break with which many of them will not be involved beyond putting their feet up in front of the telly. Those claiming that the Premier League is more important than the Europa League are discounting one crucial fact – it’s August. Qualify for the group stages and then assess the progress and the selections as we go along, depending on results so far. A lot of City fans who have ached for this European campaign will find it unforgivable if City chuck it away at the play-off stages because of trips to Burnley and Sunderland and home games against Crystal Palace and Southampton.

4. Talking of chucking things away, let’s get on to the thorny issue of what happened after the game. Actually, perhaps it isn’t that thorny after all – refreshingly the media, despite initially looking to extract some juice of English football hooliganism from a long shrivelled fruit, have all accurately reported that the City fans were treated poorly by the police, were ambushed by three score Belgian dunderheads who were banned from attending games, and did not react out of proportion or, in most cases, even at all. The Belgian police – a mixture of local bobbies on overtime and a few regional ringers from their equivalent of the SPG (ask your local Anti-Nazi League campaign group for more on that if you’re under 35) – led the City fans almost gleefully, lambs to the slaughter, past the very pub they’d vehemently warned us not to enter before the game and then stood around, faux-aghast, as the bottles rained down on fans of all ages and genders, not utilising any of the weaponry – guns, batons, watercannon – on the perpetrators. The response of the two football clubs has been good, and even Humberside Police hastily withdrew a predictable statement about City fans being to blame, but the Belgian authorities have not covered themselves in glory either with the decisions (ie, indecisions) and actions (ie, inactions) on the night or with their subsequent mealy-mouthed statement, which was short on facts, promises or apologies.

5. The Lokeren fans who come to the KC on Thursday deserve nothing more than a massive welcome. That’s what they gave us, after all – from the wonderful mini-festival they put on in the town square, to the residents of the side streets applauding us as we walked to the stadium, to the home fans behind gates of their terracing clapping as we left, to the expressions of horror they offered after we got attacked. Restrictions imposed on them (as suggested on TV by some out of touch spokesman from the OSC), or us, upon beginning our pre-match preparations in Hull, would be disproportionate and disrespectful.

6. Are Stoke really, very bad, or did City just make them look that way with some backs to the wall excellence after a tragic but just red card for James Chester? City were so unfortunate not be able to hang on. The decision to give Stoke a throw in (For Liam Rosenior in 2014, read Roger deVries in 1971) was clearly wrong, but it doesn’t excuse the poor defending in that instance when we’d done so well repelling Stoke up to that point. City wasting time in the corner near the end was a bit frustrating too when you really wanted to see City get the win and prove definitively that City’s 10 was better than Stoke’s 11. Still, four points from six to begin with is not to be sniffed at, especially as we haven’t come close to full steam ahead yet and the European displays either side of our two Premier League fixtures have been a little disjointed.

7. Did we see the first failure of the Goal Decision System? It seems so. The ball was clearly over the line and the ref could be seen checking, then shaking his Hawkeye watch which apparently didn’t signal the ball had crossed the line, with the goal being ultimately awarded by the linesman. For all those clamouring for video refs (and some said a video ref would have reversed the throw in call, as if you’d want something as trivial as throw ins reviewable), this incident shows that technology doesn’t always solve the problem and shoudn’t be totally relied upon.

8. After Lokeren, we go to Aston Villa. A City player hasn’t scored against them, anywhere or in any competition, since 1987. This needs to change, as does the corresponding defeat ratio.

9. Michael Dawson is a stout professional and experienced defender. If we do get him signed up, he’ll be a fine addition to the squad and we’ll have six centre backs of quality vying for three places. Steve Bruce is evidently determined to have a British Isles base to his side, with the defence and the central midfield both looking almost indigenous. And, as an aside, if Dawson minor turns out to be even half as good for Hull City as Dawson major then we’ll have signed a very special player.

10.Can’t Help Falling In Lovedidn’t work before games at the KC and doesn’t work after them either. People are leaving the stadium and not joining in, all the best-known recorded versions (Elvis Presley, Perry Como, UB40) are way too slow compared to how the City fans sing it, and it’s a Sunderland song, as proved by the manner in which their fans totally outsang us via the stadium speakers on previous visits. City needs its own song, unused by any other club, and after watching a couple of hundred foot passengers on the Hull-Zeebrugge ferry stand with arms raised and sing every last note ofCaravan Of Lovelast Wednesday (hairs on the back of neck right up), the club should adopt it straightaway, with lyrics printed in the programme for people who don’t remember the Housemartins. It’s obvious, it’s overdue and it really will work.

10a.Steve Bruce at weddingsis so our favourite new Twitter feed.

#149 August 18, 2014

1. It’s a great feeling to win on the opening day and have immediate points on the table. It’s even better to have done it away from home, and there’s even benefit in who we beat – that defeat will sting QPR and make the Premier League feel just that little bit more daunting now.

2. It wasn’t the most sparkling performance, we’ll allow. However, you get as many points for winning in a hard-fought manner than for silkily outplaying a side, and that deserve praise in itself. Keeping a clean sheet away from home against anyone at this rarefied level is a real achievement.

3.Steve Bruce had much to say on the subject of penalties after the game. He was absolutely right to say the current trend of awarding a penalty if the ball strikes (or appears to strike) a defender’s arm in the box needs to stop. That isn’t applying the laws of the game, which state contact between ball and hand must be intentional to be a foul, and when a defender has both hands behind his back in a clear attempt to NOT handle the ball, even if it should strike his arm, it is incidental and not a foul. Very rarely do defenders deliberately use their arms to block or control the ball, so very rarely should penalties be awarded when the ball connects with a hand or arm. Bruce was wrong to say we should have had a penalty forNikica Jelavić’s tumble however. It is embarrassing whenJelavić goes looking for a foul rather than staying strong, staying on his feet and trying to make something happen (legitimately).

4. It was hard not to wryly smile at Harry Redknapp’s gushing over the performance of Rio Ferdinand, given that it was Ferdinand’s poor marking of James Chester that ultimately cost QPR a share of the points. At no point did Ferdinand look to see where the ball was as he used illicit means to halt Chester’s brilliant manoeuvre towards the ball.

5. The post-match attention focused on James Chester’s contribution to the game, and not just for his goal or the wrongfully awarded penalty. He’s been overshadowed somewhat by Curtis Davies in the last twelve months, but he’s continued to perform consistency and with growing maturity. We’ve always known he’s an outstanding talent, and it’s nice to see the the rest of the world catching up.

6. Apropos of outstanding talents…Andy Robertson doesn’t look bad does he? Some debut, and potentially some player.

7. We head into our next European adventure in good heart. Three games, two wins and only one goal against – the opening signs of the 2014/15 season are promising. However, KSC Lokeren will be a severe test. The Belgian Jupiler Pro League is significantly weaker than the Premier League, but its leading clubs are certainly good enough to give us a game. Hopefully the near-disaster against FK AS Trenčín will spur City on – because the rewards, the Europa League group stages, are so exciting we can barely stand it.

8. Shane Long’s sale was sudden, wasn’t it? But given that he wasn’t that prolific, only played for us for seven months and had become as renowned for his simulation as for his ability, few will cry salt tears over his departure. Especially as the fee – £12m – feels like a licence for City to print money. Steve Bruce could sign three new players with that.We will, however, lack in sheer pace up front now, unless Bruce has someone in mind who can replicate Long’s electrifying speed on the pitch. We wait and wonder.

9. The next Premier League game – should anyone care, given that all we can personally think about is emptying the bar on the Pride Of York on Wednesday night – is against Stoke City at home on Sunday. We could have had a tougher start, all told, but even so they’ll be useful and, having lost to a wretched Villa team at the weekend, will be trying to make amends with some urgency. Nonetheless, the possibility of six points from our opening two League fixtures is most appetising. We’d probably only need another 30 points on top of those…

10. What a pity the club sent out season cards with “Hull Tigers” on it. We’re told the club is privately apologetic for what was a genuine oversight. Fair enough, though making that regret public wouldn’t hurt. Though for some reason, we’re probably more irked by “meeting’s” on it. See us after class, City.

#148 July 28, 2014

1. Welcome to the 2014/15 season. We aren’t quite sure when City last started a season in July, or if they ever had, but it feels very early. Given that the new season will last until the second half of May, this is going to be a long haul.

2. It feels genuinely exciting though, for a lot of reasons. The main one is Europe: City begin the season on Thursday away to FK AS Trenčín, the first ever competitive European fixture in our 110 years. It’s still something we’re struggling to comprehend, but it marks yet another new high point for Hull City AFC.

3. We’re also in the process of assembling the strongest squad in the club’s history. Though you can never be certain until they don black and amber, if feels as though Steve Bruce has bought well this summer, bringing in players with genuine Premier League pedigree.

4. It’s Trenčín first though, in the Slovak town of Žilina. There was no little alarm here when their adversaries from the previous round led 3-0 on the night on Thursday night, because yes, we had already booked flights and hotels based upon a trip to Slovakia. The minor fright associated with that heavy defeat did reassure us of one thing though: FK AS Trenčín must be considerably weaker than City. We haven’t played a two-legged tie since 2008 so we’ve almost forgotten how they work, but anything other than defeat on Thursday should see us through.

5. It’d be nice to mark our first foray abroad with a win, but there is the possibility that City will be a little undercooked for this game. Trenčín have already played competitive fixtures this season, while we will actually be playing a practice gameafterthis match. That means we shouldn’t take anything for granted.

6. There won’t be a match report as such from the FK AS Trenčín game. But there will be a diary of sorts. Yes, it will be filled with smug photos of City fans drinking beer in sun-drenched Euro-city-squares and tales of foreign derring-do. The game itself is likely occupy only a small portion of the overall word count. That may not be everyone’s cup of Darjeeling, but hey, indulge us this once…

7.Kudos to the club for pricing the Trenčín second leg at a tenner if tickets are bought in advance. It’s the prospect of seeing City playabroad that really appeals about the club’s first European adventure, and a home leg against a team few Tiger Nationals had heard of prior to the draw (and not to jinx it, but the possibility of City taking a healthy lead into the return match) could mean a low attendance if prices are high.£10 to see City’s first competitive home game against continental opposition? Well judged City.

8. So what can we learn from City’s pre-season friendlies? Nothing. Because they’re pre-season friendlies.

9. Well, apart from the home kit being rather nice. We’d prefer the old crest with the club’s name and nickname on, but it’s still a lovely looking kit.

10. Three nights ago, the club hosted the first of the new fans’ working group meetings. Intended to repair relations between club and fans in the aftermath of the name change débâcle, it has promise. The old FLC meetings with Adam Pearson saw perhaps the high point of club-supporter relations in recent times. It’s a small step in the right direction, but ultimately only a full repudiation of the name change will fully fix things. We long for that moment.

#147 June 30, 2014

1. That Hull City AFC’s summer can easily be divided between football and non-football issues will surprise no-one with even a passing acquaintance with the club; nor is a great surprise as to which is proving the happier. To the happier first, then…

2. Jake Livermore and Robert Snodgrass will definitely make us a stronger side. Livermore’s ability is already known, and with plenty of potential yet to be realised, even an eye-watering fee of £8m could still prove to be value. Without him last season we’d have been a poorer side; his permanent arrival gives our midfield a feeling of genuine quality. Whatever happens in 2014/15, with him, Huddlestone and Meyler at Steve Bruce’s disposal, we’ll have a midfield that few outside the top half will rival.

3. Forking out a similar sum on Robert Snodgrass has probably raised more eyebrows. He isn’t without quality, and will also add to our team and our squad, but that is a startling sum to pay. Nonetheless, his has been a career on an upward trajectory of late, he brings a formidable workrate and if he scores half a dozen goals while creating a similar number, in today’s transfer market you probably do need to part with £8m. So, two players of authentic Premier League pedigree are ours. Well done to all – yes, all – at Hull City for facilitating their arrival.

4. Farewell Matt Fryatt. Never a Premier League starter, but a scorer of many City goals in times both good and bad – he leaves with our best wishes and the knowledge that in a Forest side who are likely to do well next season, he’ll score a bucketload more.

5. To Brazil, briefly. It provided a thrill to see Nikica Jelavić involved in the opening game of the 2014 World Cup, and he was close to scoring its opening goal too. Despite his country’s generally unattractive performances, we enjoyed Maynor Figueroa’s contribution too. It will be many years before we tire of seeing Hull City AFC players participating in the planet’s most prestigious sporting event.

6. Anything happening off the field then? Ah, yes. The dismal conduct of the club’s owners is seeming never-ending. The new crest is awful, the broken promise about fans’ consultation a disgrace and the removal of the club’s own name an obvious signal that the Allams’ inexplicable obsession with violating our name remains alive and unwell.

7. Sadly it is entirely in keeping with the club’s open hostility towards its own supporters. Despite promises to the contrary, the club serially uses the term “Hull City Tigers” in explicitly footballing situations – the claim that it’ll only feature in corporate or commercial situations is a simply not true.

8. Quite what this is all intended to achieve is a mystery. No business ran by proper grown-ups would take such painstaking care to antagonise its own customers, nor seek to defy its industry regulator in so brazen a manner. Assam and Ehab Allam may be rich men, but there’s something of the rebuffed child about much of their conduct.

9. Ehab Allam affecting fondness for the club’s history at the launch of the new crest is one of the most nauseatingly insincere things we’ve ever heard. He must think we’re stupid.

10. This is having an impact, and while it’s one the club will not care about, it’s worth noting. Season ticket sales are likely to be down for 2014/15, perhaps not calamitously, maybe not even as gravely as could have been expected given the weighty price increase. So numerically we may not notice a difference But we worry for thequalityof supporter that is being lost. Our forums are filled with those who stood forlornly at Boothferry Park walking away from the club at what should its zenith, all because of the actions of the club’s owners. Those are the ones who stand and cheer. Who go home and away whatever our league position. Who don’t much mind which division we’re in. Who Steve Bruce and his side most rely upon and most appreciate. We must sadly report that two of our three editors are not renewing, while a third remains undecided. That will obviously impact what we do here. We aren’t deserting our support for Hull City AFC, of course. We were here long before Assam Allam and his stupid ideas, and we’ll be here long after he’s gone to inflict his lamentable notions on someone else. But match reports on home games may become sporadic (unless anyone fancies volunteering?) We’re sorry about that, and we hope that, at the 11th hour, someone at the club will be able to persuade the Allams to drop this nonsense before serious, long-term damage is done to a support that should be booming, not brooding. Sadly, we do not have high expectations.

#146 May 26, 2014

1: We commit ourselves to ten bits of opinionated posturing each week with these articles and yet now, as we finally allow ourselves to take stock of everything, we have to try to review the season and express our hopes for the future in ten bite-size chunks. Perhaps saying “what a bloody amazing season” over and over again will suffice?

2: After all, it was just that. Amazing. We stayed up, comfortably. We attained our highest ever league position.We reached the FA Cup final. We qualified for Europe. Come on, we are still Hull City, right?

3: And that’s only half-joking, of course, as the manager and players have had to achieve all this while verbal warfare went on throughout the campaign between the supporters and club owner. That the whole Hull Tigers farce didn’t derail the season completely is a massive tribute to the playing and coaching staff and yet still bordering on miraculous. Even though the battle was won by the exceptionalCity Till We Diecampaign in April, we worry that the war is still to be fought, judging by Assem Allam’s typically ill-timed comments just before the FA Cup final.

4: If he does try it again next season, we will never forgive him. We’re already heading that way after he shifted our biggest singing section at the KC to another area of the ground without asking them, then whacked up the season ticket prices for the ordinary supporter (but not the corporate lickspittles) by 30 per cent. The man is a shameless bully.

5: By quite a contrast, Steve Bruce has been simply magnificent for City, hasn’t he? A clearly gifted manager, motivational, astute, daring when required and conservative at other times, it seems he has really, really taken to our club and we’re very happy for him to do so. The stuff he has delivered in two seasons and the quality of player he has convinced to don the black and amber (after a season of seeing Tom Huddlestone treat a football with the kind of love, respect and sensitivity of which Barry White would have been proud, we still can’t quite believe he does it in Hull City’s name) makes him quite easily the best manager we’ve had. The achievements of Cliff Britton, Colin Appleton, Brian Horton, Peter Taylor and Phil Brown will always remain gratifying and obvious, but this is very, very different.

6: Huddlestone’s impact only partially explains our success though, as the purchase of Curtis Davies has been nothing short of a revelation. He wasn’t necessarily welcomed with a ticker-tape parade – we bought him from Birmingham, after all – but his displays of maturity, calm, timing, leadership and courage at the back have had City fans purring like docile puss*cats all season. He is, very simply, a phenomenon. And a word for Allan McGregor, whose arrival meant that we actually had a goalkeeper for the first time in aeons who was ours, actually ours. And a fine one to boot.

7: Kudos also to the players who have stepped up from the Championship and not looked remotely out of place. Liam Rosenior, James Chester, Ahmed Elmohamady, Robbie Brady, Paul McShane and especially David Meyler have all played major roles this season and have responded superbly to Bruce’s faith in them.

8: Imagine what a full season of Nikica Jelavić and Shane Long playing up front will be like. And if we can get to an FA Cup finalwithoutthem, well…

9: This week’s housework has seenRobert Koren and Abdoulaye Faye leavethe club, and both depart with our warmest regards. It’s something Nigel Pearson should be thanked for again and again that he managed to persuade Koren, who will have had plenty of suitors after he was surprisingly released by West Bromwich Albion in 2010, to come to a club that was on its arsebones, skint and scarred by the egos and cliques of the previous regime. Koren was convinced, then for four years he was convincing. He scored a mixture of brilliant long range goals in the Championship and was a steady, professional and wise presence in the dressing room this season even as his powers on the pitch began to wane. As for Faye, well the man was just a monster, wasn’t he? Jolly off the pitch and petrifying on it; when we needed personality and out-and-out aggression at the back, especially as we looked towards promotion last season, he supplied it. He was never going to be involved much this season but it always felt a better squad for having him in it.

Talking of this week’s events: we very simply would like to say one word to Matty Fryatt: Stay.

10: Off-diary stuff notwithstanding, the next date to look forward to on City business is in the middle of July, when the identity of our opponent in our first ever European game will be narrowed down to one of two, and then on July 31st we take to the field against whichever one of them comes through their qualifier. Just like signing Huddlestone, just like reaching the FA Cup final, just like going 2-0 up in said game, can you believe this kind of thing is really happening to us?

As a footnote, thanks for your continued support for Amber Nectar, your comments here and on the forums, your social media input and your enthusiasm for the podcasts (the last one of those is coming in the next 24 hours). We never go a day without being incredibly grateful. Enjoy the World Cup and have a great summer. Reh.

#145 May 19, 2014

1:What a day. Nobody could be unmoved by what Hull City achieved in the FA Cup final at Wembley, even if the only thing we truly wanted to be moved by was victory. The whole occasion was galvanised by our presence, a team representing a club and a city with no notable footballing success to look back upon and therefore giving it more than their all. They were superhuman.

2: And yet we really need to address the fact that City were 2-0 up and lost the game. In consolation, we can say that a 2-0 lead after eight minutes is nothing like the cushion given to you by a 2-0 lead after 78 minutes, and at the very least we scared Arsenal to death. Their inevitable comeback only happened in normal time to the tune of getting level, and ultimately they were ahead for only the final 11 minutes of the 120. Exhaustion contributed far more to City’s defeat than any lack of comparative quality on the ball.

3: Everyone was immense, but we feel we should select an individual or two. First up, Alex Bruce. We stated in our match report that this final should be the making of his time as a City player, proving once again that nepotism never played its part in getting him into either the club or the team. He is a tackler and an aerial warrior, and not much else, but boy did we need him to be those things at Wembley, and be them well. He didn’t disappoint. He’ll remain a player for a specific formation next season – only injury to someone else will ever see him play for us in a flat back four – but when called upon he’ll be ready.

4: James Chester. The very fact that he played at all was a shock, that he then managed the full 120 minutes without even getting cramp (let alone a recurrence of the hamstring injury that had apparently ended his season) was bewildering, that he played so well was both inspiring and brilliant, that he scored the opening goal and created his own permanent piece of Tigers history just caps it all. He can be really proud of himself.

5: Having singled out two of the starting three centre backs, we have to mention the third, the colossus with the captain’s armband. Curtis Davies was on good form with the media up to the game, describing eloquently the mood around the city as the final neared and encapsulating exactly how we would hope a well-paid professional would feel going into an FA Cup final. Grateful for the chance, Davies played like a chap possessed. He defended ruthlessly, led brilliantly and risked every muscular injury under the setting London sun by going up front as City chased the game desperately from the 109th minute on. We’re used to great captains – Andy Davidson, Garreth Roberts, Justin Whittle, Ian Ashbee – and now we unquestionably have another.

6: Let’s mention the rest: Allan McGregor was comfortable and it was reassuring to see him back and properly ready; Ahmed Elmohamady and Liam Rosenior slaved away on their flanks to little reward beyond an appreciation from the City fans; the midfield trio of Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore and the tireless David Meyler were their usual cohesive and resourceful unit; Stephen Quinn justified his surprise inclusion by being an unpredictable, liberated nuisance who set up our goals; and though he never had much chance in front of goal, Matty Fryatt never, ever gave up. These eleven men, and the three that got on late, have their places in our history secured, even as runners-up.

7: Arsenal weren’t great, threw themselves around with typical lack of gallantry when the going got tough, but showed their quality and their composure when it mattered. We’re content to say they are worthy winners, and undoubtedly we have acquired a new respect from them, and perhaps from the watching fans of other clubs, as to our own credentials in this sport.

8: The City fans were magnificent. Even the newcomers, the hangers-on, they knew what importance this one-off occasion held and were happy to join in with the songs. Hopefully we came across loud and clear on television, as this isn’t often the case (especially at the Circle) when we’re bring broadcast live in “ordinary” matches.

9: City know now when they’ll start their European campaign, it’s just a question of against whom. That draw will be the most keenly anticipated cup draw we’ve ever been party to. We can’t wait.

10: The final word is for Steve Bruce, our brilliant, astute, rehabilitated manager. We are more than happy, privileged even, to have provided him with an outlet to re-establish his credentials as a top rate manager following difficulties at other clubs and a year out of work. It’s chicken feed compared to what he has provided for us, isn’t it? Promotion, survival, FA Cup final, European competition. And come the Europa League draw, then the League Cup draw and, finally in December, the FA Cup draw, we know he’ll be as keen to do well in these competitions as the rest of us. He’s enjoyed his taste of a new kind of success as much as we have, and he’ll want more. So now the drama is over, let’s not treat it as the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity it was. Let’s try and do it again and again and again.

#144 May 13, 2014

1:Evertondid enough to justify their lofty position and City played in a manner that suggested the FA Cup final team has already been revealed by the manager, and therefore it was just about avoiding injury. It was an unusually tepid final Premier League game as a result.

2: Similarly downbeat at Old Trafford four days before, though there was something about City’s second half display, especially via Matt Fryatt’s brilliant goal, that allowed some cheer at what has been a deeply uncompelling end to the campaign.

3: We shouldn’t moan about it, of course, given that relegation has been avoided, we’ve finished in all-time high position, reached the FA Cup final and qualified for Europe. So we won’t.

4: Oh, okay then. Sixteenth does feel anti-climactic, but even the manager has admitted he has been schooling a side just thinking about the showpiece at Wembley for the last four matches or so. We’ve ended up four points and two places off relegation after spending the whole season not in danger, and that’s a mild disappointment.

5: Right then, Saturday. Get there in positive mood, sing your heart out, cheer every player, say a few prayers and take every ounce of belief in this Hull City team that you can muster into Wembley Stadium. It’s a day for the supporters to show their worth once and for all, and it’s something we intend to cherish and log in the memory bank until the day we cop it.

6: And don’t believe for a minute we can’t win this thing. We’re miles behind in the betting, of course, but the pressure on Arsenal is ma-hoosive. They are expected to win stuff and, for ages now, haven’t. They’ll be nervous and their fans, while naturally co*cky, will be passing bricks that they’re about to become a laughing stock. They’ll remember what happened when they played Birmingham City in the League Cup final. Everyone outside of their poky corner of north London will be willing us to win it, and we need one good, cohesive, calm and lucky 90 minutes in order to do so.

7: The team has, fortunately, become more of a chore for Steve Bruce to select (assuming he hasn’t already done it, as alluded to above) thanks to the return to health (if not yet fitness) of Allan McGregor, Paul McShane and Sone Aluko. The keeper is now certain to start but McShane’s role on the day depends on how he reacts to his sudden run-out against Everton and whether he fits into the manager’s chosen formation. But his return in any capacity is welcome, not just because he’s ace, but also because we’ve lost James Chester. As for Aluko, well one assumes Bruce wants him up top for the final but he still isn’t looking even close to his old self and maybe George Boyd is allowed to fancy his chances. It’s a poser.

8: Fryatt’s goal at Manchester United gives him six for the season, a figure which means he is now our top scorer in all competitions. Granted, two thirds of those are from the FA Cup, but as he’s played a key role in getting us to the final, his achievement shouldn’t be underrated and his place in the starting XI at Wembley is entirely justified, as is the new contract on the table awaiting his signature.

9: Just in case any national newspaper or broadcasting bods are reading this: we are not from Humberside (as is no-one else – when did you last refer to Cumberland or Ceylon?), our city is like any other, with its delightful areas to go with its dives; and we are not a rugby league town. If you’re paying a visit this week with your cameras, go to the marina and the maritime museum, take a walk down Princes Avenue at lunchtime and see if you can catch a gig at the Adelphi in the evening. In these places, among others, you will find what we know is the real city of Hull, officially and deservedly labelled now a cultural metropolis, as opposed to the perceived version that is constantly used to stain us for the want of a bit of research.

10: You can find the lyrics toAbide With Mehere, in case you feel the need to rehearse.

#143 May 5, 2014

1. Given that all we can think about is the FA Cup final, we perhaps ought to be understanding rather than cross with City’s performance at Villa. That isn’t to say it wasn’t awful, because it was – but there are mitigating circ*mstances.

2. We don’t want to dwell on too much though…because Hull City AFC have qualified for Europe! We’re insanely excited about this, and will be going to every single game City play in the 2014/15 Europa League, no matter what.

3. This is an opportunity as remarkable and historic as making the Premier League for the first time in 2008. If City take the competition seriously there’s no reason we can’t have a decent run in the tournament, earning a hefty wad of cash and raising our profile in a way that’s never been possible before. And no, being in Europe doesn’t automatically make life impossible at home. That’s the argument of the permanently timid. Plenty of other clubs no bigger than City have prospered while combining Euro-adventures with domestic duties.

4. So, it’s fair to say we’re a little excited. Safety in the Premier League has been virtually assured for some weeks and is now 100% guaranteed, meaning we can have an afternoon of relaxation against Everton next Sunday, ahead of the FA Cup final.

5. Hard not to revisit the ticketing situation for that Final, however. Let’s again say that the principles were broadly correct: ensuring that every single season ticket holder was guaranteed a seat was the correct decision…though once again withholding the best seats from them was plain wrong. However, with long queues even for passholders and absolutely colossal waits for those in Phase 3, the lack of an online booking facility must be questioned, or at least the replication of the pre-ordering system for the final. It’s 2014 for goodness sake, how on earth can the club compel people to spend hours camped outside their stadium?

6. It’s hard to know what to think of the fact (yes, fact) that plenty of tickets have been sold without proper checks on season tickets. The poor souls in the ticket office must have had a dreadfully stressful fortnight and it’s understandable that they just want to get these 25,000 tickets out of the building without worrying too much about precise checks. Nonetheless, the procedure outlined by the club was serially violated. All the more reason to move online in the future.

7. Rumours abound that new fencing is to be erected at the Circle, with a consequent moving of City fans in E1-E3. There’s much to be said for housing away fans in a corner and giving City fans the North Stand – were this to happen, it’s likely the partisan occupants of E1-E3 would decamp straight into that stand, making it easily the noisest and most fun of them all. With the (now settled) name change fiasco still a sore subject we obviously don’t expect the club to do anything sensible like consult fans or ask their views, but this is exactly the sort of issue on which fans and club could work together to the benefit of all.

8. Could whoever runs City’s Twitter account please stop it with the “#UTT” bollocks? We’ve kept our name, all of the fans and media use “#hcafc”, it looks silly and sulky to not join with them.

9. Tom Cairney has won the Blackburn Player of the Year. It’s good to see a player of evident talent prospering, and while we don’t quarrel with the decision to let him go, it’d be nice to think he can make it back into the Premier League.

10. Manchester United on Tuesday night. That’s not even close to being the most exciting thing on our radar at the moment. After all, they – unlike City – aren’t even in Europe next season…

#142 April 28, 2014

1: Phew. Bit hairy at Craven Cottage, wasn’t it? Steve Bruce’s cautiousness against a team renowned for its soft centre was a tad surprising, and City’s travelling fans were justifiably angry (and worried) after an hour, but the manager showed why he was worth his sizeable wedge when he chucked on all of his attacking substitutes and forced a point.

2: Sone Aluko doesn’t seem like a happy person at the moment. He cuts a slightly morose, solitary figure away from the field but his cameo at Fulham essentially earned City their point. He played in the gap between midfield and attack, stayed central and the home side hadn’t a clue how to deal with him.

3: Good to see both of our new strikers get on the scoresheet together with well-taken headers that were all about the instinct for the right place at the right time. But one, or possibly both, should prepare for a rest. Bruce has three games left to look at his available striking options for the FA Cup final and that means getting the likes of Yannick Sagbo and Matt Fryatt on to the pitch from the beginning.

4: Ahmed Elmohamady’s first half dive was a bloody embarrassment and hopefully the manager has given him a severe dressing down about it.

5: Aston Villa next. In our five top flight games against them we’ve never even scored a goal, let alone won a game. This season’s 0-0 draw at the KC was the first time we’d taken anything from them at this level. Given that they are in a fair bit of shtuck just above the bottom three, it’d be quite something if City could go to Villa Park and endanger this big but self-entitled club even further.

6: The word is that Allan McGregor is going to be fit for the FA Cup final, though if Steve Harper plays for the remainder of the Premier League season and then misses out at Wembley, that would be seriously harsh, especially as McGregor’s injury was of a somewhat delicate nature. Still, if your first choice keeper is available…

7: Wembley tickets. A rough consensus seems to be emerging that City got the principle right but the implementation wrong. That all season ticket holders are certain of a seat was undoubtedly correct – indeed, failure to have done so would have disastrously undermined their value and negatively impacted their sales for years to come. However, with people queueing for seven hours yesterday, the fact that they cannnot be purchased online really does need looking at again.

8: Speaking of season tickets, City – any chance we can renew them before 2014/15 gets underway?

9: City’s point at Fulham wasn’t the only result of interest on Saturday. Before the game, Everton obliging spannered the ball into their own net twice at Southampton, and in doing so may have gifted Arsenal fourth place, and with it qualification for Europe for City. That was certainly the verdict at Craven Cottage, where “we’re all going on a European tour” rang out several times. Wishing Arsenal well is a disagreeable practice, but the prospect of City in Europe is such a giddily exciting one that we’re prepared to suspend our principles over it and wish Arsène Wenger’s charges the best of British against Newcastle tonight.

10: We wonder when the report about that clumpingly manipulated ballot will be published? After all, the club promised it’d be done by now. Let’s ask them…

#141 April 21, 2014

1. Bit of a cuffing from Arsenal in the end, but that’s what can happen when you play an obviously talented side with ever-high ambitions. City made a good first half of it though and caused plenty of problems; as is often the case, however, the difference came with the ruthlessness in front of goal.

2. Left back is proving to be our problem position, isn’t it? Maynor Figueroa was a train wreck at Wembley so his removal from the team was justified, yet this currently involves the shifting of Liam Rosenior to his less natural side and the consequent stifling of Ahmed Elmohamady on the flank he leaves behind. The two full back positions could do with proper back-up, befitting a squad hoping to play in Europe next season. And maybe one day Joe Dudgeon might be allowed to play football again.

3. It was appropriate that Andy Davidson’s recent passing was marked by silence rather than applause, although the polite clapping as Davidson’s life synopsis was read out over the speakers was enjoyable too. Thank you to the Arsenal fans for their impeccable observation of the silence, and well done City for doing the greatest servant in our club’s history the justice he absolutely deserved.

4. Fulham, then. Four of our five previous Premier League games against them hold immense significance. The first ever win on the first ever day; the Manucho goal which saved the first season; the only win under Iain Dowie; and this season’s record sixer. This weekend’s visit to Craven Cottage could be similarly significant if City treat it properly and come away with the points.

5. We didn’t do aThings We Think We Thinklast week due to the timing of the FA Cup semi-final, the long, late and somewhat refreshed journey home and the need to get the podcast done. However, it would have probably just said “FA Cup finalists Hull City” over and over again.

6. The ticketing for the final is shabby in terms of allocation, especially for Arsenal, and if we’d been given 40,000 you can imagine everyone in Hull who wanted one would have got one. That said, the club’s method of dishing out the 25,000 seems just to us; season ticket holders getting priority, then those without passes who still did the semi-final. We fear that anyone waiting for Phase Four to commence will be disappointed.

7. Proof indeed, as if we already needed it, that rugby league is a small-time, backward-thinking, self-cocooned sport has been acquired via the RFL’s refusal to change the kick-off time of the Rovers v FC game at the erroneously-named Magic Weekend so that fans of both sports might get more of a choice and, at the very least, see one of their teams play on television. Don’t be surprised if the turnout for the rugby match in Manchester is minuscule. The RFL’s indecision will prove final.

8. Martin Samuel’s stance on the name change issue has been fiercely and articulately on the side of Hull City AFC from the beginning, with a series of columns that have ruthlessly extinguished every argument that the pro-Hull Tigers lobby tried to make. His latest Debate piece (where he answers directly the comments made on his newspaper’s website about his column) is absolutely terrific reading andif you haven’t yet seen it, you must.

9. It’s pleasing to see City signing a kit deal with Umbro for next season, and hopefully the new sponsor will be from a more reputable enterprise than paying under-the-odds prices for skint people’s worldly goods. Nice to see Geovanni come over to launch the deal too, even if it was only because Umbro paid him to do so.

10. Much discussion about who’ll be the Manager of the Year. If City win the FA Cup, anything other than Steve Bruce will be the wrong decision, and here’s why. Palace’s stride to survival has been remarkable, but they were never more than 10/1 to stay up when Tony Pulis took over. Liverpool were 33/1 to win the title – again, impressive. But step aside, lads. City were 150/1 for the FA Cup – and that’s no including the fact we were odds-against to stay up as well. No doubt about who’d have exceeded expectations by the greatest margin.

#140 April 7, 2014

1. Perhaps because City have never looked in peril at any point this season, it’s easy to overlook just how strongly we’ve performed in the Premier League. We’d all have taken a gut-wrenching final day survival on goal difference; instead, City have ensured top-flight football at The Circle in 2014/15 with April just a few days old. A tremendous achievement.

2. It was guaranteed in a way that’s become something of a hallmark of City’s play this season: a narrow but effective home win with a clean sheet. The victory over Swansea won’t live long in the mind, but we about deserved it. City rarely looked troubled at the back and did about enough going forward to merit three points.

3. So, a potentially seminal week in the club’s history begins on the solid foundations of Premier League survival. This time next week, we could have succeeded in retaining our historic identity and qualified for a first ever FA Cup final; or we could be called Hull Tigers and bitterly cursing a defeat to Sheffield United. It’s not going to be a dull week, is it?

4. The name change first, then. All indications are that the FA will throw this nonsensical idea out, and that the Allam family will react with regrettably characteristic petulance. With all submissions to the FA in and the club’s owners remaining immune to good sense, all of that is now out of our hands. We pray the FA see sense and say no; equally, we hope Assem and Ehab Allam accept that decision with uncommon good grace. Continuing to lust after this idea even after it’s killed would be a bizarre form of ideological necrophilia.

5. The outcome of the ballot will probably be known by then, and what a shambolic, embarrassing affair it’s proven to be. A hopelessly loaded question. Only one side of the argument presented on it. The fact that voting intentions can be matched to individuals. The lack of transparency over an adjudicator. Attempts to vote by e-mail failing. People who’ve voted “No” (and can prove it) being invited to vote again. The whole thing is an utter sham, an affront to the supporters and we’re confident the FA and FSF – both of whom are aware of its multiple shortcomings – will pay it no heed.

6. Wembley. We’re the famous Hull City and we’re off to Wembley. To play in an FA Cup semi-final. We appreciate there’s little point to that, but it’s fun to say.

7. City are overwhelming favourites to reach the final, and given the two-division difference between the sides, that’s not a surprise. But it’s still possible to view this game with awesome trepidation. If we turn up, we win – we drew the long straw in getting the Third Division side, after all. Anything else, and a result we’ll be regretting for decades could be inflicted upon us. Ghastly.

8. Boyd to start at Wembley? Why not…he’s taken his chance in a way that Sone Aluko sadly has not.

9. Sheffield United have to play a South Yorkshire derby tomorrow. We do hope it’s not a tiring, injury-strewn match. That would be awful.

10. Cheering for Arsenal is a distasteful pursuit, but their collapse means we’re probably going to have to win the Cup now in order to play in Europe. Very selfish of them.

#139 March 31, 2014

1. We wish Allan McGregor a speedy recovery from what sounds like a rather grim internal injury. Not sure that a “contused kidney” has ever appeared on a City injury list before. At least the red card from the same incident at West Ham in midweek was rescinded, mind. It may only be technical as McGregor won’t be back this season, but it’s a little victory nonetheless.

2. City were excellent with ten men and deserved a point. It has been both enlightening and amusing to see the West Ham fans’ raging reaction online after hearing it in person at the Boleyn Ground after they didn’t manage to blitz a numerically-deficient City side. And had to rely on an own goal to win it, too. Another little victory, there.

3. Little victories are only any good if you’re in prison, mind. City need a proper one, a real one. Two away defeats in succession doesn’t bode amazingly well but fortunately games are running out and the gap to the bottom three is still clear and present. It’s still a case of one win and it’s done and dusted. Get thatwin against Swansea this weekend and we can head for Wembley without a care in the world.

4. We didn’t really look like getting a win against Stoke, sad to say. Once again City were the better side in possession, but lacked a cutting edge up front.

5. Most disappointing on Saturday was City’s reaction to falling behind. Cite tiredness if you will, but instead of the roaring desire to rescue the situation, City rather meekly submitted to their fate.

6. With plastic fans in short supply on Saturday, the 19’04″ outcry was perhaps the best yet. Well done all.

7. Um, Sone Aluko. He needs a good game, sooner rather than later.

8. We get the 4.07pm kick-off thing at Wembley, we really do. And we’re not trying to be insensitive. But if you’re booked on the 7.50pm train back to Hull and were already conscious that extra time and penalties may make it uncomfortably tight for getting back to Kings Cross for that time…

9. Not directly connected with City, but on Friday night the eggchasing franchise who share the Circle with City registered their lowest league attendance for eight years. They, in common with their whole “sport”, have been in decline for a few years now. So what are City trying to do to woo those disaffected to City?

10. We’re sure there’s a very good reason City won’t tell anyone who’s adjudicating their ridiculous ballot, or answer any of City Till We Die’s numerous issues with its operation. Yes.

#138 March 24, 2014

1. Another week, another series of PR disasters for the club. What part of “no” are they struggling to understand? The fans don’t want this, the wider football community doesn’t want it, and the FA don’t want it. Stop embarrassing yourselves, start listening and just drop it, yeah?

2. The ballot is painful to behold. It’s a leading question so clunkingly unsubtle that any results gleaned from it are of deeply questionable value. Quite who the Allams are trying to impress here is uncertain, but they are certain to fail. Personalising this issue suggests a highly insecure attitude among our owners, who seem wholly incapable of understanding that most people support them but hate the name change.

3. However, because of the way the ballot is worded, and because it’s so flawed as to offer little serious insight, vote No with a clear conscience. It has been fascinating to note that many who have said they were indifferent to a name change before are now saying they’ll vote no because they see the implied threat as blackmail.

4. Perhaps our owners think a resounding Yes vote would be grounds for an appeal, but the FA’s remit as guardians of the game gives them absolute discretion, therefore there are no grounds for appeal. Today marks the deadline for a second submission on the matter (whereas the results of the ballot will not be known until the weekend), so the club will have been given two bites at the cherry, do they really think they can force a third? The follow up submission is effectively an appeal against the recommendation, and since the ballot result cannot form part of that submission, the ballot is now meaningless as far as getting the name changed is concerned. Does that mean your voting is pointless? Well, consider that some fans (mostly those who ring Radio Humberside and don’t actually attend games) have suggested Hull City Tigers as a compromise, but that would mean another fresh submission to be decided next season for the following season. A No majority effectively kills dead any fresh submission idea and ends this tawdry affair once and for all.

5. Not a spectacle to live long in the memory, but a crucial three points nonetheless against West Brom. Steve Bruce will have been grateful to get this one out of the way painlessly.

6. Did Shane Long dive? The trip looked soft but he did get up and try to continue playing and though the crowd appealed, the player didn’t. Yet once the ref gave the penalty, the City striker became a villain with the Albion fans and a subject for discussion among the more conscientious City collective. Point is, even if he did go down without being fouled – ie, he stumbled – the fact that he got up suggests he wasn’t simulating, and deserves the benefit of the doubt.

7. Liam Rosenior is one of football’s thoroughly good sorts, a fundamentally decent fellow. We shared his personal joy at scoring as well as rejoiced in the team getting a crucial opening goal.

8. That said, Rosenior only benefitted because again a City striker fluffed a spot kick. Can the team have a penalty competition in training against Allan McGregor and declare the winner our designated taker, please?

9. Finding the case proven against George Boyd feels very unsafe to us. Yes, there was a globule of enzyme-based fluid as he offered some choice words to Joe Hart, but it’s obvious he was speaking as it emerged, suggesting accidental expectoration. Did the FA have footage at normal speed available to them that the rest of us haven’t seen? And did they even notice Hart’s proclamation that the City player didn’t gob at him? Boyd now has a record for doing one of the nastiest things in football and while we don’t ever condone spitting – filthy act – we feel some sympathy for him, and of course he’ll be missed from the team.

10. West Ham next, a long old slog on a school night with three points at stake that will get Bruce to his survival target. Winning there would be just delightful. We also have to go to Stoke next weekend, as potentially difficult a venue for a Premier League game as any other at our ‘level’, but the obvious carrot of being safe and sound for another year before we board our Wembley carriages will make these trips some of the most eagerly anticipated we’ve had in the Premier League.

#137 March 17, 2014

1. This is how a ballot for the name change should look: “Would you prefer the club’s name to be: a) Hull City b) Hull Tigers”. No leading questions, no pretending this is a referendum on the owners (it very obviously isn’t), no implicit or explicit threats. Just nothing but a simple and straightforward question about the name of our football club. Anything else will be rightly viewed with suspicion.

2. With the Allam family wanting to change something, it is incumbent upon them to demonstrate they have a majority. Assuming we have exactly 18,000 season ticket holders, if fewer than 9,001 vote for “Hull Tigers”, the issue is settled forever and we do not want to hear any more about it.

3. The video released by the club was puzzling, wasn’t it? Ehab Allam has a more moderate tone than his father, which is scarcely difficult, but the same wretched absence of evidence remains, while contradictions abounded.

4. We haven’t forgotten you, John Prescott. Eight days ago, on the morning of an FA Cup quarter final, this non-Hull City fan took it upon himself to insult us all with his ignorant and unwanted opinion. If you can’t say anything sensible, John – and we know that’s long been a struggle – how about just keeping quiet?

5. On the field? Well, there is genuine confusion as to whether George Boyd really did spit at Joe Hart or not. The moving evidence looks rather unfavourable, but then again it’s in slow motion and we’ve not yet seen a version at normal speed which may well absolve Boyd, as many are claiming it was spit that flew as he yelled something at Hart. The England goalkeeper himself has since publicly stated that Boyd didn’t spit at him, but the waters were re-muddied byMatch Of The Dayusing the slow-mo footage and condemning Boyd’s apparent actions.

6. Hart’s words of clarification do him great credit, which is the best we can say about him. After all, nobody came out of a most unsavoury incident well, really: Boyd for diving (which he did); Hart for trying to put the nut in (which he definitely did) and the referee Lee Mason for not noticing Hart’s actions or, worse, misjudging them. For our part, Steve Bruce says he will talk to George Boyd and that’s good to know. It’s also very worthy of our manager to not try to claim Boyd should have had a penalty – we can think of a few other Premier League gaffers who would have made themselves look myopic and foolish by protesting his player’s innocence, even when confronted with vastly incriminating evidence.

7. Vincent Kompany did deserve to go, however. Even if Nikica Jelavić did use dubious means to wrestle possession, the visiting skipper was a total fool for bringing him down when he did. There was enough real time between the Croat getting the ball and his hitting the deck for Kompany to know that a foul now would earn him a straight red, and his long complaint to the referee was futile and disingenuous.

8. The game itself was enjoyably frustrating, wasn’t it? It lacked any real purism as one side defended an early lead and a deficiency in numbers with professionalism and cool-headedness, while City just went at them time and again, though rarely in the end did Hart look in much bother. Bruce’s “kitchen sink” tactic will work pretty much every time against lesser sides, but didn’t against the richest club in the world.

9. Hopefully the next four games will sort us out for next season – visits to West Ham and Stoke bookended by home games against West Brom and Swansea. Two wins from those four, with ideally a couple of points on top, will settle our nerves for the run-in and give us nothing to torture ourselves about ahead of Wembley.

10. And on that – why aren’t City giving their own fans the opportunity to buy the best seats for the FA Cup semi-final? Sheffield United are – so why not us?

#136 March 12, 2014

1: Every single supporter of Hull City, reading this or not, will feel that bit taller now that the team has finally jumped a few generations and made the semi-finals of the FA Cup. To do so is an achievement that is difficult to express in words (though rest assured we’ll use a few paragraphs in trying) but suffice to say, for a club of our proud but eventless on-pitch history, it’s absolutely bloody massive.

2: Didn’t we achieve it brilliantly, too? A game that was tense for an hour opened up thanks to three quick goals, Sunderland’s self-destruction and City’s absolute confidence in their own stadium and their own skins. In the end it was a rout, making those of us as nervous as a litter of kittens beforehand wonder what all the worry was for. It’s also a tribute to City that they won the game immediately after Sunderland manager Gus Poyet, who’d picked a cautious, second-string starting XI, realised that the game may have become winnable and slung on his attacking cavalry of Adam Johnson and Fabio Borini – the loudest cheers of the afternoon by the Sunderland fans were also their last.

3: Individually, everyone deserves a clap on the back but the much underpraised David Meyler feels worthy of picking out. He has become quietly indispensable to our midfield with his off-ball running, tackling back and appetite to join the attack when the opportunity arises. The way he chased down the ball and then took it half the length of the pitch to score the clinching second goal will be long remembered as one of the most wonderful moments in City’s history.

4: And now we’re a victory over a League One side away from the final. We have a history of disliking Sheffield United – anyone who remembers the derbies against them in the 1970s and 1980s will loosen an involuntary shudder at the thought – but we’re not going to underestimate them. Since the third round they’ve had four opponents all from a higher division and got rid of them all, and they’ll havebeen verypleased with the draw (especially as Wigan Athletic had yet to beat Manchester City when it was made). But we’re two divisions higher in a one-off game at Wembley and our players have status, ability and momentum in enough bundles to win the semi-final and create actual club history, rather than just equal it.

5: It was pleasing to see Steve Bruce declare his intentions to retain the services of Matt Fryatt next season. On current form he deserves to be our main FA Cup striker and default back-up to the two newbies in the Premier League side. Whether Fryatt can deal with being a replacement striker in the top flight rather than being a primary centre forward in the Championship (from which there will be plenty of summer suitors, unquestionably) is another matter. Ultimately, the boy is a born finisher. There aren’t many of those around.

6: Now thoughts turn to Wembley. We’ll get over 30,000…will we actually sell them? It’s more likely than not that City will be in the final, after all (read that back – exciting isn’t it), so there’ll be a strong temptation for many to skip the semi in favour of the final. That assumes that the malevolent force that is TypicalCity has been banished for good – we’re sceptical about that – but it would be a little dismaying to see empty seats in the City end at Wembley.

7: The Cup semi-final will come just a few days after the FA rule on City’s name change. Future generations will look upon the second week of April 2014 as a truly momentous one in our history.

8: After some (deserved) brickbats lately, well done to the City stewards for facilitating a good-natured pitch invasion at full-time.

9: Now that we’re playing second, we’ll know in advance what would await, if we best the Blades. Arsenal would guarantee European football, a long-cherished dream of ours. Wigan wouldn’t…but it would makes us clear favourites to win the FA Cup. It’s not a terrible hypothetical dilemma to have, in truth.

10: Can we just mention one more time that Hull City AFC are in the FA Cup semi-final?

#135 March 3, 2014

1: Strange game against Newcastle United, kind of Cardiff in reverse. They were impressive on the break and also at sponging up possession, mind, and it’s worth giving them some kudos for the way they played. Alan Pardew’s unhinged moment on the touchline means no-one else has noticed how indifferently we played, so maybe we should brush it aside as well.

2: The wing back system works sometimes, and not others. But when Liam Rosenior is on the pitch we at least have the opportunity to go from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 if the situation demands, and that felt like the case against Newcastle, especially as Ahmed Elmohamady was getting little change out of the visitors and had nobody to overlap him in support.

3: Shane Long’s lethargy was a surprise. Firstly because he has energy to burn but for some reason couldn’t/didn’t do so; and secondly he has a two-week break now because he’s not allowed to play in the FA Cup quarter final. Among many performances of individual disappointment, his was most striking as we’ve only so far been used to very high calibre, high tempo displays from him since he joined.

4: Right, the Pardew incident. Some of us find it hard to get worked up about it as the faux-outrage from airheaded dullards like Robbie Savage take the attention completely – the day when Robbie Savage is able to lecture anyone about what’s morally right and wrong during a football match is the day we cancel our involvement in the game completely – but it is clear that Pardew, though intelligent, has a screw loose on occasions and can be a deeply unpleasant individual. He was vile towards Manuel Pellegrini earlier this season and can now add violence towards opposing players to his previous convictions for using extreme language towards opposing managers (as well as minor violence towards both managers and officials). The bloke, by his own apparent admission, needs to have a word with himself. His internal punishment is already known (and substantial) and he is very fortunate to still be in a job.

5: One issue, however: why was he allowed to stay in the ground? He wasn’t partaking in the game, therefore his act of violence amounted to the same as if a spectator had committed it (on anyone, let alone a player). He shouldn’t have been kicked out of the dugout, he should have been kicked out of the ground and a steward, or police officer, should have been as involved in his ejection as the referee, who was only entitled to send him from the technical area. Whatever the offence, being sent from the dugout is hardly scrubbing painted coal until it’s black again, is it? He can watch the game still and use a walkie-talkie to communicate with his colleagues (and a higher vantage point might give him a better view of things too, hence why some managers are up there all the time). The punishment meted out by his employers and the footballing authorities will damage his pocket and his professional reputation, but if he’d been treated like any other non-playing person shoving his head into another person, his personal reputation would have suffered much more.

6: Why David Meyler was booked within that incident is anyone’s guess. Or, in another incident, Nikica Jelavić. But aside from the players themselves, nobody else will even ask the question now. Certainly cautioning one player for being nutted by an unhinged opposing manager and another for lawfully charging down a goalkeeper’s clearance seems odd, but it’s unlikely anyone else is going to care.

7: Right, let’s raise the roof this coming Sunday. We have an undistinguished record in the FA Cup to the extent that it’s not just 90 minutes from Wembley that we face, but 90 minutes from only a second ever semi-final, and few City fans of 1930 will be around today. It’s a once-in-several-generations chance to equal, and possibly better, some club history.

8: We don’t have cause to praise the club very often at the moment, because they tend not to do praiseworthy things; but the pricing for the FA Cup games this season warrant a tip of the cap. £20 to watch an FA Cup quarter final is a very fair price, and probably less than some Third Division games this weekend. Well done City (and Sunderland).

9: We are going to sell this game out…right? It’d be acutely embarrassing to feature in such a prestigious game, surely the most important of our season so far, and there be empty seats.

10: Stewarding at City – on Monday night, a couple of overexcited young lads run on the pitch at full time, are immediately surrounded by stewards and carted out. Whether that’s harsh or not, there are rules and the stewards are entitled to enforce them. So why were so many Newcastle fans left alone for the whole of Saturday’s game? It’s double-standards, and it’s wrong.

#134 February 10, 2014

1. Total domination at Sunderland after the red card, and that’s the kind of thing we need to see from City, especially at this level. Sunderland may well have looked less than bothered for 86 minutes, which is a foolhardy attitude to take, but that’s not City’s fault and once the first goal went in, the result was never in doubt, which is a sensation we seldom experience.

2.When City took on nine Sunderland players, they looked frankly bewildered at times. The smooth assurance of their display against ten of them suggests lessons are being learned as the season progresses, which is enormously encouraging.

3. Shane Long and Nikica Jelavić looked a proper partnership. And if the goal by the latter raises his confidence to previously seen levels in his early Everton days, then we really could be on for a big run of form.

4. Sunderland fans regard Paul McShane as some kind of joke player. After yet another imperious display for the Tigers, however, they must be wondering what the hell has happened to him.

5. Conversely, the assumption that Jozy Altidore has not progressed as a player or a leader of a line since his season with City four years ago is absolutely spot on. He was a bit unlucky to be left on his own after the enforced withdrawal of Fabio Borini, but even so he was close to useless.

6. Sone Aluko is back, folks. He probably can’t manage 90 minutes yet. But he can manage 20 or so and in doing such, cause all sorts of problems, as we saw on Wearside. His return is immaculately timed.

7. Handling his return will require care. Another place on the bench seems likely on Tuesday – but to get him match fit, he’ll need time on the pitch. Assuming that goes well, there’s a strong argument for starting him in the Cup at Brighton, both because he’s ace and we’re more likely to progress with him playing, but also because it’ll be a good preparation for Cardiff the following week.

8. Southampton at home on Tuesday night will be a much trickier proposition, as they are a flexible, pacey, intricate and forward-thinking team. But we’re good at home. And a second straight win would be extremely welcome at this stage of the season.

9. Adam Lowthorpe was solid and generally admired full-back during his time at City in the mid-1990s. Yet his greatest contribution to Hull City AFC may come 16 years after he left, overseeing theEast Riding County FA‘s resounding No To Hull Tigers. The ERCFA’s emphatic rejection of this foolish idea strikes us as significant – if the club cannot come anywhere close to persuading their own regional FA, is there any real reason to suppose they’ll have more luck with the national FA, or that the national FA will wish to override the clearly-stated wishes of its local body?

10. Terrific news that the Football League is formally pressing for safe standing inside Championship venues in the future. This is an idea whose time has come, and when it’s successful in the second tier, there’ll be no excuse to deny its introduction in the top flight. It’ll take time, and there’ll always be those who want to use events in a different era to block this, but the facts are undeniable and we’ll get there eventually.

#133 February 3

1: Soon, the City Till We Die people submit to the FA their watertight case for maintaining our club’s name. We wish them all the luck in the world. We are right behind them, and after they have finished their meeting with the FA we’re sure we’ll continue to be right behind a club called Hull City AFC for the rest of all our futures.

2: A relief to get off the 23-point mark at last, with City’s first game without defeat in the Premier League in 2014, complete with the first goal too. Tottenham Hotspur are flawed but dangerous and the Tigers did extremely well against them.

3: Shane Long scored one superb goal; Nikica Jelavić, after a slow start, was lively and could have bagged three in the second half. The beginnings of a fine new strike partnership was really in evidence, and hopefully City will get what they’ve paid for.

4: Gifted though he is, it’s possible that Robbie Brady is somewhat over-indulged at times, walking straight back into the team the moment his fitness is assured, something that not many players in this squad can manage. He flitted from the bewildered to the co*cky against Spurs, especially in the second half, and rarely got anything right, and notably the just as left-footed but much more direct skills of George Boyd caused Spurs a whole wall of problems when he replaced Brady later on.

5: Everyone assumed Jake Livermore was off back to Spurs on deadline day, even though the national newspaper confidently reporting it had no direct quotation nor anecdotal evidence to back up their claims. Livermore duly stayed and City fans breathed again, yet we doubt the scribe responsible for such a baseless piece of speculation was remotely troubled by his wildly inaccurate reporting.

6: Bye bye Danny Graham. We’ll miss you.*

7: Jack Hobbs has gone too. A stalwart, a very good leader and a fine defender. This season he was the one to suffer from a glut of good centre backs but at Nottingham Forest he’ll be superb. They have acquired a class act.

8: The defeat at Crystal Palace felt kind of inevitable, even though it was clear City were robbed of at least one penalty decision and some of the finishing from the Tigers was rotten. Palace’s way of pulling themselves out of trouble – hire a defensive manager, buy a stack of grafters and work bloody hard – is paying off big style and it’s quite gratifying that we don’t have to face them again.

9: Sunderland this weekend, then. They are in sparkling form right now and City will have to go right at them from the off, knocking them out of a stride they’ve entered quite effortlessly in the last month or so.

10: The decision by BT Sport to shift City’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Brighton to a Monday night is as imbecilic as any we can think of in recent years. If the authorities really want to know why fans and clubs seem less arsed about the competition, then try this as a prime example. The annoying thing is that the Tiger Nation, after the win at Southend, were really getting into this year’s FA Cup and a trip to Brighton on a Saturday or Sunday would have represented a brilliant day for it. Now, hardly a soul from East Yorkshire will go. You do wonder who hands out the brains sometimes.

*Will we bollocks.

#132 January 27, 2014

1:A day out to remember at Southend, with a solid performance from City adding as a bonus to the feeling of ‘real’ footballing trips that stadia like Roots Hall provide, and some people who follow City will never have experienced before. All those who attended will hopefully have declared it the best away game of the season.

2: Opinion varies among the people who scribble this weekly pot pourri of nonsense each week over the abilities and overall usefulness of Matt Fryatt. One says he’s good enough for the Premier League as natural goalscorers always remain such, provided the service is available to them. Another says, well, the opposite. Fryatt’s exploits in Essex on Saturday do, at least, represent good news for City in the event of backup for the new signings being required. And Steve Bruce clearly likes him.

3: It was enjoyable to see Fryatt actually steal the football off Danny Graham in order to get the first goal. After his latest shambolic offering, Graham should never play for Hull City again. This is based on a belief, rather than a fact garnered from the signings of three other strikers for this season (and the revival of Fryatt) but his display at Southend was clueless and gutless, and really we should be ringing up Sunderland to tell them he’s on his way back up the A19. The very fact that they let him play in the FA Cup despite their continued involvement in the competition themselves speaks volumes.

4:Brighton away in the fifth roundrepresents, despite an abysmal record on their turf, a brilliant opportunity to get to the quarter finals. It’s not as if City aren’t used to trips to the coast to overcome lesser-placed sides in the FA Cup, is it?

5: And we return to the more serious business of the Premier League on Tuesday night with a trip to Crystal Palace. City have lost three in a row and four of the last five, and won just one in nine. It’s about time this unimpressive run of results was amended.

6: Victory over Palace won’t be easy, of course, by dint of the level we’re at but also because of their not unexpected resurgence based on percentage football and defensive meanness as beloved of Tony Pulis, a manager who is proving predictably effective since taking over at Selhurst Park. If City win it will challenge the victory over Liverpool as the best result of the season so far.

7: We’ve also got Tottenham visiting us at the weekend. Like Palace, they have gone for no-frills formation-based football under an Englishman to work their way through (overstated) past woes and it’s working. That game will be interesting indeed.

8: City Till We Die sent their written submission to the FA last Friday, and will meet them in February to press their case against Assem Allam’s absurd name change plan. The momentum feels very much with them, with support continuing to come in from across the game. Forecasting the FA’s verdict is fraught with danger, but there’s every reason to be confident that the historic name of Hull City AFC will not be butchered.

9: Even though the campaign is in the formal submission stage, there’s still so much more to be done. 1,245 more postcards were handed out at Southend, so please, keep sending them to the FA.

10: We definitely did not smirk at the lurid allegation raised by City fans at Southend that a former Member of Parliament for Hull East possesses a predilection for onanistic conduct. No, not one teeny tiny little bit.

Things We Think We Think #125 December 3, 2013

1:What a thrilling victory over Liverpool; moreover, how brilliantly timed it was. As the row over Dr Allam’s ever-increasing lunacy over the name change threatened to spill into verbal warfare, it was terrific to be able to fall head over heels in love with football again after City out-thought and out-fought Liverpool, one of the game’s mightiest powers, and claimed a first ever win over them.

2: The victory will be talked about for a long time, but in the shortest of short terms it was vital after two defeats in which City pretty much didn’t turn up. Just as the adage of Typical City dictates we’ll lose to a side yet to win away who are bottom of the table and down to ten men, it also determines that we’ll then turn on the style and put to bed a much more glamorous and consummate footballing outfit.

3: Luis Suarez won’t be as comfortably marked more out of a game again this season than he was by Alex Bruce.

4: How good was Yannick Sagbo? Up front effectively on his own (Koren had another worryingly quiet afternoon), once he’d stopped being caught offside he was fantastic. Tireless and skilful, he didn’t give Liverpool’s defence a single moment’s peace. Easily his best outing in black and amber, and one of the best individual performances of the whole season.

5: Assem Allam, then. Something very fundamentally changed over the weekend with hisextraordinarily foolish comments in the Independent on Sunday. Being a plain-speaker is one thing, insulting City supporters in such a deplorably offensive manner is something else. We first knew he’d made these incendiary remarks on Friday, but still didn’t quite believe it until news broke on Saturday night.

6: Firstly, whether “Hull Tigers” remains the chairman’s preference or not, an immediate and unreserved apology is required. City fans went to great lengths to rebut West Yorkshire Police’s slur that we are hooligans – to have that same baseless allegation levelled at us by our own club is revolting. Nothing less than Assem Allam offering an apology will suffice.

7: Yet it all makes “Hull Tigers” less likely to happen. The mood among wavering City fans is hardening against this daft idea, in no small part due to Dr Allam’s contemptuous and contemptible utterances. Meanwhile, the national press is weighing in, and certainly not on his side. This sorry notion is almost completely friendless, and while the FA has shown itself to be tin-eared in the past, they’re already taking an interest here. If the club thinks that abusing its own supporters is a good way to win friends and influence people, it may be in for a nasty surprise.

8: One thing that makes the club look so appallingly crass is the response of City fans on Sunday. It was quite simply magnificent. No pitch invasions, no aggro, absolutely nothing out of order, despite the intense provocation. Instead, we saw a witty and scathing “we’ll die when we want”, and a coruscating cry of “City Till I Die” on 19’04″. And how beautiful that City scored almost immediately after, perfectly illustrating this very modest form of protest has no detrimental effect upon the team. Well done City fans – the style and dignity we showed against Liverpool is helping to win this argument.

9: We haven’t won just yet though, even though all of the momentum is with us. To that end, please joinCity Till We Die. Please sing on 19’04″ on Wednesday. We suspect that lots of people across the land are hoping we’ll strike a blow against the worst excesses of modern football.

10: Arsenal next, then. There’s always a chance. After all,when we went there in September 2008their co*cksure fans claimed beforehand that we’d only “come to see Eboué”. By the end of that one, we could claim they’d only turned up to see Geovanni.

#124 November 25, 2013

1: Let’s get the football stuff out of the way first.Defeat to Crystal Palaceis unacceptable but we can do nought about it now bar forget it happened and look ahead. Too many City players were off-colour and absences through injury were felt greatly. December is coming, and it contains seven matches which range from the seemingly insurmountable to the hopefully winnable. City have to get back into the habit of picking their performances carefully again.

2: We miss Sone Aluko to a level that is almost beyond words. Despite the effort and strength of Yannick Sagbo, we simply do not have any candidates for the front line that may actually possess the ability to create and finish chances in equal measure. Losing Aluko until February is a travesty and looking around the rest of the squad, it can only be remedied with some cute business in January.

3: Ahmed Elmohamady seems to have lost the plot a bit. He has never really been a right back, and it’s baffling to see him in that role when one considers how ill-at-ease he looked in the early part of the season there. We have Liam Rosenior, and we have no natural alternative on the right flank to the Egyptian, who can still frighten a full back and arrow in a hurtful cross if defensive responsibilities are taken from him, so it seems a no-brainer not just to play him there, but only to play him there.

4: Next it’s Liverpool at home, whose strikers are the most potent in the Premier League. Then it’s Arsenal away, who are currently top of the pile. Well, you can’t win a raffle if you don’t buy a ticket…

5: … which takes us to matters away from the pitch. That there were empty seats in the West Stand for the game against Crystal Palace while the Liverpool game has been sold out for more than a week is nothing short of disgraceful. It’s depressing and sick-making that there are locals to the East Riding whose interest in Hull City is only aroused by the prospect of seeing glitter-glazed names with massive egos trying to beat them. We really hope Steven Gerrard has a stinker on Sunday or, better still, gets sent off after eight seconds. We also trust the club will ban for life anyone found wearing enemy colours in home areas.

6: Things are in danger of spiralling out of control with regards to the name change. Assem Allam has obstinately dug his heels in, aggravating matters by breaking promises, sounding insulting, preposterous and wholly unaware of how to communicate with football fans. Meanwhile, City fans are mentally manning the barricades, and with such ill-feeling in the air it’s difficult to see this ending well. And that, for the record, is 100% the fault of Assem Allam.

6a: Hilariously, a few people have tried to pin the Palace defeat on City fans with a City banner singing ‘City till I die’. Just think about that for a second, they’re saying displaying and chanting the name of our team is negative, how does that calculate? Some have said any protest should be kept outside of the ground and we’d normally largely agree with that, but our owner has said that anyone attending games is effectively casting a referendum vote for Hull Tigers, so the only place anyone can rebuff that preposterous statement is in the stadium, during games. Those chants of City Till I Die after the flag fracas didn’t seem to echo a minority feeling, and there were certainly more than 200 people making their feelings felt.

7: We probably shouldn’t have made reference to stewards being “minimum wagers” yesterday (a phrase that was meant to emphasise the type of person trying to manifest power they don’t have, nothing else, but we accept the concerned responses). We should instead have focussed on them as tossers instead. Whoever instructed them to try to snatch the “We are Hull City” flag ought to be clearing his desk out first thing this morning. Watching a peaceful and entirely justified protest be subjected to such snarling aggression is utterly unacceptable. It did, however, bring out a ferocious cry of City Till I Die, easily the most heartfelt entreaty of this entire campaign, with plenty of previously wavering or uncommitted supporters lustily joining in.

8: We suspect the club will attempt to ban flag and banners next week, possibly via another cherishably unhinged Club Statement. The match is on Sky, and the opportunity for the club to take another public mauling is huge. We therefore strongly recommend anyone planning to take a protest flag or banner to take them in – you’ll either get them shown to a global audience, or the club will inflict another PR disaster upon itself.

9: The only minor risk here is that with feelings running so high, and the prospect of more moronic utterances this week inflaming passions even further, is things go too far. Please, please, please, keep it loud but keep it legal. City fans are being lauded across the country as proponents of a just cause and occupiers of the moral high ground – that is priceless, and it’s essential we keep it that way.

10: Apropos of flags, wasn’t the City Till We Die flag excellent? It’s already been signed by many times more people than the 200 so laughably asserted by the terminally unaware. It’s also great to see so many people sign up as members of that group. If you haven’t, please feel free to do sohere– it’s only £2, you get a wristband, and the opportunity to stand up for the history of Hull City AFC.

#123 November 18, 2013

1. In our meeting with Assem Allam, he stated on numerous occasions that he “does not cheat, does not lie”. Those are words that a dozen people will recall hearing. They’re worth bearing in mind as we look over the events of last week.

2. You could perhaps charitably assume that some of his recent utterances, delivered on that surreal Tuesday, are the product of great confusion. Apparently 98% of Hull City AFC fans support the name change, from an overall diaspora of 100,000 (one of the few believable figures he presented). That means that a MAXIMUM of 2,000 oppose, though he reduces this further to suggest that only 200 people oppose it.

3. Assem Allam is in receipt of a petition (delivered by hand at the meeting) of well over twenty times this figure stating their opposition. So he either knows that figure of 200 (or even 2,000) to be untrue, and said it anyway – or perhaps he forgot. He’s a multi-millionaire, so we can reject innumeracy as an excuse. It’s for the individual to posit the reason for this inaccuracy.

4. Let us continue, because this myth that we’re a minority really does need debunking. The Hull Daily Mail’s poll showed 78% of 3,671 people against – which is 2,863. Again, a much higher figure than alleged. Now, let us assume that those 2,863 somehow represent literally the ONLY people against it, and constitute the 2% identified in point 2. (Brace yourself for some maths). That would hint at a total support base of just over 143,000. Okay, a bit unlikely, but not impossible. The odds of the Hull Daily Mail’s poll picking up only the 2% opposed in a 78%-22% result is so large you can barely conceive it: 1 in 156 followed by tens of thousands of zeroes. There isn’t even a word for it. It’s akin to winning the National Lottery every week for 220 years.

5. So we may safely say that Assem Allam’s 98% assertion is not correct. Once again it’s up to the individual to to ascribe the motivation for him saying something that is obviously not right.

6. At the meeting with City Till We Die, we were categorically told that the name change would not occur if there were no benefits, and only then subject to the approval of the supporters. He was pressed on this – again, a dozen witnesses will testify – on three occasions. This has now been backtracked upon in the most reprehensibly petulant manner imaginable. “I do not cheat, I do not lie”. You decide.

7. Behind the anger, there’s sadness. Two long-standing contributors to the Amber Nectar forums and all-round friends of this site declared last week they’ve returned their season tickets. Others pondered on the ramifications for families, with fathers wondering out loud whether they can bring themselves to take children to something called “Hull Tigers” and the prospect of father-son relationships being harmed by the loss of Saturday afternoons together. This unbelievable, heart-breaking stupidity is in danger of alienating not only this generation, but the generation yet to come. And we saw from the club’s decimation during the 1990s just how long that took to repair when young people looked in other directions for their sporting fix. The damage this idea would cause will still be with us long into the 2020s.

8. The absolute chaos at the club is perfectly embodied by what took place during last week, when a decidedly ranty club statement was made about the failure of Adidas to adequately supply items. There’s obviously been an issue with that supplier, that we’ve felt like second class customers of theirs throughout. What’s more telling is that the statement was made, and then later in the day pulled when one of the few grown-ups actually working at City saw it and immediately spotted the rather obvious issue with appearing so shockingly unprofessional.

9. Have you unfollowed City’s twitter feed yet and removed the official website from your favourites for titular crimes against Hull City AFC? If not, it’s a small but thoroughly satisfying course of action we heartily recommend, more than justified by the discontinuation of the #hcafc tag by those who run the former. To have to unfollow your own football club is quite incredible, but here we are.

10. Bit by bit, day by day, the club’s current regime and the supporters are becoming irreconcilably opposed, and that’s desperately sad. Fair-minded people are either being driven away from the club, or driven to despise its doings. We know the club is reading these words. We know some at the club are in utter despair at what’s happening. To those: please, please stop this madness, before it’s too late. The world is watching. And be in no doubt, the FA is watching as well.

#122 November 11, 2013

1.Saturday’s cuffing at Southamptonwas a pretty sobering affair. Not only were City outclassed, they were outfought, which suggests more than a few limbs are already beginning to show signs of tiredness. The international break has arrived at a useful time for us.

2. Given that City were only at maximum effort for half of their previous game owing toSunderland’s implosion, our battle-weary demeanour at St Marys is troubling. That’s not to cast aspersions upon fitness, but it ought to act as a reminder of just how hard a newly-promoted club has to work to be competitive with already established opposition.

3. A 3-5-1-1 formation worked well last season, out of necessity. It was a conspicuous failure on Saturday, serving to unsettle the defence and invite Southampton forward. As we stood on in dismay there was no doubt it’d be changed at half-time, however its implentation in the first place was a rare error of judgement by Steve Bruce. It’s hard to imagine we’ll see it repeated any time soon.

4. With almost fifteen hundred in the away end on Saturday, the club’s decision to provide free away travel is certainly boosting away support. It’s hard to imagine that number would have travelled otherwise.

5. With Roy Hodgson in attendance, Tom Huddlestone picked a pretty rotten afternoon to have his worst game in a City shirt.

6. Should we be concerned about City’s away form yet? All six of our games on the road have been against sides in the top half of the table, so it’s been an uncommonly difficult start, and with the exception of Southampton, we’ve taken positives from them all. Perhaps it is too early – but as the season progresses and more winnable away fixtures present themselves, we’ll need to improve upon our current record of five defeats out of six.

7.The loss of Aluko until Februaryis horrible news. We were aware of his occasional fragility when he signed, but it’s particularly upsetting given how well he’d settled into the Premier League. And while we know that none of you take seriously the utter rubbish peddled by a newspaper such as the Daily Mirror. Nonetheless, if you do think there’s anything in their Aluko-to-Crystal Palace story…would you like to buy some magic beans?

8. With tickets now on sale for the Manchester United and Liverpool home games, another note of congratulation to City, whose cunning wheeze makes it virtually impossible to obtain them without having already made a significant investment in prior attendance. Awarding priority to those who’ve been to five other games, then to anyone buying them in conjunction with a Stoke ticket is a very good idea and will hopefully prevent gloryhunters from getting hold of them.

9. However, it would be nice if the club could issue a clarification stating that anyone found in the home areas with Liverpool or Man Utd shirts on when we play them will be ejected and banned for life.

10. Well done to Jon Walters, the former City striker who, having had to go to Wrexham and Chester to revive his career when the Tigers released him, made his 100th consecutive Premier League start at the weekend, which is a record for current players, and capped it with a goal. Few of us would have thought that kind of milestone was possible.

#121 November 4, 2013

1: What a peculiar game againstSunderlandthat was. But going after nine men who only need one chance to equalise is hardly something that teams have to prepare for with any great regularity, and so it’s perhaps no surprise that Steve Bruce’s side struggled with all that possession and all those red and white striped bodies in front of them. But a win remains a win and a much needed one at that after one point from nine, with a clean sheet and a continuing unbeaten home record chucked in.

2: Not that it stopped some true cretins ringing up BBC Radio Humberside to moan that City didn’t stick another six past the Mackems in the second half, as if such situations represented an exact science. Honestly, you do wonder why these people bother taking an interest in their team – experience tells us that they are the type of fans who never ring up radio phone-ins when everything has gone according to plan.

3: Let’s deal with the four controversial challenges that the game threw up, in order: 1 – McShane and Westwood, accidental and blameless on both sides. 2 – Cattermole and Elmohamady, reckless and deserving of red. 3 – Dossena and Meyler, diabolical and deserving of further punishment from the FA than just a red card and three game ban. 4 – Brady and Johnson, reckless and deserving of red. And what Robbie Brady was thinking of with that challenge we can’t imagine – let’s hope that there isn’t some of the bad old Brady returning to the fore.

4: Jozy Altidore seems to be exactly the same player as he was in City colours in 2009/10. Hardworking, strong, committed and entirely incapable of scoring goals or knowing the best positions to get into.

5: Three days before, City had been involved in one of the club’s greatest ever occasions in Cup competition, despite the ultimate defeat on penalties. The players who fought for the cause of Hull City AFC deserve our extensive thanks for taking us so close to a real night of glory. It’s a pity that we still haven’t got beyond the last 16 of the League Cup, but nevertheless we have the consolation of seeing what happens when everyone takes the competition seriously. We really do have a squad that is not only talented, but extremely decent.

6: You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Paul McShane bullet in a header at White Hart Lane and then run the length of the pitch to celebrate with the City fans.

7: Southampton away next. This will be really hard; they’re proving to be a quick-learning force at this level after coming back up, they have a squad as tight as ours in terms of togetherness and can score all types of goals, which we struggle to do. But at the moment nobody is too scary for City. Nobody.

8: We were at the meeting with Dr Allam on Friday night. And we’re still not entirely sure what to think about it. Full minutes are being prepared by City Till We Die, which will be available soon.

9: There’s some positive stuff though. Dr Allam promised not to change City’s name without there being provable benefits – which the club will now research (they haven’t yet), and not without wider fan consultation. So there’s a very long way to go before we could ever be “Hull Tigers”, and if we really are to be properly consulted, it’s hard to imagine it’ll ever happen. Initially Dr. Allam thought the group of fans before him were going to be hostile, and felt the need to talk about the good work he’s done. That was unnecessary, we know and are truly appreciative. It took a while to sink in, but it seemed as if our owner understood by meetings end that he and we have the same goal, a successful and independently sustainable Hull City, and that the fans will work with him to achieve that, and only the name is our issue. Surprisingly, Dr. Allam was angry that the fans didn’t protest the Council’s decision not to sell the KC Stadium freehold, and assumed City fans had all the facts on the issue, but they evidently didn’t. The suspicion that Dr. Allam feels the word ‘City’ alludes to the Council rather than the environs of Hull was confirmed, and we have our work cut out convincing him that it simply doesn’t.

10: There were no biscuits at the meeting.

10a: That’s a joke by the way. We’ll bump the owner’s score on our Tomb Rater graphic up by a point, as his meeting with fans on the renaming issue is undoubtedly a positive step, and the assurance that due diligence will be undertaken was indeed assuring.

#120 October 28, 2013

1. Blaming a referee for defeat is often the recourse of rubes and knaves who cannot bring themselves to acknowledge deserved defeat by a superior opponent. However… The decision by Michael Oliver to award a penalty for handball with 10 minutes remaining was utterly abhorrent. The ball did strike Elmohamady’s hand as he sought to block Vertonghen’s cross, deflecting off his thigh, but to believe he intentionally used his hand is simply absurd.

2. We’ve not had the rub of the green in successive games now. There’s every chance that City would have brought something back from Everton had Gareth Barry received a deserved red card, while Tottenham really didn’t look like scoring until Mr Oliver’s crass intervention. That’s seriously bad luck. But it’s not so long ago we were the beneficiaries, against West Ham – we acknowledged that at the time, now we have to man up and accept that the breaks can go against us as well.

3. That realisation won’t make Ahmed Elmohamady feel any better however. The Egyptian has been criticised at times this season for shirking defensive responsibilities, but that cannot be said of Sunday’s game, Elmo did exactly what you’d want him to do and fell foul of what Steve Bruce described as a “brutally unfair” decision.

4. There’s little fun in picking over the bones of defeat for morsels of positives, but there were many to be had. All but five of our starters at White Hart Lane were with us in the Championship last year, Curtis Davies was playing at that level with Birmingham and Steve Harper was a rarely used back up. Yet City matched their much fêtedopponents throughout the game and were thoroughly deserving of a point.

5. Losing Allan McGregor for six weeks is undoubtedly a blow, but the Spurs game showed we have a very competent back up in Steve Harper.

6. We really could do to get some absentees back soon though. We have – according to the League table – two of the most winnable fixtures of the whole season in November, Sunderland and Crystal Palace at home. Losing manfully in trying circ*mstances at home is all well and good, but those are games from which points are essential.

7. Back to Tottenham on Wednesday. Steve Bruce will probably want to save weary limbs and the half-fit for the Sunderland match, and that’s understandable enough. However, the League Cup is not without importance, providing as it does our best hope of silverware and that priceless route into Europe. Please, City, don’t just chuck it away.

8.Amber Nectar has been invited to meet Dr. Allam along with representatives of other supporter groups this Friday. No agenda has been set so far, but we’re presuming it relates to the planned renaming of the club. We see this as an immensely positive step towards a conclusion of a matter that (understandably) divides support at a time when unity is needed.

9. We’ve accepted this invitation, and will of course report the outcome. We’d be interested to know what supporters would consider an acceptable compromise if both parties are willing to give ground.

10. Meanwhile, the No To Hull Tigers campaign will continue.City Till We Dieis selling scarves (they’re ace, go get onehere) and took receipt of another 3,000 badges, which will once more be handed out for free at forthcoming games.

#119 October 21, 2013

1: No shame in losing at Everton, and there were good spells for City right through the game. A bit more luck and some slightly more attentive officiating could have helped the Tigers to a point.

2: Gareth Barry must have felt like the luckiest player in football after watching the highlights of the game. He was offside for Everton’s first, unquestionably; he also committed two fouls that were both worthy of a red card. And he got off scot free. You kind of admire City for their restraint, but certainly with the two fouls you wish the players had protested a bit more.

3: What a fine, instinctive finish by Yannick Sagbo for the equaliser. Regardless of whether Danny Graham is fit for our next league match or not, Sagbo arguably deserves an extended run of starts to see if he can do that more often.

4.Tottenham next. Anything is possible, but no City fan could be blamed if they spent the next six days gulping with trepidation.

5: Oh, West Yorkshire Police. What to make of the quite remarkable statement put out on Friday?

6: Firstly, an apology is welcome. They were unquestionably in the wrong on so many things that some form of mea culpa was the bare minimum required. Yet upon close examination, it’s hard to know what they’re actually apologising for.

7: They aren’t, for instance, apologising for the basic factual errors contained within the intelligence forcibly extracted through FOI requests. They aren’t apologising for the smear that City fans cannot be trusted with a 5.20pm kick off, an odious lie. Some would say this is an empty apology. They may have a point – but the fact that a force as arrogant and incompetent as West Yorkshire Police have felt compelled to issue one is in itself a huge victory for City (and Huddersfield) fans, and the sheer scale of the backlash means that WYP will almost certainly never attempt anything like this again with us. For that reason alone, the campaign was a major success, and we’re very proud that City fans have made a small but measurable difference to how football is policed in this country.

8:There was some heartwarming solidarity shown on Saturday by Everton fans, who back our #NoToHullTigers campaign. Rebranding isn’t just an issue for our club, and fans of other teams are vocally showing their displeasure at long established and much cherished identities being sacrificed for spurious reasons.

9:Those scarves are acearen’t they?

10: The comments section of last weeks TWTWT was quite revealing, in that it highlighted that some City fans are confused as to just what the Assem Allam driven rebrand entails. A regular commenter made the “Hull City Tigers still contains the word City so it’s ok” argument, evidently blissfully unaware that the club’s owner wants to do away with City entirely and just call the club Hull Tigers. Not that surprising really given the cack handed way the club have approached this matter, but it does illustrate the task the City Till We Die group face, as they have to make sure that all City fans are aware that ‘City’ will cease to exist if Dr. Allam pushes through his plans, and to co-ordinate a unified response of “Respectfully, don’t do that”.

#118 October 14, 2013

1. International weekends are rubbish, even if they do end up with England qualifying for a World Cup. Most football fans will always love their club more than their country, but the general apathy towards the national team has been considerable lately and the return of football as the nation prefers it this weekend is greatly welcome.

2. Though we just might pay more attention to the England set up if a City player were to be part of it. Heh.

3. And for City, this means a trip to Everton. They’ve only just lost their first game of the season and have a strong squad and a progressive manager. But all in Steve Bruce’s garden is rosy enough to make us believe that we can go to Goodison Park and get something.

4. Congratulations are in order to Everton fans who campaigned to have the club’s motto returned to the crest and won when the Merseyside club rethought a ‘branding refresh’. It seems absurd in juxtaposition that some (no matter how small in number) think Hull City becoming Hull Tigers is nothing to get worked up about when another club’s fans are moved to defend their club’s historic identity over missing Latin text.

5. It was never suggested at any point that Everton fans wanting their feelings to be considered by the club on the crest issue was in any way an attack on or campaign against the ownership. Similarly, City fans wanting to preserve Hull City’s 109 year old name are not anti-Allam, they are merely pro-City and care greatly about the club’s identity.

6. That kind of brand loyalty is something that most commercial concerns would proverbially kill for. It has great value.

7. Just 25 City fans arrested last season, according to the Home Office. You may very well think that’s 25 too many, and you may have a point; but that figure is nonetheless remarakbly low given that the aggregate attendance for home games last season was north of 400,000 – and there are still away games to consider. If Saturday nights around Hull or rugby league matches were policed as stringently as football is, there’s no doubt we’d compared extremely well.

8. Wonder what Supt Ged McManus made of the figures?

9. City host Liverpool soon, and like slugs emerging after the rain, so gloryhunters are crawling from their armchairs in pursuit of tickets. But not so fast! City are affording priority to those who’ve bought tickets to at least two home games already. Not a bad idea. If they can follow it up promising to eject and ban for life anyone found wearing enemy colours in the home ends, that’d be even better.

10. One thing though: tickets for this game are £35. That’s the highest price ever charged for a single ticket to a City home game, and while complaints about the cost of entry are scarcely original and we’re far from the worst culprits, that really is far too much.

#117 October 7, 2013

1: Taking stock as we hit another international break, it is evidently a nice time to be a Hull City supporter. Our team is tight and enterprising and the manager is coming across by both word and action as someone totally in control of what he is doing. We’ve taken seven points from the last nine, reached a record-equalling stage of the League Cup and not conceded a goal in roughly 315 minutes of competitive football. And we are eighth in the Premier League. Carry on, City.

2:The game against Aston Villawon’t be remembered for long, though it wasn’t as bad as many a goalless draw witnessed down the years. It was mainly an exercise in cautionary tactics, strong defending (which we find easier to appreciate than many) and a mutual respect between the two teams. Nobody should have come away from the Circle unhappy with how it went.

3: All that said, when we head to Villa Park for the return game (which will be our last away game of the season), we’d like to score please. We’ve now gone 750 minutes (ish) since our last goal, in any competition, against them. That’s just too long, even allowing for the 20 year gap between league games.

4: When we reconvene, we have to go to Everton. Those whose glasses are half full will see their defeat at Manchester City as quite handy, as they no longer have an unbeaten run to protect and will not have that extra incentive any more. Those who prefer to see the empty expanse of SiO₂before them will think they’ll want to make up for that defeat and we’ll suffer for it, as well as the more obvious stuff like being a good side with creativity in the midfield and a really, really good centre forward. We’ll see.

5: One extra reason for wanting to get one over Everton is their decision to advertise tickets for the game on a board outside Goodison Park using the provocative, inaccurate phrase ‘Hull City Tigers’. Whoever made that decision should know better, especially as their own badge-related issues have made alienating their own fans something of a specialist subject for them.

6: Rickie Lambert is the only outfield player in the England squad who doesn’t play for Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, the two Manchester clubs and the two Merseyside clubs. Roy Hodgson may say he doesn’t think he picks players on the basis of with whom they ply their daily trade, but nonetheless one can’t help but feel Tom Huddlestone might have had more chance of making the squad if he’d done loads of ten-minute cameos for Spurs than be utterly flawless over many periods of 90 minutes with the Tigers.

7: Still, at least he won’t get injured when Tom Cleverley has a wild kick at him in training. That’s the obvious plus to Hodgson overlooking City’s biggest star. Nevertheless, we really do feel close to having that first proper, fully-fledged England player that’s ours, and all ours. Hopefully, his time – and ours – will come.

8: Saturday saw the second day of activity from City Till We Die. Another 10,000 leaflets were handed out, and another 3,000 free badges were snapped up. A success? Largely so. The point of the 1904-theme was that on 19 minutes 4 seconds (1904 – see?) these would be held aloft and a mighty cry of “City Till I Die” would follow. Not so many leaflets visible, but it was comfortably the loudest chant of the day.

9: The campaign so far has come a long way in a short time. 19,000 leaflets and nearly 6,000 badges have been doled out, awareness has been raised, the club’s attention gained and the media focussing once more on the lamentable notion of “Hull Tigers”. We also detect a few waverers are being persuaded. What, after all, do you want to see on our first ever trophy: our proud hundred year old name Hull City, or something as dismally crass as “Hull Tigers”. Exactly. And to guard against that horror, the campaign must continue.

10: What next for City Till We Die? We have nearly four weeks until the next home match to plan. All suggestions welcome.

#116 September 30, 2013

1. City are seventh in the Premier League. That’s not a fluke either. At the moment, we thoroughly deserve to be.

2. It’s a bit much to expect us to remain in such a lofty position, but it’s worth looking at how we got there – and it’s worth admitting straight away that we had a little luck against West Ham United. Robbie Brady shouldn’t have been given a penalty, and if he really did dive as has been alleged (no TV angle seems to show it clearly), that is not acceptable. West Ham should have had a penalty; that the referee missed it is a remarkable stroke of good fortune. Though doesn’t Sam Allardyce do an uncanny impersonation of an embittered armchair rugby league fan, always – ALWAYS – whining about referees?

3. In between the two penalty claims, City looked very strong. Tom Huddlestone is an absolutely delight to watch, but the diligent running and skill of Jake Livermore gives him space to operate. Throw in Brady, and that’s as good a midfield trio as you’ll find outside the division’s biggest clubs.

4. We didn’t miss James Chester on Saturday. It’s possible that one can pay higher praise to a defensive quartet than that; however we’ve no idea what it actually is. A reason for not missing the great man was Abdoulaye Faye. Every time a high ball went up in the City box – and as an Allardyce side, West Ham did this a lot – he got up there and butted it away. He might not run much or have a touch of silk, but boy can that big man defend.

5. Ahmed Elmohamady is a massive threat on the right wing and an accident waiting to happen at right back. His return to more comfortable surroundings against West Ham was a boon to him and something of a relief to us.

6. Aston Villa are a bit up and down at the moment, but they have just beaten Manchester City at home and while they are devoid of their ace goalscorer in Benteke, their sullen local hero in Agbonlahor and any household names in general at the moment, they are still a threat. But at the same time, they are eminently beatable. We should fancy ourselves for three wins in a row – and we owe them one big style after some controversial and anger-ridden recent meetings. We’ve never scored against them in the Premier League before, let alone taken any points off them.

7. Steve Bruce was right to bemoan the general standard of early League Cup ties in midweek, but clubs and the football authorities must take responsibility for this. Ultimately, they organise the competition, under-appreciate it and use it only as an experimental tournament to remove some reserve team cobwebs until or unless they get to the latter stages. However, thanks to a sluggish win over Huddersfield in midweek, City are in the last 16 for the first time in 36 seasons, which is (technically) an achievement. And if Tottenham don’t think a last 16 place is the moment to begin playing their bigger names, then we should stick our best side out at White Hart Lane and go for it.

8. The sorry decline of that website means you probably haven’t even noticed, but having been one of the pioneers of football coverage in the internet’s earlier days, it’s quite toe-curling to see Football 365 reduced to pitifully trolling City fans for a bit of attention, with such gems as “Hull City Tigers” (despite having being told by us and others to grow up) and “to go ahead twice and still lose at home to Hull is a sackable offence in itself”, something that seems at best legally doubtful and worst Nu-Fan TwatSpeak of the worst kind. Most grown-ups already do this, but if not: avoid.

9. Saturday also saw the first activities of the the new group City Till We Die. That group has been formed to try to retain the name Hull City AFC, and made its first appearance before the West Ham game. Some 9,000 leaflets were distributed and 2,800 free “No To Hull Tigers” badges were provided, the latter running out by about 2.30pm. Hopefully more of these will be ready for next week.

10. There’ll be more to come; in the meantime, thank you to those who offered supportive comments, to those who volunteered their time to help before the match and those who’ve contributed.

#112 September 2, 2013

1. Excellent display at the Etihad, as acknowledged (refreshingly) on a national basis too. But for a spot of rushed finishing in the first half, City could have had a half time lead, then the fun would really have started…

2. BT Sport, covering City for the first time, forgot to include a representative of the Tigers on its three-man panel of pundits, choosing instead a trio of former Manchester City players, but redeemed themselves with presenter Jake Humphrey deliberately enunciating the ‘AFC’ in our name. The commentators didn’t help by calling the home side ‘City’ all the way through, failing to realise (or care) that there were two teams with that suffix on show, but everyone does that now. Anyway, giving credence to the idea of the word ‘City’ being a hindrance isn’t something we’d care to do right now…

3. A partial credit to the stewards at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. We were left alone inside the ground with no officious interventions, but a pity that flags and banners were denied entry if they said anything disapproving of City’s idiotic name change wheeze. Where did that decision originate, we wonder?

4. The Etihad is a fine stadium with a real identity, despite its newness. Unfortunately the presence of eggchasers makes customising the Circle in a similar fashion very difficult in terms of permanent fixtures and fittings; but there must still be some temporary installations at our own stadium that could make it feel a little more homely.

5. We all mused over the summer who’d successfully step up to the Premier League and who wouldn’t. Of particular interest is the progress of James Chester and Robbie Brady, two young players laden with talent but for whom exposure to top flight adversaries tests them vigorously. It’s too early to make a conclusive analysis of course, but both have made very impressive starts and the prospect of them converting rich potential into achievement is an exciting one.

6. It is TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY!!!!! Or so Sky Sports News will presumably style it, on the day when that usually excellent channel becomes a completely unwatchable procession of seemingly everything that’s wrong with modern football. It’s a day when temptation presents itself, logic deserts even the rational and grasping mercenaries on and off the field profit at the expense of us. Don’t fall for it, City.

7. Aaron Mclean, Nick Proschwitz, Cameron Stewart and Matt Fryatt are all rumoured to be on the ‘must get rid’ list before the deadline ticks by. The first three are gimmes (though no disrespect is intended to Mclean, a player simply not good enough for this level but worthy of our admiration nonetheless) but we’d like to think that unless the money offered makes a sale sensible (Middlesbrough are rumoured to be in), Fryatt might be retained. The lad is a proven goalscorer and is still not match fit. He deserves a go, at least until January.

8. Cardiff are next up in a fortnight. With their heritage having been assaulted in same unfeeling fashion as Mr Allam would do to us, it would be fitting if something can be arranged together with the Bluebirds to express our joint unhappiness at such lunacy.

9. Progress in the League Cup is pleasing, even though it occurred via the usual method of underperforming with a team of uninterested reserves and misfits. It was, in fact, very much a Championship side that Steve Bruce put out at Leyton Orient, with everyone in the starting XI bar the goalkeeper featuring in the promotion campaign last season, with two first-team debutants coming off the bench and only one other summer signing on the teamsheet at all. Winning the game via any lawful means was, maybe, enough for Bruce, with the methodology distinctly second in the list of priorities.

10. Huddersfield Town at home in the third round is an amusing consequence of that win. Had it been an away game, it would have been very interesting indeed.

#111 August 26, 2013

1. That it was possible to momentarily forget City were down to ten men for over an hour against Norwich is a testament to City’s resolve and work rate on Saturday. They didn’t just shut out the numerically advantaged visitors, City continued to play on the front foot and cause them problems, and late in the game when you’d expect Norwich to be throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us, it was City who looked the more likely to score the second goal. It’s against-the-odds performances like this one that turns a group of men into a team in the true sense of the word, and you could see post game the bond between the players. Great to see.

2. Tom Huddlestone took the man of the match award, and was indeed excellent, but there was a multitude of similarly praiseworthy performances. Allan McGregor made several smart stops (the finest being an acrobatic tip-over to deny van Wolfswinkel in the second half), Curtis Davies grew in stature as the game progressed and was phenomenal in the air, Figueroa was unflappable and effortlessly good, a calming influence at the back, Livermore’s industry was critical and Koren, who we criticised last week for being lazy when we didn’t have the ball, put in a commendably committed shift.

3. In fact, the only player who drew any ire was Yannick Sagbo, who saw red after 26 minutes for an attempted headbutt that will have had Glaswegian hardmen shaking their heads in disappointment, so poor was the execution. Still, the incident not only galvanised City to heroically defend their lead but also inspired a series of fabulously nonsensical Tweets from a contrite Sagbo post game. His English will no doubt improve as the season goes on, so we’ll savour his ‘Frenglish’ missives while we can.

4.Michael Turner, despite giving away a penalty and being on the losing side at the weekend, remains as good as ever and for all our strength in defence, there remains even after four years more than a tinge of regret that he isn’t still showcasing his excellence in a Hull City shirt.

5. With Manchester City on the horizon next weekend, let’s not forget that first we have an opportunity to make rare progress in the League Cup this week. The trophy was the first Steve Bruce won as a player so it might be nice to presume he will put out a side strong and focussed enough to see off Leyton Orient with minimal fuss and make progress in a competition worth pursuing. As this is City in the League Cup, however, we know that the opposite could well be closer to the truth.

6. Progress, finally, of a sort, with West Yorkshire Police. On Friday afternoon they e-mailed another apology for yet another overdue message (at least the sixth time they’ve had to do this), but it also contained an admission that their original decision to withhold all information about the intelligence they claimed to possess when deciding to bubble City fans at Huddersfield. The apology ishere– the (partially redacted) intelligence ishere. We’ll return to this later.

7.Well done to all who turned out to protest the club’s intention to change its name. At 36 hours notice and with minimal publicity, perhaps numbers were never going to be huge, but this is just the start of an organised protest and the point was made, and made well. Praise must go to the Ulltras.

8. To those odd souls in favour of vandalising our heritage who cite a small protest as “proof” that no-one cares…how did the pro-Hull Tigers march go?

9. During the game on Saturday, two versions of the club crest were displayed on the scoreboard.The ‘business name’ logo was used for the first half, but the regular crest was used for the second half. Whoever made the change, we applaud your action.

10. The Official Supporters Club seems more interested in maintaining a chummy relationship with the Allams than representing the views of supporters who strongly oppose the rebranding of the club. Recently their board of directors vetoed production of some ‘City till I die’ tee shirts in case it upset the club’s owners, prompting at least one resignation. How utterly ridiculous and cowardly. Perhaps the OSC should rebrand, to the AAOSC, since they seem to think uncritical support of every decision the latest owner makes is all that matters when supporting a club that has had many other owners in the past (none of whom changed the club’s name) and will undoubtedly have different owners in the future.

#110 August 19, 2013

1. Chelsea were imperious in the first half hour on Sunday, when the game was won for the home side. There are very few sides in the Premier League that could have handled Chelsea’s pace of play and power during that spell.

2.If you’re the glass half full sort, then City’s performance from 30 minutes in was very heartening. If you’re the glass half empty sort then Chelsea let us play because they had a comfortable enough lead and Mourinho sides play to protect a winning scoreline rather than increase it. A defeat was always likely at Chelsea, they’re favourites to win the title after all, and we didn’t disgrace ourselves by any means. Our season, though, really starts when Norwich visit on Saturday.

3.Why are commentators so afraid to say it how they see it? Why was Torres’ dive, which ‘won’ the free kick that Chelsea scored a second goal from, described as “slightly contentious”? It was a dive, pure and simple, so say so you coward, and if managers are upset by the truth, so be it.

4. Hell of a debut for Allan McGregor, wasn’t it? No experienced keeper should be dashing out of his box like that, really, but he made amends for giving away the penalty by saving it – and his performance thereafter was pretty good. It’s nice also to have an actual number one keeper that’s not borrowed from someone else and is therefore either a) not good enough for us; or b) too good/expensive for us. McGregor is good, and he’sours.

5. Signing Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore from Spurs was a phenomenal piece of business by Steve Bruce. Not starting with them at Chelsea was pretty astute, given how little time they’d had to get used to the system and the other players. But each looked lively and capable when they came on and will likely feature in the starting XI against Norwich.

6. The absence of an orthodox centre forward from the bench at Stamford Bridge shouldn’t be analysed too deeply, one suspects. We were more likely to be able to defend a lead than chase a goal, and the three defenders and three midfielders (albeit George Boyd goes between midfield and attack) were there in the more likely event of us trying to protect something, a more attainable feat at Chelsea than going after a heroic comeback. Matt Fryatt and Nick Proschwitz will get their chances. Boyd actually did quite well when he came on, too.

7.We said last week that Assem Allam has no regard for what Hull City fans think. That was proven abundantly true in midweek when he sneeringly said fans don’t pay the bills and he’ll call the club what he likes. Or in other words, “screw you, it’s my club, not yours”. Call us old fashioned if you like, but to us a club has always been a community institution and representative of the city it plays in and its fans rather than just being the plaything of a rich man. Mr. Allam’s words and the arrogant sentiments behind them were rather depressing.

8. It’s a pity but a predictable inevitability that while the grown-ups in blue who had made crude A4-sized messages with pointlessly sycophantic nonsenses like “U r my special 1 Jose” on them got shown plentifully on the television, none of the messages displayed by the travelling supporters about the very traditions of our club were deemed worthy enough of global consumption by the Sky cameras. But there was a banner in the City end at Stamford Bridge that read”Your company, our club. Hull City AFC”. Yes indeed.#notoHullTigers

9. We recognise that not everyone thinks precisely alike. Indeed, we’re happy to be disagreed with, and a few have suggested we’re going overboard with the name change thing. So it’s only fair to say that while we respect and welcome all views, we are never, ever going to let up on this issue. Ever. Not until the club sees sense and abandons this foolishness. Ideally that will be immediately after they read this (which we know they will) – but if it takes ten years, so be it, we’re in for the long haul. And we know we’re not alone.

10. Regrettably, some media outlets have recently used erroneous names and/or crests for our club – including, most disappointingly, Saturday’s Hull Daily Mail. Whenever an incorrect name or crest is sighted, e-mail to request a correction. We have right on our side in a moral sense, but more importantly, in a factual sense.

#109 August 12,2013

1.The events of the last week have illuminated an inescapable truth. For all of Assem Allam’s claims that he was touched by the gratitude he was shown after buying the club and following promotion, he simply doesn’t have any regard for what Hull City fans think.

2. If he did, there would have been some fan consultation about a potential rebrand. Is that not precisely the sort of thing the FLAG was created for? Instead this was done in an underhand way, with an unannounced company name change and a phased implementation of a new name. Unacceptable, and not just to us, but to the Premier League too, who said there must be fan consultation before a name change is approved. We weren’t just not consulted, the club flagrantly lied to us about the change. “It’s just the business side of the club that’s changing”, that statement sounds pretty hollow now doesn’t it?

3. We’re slightly baffled by the notion held by some (including Tom Courtenay) that the Allams have a right to change the name, because they’ve saved the club and spend a significant sum of money. How does that work exactly? The Allams aren’t the first to save us, and they’re unlikely to be the last owners who’ll put money in, so does every owner have the right to rebrand the club? If not, why are the Allams given special dispensation by some to not respect the club’s identity and history? Our club has changed hands 6 times in the last 16 years, which illustrates that owners come and go, they are just temporary custodians of the club, it’s the supporters who remain, and their opinions and feelings should matter.

4. Assem Allam’s statement that City is a ‘lousy and common’ identity was simply callous, given that fans love that identity. We don’t sing “Tigers till I die”, we sing “City till I die.”

5. Predictably, ‘Hull City Tigers’ has taken a kicking in the media both nationally and internationally, which makes you question the ‘commercial sense’ of the move doesn’t it? Many media outlets, both local and national, have already signalled their intention to continue using our proper name, which makes a mockery of the plan. If the Hull Daily Mail and the BBC refuse to cooperate, then who on earth is going to spread this foolish concept?

6. Just how will the commercial benefits of a name change be quantified anyway? City’s income will rise exponentially this season simply because we’re in the Premier League, where TV revenue and exposure are far, far greater than in the Championship. Even if we secure sponsorship from a Far East company, that’s hardly conclusive, so have Everton, Aston Villa and Swansea, and they haven’t changed identity.

7. MD Nick Thompson’s credibility is now in tatters, given that his assertion that no team name change was planned has been shown to be a falsehood by the owners. If he only cares what his employers think of him then he won’t be troubled, but if he places any value at all on his stock with the ‘customers’ and the local media, he should be. One of his daughters referred to Hull City fans on social media as “arse scratching degenerates”, which makes you wonder if he shares that view. Top tip Nick, if you find fans saying you’ve told untruths offensive, then don’t tell untruths.

8. Obviously this cannot be taken lying down. We welcome all suggestions about what to do next. Assuming City haven’t registered their idiotic new name with the relevant footballing authorities, we have until next April to make them see sense.

9. Andy Dawson was given a fitting send off on Saturday, fitting because he is a bonafide City legend. It’s hard to see a player reaching the 10 year milestone with one club again given the mutable nature of the game currently, which makes Dawson’s service all the more praiseworthy.

10. It is nothing short of a tragedy that in the run up to one of the most exciting seasons in club history, the focus is on rebranding, but you can’t pin that on the fans. That responsibility lies squarely at the feet of our owners.

#108 August 5, 2013

1: Thanks to the club for providing the most varied and interesting pre-season we can ever remember.Beijingarguably tops it, but that wasn’t of the club’s choosing – we qualified for that. The trips to Portugal and Germany had been wonderfully enjoyable. same again next year?

2: Short of qualifying for Europe (which is only a matter of time, right?), watching the Tigers play friendlies abroad is almost as much fun as you can have as a City fan. This latest trip also brought home something we’d all suspected – the vast superiority of German football over that of the nation that gave the world the game. On Saturday we paid €6 to stand on a terrace where we could drink beer. How many of those things will the domestic 2013/14 season provide? Exactly. Our national sport is desperately unwell by comparison – but unending credit to Germany for getting it so very right and putting the supporter first.

3: It’s only a friendly, so the usual caveats apply – but this was a friendly in which a high tempo manifested itself (despite it being 35c), proper tackles flew in and it felt not wholly dissimilar to a proper game. That being so, we can take genuine heart from the performance of Yannick Sagbo. His goal was expertly taken, while his general play was excellent and he linked up promisingly with Sone Aluko throughout.

4: City in general looked quite polished. You’d expect them to a bit better than a second tier German team, but their season is already underway and yet we looked comfortably superior throughout.

5: James Chester is a footballing Rolls Royce and looked serenely untroubled throughout – interestingly, Curtis Davies looked the part too, despite some misgivings about his signing.

6: Two departures this week, as Tom Cairney (on loan) and Corry Evans head for Blackburn Rovers. Cairney is probably the best natural footballer produced by Hull City’s system since Brian Marwood, and yet he still hasn’t lived up to his early promise. His performances in the Premier League as an unfazed youngster were, at times, the only thing to look forward to at a toxic and bruising time for the club, and his lack of progress since is both unfortunate and baffling. That he has only gone on loan to Blackburn suggests his time with the Tigers may not be over yet though, and we may well be able to welcome him back. He is, after all, one of only two players in the City set-up who were in the first team squad when we were last one of the elite.

7: Corry Evans, meanwhile, seemed to suffer simply through not being any of the other midfielders available to Steve Bruce last season. However, he was a player of great endeavour and a capacity to do simple things well and keep the base of the midfield steady and safe. He divided opinion – not least among the people who run and frequent this website – but he was a very handy player during our first two post-Premier League seasons and we have much to thank him for – not least the manic goal celebration after his equaliser at Swansea in April 2011, which some of us won’t forget in a long time, and his well-taken opener against Leeds United last season, his only goal of the campaign and his only goal at the KC. His permanent move to Blackburn will do him much good.

8: People are always trying to read between the lines when analysing such moves; far be it from us to enhance groundless speculation, but we really do like the idea that we’ve given Cairney and Evans to Blackburn in order to make the path towards a bid for Jordan Rhodes a whole lot smoother.

9. Nick Thompson said he doesn’t foresee a change to the team’s name. Good. So why doesthe club’s own website carry an advert for a position to coach at the “Hull City Tigers Academy”? That is explicitly a footballing role and is nothing to do with the business. We asked Nick Thompson for a meeting about the rebranding issue, and various other comments. It’s obviously a very busy time at the club, so hopefully he’ll reply when things quieten a little.

10. The continental fun continues when Real Betis turn up for Andy Dawson’s testimonial. They’re fitting opposition for a genuine legend and we hope he gets the turnout he deserves.

#107 July 29, 2013

1. The signing of Yannick Sagbo is a tidy bit of business. Not because it’s guaranteed to succeed, for no such guarantees exist when signing players from abroad for £1½m, but because itcouldsucceed, and if it does then it will be doing so for a very modest fee. These are the calculated risks clubs in City’s position must take, and we can only hope it does work.

2. If it is true that City have been obliged to insert a clause compelling them to sell should a £5m bid be received, well so be it. No-one will want to pay £5m if he hasn’t scored a few.

3. While none of our striking options look particularly likely to bag the much longed-for 12-15 goals, we do at least have a decent crop of forwards who’ll all offer a little something different.

4. Of particular interest is the prospect of pairing Sagbo and Aluko. Even the best defenders can be discomfitted by pace, and they look a seriously speedy duo. In the early months of the seasons before winter degrades the nation’s pitches, could this quality alone elevate them to the forefront of Steve Bruce’s thinking?

5. Though it seems certain that Allan McGregor wil be City’s first choice keeper, Eldin Jakupović had a fine game against SC Braga in Portugal – in fact, he was probably City’s man of the match.

6. The club’s unwanted rebrand is slowly, slyly, sneakily gaining traction, we hate to say. When Yannick Sagbo was pictured in front a disfigured City crest lacking the definitive article, some were quick to make observations such as “well yes, that’s what it says at the training ground”. That’s a very telling reaction. Anger and bewilderment yes, but also the faintest note of acceptance. That’s how this appalling rebrand could very well succeed. By incrementally increasing our exposure to it, gaining small victories such as this and relying on the upcoming distraction of football, those at the club who don’t care about 109 years of history and tradition may win the day. We hope not, but let’s not kid ourselves that being in the right will count for anything.

7. In his interview with Radio Humberside a couple of weeks ago, Nick Thompson invited anyone who wanted to speak to him about to get in touch. So we have.

8. It really shouldn’t need saying, but a trawl through the comments on City’s Facebook page suggests that perhaps it does – if you read anything whatsoever into the result of friendlies, stop it. At once.

9. We wonder when this much vaunted review of West Yorkshire Police’s mishandling of the Huddersfield fixture will be published. In fact…will it be published. Perhaps we ought to check that…

10. We’re off to Dresden at the weekend. Apologies in advance for all the pictures of steiners and currywurst we’ll be posting on Twitter.

#106 (Portugal special) July 22, 2013

1.Not that we’d ever wish to sound smug, but we’re having a fantastic time here in Portugal. It’s seriously warm during the day, which is suited more to quaffing cold beer than playing football; however if the latter is your occupation, this must be a great way of preparing for the season to come.

2.There’s been one friendly here so far, a stunningly nondescript 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. We know far better than to divine meaning from pre-season kickabouts, though it was heartening to see Some Aluko looking fit and well once more.

3.Seeing fit to infer outcomes from a friendly were a puzzlingly large number of Wednesday fans, including a trio of dullards near us on Saturday, who consider our relegation to now be inevitable. Not only do we disagree with the conclusion, but the method used to arrive at it is hopelessly flawed.

4.There’s still a trip to Germany to come as well. We hesitate to strike a churlish tone when City are arranging so much summer fun for us…but next time, a bit more notice about these things would be lovely.

5.The recruitment of Danny Graham on a season long loan appears a shrewd move. He’s a good player with Premier League goals on his CV, so bringing him here without the outlay of several million pounds is a decision with next to no downside, and every chance of being successful.

6.Nick Thompson, talking on Radio Humberside last week, was questioned about rebranding and was less than convincing in his assertion that there are no plans afoot to become Hull City Tigers or worse, Hull Tigers. He didn’t say it won’t happen, saying instead that he doesn’t foresee a change, and that he can’t guarantee anything. Not that reassuring really.

7.”Hull City is sacrosanct” said Thompson, with no mention of the AFC suffix that has been there for 109 years but does not appear on the ‘company logo’. Interestingly Manchester United this week moved to restore the ‘Football Club” text to their crest, to show fans that United are a football club foremost and not just a business, and that the owners respect the heritage of the club. AFC is part of Hull City’s history and should be no less sacrosanct.

8.Thompson said that Assem Allan queried what makes Hull City distinct from Leicester City, which makes his calling us Hull Tigers even more odd, unless he doesn’t know there is a Leicester Tigers.

9. The line about a Hull City Tigers sign being on the training ground because it’s a company facility just doesn’t wash. Liverpool are owned by the Fenway Sports Group, but their training ground sign doesn’t read Fenway Sports Group Training Ground because it isn’t used by accountants and directors, it is used by footballers so is therefore the Liverpool FC Training Ground.

10.We’d really rather not be talking about rebranding when we’re 28 days from the return of regular season football, and we hope this has all been put to bed now. If this brief saga has impressed upon the club and owners that fans of Hull City AFC care deeply about the heritage and history of the club and it shouldn’t be trifled with, then some good has come of all this.

#103 June 24, 2013

1. Seriously, City, this “Hull Tigers” thing is becoming a major worry now. We are called “Hull City AFC”, a name we’ve grown rather fond of over the past 109 years, and our nickname is the “The Tigers” (note the definite article), which is probably the best nickname in English football. Clumsily fusing them is not wanted and not needed.

2. Yet, the drip drip drip of “Hull Tigers” continues, most recently as part of e-mails from the club imploring us to buy the new away kit in the middle of last week, and owner Assem Allam calling us The Hull Tigers on Radio Humberside. If the man truly cares what fans of the club feel then he hides it pretty well calling the club that, appearing so disconnected from supporter opinion about club identity as to be autistic. Once again, we appear to be being slowly softened up to accept a completely unacceptable rebrand of the club.

3. In March, Nick Thompson complained bitterly (and genuinely) about being City fans being the victim of a fait accompli from West Yorkshire Police. He would do well to recall the grievously unfair nature of that, and how it made him feel, and then resolve not to inflict something similar upon us. He said at a FLAG meeting that only the business side of the club will be Hull City Tigers, but our owner keeps referring to the club without even City in the name. Ultimately Nick Thompson is an employee of the Allams and has to comply with their wishes, but we hope he tells our owner in explicit terms how opposed supporters are to a rebrand, no matter how minor. Some have suggested that ‘Hull City Tigers’ will be easy to market in Asia, but Asia knows us as Hull City, from our previous Premier League exploits and having played a high profile round of games in Beijing in 2009.

4. Is there nobody in the newsroom at theHull Daily Mailwho has sympathy with (or just a bit of knowledge of) the game of football? Calling the opening game against Chelsea (and other League games) a ‘tie’ is the mark of someone totally unsuited to writing about football, even from a news-based angle. Ties apply only to knockout Cup competitions. And any sub-editor who let that idiotic error through needs to self-flagellate too.

5. That opening game means we won’t be anywhere except Sky TV on the first weekend of the new season, just as we were four years ago. Same venue too. The speculation now, dull but real that it is, centres on whether we’ll get a Saturday lunchtime or a Sunday late afternoon as Sky forgets we exist in order to vocally fella*te the returning Portuguese behemoth of Stamford Bridge. The game is ages away yet and already we’re imagining just how invisible everyone associated with Hull City will be on the day!

6. Though we’ll get the odd Monday night when Sky sift through the games to cherry pick their choices, the general absence of evening games in the Premier League is a surprise. Just one at home so far feels odd.

7. That is perhaps because we’re used to the Championship scheduling, which combines a 46 match season with regular international breaks. With eight fewer games, night matches will go from being a regular occurence to something of a treat.

8. A thought: though ticket prices for Premier League games are significantly higher, the fact that there are four fewer away matches is often overlooked. Those two things probably don’t cancel each other out and it seems probable that someone going to every away game will pay more in the top flight (not surprisingly really), but the gap in theoverallcost of going to games may not be quite as high as often grumbled about.

9. TheOfficial Supporters’ Clubhas been running a poll lately asking about goal music at the Circle. We’ll assume this appeared just as something to talk about during the summer rather than anything more worrying, but it’s gratifying to see that (at the time of writing) a solid 88% are against it. Its introduction at City would be too ghastly for words. And yes, we bang on about this. With apologies to Thomas Jefferson, the price of proper goal celebrations is eternal vigilance.

10. Happy birthday Chillo. Forever to be our greatest goalscorer and our greatest youth product. This finest of fine men of City’s past is 70 tomorrow and remains an icon of our club and a total gentleman. Keep an eye out for an Amber Nectar tribute to him.

#102 June 17, 2013

1: Bids this week for Gary Hooper and Maynor Figueroa, plus an improved offer for Kasper Schmeichel, have put City in the papers a lot this week and it seems each story has more muscle than most associated with the back pages at this time of year. Figueroa will be a useful signing when he joins, while Hooper and Schmeichel’s current clubs need a tad more persuasion yet but demonstrate that City mean business. And though the eventual prices for each will not be inexpensive, one can’t imagine any of these players commanding a silly wage.

2: Less comment is required on Curtis Davies, as that feels much more like speculation at the moment. However, if all reported elements are true – and as Phil Buckingham is among those doing so, we must feel there is meat on this particular bone as well – then the idea of letting Jack Hobbs go as a makeweight doesn’t quite feel right. Hobbs would lack pace in the Premier League but would make up for it in leadership, tenacity and positional sense, and we’re surprised that City perhaps feel he is an expendable defender. Of course, if Davies and Figueroa were both to sign up after cash deals, we’d be overrun with centre backs, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Hobbs is the correct one to allow to leave. And there are plenty who will feel that Davies doesn’t represent a major step up from the defending talent we currently boast.

3: The Allams do know what a relegation clause is, don’t they? Their boneheaded, starstruck predecessors didn’t, after all. We don’t doubt they do, incidentally; just thinking out loud.

4: And, while on the subject of those that once ran the club, it shouldn’t need saying but our owners should never, ever, consider employing Paul Duffen in any capacity. We’re hoping rumblings about that are as far fetched as they sound.

5: The fixture list comes out on Wednesday and, while a humourless grump would suggest it isn’t a cause for excitement as we know exactly who we have to play and how often, the actual discovery of when each team pitches up to the KC or welcomes us to their hood can still bring out something of the overgrown schoolchild in the proper football fan. Especially as we’re back in the Premier League.

6: You can bet your backside that we’ll get one of the biggest clubs on the last day though. It is the way of things.

7: The red socks of the away kit seem to really rub some people up the wrong way. They’d go better if red shorts were used with the blue shirts, but it really isn’t that bad a look. Maybe it’s just close just season boredom, because the away socks hardly seem worth having arteries hardening over. The home kit however, that’s something that needs doing right, and the thought of hooped socks has us (or at least the kit geek among our number) somewhat enthused.

8. Karl Turner MP is a pretty successful self-publicist on Twitter and was extremely eager to wade in to the Huddersfield furore last season; yet he’s been oddly unwilling to supply some information when asked a direct question relating to that game. That’s interesting, isn’t it?

9. Yeah, we’re still badgering West Yorkshire Police, rest assured.

10. Next season’s match programme is going to be A5 sized and contain 100 pages, with the price staying the same. Hopefully each issue given to the national press will include a guide on what to say and what not to say – especially when it comes to our name, colours and county of location.

#101 June 10, 2013

1. Peter Schmeichel has confirmed,on the record, that City have tabled a bid for his son, Kasper. That’ll do for us – it’s clearly not just rumour then, and though he’s older than we thought (27 in November), he’s an absolutely ideal keeper for us. That his dad and City’s manager are such close chums will surely help too.

2. This weekend marked a year since Steve Bruce took the City job. Not only has it been a stellar year, but it also rather oddly feels as though he’s been here ages.

3. It was a little odd to see a few City fans worrying that he may jump ship to Wigan. Not only are his ship-jumping days some way in the the past, but it’d be an utterly absurd step backwards.

4. It seems, from a teaser on the club’s Facebook page, that City may have an away kit with a red and blue theme. Which is different.

5. Not only did West Yorkshire Police refuse to our answer our Freedom of Information request relating to the intelligence they claimed to possess about the Huddersfield game in March, but the complaint about its lateness (nearly three times the permitted period) amount to a “sorry, we were a bit busy”. We’re not making that up either.

6. West Yorkshire Police’s invitation to receive advice about submitting a re-worded FOI to which they COULD reply to was also not honoured when we sought to take it up.

7. Something has been not quite right about this from the start, and the more we dig the more troubling the whole affair becomes. Suffice it to say we, we are never going to let this drop until we get answers.

8. So, we’re going to the Information Commissioner’s Office this week…

9. Bolton fans have recently been successful in persuading their club not to accept sponsorship from a company named “Quick Quid”, whose business model is presumably discernible from their name alone. It’s important to remember that this company is (presumably) doing nothing wrong and is entitled to want to sponsor a football club; equally, Bolton fans are welcome to hassle their club into refusing it. Wish City about to advertise Cash Converters to the world, it kinda makes you think…

10. Far be it from us to decry the sudden rash of new City-themed Twitter accounts or websites – after all, Amber Nectar was new once, a decade and a half ago, and it’s fair to say our first edition and early internet outpourings didn’t represent the summit of our literary achievements, but we were welcomed into the (then much smaller) supporters’ culture and encouraged by the likes ofOC7, Tiger Rag, HH&H et al, and we haven’t forgotten that. Besides, anyone taking the time and making the effort to broaden the online debate about City is to be applauded. We note the coinciding of their arrival with City’s promotion to the Premier League with wry amusem*nt, but little surprise – success provides its own inspiration. Just a couple of thoughts: not every Twitter banner needs to show City fans on the pitch after theCardiff game, and there’s so much more to talk about than just rehashing whatever fiction theMirroror theSunare printing. Tell us what YOU think, not what lazy journalists have spoon-fed to them by conniving agents. Best of British.

#100 June 3, 2013

1. Over the weekend, a question was positted on Twitter concerning City’s summer spending plans: is it better to spend £15m on new players, or on training facilities and an academy? The latter would virtually guarantee relegation, while the former wouldn’t ensure its avoidance – so do we pocket the cash for the longer term and accept a season of regular defeats?

2. It’s easy to say now that we’d take the grown-up, sensible option. However, all the shiny new facilities in the world won’t seem so good if we’ve only won one game by January.

3. It was great to see Stephen Quinn make his debut for Ireland last night, albeit briefly.

4. The fact we think it’s great when our players represent their country illustrates that perhaps we’ve not got the hang of being Premier League fans yet, many of whom sullenly resent their international exploits of their players. Will we ever get like that? Let’s hope not.

5. A reply from West Yorkshire Police! Err, to say that after three months of delibration they are declining to answer all questions relating to the acquisition of the intelligence they claimed to possess about City fans in Huddersfield last season. Some may think that the obstinate refusal to even tell us on what date this intelligence was gathered or how many officers were involved (questions deliberately designed so their answers couldn’t contain confidential information or expose sources) means that West Yorkshire Police never possessed any intelligence at all, were telling lies and smearing City fans without basis and are now attempting to cover this by stonewalling FOI requests. We couldn’t possibly comment.

6. We’ve already made a complaint about WYP taking three times longer than the Freedom of Information Act allows for public bodies to respond, which also requires a response with 20 working days (they’ve had 11 so far).

7. Whether we subsequently complain about their wholly unjustified decision to refuse to release information to the public depends on their response to another outstanding FOI request submitted byHull City Southern Supporters, which is some 60+ working days old. They’re obviously struggling quite horribly with that one. Again, some people may think…etc etc.

8. The state of City’s pitch raised a few eyebrows when one of Hull’s rugby franchises used it on Friday night – an area of about 150m² at the South Stand looked extremely unwell following the recent squash tournament. This has predictably seen idiotic eggchasers fulminating about a colossal Allam conspiracy aimed solely at undermining them. That’s green-ink nonsense of course, and by all accounts the pitch played just fine; but was it necessary to host the tournament on the pitch itself when there’s a perfectly good indoor arena close by?

9. Peterborough were voted as the Best Away Day at the BBC 606 Live awards. Peterborough’s ground features a proper standing terrace. Those two things are quite possibly related.

10. Have we mentioned lately that any attempt to rename City in any way whatsoever is completely unacceptable?

#99 May 27, 2013

1. Congratulations to Stephen Quinn, the fourth member of the City side to be included in the Ireland squad for their forthcoming fixtures. Time was when a Welsh U21 was a cause for pride; now we’re supplying a quartet to a nation capable of qualifying for major tournaments.

2. Perhaps we’re getting too tiresomely excited about it now that our flights and hotel are booked, but it’s a bit of a surprise that City aren’t making a little more of their pre-season jaunt to Portugal.

3. Tony Pulis’ departure from Stoke instinctively feels like good news for City. Stoke weren’t really one of the clubs you’d expect City to finish above next season, but with him leaving and their probable 13-15th finish no longer certain, they’re another side we can aim to overhaul.

4. City’s decision to only charge an extra £10 for season tickets bought in the present booking period has raised a few eyebrows. But do we really want our club to go down the route of shamelessly fleecing people for Premier League football? £405 is the least an adult can buy a season ticket for at the moment, and even that’s too much – let’s try to be a bit bigger than the slightly vindictive urge to “punish gloryhunters”, whose presence is an ineradicable fact of footballing life.

5. Who best to join us in the Premier League next season – Palace or Watford? Ian Holloway’s garrulous persona could scarcely have a greater contrast in the classy demeanour of Gianfranco Zola, and it’s impossible not to feel for Watford after being done over by City once again. That, combined with Palace’s inveterate cheating, the fact that Selhurst Park is in south London and there being little between the sides means that we’ll take a trip to Watford, please.

6. The success of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in this season’s European Cup has brought to national attention the huge success story of German football. £20 to get in, an option to stand, massive attendances, fervent support – the difference between how they watch football and the English experience is something of an embarrassment.

7. Things will probably get worse before they get better, but at least we have an example to look to. It’s increasingly possible to discern the beginnings of a real urge for change among football fans: the “Against Modern Football” meme, the campaign for safe standing and a £20 cap on away tickets, the formation of more and more ultras groups…progress is slow, but it is at least underway.

8. Two things from the world of eggchasing over the weekend were interesting to note. The first was from rugby union, in which a player was given a red card for calling a referee a “f*cking cheat” in a major final. Oh for such standards to be kept in football. Foul and abusive language is a dismissable offence, but all too often belligerent oafs are unpunished for howling obscenities into a referee’s face, duly setting an appalling example to impressionable youths (if you doubt this, go referee boys’ football, they really do mimic what they see on Match of the Day). To some extent that’s weak refereeing; but were an official to actually implement Law XII fully, could they really be sure they’d receive adequate support from the game’s governing bodies?

9. The less cerebral corners of the internet were teeming with misspelt fury about something in rugby league on Saturday, claiming that a video official made an incorrect decision despite having the luxury of several replays. With impending goal-line technology having already established the worrying principle of removing decision-making from on-field officials, this example (from an admittedly lesser sport) reminds us that video referees aren’t the grand panacea some assert.

10. Our apologies if the front page of the page is a little quiet at present. We’re a little unconvinced of the merits of regurgitating obviously fabricated “transfer rumours” from the tabloid press.

#98 May 20, 2013

1. Hull City without Andy Dawson. It’s been a decade since the two were separate. If you’ve not had the chance to read our tribute to the man himself, it’s here – and perhaps some day City and Dawson will be reunited. You suspect he has a lot more to give the game.

2. Of those featuring on the list of players released by the club, only one must have been a close decision. Jay Simpson can consider himself a little unfortunate to not be playing for City in the Premier League next season. His early-season partnership with Sone Aluko was blisteringly destructive, and it’s tempting to wonder whether Simpson’s pretty rotten goalscoring record may have been better had his preferred striking accomplice remained fit – indeed, would it have been sufficiently better as to tempt Bruce into renewing his contract?

3. We’ll never know. But for a variety of reasons, footballing and non-footballing, Simpson’s stay in the north never really hit the heights it could have done. If it’s of any solace to the player, his occasional brilliance was always supplemented by hard work – that’s always welcome, and it’d be nice to think he knows that his efforts here were appreciated.

4. Mark Cullen, meanwhile, should score a lorryload of goals in the Conference for Luton Town. While he was never going to make it at City’s level of the game, in whichever division, the lad evidently is a born scorer at the right level and we wish him well.

5. Ooh, look at all of the exciting names linked with City in the tabloid press! Actually don’t. It’s an unendingly tiresome ritual whereby lazy sports writers and grasping agents collude in creating fact-free “stories” for undemanding readers. Steve Bruce will have his targets, some of them will sign, some won’t, and very little we see in the Sun or the Mirror will come to pass.

6. The Leicester Mercury are reporting Nigel Pearson will remain The Foxes’ manager. Would that make a move for Kasper Schmeichel, who we are linked with, more difficult? We shall see, but whoever comes in it will be good for City have their own goalkeeper after a string of borrowed netmen.

7. Stephen Hunt, undeniably our finest player in 2009/10, has been released by Wolverhampton Wanderers. They say you should never go back, but Dean Windass gave us reason to query that school of logic. We’re going to have to take some punts, and signing Hunt on a free doesn’t seem that much of a risk.

8. Very soon we could see three City players – David Meyler, Robbie Brady and Paul McShane – lining up for the Republic of Ireland to play against England at Wembley. As the England team is both unlikeable and unremarkable at the moment, and the game itself is largely meaningless, one or two of us may find it within ourselves to support the Irish team.

9. His brief time in charge of City was and remains best forgotten, but kudos to Phil Parkinson for the phenomenal season he has just enjoyed with Bradford City, with success in the play-offs on Saturday following that bonkers run to the League Cup final. Decent man and a good gaffer at the correct level. The large ex-Tigers contingent at Valley Parade all deserve our warm congratulations – not just for their own successes, but for making Bradford quite likeable, which is some achievement in itself.

10. Two of the best days in City’s sparkling recent history came at Huish Park in 2004 and Wembley in 2008. The victims were firstly Yeovil Town and then Gary Johnson, manager of Bristol City, and both of them were class acts at the time despite being the bit-part in a day of Tiger glory. How richly they deserved their own victory at Wembley yesterday.

#97 May 13, 2013

1. City’s promotion celebration party on Wednesday was enjoyable enough once the players and manager came out to receive their well-earned adulation, but a four-figure crowd for it rather speaks for itself. It may be galling for the Mr. Allam to accept civic hospitality from Hull City Council, given that that organisation is full of outdated dinosaurs and rugby fans (we accept there’s considerable overlap) who vary from indifference to hostility towards City, but maybe on this occasion he ought to have swallowed his pride, smiled for the cameras and got the Tigers out on the streets of Hull, not cocooned in the football stadium for an event that necessitated two separate trips there to attend for non passholders .

2. After all, if he does wish to get his own way in the end, he’ll need public opinon on his side. They may not be strangers to witless paranoia and long-term enemies of rational conduct, but nonetheless it’s worth observing the visceral hatred one part of the eggchasing fraternity has towards City’s owners. It’s tempting to dismiss them as a stupid irrelevance, but their stroppy opposition is an obstacle to his grand plans.

3. Bickering with the Council via the media advances whose interests exactly? Allam Sr. reiterated his stance that he will not negotiate again with the Council, but where does that leave us? Pursuing a stadium in Melton? How can Hull City leaving the city of Hull possibly be a good thing? Furthermore, noises from the club this week have suggested a financially cautious approach to life in the Premier League, certainly when compared to the profligacy that left us needing Mr. Allam to step in just to keep the club afloat in the first place, and this is a good thing. But given how much the Allams have already put in, and both MD Nick Thompson and predecessor Mark Maguire have spoken of perpetual financial life support from that family thus far, what will adding an out of town stadium to that tab do for hopes of fiscal independence any time soon?

How much would a new stadium cost? When factoring in infrastructure costs to the bill for an actual stadium you’re looking at a minimum of £50M, and don’t expect East Riding Council to offer up much money, they can’t afford to mend the potholes on some wretched stretches of road, let alone help fund the road access to a new ground for a club in a very good ten year old facility which more than meets their needs. Attendances were pitiful this season for a side chasing promotion, only our final day ‘Premiergeddon’ battle with Cardiff sold out. How many games will sell out next year? City could probably sell 70,000 tickets against Manchester United but so can every team, but when Norwich, Swansea, Fulham, Stoke and Cardiff come will we sell out? In 2009/10 our second Premier League season, we got 22,822 against Wigan, 22,999 versus Bolton,and23,759 when hosting Birmingham, and unless you’re selling out every game, you don’t need a new stadium.

4. What the club really could do to upgrade is their training and academy facilities. Millhousewoods Lane was an adequate base once, but no longer if we have long term top flight ambitions. It’s not as sexy to talk of new training grounds, but it’s a more pressing need than another stadium.

5.When he was our owner, Adam Pearson spoke several times about an agreement already in place for City to fund expansion for the KC Stadium themselves when needed, and any extra tier built would belong to them, giving City a percentage of stadium ownership. That means City and their owners would not be ‘paying for improvements on a rented house’, they would be purchasing a stake in our home as well as improving it for the club’s benefit. Such a deal could be reached with the Allams and the Councilifour owners were willing to negotiate, although they’ve recently ruled out ever doing so. The Allams simply cannot reasonably expect the Council to just give them the freehold for promises of sports village investment, the KC Stadium is a municipal capital investment and there are laws regarding how such entities are passed on. This stand-off between both parties benefits neither, and harms the reputations of both.

6. We are childishly excited at the prospect of spending a week in Portugal with City in July. Let’s hope the club get a couple of good friendlies, and they may wish to consider the idea of putting together travel packages and arranging a supporters’ event while over there too. Nothing will ever topChina in 2009, but pre-season tours are fantastically good fun and we can’t wait to file a drink-sodden report from it.

7. It’s tempting to laugh at the remarkable fate that befell Leicester yesterday, and to glory in Nigel Pearson’s discomfort. The manner of his leaving and his ostentatiously aloof demeanour make it difficult to sympathise with him; but had he not done a lot of the spadework to stabilise City in 2010/11 and steer us away from a Wolves-like fate, we may not be in a position to await Premier League football next season. Chortling at Leicester’s deluded fans, in the other hand, is most definitely a pleasure in which to indulge.

8. For all that, we’d be very pleased if Steve Bruce quickly embarked upon a spot of carcass-picking in Leicestershire, starting with a bid for Kasper Schmeichel.

9. If this weekend had seen the end of the football season (play-offs excepted), what a pleasing high it could have finished on. A surprisingly good FA Cup Final and the ever-satisfying sight of the underdogs besting the favourites – we could have carried the happy glow of that throughout the summer. Instead, we were straight back into the Premier League circus, and Wigan Athletic’s glory was instantly eclipsed by their own probable relegation. Football’s ability to shoot itself in the foot is truly a universal constant.

10. Nonetheless it offers one particular cause for optimism: if Wigan can win the FA Cup, so can City.

#96 May 6, 2013

1: Did you ever expect Steve Bruce to be as loveable as he has been? Sunderland fans labelled him an excuse maker, while the media said he was tactically inflexible, but that hasn’t been our experience at all. If City have underperformed this season he has said we have underperformed, rather than making out we’ve played well when we haven’t, he’s also admitted to getting team selections and tactics wrong with refreshing honesty. His switching City to 3-5-2 is hardly the work of an old dog resolutely opposed to trying new tricks either. Achieving promotion on its own isn’t enough to inspire love and affection, as the prickly Peter Taylor showed, he was a man that was easy to respect and praise, but difficult to truly love, but Bruce has been taken to the hearts of City fans for his honesty, jovialityandfor getting us up.

2:Bruce has praised the whole squad, quite rightly, for their achievement this season. However, we feel at liberty to single out a couple of individuals. Firstly, the transformation of Robbie Brady this season has been quite remarkable. Remember that petulant boy who seemed to be playing just for himself last year? All flicks and tricks, no substance and no discipline?Well, a permanent move and a switch to wing back has not just made him a team player, but it’s made him a man. He has been prepared to take on more responsibility and as a consequence, has flourished as a footballer. Bruce’s decision to shift him into an attacking midfield role on Saturday was akin to him saying “go and get us in the Premier League, son”, and Brady’s influence on the team was plain for all to see. He was out on his feet when he was substituted late on (pity he wasn’t around for that penalty) and his eye-bulging, potty reaction to the final whistle at Vicarage Road was stupendous. There’s a Premier League team next season to be built around this young man. And when he misplaced a pass against Cardiff and let his head momentarily drop, the City crowd only briefly expressed frustration and cheered him to the rafters; they all know what a fine player we have.

3: Then there’s Paul McShane. He was, let’s think about this for a moment, about a minute and a half away from being the player to score the goal to take us to the Premier League. Fate intervened, but then again it often does with Paul McShane. His goal was only his third ever for us and constituted a variation of the “perfect” hat-trick – one with his head, one with his foot and one with his, er, torso. Yes, historso. That’ll be it. But we have a player who has been involved with us for more than four years now and has gone through every available high and low on a personal level; he’sbeen acoveted loan player, makeweight, error-prone liability, unwanted reserve, perennial loanee, cult hero and now it’s genuinely hard to imagine City without McShane around. He is out of contract and, despite the riches coming into the Circle, would need to take a pay cut to stay, but well, you know what the song says about not selling him. He embodies a spirit and professionalism that all clubs need, and he’ll never have known popularity like that whichhe enjoys at the moment. He could probably do ten years with us if he wanted to.

4: There are 12 players out of contract this summer.Five are from theyouthful periphery– Cullen, Devitt, East, Emerton, Oxley– and it seems obvious that some will go without a whimper and the odd one will stay. Andy Dawson willbe allowed to leave after a testimonial that will make himdeservedly flush, while Paul McKenna and Seyi Olofinjana’s exits are well telegraphed. You’d expect McShane to stay,sothe trulyinteresting decisions will be made over Liam Rosenior,Jay Simpson and Abdoulaye Faye. What do you reckon?

5: Which is most irritating? Fraizer Campbell scoring against us or City fans still having a pop at him? Twice now Campbell has responded to City fans – the sticky-out tongue at Sunderland and now his inevitable (and sublimely taken) goal on Saturday. He showed remarkable reserve by switching the run of his celebratory direction from east to north and laughing at us through the Cardiff fans. The stick he was getting meant he’d have been close to justified if he’d tried to do what Dean Marney so artlessly managed earlier this season.

6: A summer with no international tournament to fill the City void is usually intolerable, but this time round we could do with a break to repair frazzled nerves.

7: Running onto the pitch when a penalty has been awarded aside, the crowd was fantastic on Saturday. It set aside nerves, curmudgeonliness and the usual apathy to get behind the team. Why does promotion have to be on the line before that happens? Why can’t we do more of that every home game?

8: Don’t you dare say it was the Cash Converters Cacky Clappers that inspired it. Just don’t.

9: MD Nick Thompson said on Saturday that the Hull City Tigers change (and that wording is now above the club offices at the KC Stadium) is just for the business side of the club and not the playing side. We really hope so, and if so, that’s not really a problem, though the change could have been communicated better.

10: The Harlem Shake is so over, it’s all aboutJiggle Me Elmonow.

#95 April 29, 2013

1. Where on earth to start with theBarnsley debacle? It was comfortably City’s worst performance of the season, and one with absolutely no logical explanation. No fight, no skill, no leadership, no bravery – City were utterly lacking in the basics of professional football.

2. Why? All manner of theories abound. The players don’t want promotion as they’d all have to leave – rubbish. None of them will have so undying a love of Hull City that they’d sacrifice the chance of playing in the Premier League for it. They’re tired. Yes, but so are most other teams. Something’s happened behind the scenes – we’ve no idea, but there’ve been no plausible rumours to that effect. And so we’re still left with no obvious explanation for this astonishing collapse, save perhaps for a straightforward loss of nerve.

3. It is a horrible thing to accuse professional footballers of not trying, and we prefer to leave that lazy allegation to the cretins who infest radio phone-ins from the comfort of their armchairs. It’s extremely rare for it to actually be true. But there were times at Oakwell when you were forced to wonder if some players really were wholeheartedly committed to the cause.

4. Another reflexive response to defeat is that “we need an Ashbee out there”. And do you know what? We actually do.

5. Cardiff, then. Suddenly the prospect of automatic promotion actually feels a little distant. It’s hard to imagine Leeds being able or willing to contend with a motivated Watford side next Saturday – and what chance does a side with no goals and one point from the bottom three in recent weeks stand against the champions?

6. Oh yes, keep the faith, back the lads, and all that. And we will. And you never know – the Championship is a funny division, and it’d be quite fitting for City to pull off a surprise result against Cardiff to pinch promotion. A packed Circle, a pumped up crowd, a fiery pre-match teamtalk, a decent start and an early goal…well, odder things have happened. It all feels a bit improbable in the immediate aftermath of the Barnsley disaster, but as next weekend nears and we force ourselves to forget Oakwell in favour of the prize still on offer, the mood will alter. It has to.

7. Spare a thought for Steve Bruce. He’s made mistakes, of course – an unfit Fryatt over Simpson and tactical inflexibility come to mind, but this doesn’t feel like a collapse of his making.

8. Also spare a thought for the thousands of people who only bought a City season ticket so they can watch Man Utd/Liverpool/etc in person next season. Actually, don’t.

9. Are the police forces of South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire engaged in some sort of contest to see who can aggravate City fans more? The vast police presence on Saturday was ridiculous, even if individual officers seemed quite embarrassed about it when questioned. Draining public resources to deploy hundreds of police to stand around trying to look busy is not acceptable. We note that SYP refused to give City more tickets, saying it’d be unsafe; given that they managed to find 40+ officers to stand in front of empty area we’d have had towards to the end of the game proves that they were not being truthful. Just leave us alone.

10. You’ll notice we’ve not mentioned the play-offs. For obvious reasons.

#94 April 22, 2013

1. Are we entitled to be nervous yet? One point and no goals from games against lowly opposition is the sort of ugly fact that we’d hate to spend a summer regretting.

2. In the same way that just about everyone else in the race for second has stumbled, so we’ve finally succumbed. Nerves? You bet. Tiredness? Sure. Footballers may be unfathomably wealthy, but they’re still entitled to human emotions and human reactions, and they were very much on show against Bristol City on Friday night.

3. Steve Bruce’s selection of Fryatt and Gedo up front didn’t really work. It’s great to see Fryatt back, but he looked a long way short of being able to start a game; Gedo likewise. No doubt City’s dressing room is full of players who aren’t in wholly pristine condition, but this really isn’t a good time to be sending out the less-than-fit.

4. Congratulations to Cardiff on winning the Championship. We’d have loved that to have been City, as ownership of that iconic trophy must be a real thrill. They’ve been easily the best team in the division and richly deserve that prize. Commiserations to Bristol City too. Winning the play-off final in 2008 will forever be the greatest day in our history, but losing it must have been indescribably bad. They’ve never really mounted a challenge since that day – it’s a decent club in a much under-rated city and it’s hard not to wish them well.

5. Sky’s fracturing of the run-in isn’t something we can blame them for, but it is mildly aggravating. Two of the last three games for City and Watford aren’t being staged simultaneously, and while any advantage conferred is minor, the prospect of a sleepless night after a Watford win at Leicester isn’t a happy proposition.

6. Nigel Pearson securing promotion for City IS a happy proposition, however. Go on Nigel, we always liked you.

7. Has anyone told Watford that if they go up, Abdoulaye Faye will not be happy?

8. Barnsley, then. Whatever happens the previous night, a victory there will guarantee promotion. It seems certain that a monster following will be present, and the prospect of wrapping thing up in front of an engorged away end is a very pleasing one. It could – repeat, could – be one of the all-time epic City away days.

9. Let’s just hope none of the retards who booed City off on Friday night will be present – both at this game, and any other City in the future, ever. The cretins.

10. Have we mentioned that absolutely any change to City’s name is wholly unacceptable?

#93 April 15, 2013

1: On a day rich with memories that’ll gladden the heart for years to come, one of the best was the reaction of the players at full-time. We doubt the players read Amber Nectar, but nevertheless we did express envyin this very column seven days agoof the way Watford’s players celebrated with their travelling fans after their win at the Circle, and wished our players would sometimes do likewise with the Tiger Nation. Well, at Portman Road, they did. It’s easy to be cynical about multi-millionaire professional footballers and we’re guilty of it sometimes, but you can’t fake that sort of reaction. They give a toss, and that’s reason enough to keep racking up the miles and expense following them.

2: Robert Koren’s reaction to scoring was interesting too. He’s not ordinarily a demonstrative player, but he presumably knows he’s been off-form lately and his response to scoring was unusually excitable. Even with his head, there’s no-one (apart from Matty Fryatt) you’d want in a position like that. Let’s hope the goal sees him rediscover his early season form.

3: One man who has no concerns about form is Robbie Brady. It’s odd to think that he was once considered the lesser of the two speedy Manchester United wingers at the club, now he’s absolutely indispensible.

4: One of the best reasons to hope City don’t mess it up is so that we can see Abdoulaye Faye dance again.

5: A bit of criticism about media attitudes towards City this week.A diabolical piece about the Championship run-in by Nick Milleron the increasingly irrelevant Football 365 website prompted a reaction on Twitter that seemed to take him and his paymasters aback, to the extent of commissioninga riposte article. Given that Miller is a Forest fan (and therefore attributes our three straight wins at the City Ground with season-long dullness) whileF365 hates Steve Bruceand bemoaned our Premier League survival in 2009, we shouldn’t have been surprised, though it is staggering that someone paid actual money to write about football thinks that watching two 1-0 wins on telly (Burnley and Huddersfield) is enough to be in a position to assess an entire season. The problem is clearly entirely his but it does unfairly make us look bad.

6: The other criticism involves the BBC, both via Radio 5 Live and that much malignedFootball League Show, both of whom did the same thing by “ignoring” the Tigers in favour of Cardiff and Watford in their headline discussions. Here, however, there is journalistic reason for it; remember that it is Watford’s form that ultimately will decide when Cardiff’s promotion is confirmed, not ours.

7: To Wolves, then – and a reminder that it isn’t over yet. Suppose a Wolves team battling against the drop grind out a 1-0, while a Millwall side deflated by FA Cup disappointment fold to Watford? We’d then HAVE to beat Bristol City, and that’s pressure we can do without. Would a draw do? Just to ensure Watford cannot overtake us this coming weekend?

8: Barnsley away, 6,000 tickets and a 3pm kick-off for a Yorkshire derby. That could be good fun.

9: Our old friends at West Yorkshire Police contacted us on Friday to apologise for not replying to our Freedom of Information request relating to the intelligence they claimed to have about last month’s game at Huddersfield. The FOI Act states that a public body must respond with 20 working days. They’re now up to 35. It would be lovely to think we won’t have to deal with this contemptible force next season.

10: This is a gentle reminder to all at the club – changing our name to Hull Tigers, Hull City Tigers or anything else is utterly unacceptable. Please don’t consider it.

#92 April 8, 2013

1: Watford’s win at the Circle on Tuesday night was a masterclass, not least by the way they achieved it through beating City at their own game. They lined up with a matching 3-5-2, passed the ball well, showed patience and no little grit, and scored a fine goal.

2: And yet, and yet… their euphoria in winning must have been severely tempered by their goalless draw against Cardiff on Saturday, especially as they knew City had already beaten Middlesbrough. Suddenly the gap is back to one game’s worth of points and it’s in City’s hands almost as much as it was before the Hornets journeyed our way.

3: Watford’s players spent ages celebrating up close with their excellent fans after the game, even throwing in a few shirts. We have no stick with which to beat our players at all, but sometimes it’d be nice if they acknowledged us a bit more after a good away win.

4: Maybe they’ll get to do so this weekend, when we have the always tricky trip to Ipswich to negotiate. Serial pragmatist Mick McCarthy has made them steadier on their feet and they’ll represent a really tough challenge.

5: How do you strike a balance between ineffectiveness and star quality? Robert Koren is showing much of the former right now, but it’s his probably unique brand of the latter that’s keeping him in the team. He seems distracted, or tired, or unfit, or just uncommitted – and yet it’s very hard to imagine him being anywhere except the fulcrum of our team.

6: The win against Middlesbrough was distinctly unremarkable, and yet the three points will do wonders for the players’ confidence as well as the team’s league position. Helpful also that Boro seem to lack any real interest in the remainder of their season.

7: If Alex Bruce isn’t fit for the trip to Suffolk, then his dad will only have two able centre backs left, and will have to revert to 4-4-2. Then one has to ask the question about the deployment of Robbie Brady and Ahmed Elmohamady – both are wingers who can defend, not full backs who can attack. Their big strength is in taking on opponents, and as overlapping full backs, they’d not be required to do that. Perhaps there is a belated chance for Liam Rosenior – who did well against Boro after coming on – and even Andy Dawson to make a last-ditch contribution to this wonderful campaign.

8: If ever a campaign has been down to squad strength, it’s this one. Look at some of those who’ve sparkled and then faded – Leicester, Middlesbrough, even Palace have eventually been worn down by the rigours of a Championship season. Only three are remain; and give City’s luckless run with injuries, we can be certain that had Steve Bruce not assembled (and been allowed to assemble) a meaty squad we’d have suffered the same late, dismaying fall from contention as last season.

9: Matt Fryatt’s impending return to action is brilliant news three-fold; for himself, for the team’s goals return and for the fact that Gedo seems to have had his honeymoon period and has gone distinctly tepid.

10: Abdoulaye Faye. You probably wouldn’t mess with him.

#91 April 1, 2023

1: A thank you to all those who participated in Saturday’s march in Huddersfield. The FSF, Huddersfield fans and City fans have joined together quite wonderfully over this issue – both in terms of the protest in Huddersfield and in general concurrence that West Yorkshire Police’s loathsome policies are not acceptable and had to be fought.

2: To the 400 who went in the away end – we’re sorry you made that choice. But it wasn’t a pretty choice to have to make and it’s done now, plus some of the more exciteable name-calling really isn’t on. The enemy is not your fellow City supporter, or the club who made the unfortunate decision to not refuse the tickets, it’s West Yorkshire Police. Let’s never forget that.

3: The legacy of our joint campaign is unclear, but we hope it’s a positive one. We’re confident that West Yorkshire Police would have been the losers from any legal action, and they must be very relieved it didn’t progress as we hoped. Will they really want to pick this fight again? Possibly; their bone-headed stupidity should never be underestimated. Nonetheless, we’re cautiously optimistic that someone in that force will have been horrified at the avalanche of bad publicity this has generated, not to mention the cost of policing us all day (Huddersfield pubs still had riot vans full of bored coppers outside them at 8pm), the onslaught of e-mails, calls, FOI requests and the general aggravation of being forced to defend the indefensible day after day. In the wider footballing world, lets hope that police forces are reminded that football supporters are normal members of society and must be treated as much. It really isn’t much to ask.

4: We really ought to talk about football now. After all, we have the not inconsiderably enormous occasion at the Circle on Tuesday which could see City go seven points clear of third place with just 18 more to play for. Watford are, of course, no slouches and will have similarly assessed this fixture as a huge one for their own reasons. It’s starting to feel like we can touch promotion.

5: Beyond that, the history of Cardiff City as chokers at this stage of second tier season is well-documented and based on hard facts; they are, in fact, exceptional at it. They threw away a lead and all three points at Peterborough at the weekend and, while a four-point cushion and a game in hand still looks ultra-healthy for them, there must now be rumblings of doubt around the Welsh capital. City shouldn’t lose sight of an automatic promotion spot but there is no reason whatsoever why we can’t eventually aim to snaffle the title either.

6: George Boyd’s goal at the John Smith’s Stadium is probably the best single finish we have seen from a City player this season. We expect it looked great in the flesh too.

7: David Meyler’s two-match suspension and Stephen Quinn’s untimely muscular tweak could, momentarily, prompt an untimely shake-up of City’s midfield. There remain other options, of course – Corry Evans, Tom Cairney, Ahmed Fathi – but disrupting the midfield quite so much is not an ideal scenario for Steve Bruce to face at the business end of the campaign. Meyler won’t be out for long, of course, while we can hope Quinn’s absence in West Yorkshire was purely cautionary.

8: For all that, no minor – or indeed, major – crisis in the City midfield should prompt the City boss to recall Seyi Olofinjana from his loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday, sorted earlier this week. We wish him luck but can issue a relieved sigh that a player who has cost so much and contributed so little is finally on his way out of the club properly.

9: Good luck to Phil Brown, back in management with Southend United. Our relationship with him ended rather strangely, but he still represents our most exciting and productive era as a club and we know better than anyone that he is a high-calibre manager with much to give.

10: And welcome to Calaum Jahraldo-Martin, a teenage striker signed from Dulwich Hamlet this week. His arrival proves that we have a scouting system happy to look everywhere for new talent, and we hope to see him develop into a first team player soon.

#90 March 25, 2013

1. Not that they’ll care, but the humiliation of West Yorkshire Police is now complete. Last night’s Late Kick Off on BBC1 was a five-minute demolition job on their already threadbare reputation. Surely, there is someone in that organisation who is absolutely horrified at the prolonged public savaging they’ve received and is taking steps now to ensure there is never a repeat.

2. Well done to the BBC for highlighting the issue from such a supporter-friendly perspective. It’s all too easy for those without a direct interest to lazily row in behind the police. Not so in this instance. The ever-impressedRichard Sutcliffe from the Yorkshire Postwas quietly scathing, as was John Hendrie. In fact, WYP now appear completely friendless. And deservedly so.

3. Nonetheless, we still cannot travel freely to Huddersfield this weekend. We’ve lost that particular battle. However it’s been fought well, with immense assistance from the FSF and Huddersfield Town fans. That bodes well for two reasons – hopefully, WYP will think twice before arrogantly implementing restrictions of dubious legality in the future; and if they do, we’ll be better prepared to contest them. The fuss we’ve created will hopefully make bubble travel harder to inflict on any supporters in the future.

4. One last act remains: a protest in Huddersfield on Saturday. We urge all City and Huddersfield fans to attend. The time to gather is 1.45pm at the railway station, the march is to the library, and we look forward to the impeccable behaviour of City fans being a final rebuke to WYP and their ugly prejudices.

5. About a month ago, we submitted a Freedom of Information request to WYP, to which they were obliged to respond to three days ago. Perhaps not surprisingly, we didn’t receive a reply. So we called them: “oh, err, sorry, it’s not finished. No, I can’t tell you anything over the telephone. And the person you need to speak to isn’t in. Can we call on Monday?” Yes, you can. We’d hate to have to lodge a complaint…

6. Finally, for the record, we still recommend to those undecided City fans to boycott. That’s not easy, and a decision for the individual. It’s upsetting to know we won’t be able to see it – local(ish) derbies at the “business end” (sorry) of the season are why you become a football supporter. Some things are just a bit bigger than even the biggest game, but it’s not without regret that we’ll be viewing it elsewhere.

7. Oh yes, the football. It goes without saying that City could probably do to win this one. With respect to them, Huddersfield v City is the sort of game our promotion rivals will expect to go our way.

8. Late twists are always a possibility, but at the moment it looks as though three sides are playing to finish second behind Cardiff. This coming Easter weekend will shape things enormously. It’s possible that one of the three could stumble – with only six games left after it concludes, the margin for error is rapidly shrinking.

9. That, in part, is because City play Watford. It’s possible – unlikely, but possible – that Watford could be eight points behind the Tigers by next Wednesday morning, a gap they couldn’t realistically hope to breach. Meanwhile, Palace can take advantage of two of their rivals playing each other by posting two wins before we even meet, and…oh, the permutations are too numerous and anxiety-inducing to contemplate just yet.

10. Is it too much to hope that the aforementioned City v Watford game will finally draw a 20,000+ crowd to the Circle in 2013?

#89 March 18, 2013

1. Disappointment but not a disaster against Forest. They’re doubtless congratulating themselves on a fine way, and rightly so, but that type of performance will be enough to win most games in this division. It’s unfortunate that having improved considerably upon the pretty mediocre but successful display at Burnley, no reward was forthcoming.

2. Luckily things elsewhere went for City. Palace will have hated been gubbed by bitter rivals yesterday, while Watford have lost two in a row now – have they peaked too early, or is it just a blip? They’ve got two unhappy weeks to stew on it. City remain favourites with the bookies to take second, from which we can take some comfort.

3. That said, if we do miss out on the top two, with their momentum you wouldn’t fancy Forest in the play-offs…

4. Cardiff have gone, haven’t they? A pity – the title would have been great, but we can’t avoid the fact that they’ve been the most consistent this season and deserve to win the Championship. It may even be useful if they have it wrapped up before the final day.

5. Did we detect a faint hint of fatigue from Gedo on Saturday? Gone was the razor-sharp movement and finishing, which is understandable – having not played much serious football of late, to suddenly enter a promotion push and the hectic schedule of the Championship must be difficult. Alas he may not get a rest over the international break, with fixtures for the Egyptian national side against Swaziland and Zimbabwe approaching.

6. Huddersfield, then. It appears that West Yorkshire Police just aren’t prepared to listen to the people they serve and who pay their wages. This remains a disgrace and carries the potential to permanently disfigure the relationship between City fans and the police. But it now seems we must make the bad of a rotten situation, and with talk abounding of a protest march in Huddersfield itself, that seems a good way of joining together with HTAFC supporters to register visible, public unhappiness with the loathsome bullying tactics of WYP.

7. What to do about attending the Huddersfield game comes down to personal choice now. We must draw the line at criticising and insulting fellow City fans who make the decision to put up with WYP’s police state tactics, but we’ll continue to urge a boycott.

8. That’s hard on Steve Bruce and the team, who deserve our support, but there’s a bigger issue at stake here – nothing less than the right to follow a football team in the method of your choosing. With police forces increasingly attempting to impose the bubble, that right is in danger and we should do everything we can not to tolerate it.

9. Though we can’t agree with everything that the club have done lately, introducing the Fans’ Liaison & Advisory Group (FLAG) as a sort of successor body to the FLC is a positive move. Let’s hope it provides the club with something they’ve been obviously lacking in lately – the ability to guage the mood of the supporters.

10. A big well done to the Ulltras, whose excellent banner made a forceful point in the pre-match march. More of this please, lads. It’d be great to have an influential hoolie-free ultras group bringing a bit of colour to the club’s support and we continue to wish them well.

#88 March 13, 2013

1: Bit delayed this week so we could include theBurnley game. And what a precious result that could be, by the way. To get shut of another rotten hoodoo and get to within three points of the top of the Championship at this stage of the season could prove as key as any other result we get this season.

2: It wasn’t exactly a spectacle, was it? But we’ll leave the moans about footballing purity, skill and athleticism to the Sky viewers. Those of us emotionally involved in the game knew the value on this occasion of a result over everything. The sacrifice of craft in the midfield in favour of extra security frustrated Burnley effectively, then Robert Koren came on to start the move for the winning goal. It was masterful managership by Steve Bruce.

3: To win, and to do so with a clean sheet and little notable hassle, was a relief and blessing as well as an achievement, after shipping eight goals in the last two away games and, in both cases, playing poorly. All decent sides have off days; the truly good ones know how to recover from them.

4: One thing did come as a surprise about the trip to Turf Moor, and that was the remarkably thin City turnout. There are loads of explanations, of course – the cost, Sky, awful weather – but taking not even half as many as went to Palace was quite unexpected.

5: Watford are laying on free coach travel for their game at the Circle next month. Tiger Travel isn’t our idea of fun but it serves a purpose for some, so is it worth the club considering this for any of our final away games?

6: Nottingham Forest come to the Circle this weekend as the true form team of the division. They’ve won five and drawn one since Billy Davies returned as manager, and now look a good bet for the play-offs. City will, however, probably end their faint hopes of automatic promotion if they beat them on Saturday, and we’ll represent easily their toughest test since Davies came back.

7: Six weeks ago, with Cardiff seemingly uncatchable and Leicester tussling with the Tigers for second, we’d probably have hoped for a home win from their meeting last night. As it was, the draw was probably ideal – Cardiff continue to wobble and will be unhappily aware that their hardest game of the season looms on the final day, while another failure to win by Leicester means they’re almost certainly not going to catch City now.

8: Apropos of that final day meeting, all sorts of delicious permutations are possible. Both teams may enter the game needing a point apiece to guarantee promotion – would that bring about an Austria/West Germany 1982-style “understanding”? What if City could begin the day with a chance of being champions or missing out on automatic promotion altogether? It could be quite some day.

9: No reply from West Yorkshire Police to theopen letter sent to themby the FSF and an alliance of City and Huddersfield fans. No response to our Freedom of Information request either, which must be replied to in no more than nine days.

10: Hard luck to the Tiger cubs, who were bested 3-0 by Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Youth Cup. To reach that stage is some feat in itself and one that deserves congratulations.

#87 March 4, 2013

1. DJ Campbell preferring Venky’s chicken to the gastronomic fare on offer in Hull was a blessing in disguise, wasn’t it? As was Nottingham Forest’s assertion that George Boyd should have gone to Specsavers rather than the City Ground for a medical. Perhaps Boyd finds the goal through echolocation like a bat and doesn’t need to see that well anyway. Whatever the state of Boyd’s visual acuity, he’s looks a bit special doesn’t he? Lucky us.

2. We’ve said for a while that someone was going to get a paggering from City at some point, and what a marvel to behold the utter dismantling of Birmingham was. City have dominated games this season but have lacked killer instinct, that charge might not be levelled at City again this season with Gedo and Boyd spearheading our attacks.

3. Cor, Palace is going to be fun on Tuesday night now. Simply cannot wait for that.

4. If you expressed an opinion that Birmingham’s consolation goals late on took the shine off an impressive win on Saturday, you were being a bit silly.

5. We’ve always liked the “silverware, we don’t care” chant, but considering the possibilities that the league table is currently raising, we’re not so sure about that sentiment any more. Cardiff’s defeat at Middlesbrough and a final day showdown with the club currently top suggests that the tantalising and slightly frightening prospect of City going up as champions is feasible. Blimey. Saying that, we’d take second place if it were offered as a guarantee right now, but can you imagine?

6. Off the pitch, the depressing stupidity and malice of West Yorkshire Police continues to know no limits. What part of “principle” does this loathsome mob not understand? NO travel restrictions are acceptable. None whatsoever. We are law abiding football fans living in a free country, and however convenient or cheap it is made, we will never accept the principle of being carted about the country like a bunch of hooligans by a police force hopelessly out of its depth.

7. But City…oh dear oh dear. Their craven submission to this outrage is extremely disappointing. Nick Thompson emerges with very little credit from this sordid fiasco.We worried a week agothat refusing to countenance a boycott would hobble him in negotiations, and that may have proven to be the case. We recognise that the club is in a difficult position and was dealt a poor hand by a crooked dealer, but it’s been played spectacularly badly. If the club cared about the supporters as it professes to, it would never, ever have permitted a police force to inflict wholly unjustified restrictions on our right to freedom of movement. Barring a late show of nerve from the club, their complicity in this malign act is going to be remembered for a very long time.

8. The role of Karl Turner MP is worth looking at too. How did he become so suddenly involved in the whole affair? And if he really thinks this is “best we were going to get“, we’d have been better off without him poking his nose in. He probably meant well, but he’s been a part of the negotiations that have led to this offensive policy being essentially retained, he’s failed us dismally.

9. What now? The statement by ourselves, City Independent, the OSC and HSSC on Friday is clear and worth repeating – the club should refuse these tickets. But they won’t. Their abandonment leaves us up to we supporters. Our position is quite clear – we cannot travel under these circ*mstances, this is a precedent we cannot allow to be set. To travel independently to Huddersfield and watch the game in pubs there? To go into the home end (behaving ourselves, as always)? Turn up outside the away end and peacefully protest against bubble travel? We’re open to suggestions, and if the Tiger Nation can get itself co-ordinated and organised, we can at the very least win hearts and minds while embarrassing the guilty parties.

10. Can we forget this stuff about “getting behind the team”, too? There’s a real risk of it being used quite cynically as a way of emotionally blackmailing us into accepting these restrictions in order to lend support to Steve Bruce and his players. If, despite everything, any City fan still wishes to go to Huddersfield, well, that’s up to them, and being offensive isn’t really the way forward. Did labelling non-striker miners as scabs work in the long run? Exactly. But there’s a far bigger picture here than just one game of football – it’s about how we are allowed to watch football in this country. We feel sure the team will understand.

#86 February 25,2013

1. Right. Where the bloody hell do we begin?

2. Even though we’ve known of the intentions of West Yorkshire Police for nearly a week, there are still far more questions than answers. Any number of issues and titbits continue to poke annoyingly at us, wondering how they can be resolved and what the next step might be, but the most contentious bone has to be the force’s alleged “intelligence”, claiming that they have just cause to restrict our liberty to move because City fans are known for causing alcohol-related mischief in the pre-match hours. Yes, a lot of Tigers fans like a cleansing ale prior to a game, lawfully so, but the police grandly claim their own information outweighs the stark fact, courtesy of the Football Supporters Federation and backed up by the Home Office, that we had not one alcohol-based arrest last season.

3. The reaction of Huddersfield Town fans, both individually and within theirofficial supporters club, has been splendid. They have their own reasons for wanting a bigger attendance on Easter Saturday, of course – gate receipts being the obvious one – but clearly the evidence shows that the police have been a massive thorn in their side this season over trying to fulfil the obligation of hosting televised Championship matches. To them, this latest aim by the police to stop football fans watching a football match is the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s been genuinely nice to be as one with them on this.

4.Louis Cooper’s personal campaign to get the travelling and ticketing arrangements alteredmay or may not end in a legal success, but at least his unusual efforts have given the struggle a twist that has finally made national media organisations notice the human interest element to the story. To have a 15 year old boy suing a police force for telling him he can’t attend a football match is rather eccentric, but it will aid the publicity of the Tiger Nation’s case substantially.

5. The local media, meanwhile, has been tremendous, and bearing in mind that some organisations have something of a funny relationship with both Hull City and Hull City supporters, it was good to see questions being asked about the legality and propriety of West Yorkshire Police’s hardline antics. David Burns on BBC Radio Humberside conducted the interview of his life with the wretched Chief Inspector Ged McManus of West Yorkshire Police, while the snorting tweets of derision from the increasingly impressive Phil Buckingham of theHull Daily Mailwere especially good to read. The local paper of the other side, theHuddersfield Daily Examiner, has also been refreshingly receptive of the Hull angle to this story and given the supporters plenty of opportunity to make their voices heard.

6. The reaction of MPs with affected constituents has been interestingly juxtaposed. Jason McCartney, the member for Colne Valley (the leafier west side of Huddersfield), who is a lifelong fan of the club and former inhabitant of their press box in his previous career, has protested the case of both sets of fans vociferously and got straight on to the Divisional Commander of West Yorkshire Police, asking for an explanation and a change of mind and policy. Hull North’s Diana Johnson, meanwhile, has writtena brilliantly dissenting letter to the force, citing legal issues and having clearly researched the history of both the fixture and City fans’ behaviour. On the opposite side, Hull East’s Karl Turner MP, a qualified lawyer, seemed to think that arranging pick-up points along the way for supporters put out by the “thou shalt travel to and from Hull’ promulgation was an acceptable solution, thereby missing the basic point quite breathtakingly. At least his predecessor, John Prescott,has got it right via his tabloid columnthough.

7. To put it mildly, the club have let down the fans in this matter. A young lad brilliantly articulates that his fellow City fans are having their civil rights violated and the club just seem bothered about not losing the outlay for tickets. At no time have they shown true empathy with Hull City supporters and understood why they were calling for a boycott of the game. If the club had stood beside the fans while legal action against West Yorkshire Police was being publicly mooted, just saying a boycott is an option (even if it is not a desired one), it would have made a powerful statement at a time when MPs and supporter organisations were wading in.

8. Nick Thompson hasn’t made a stellar start to his time as MD. Maybe he doesn’t give two hoots what fans think or want, but if he does, he has some work to do rehabilitating fan opinion of him.

9. Anyway, the campaign to be treated reasonably goes on. The game isn’t for another five weeks. Plenty of time for the pressure to continue and the police to see sense.

10. Bolton’s decision, meanwhile, to make the weekend’s game all-ticket with just 48 hours to go absolutely stank to high heaven. If police forces and television companies are wont to forget that football is first and foremost for the supporters, you wouldn’t expect the actual clubs to forget that too. It’s simply unacceptable to be in a situation where loyal, regular supporters whose cars have big mileages and swift deterioration rates in the name of the Tigers, suddenly find themselves unable to go to a game for which they will have budgeted and made arrangements.

11. Oh yeah, the football. The adage of ‘Typical City’ is indestructible, isn’t it? After three straight wins at home, includinga really tidy and dominant display over a good Blackburn side, the team essentially chucked three chances into their own net in the first eight minutesat the Reebok. Whatever happens as the season reaches its end, we’ll look back on that brief spell of football as a genuine lowlight of recent times. Feel also for the City fans who, blamelessly or not, arrived ten minutes late for the game and discovered that City had already lost.

12. For all that, such was the freakishness of what occurred, we shouldn’t feel too troubled by it.

13. DJ Campbell’s 30 minutes for Blackburn at the Circle was justly inept, not to mention very funny. Almost as entertaining as watching the team he rejected trample all over the one he chose.

14. If we go purely by the reaction of Peterborough United fans, George Boyd will be a quality signing for the Tigers. It’s good to have him in our ranks. Some of the Posh followers we’ve encountered on the social networks have been genuinely emotional at his departure. Too early to know for sure, of course, but hopefully we’ve signed the gem they say we have.

15. Birmingham City come to the Circle this weekend and you’d like to think the task for the Tigers will be as devoid of apprehension as the previous three games on our patch. The Blues aren’t having any kind of fun this season but a team that won the League Cup still very recently, contains a goalkeeper destined for many England caps and is led a manager with quite a gob on him should never be underestimated.

16. Yeah, the League Cup. We can and should all feel very sympathetic towards ex-City keeper Matt Duke for his Wembley sending off, but it made many a gut growl with irritation when encumbered with loads of criticism of the referee for failing to apply “common sense”. There is, officially, no such thing in football. The laws of the game are there to be upheld and respected and Duke committed a foul that denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity, so the referee had to send him off. It really isn’t hard to understand. Football has regulations for a reason and it is impractical and impossible to decide when and when not to enforce appropriate laws.

17. “I wish Nick [Barmby] had scored the goal at Wembley, then I wouldn’t have gone into rehab.” Dean Windass was on good form at the 2008 promotion squad reunion on Saturday night as part of the Andy Dawson testimonial year events.

18. That event was very well attended, both by fans and former players, late arrivals found there was only standing room left when they got there. Many of the 2007/08 players made the effort to attend (including Henrik Pedersen, who’d left the running of his pub in Denmark to others so he could join his formerteam-mates)to pay respects to a player who is clearly beloved. Players who couldn’t attend sent video messages; Richard Garcia (now at Melbourne Heart), Michael Turner (now with Norwich), Matt Duke, Nathan Doyle and former first team coach Steve Parkin (all preparing for Bradford’s Wembley appearance) made the effort to honour our long serving left-back. If you haven’t attended a testimonial event and can, do so in appreciation of not only a fine servant of the club, but clearly a decent human being.

19. One attendee that wasn’t welcome, and wasn’t even invited, was former chairman Paul Duffen. The brass neck of that man is just galling, and his appearance caused consternation for the event organisers, who knew that a fair few members of the audience were keen to vocally express displeasure at the man who presided over a fiscal catastrophe. Cleverly, they introduced him along with Phil Brown (everyone else was singularly introduced) to avoid a chorus of boos, but as drink flowed, heckling and cat-calls from a still embittered section of the fanbase increased as the evening went on. The man is a weapons grade arsehole.

20. Fittingly, as fans mingled with 2008 players and staff, eager to reminisce and thank the heroes of our last promotion, Duffen was seen sat alone, with nobody wishing to talk to him. Given that some had vocalised desires to do Duffen a physical disservice, just leaving him to stew on his unpopularity must have taken restraint.

#85 February 18, 2013

1. Two down, one to go. Neither of our home wins in the last five days was especially artistic, but that’s not an issue right now. There are points on the board and there is visible daylight separating our second spot from the rest. Given that we did have a dodgy spell in January, this still looks like a very gratifying position. Not to mention exciting.

2. The one to go is, of course, the visit of Blackburn Rovers to the Circle on Tuesday evening. One would hope for a “Lord Mayor’s show”-esque display from our improving visitors after their surprising but thoroughly admirable win at Arsenal in the FA Cup at the weekend. Nothing should be taken for granted, of course, but our newly-rediscovered winning habit gives us every reason to make it three out of three at home.

3. Derby County are a good team. It’s a pity their negative tactics are designed to shroud this fact; a bit more ambition and they could have won, let alone drawn, the game on Tuesday night. That suited us, but it must drive Derby fans insane if this is the norm for them, and all via a manager in Nigel Clough who was one of the most watchable and cultured deep-lying forwards of his generation. Oh, and talking of Derby fans – no wonder a Twitter parody account (presumably run by a Forest supporter with ample time to burn) claimed that 200 supporters making the two-hour, motorway-only trip from the accessible East Midlands to accessible East Yorkshire on Tuesday night was a “great effort” and “phenomenal”. What a totally paltry turnout that was. In 2005/06 they filled the North Stand, for heaven’s sake.

4. As for Charlton, City couldn’t kill them off but the task looked a bit easier, with the Addicks bigger on ambition but lesser on creativity. These were two potentially awkward games and the Tigers dealt with each most professionally.

5. Just try to imagine Sone Aluko and Gedo as a strike partnership. Cor.

6. It was an eventful week off the pitch, starting with witless hysteria from rugby fans over the removal of their imagery from the Circle, culminating in their complete embarrassment when it transpired this wasn’t some gigantic anti-eggchasing conspiracy, but a straightforward refusal on their part to pay to have their own history displayed. Not that this has been accepted by the minority sport rabble, whose vitriol towards City and their owners has been breathtaking in its scope and misplacement, even after it emerged that the SMC is actually subsidising rugby. Also embarrassing were some local politicians, mindlessly braying along with the mob without troubling to ascertain the facts. Weren’t you, Terry Geraghty?

7. That said, it still feels a little harsh on Mr Whiteley himself – could not an exception be made for him? He is by all accounts a decent man and a City fan. Were the Allams to stick to their policy but make a concession towards the man who has a suite at the stadium named after him, they’d probably emerge a little better from the whole mess.

8. It all raises interesting questions about the long-term future of the Circle and the SMC. The thought of the likes of Messrs Brady and Geraghty running the stadium is a pretty horrifying one, and the council certainly won’t want to become liable for the costs of running the place as it continues to both age and cost. If not the Allams, then whom? And what if their continuingly fractious relationship with both the council and the eggchasers really does prompt them to look at basing City elsewhere – the Circle would be a massive white elephant with only a rugby franchise there. And when Adam Pearson becomes completely bored with owning them, what happens then? The situation is very unclear, and unedifying squabbling doesn’t really help.

9. One thing, however, is worth reiterating over and over again, as many times as is necessary until the idea is killed forever: City moving to Melton is absolutely not acceptable.

10. Amber Nectar is 15 years old on Thursday. It seems a very long time ago that we were stood nervously outside of Boothferry Park prior to a home game with Sc*nthorpe, earnestly hoping a few of you might find 80p to buy a copy of our first ever fanzine. We were amazed and gratified that so many did, and that so many people still take the time to pay us a visit at our online home. We may indulge ourselves with little online party to celebrate during the week, but if not, sincere thank you to everyone who’s been a part of the fun over this past decade and half.

#84 February 11, 2013

1. Disappointing as the defeat was, the performance at Brighton showed definite promise. They’re a good side, but in the second half they they were distinctly outplayed by the Tigers. If only City could take their chances…

2. Particularly impressive at the Amex were the wide men, Ahmed Elmohamady and Robbie Brady. Some of their crossing was of the very highest quality, and it’s frustrating that none of them were converted. Nonetheless, Steve Bruce ought to be praising them for their delivery and urging them to continue – we’ll capitalise eventually.

3. This almost sounds like heresy, but could we capitalise more by dropping Robert Koren? He hasn’t been himself in recent weeks and appears not to combine well with Jay Simpson. If he was rested and two proper forwards played, crosses are more likely to be converted.

4. Three home games in a week then, starting with Derby County tomorrow night. Don’t harangue us for this, but it really could be a season-defining period for the Tigers. An unbeaten streak would be welcome, at least two wins would be splendid, a maximum haul would be just marvellous. Currently we are equally as capable of dying on our backsides as we are of shinning to the summit.

5. The deal for season pass holders to bring a friend for a fiver is an attractive one and hopefully it will up the attendance level for the Derby game. The club is at least having a go; its recognition that the sometimes sterile atmosphere at the Circle is down to the numbers in the stadium to begin with is something they have the most power to try to remedy.

6. On a related note, it’s great to hear so far in advance of next season, and with our destination still very much up in the air, that season ticket prices will be frozen for next season. They are still too expensive but at least nobody at the club has decided to take the rise out of the fans any further.

7. Can we not boo DJ Campbell when Blackburn play here? Not because he doesn’t deserve for such towering greed and discourtesy, and more because you just KNOW it’d inspire him to score a winning goal.

8. No-one’s ever going to mistake a group of rugby league fans for a MENSA gathering, but despite the predictably bovine tone to their complaints about eggchasing memorabilia being absent from the entrance to the Circle, they’ve accidentally unearthed something interesting – namely that City and the rugby franchise must both pay to display items in the stadium. City, it seems, are doing so; our pennypinching eggchasing brethren aren’t. Is it really necessary to charge the respective clubs for this? Probably not.

9. In fact, it ought to be easier to display anything that personalises the stadium. Hanging flags is notably difficult at City, in no small part because of the dismally small-minded approach of the stewards. Sometimes it really does feel like a shared municipal stadium and not really “home”, in some odd fashion. Maybe this is where AN, CI, the OSC et al should be grouping together to push for something. How can it really be to hang a load of flags and banners in the stadium prior to home games? And more importantly, would the club and/or SMC actually permit it?

10. Besides, the gerrumonsard fraternity should probably concentrate on Adam Pearson’s plans. He’s wasted at a rugby league club, something he’s probably realised for himself. A move to Leeds is being mooted, and while it’d be a shame for us to see one of the greatest heroes in our history join such a shoddily disreputable organisation, it wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) tarnish his legacy – and seeing how he gets along with the combustible Colin would be interesting…

#83 February 4, 2013

1. If you can’t win pretty, win ugly – it’s a cliché, but there’s something in it. It’s perhaps doing a disservice to the lads’ efforts to call the victory at Millwall on Saturday actually ugly, but it won’t win points for artistic merit. Seeing as you don’t get points for artistic merit in football, just points for scoring more goals than the other lot, perhaps we shouldn’t worry about it.

2. What we should worry about it is where it leaves us – to which the answer is “very handily placed”. After their win on Thursday, Leicester must have wondered whether our dip in form would continue and give them a clear lead in second. That City put the pressure of that position and their own recent troubles to one side to grind it out speaks volumes for a team whose committment is just about as good as you can get.

3. Jay Simpson frequently attracts criticism for his disappointing goals return. That’s not always harsh either, as he really ought to have a higher total than he does. However, his application was so instrumental on Saturday that it’s occasionally possible to overlook that. He should score more, but there’s still no doubting that he can bring a lot to the side when he’s at his best.

4. Having won at the New Den for the first time ever, next stop it’s the Amex, where also a victory would be our first ever. Later this month it’s the Reebok, where we have also never won. What a marvellous time it would be to put three grounds with a touch of hoodoo to them to bed.

5. Given the madness that often descends at this time of year, City did well in the transfer window – both in terms of acquisitions and also resisting temptation. It’s impossible to know just how well Fathy and Gedo will fare of course, but they arrive with a pedigree that makes them well worth a punt on. It also goes without saying that re-signing Ahmed Elmohamady is greatly important.

6. Less worth a punt on was DJ Campbell. He’d have been a useful signing for a side, but wasn’t worth a long-term contract and certainly isn’t worth bothering with now his distasteful attitude has been so vividly explained by Steve Bruce.

7. On Thursday evening and into Friday, it was remarkable to see the influx of Egyptian football fans onto City’s Facebook page. Credit to the club for reacting so quickly by establish a page in arabic for our new friends – now, are any of the club’s strategists working out a way of capitalising upon and maintaining this interest in the longer term?

8. Good luck to Mark Cullen at Stockport. He should, with decent service, be able to score an absolute stack in the Blue Square Premier.

9. A current Tiger in Robbie Brady has been voted the Irish under 21 Player of the Year. Good on him. Perhaps more unnervingly, the Irish full squad Player of the Year is an ex-Tiger, one Keith Andrews. It’s hardly the Ballon d’Or, but given how much top flight and international football he’s managed since we packed him off in 2006, as well as now a prestigious personal award, did we just get him wrong?

10. He made a hell of a start yesterday, which gives this view a touch of wisdom after the event, but as we saw when he wore our shirt, Fraizer Campbell will kill off the rest of the Championship if he stays fit. Now it’s nigh on impossible to imagine anyone, including us, catching Cardiff. The race is probably now for second place.

#82 January 28, 2013

1. The FA Cup’s capacity to produce disappointment remains undiminished by City having one of the best teams in our history. That’s not particularly reassuring and comforting, however.

2. Equally short of comfort wasCity’s performance on Saturday. That was practically our first team, falling to defeat against a side in the relegation fray. Worrying.

3. Worrying, but no cause for panic. Life is usually too short to listen to radio phone-ins, but the reaction to this defeat bordered on the hysterical. City are third in the Championship. They have a great team. They have a fine manager. Those things ought to count for something during a dip in form.

4. Equally unfair are intemperate demands for the Allams to “get their chequebook out”. What for? Steve Bruce has had a lot of money to spend (and he’s spent it well), but the Allam family’s financial commitment to the Tigers deserves applause, not ungrateful querying.

5. Also not covering themselves in glory were the stewards on Saturday. A group of young, more vocally-minded City fans stationed themselves in the north-west corner, something of a recent Cup habit. To their left was positioned the Ghetto of Excellence flag, something we’ve always admired. That flag was initially placed there, just over the netting that hems in the north-west corner, with the assistance of the stewards. Later on, they returned to remove it, bound up and down the steps and generally harass the small group stood there (see this picture– there are hardly hundreds of them).

6. This combination of officious pedantry and wilful intrusion upon a group of lads’ afternoon at the football is precisely what is wrong with stewarding at City. When away fans turn up and cause trouble, the stewards and police aren’t interested. These double standards stink. The club should be instructing them to treat its customers better, immediately.

7. Apropos of the police, we recently enquired of the new PCC for this area whether the immaculate behaviour of City fans in the early kick-offs against Huddersfield and Leeds would mean a restoration of the traditional 3pm start in the future. The answer we (eventually) received is reproduced in fullhere– judge for yourself whether this counts as a useful and informative reply.

8. Is it worth recalling Aaron Mclean from his loan at Ipswich?

9. That’s not a dig at Nick Proschwitz, however. From an admittedly small list of candidates, he was probably City’s man of the match against Barnsley, and started the game in the way you’d want a £2.5m import to. More please.

10. It’s a pity see Paul McKenna’s time with City ending what appears to be such a low-key fashion. He was very good for us last season and even at the age of 35 he’s surely too good for Fleetwood Town. Nonetheless, he’s in the autumn of his career and needs to spend that remaining few years on the pitch, not the stands. Let’s hope it goes well for him.

#81 January 21, 2013

1: We are no longer second in the table, and the usual lorryload of pessimists claim we will not regain a top two position again this season. There is some sense behind this argument, as we are off form, losing key players and struggling with the size and quality of the back-up squad.

2: Steve Bruce has, however, shown considerable nous and power in the transfer market and has a fortnight to clinch deals that are evidently beyond the early stages. He has swiftly smoothed the path for David Stockdale’s vital return to the Circle and now can go after a striker. The right moves could act as a catalyst to getting City back on track.

3: And if you can’t get one Campbell, maybe you can get another. Fraizer looks like he’s on the way to Cardiff – they’re way ahead of the field in the Championship at the moment and on that point alone, you could hardly blame him – and so now Bruce has tabled a bid for Dudley Junior. He’s 31 now, is DJ, but has a good record at Championship level and is not needed by his current employers. The other clubs in for him don’t have Bruce’s knowledge of the player or, indeed, the player’s knowledge of Bruce, and maybe their history will be key to the player signing for City.With Sone Aluko now out for at least six weeks, the procurement of a natural striker is more urgent than ever.

4: Bruce is also said to be chasing a duo of gifted Egyptian players, neither of whom is Ahmed Elmohamady. This is exciting stuff too. Ahmed Fathi, a wingback, and striker Mohamed “Gedo” Nagi could be with the club on loan by the end of the month.

5: Speaking of Elmohamady, it was perfectly within Sunderland’s right to recall someone whose wages they are responsible for. In a way it may be helpful to the Tigers in the longer term, as it might force hands at both clubs to get a deal done. Elmohamady was only an injury time substitute in the Black Cats’ win at Wigan at the weekend and is known to be keen to join the Tigers permanently. And under the rules he can’t play for anyone else now this season anyway.

6:At Orient, City were tepid and can be grateful for Nick Proschwitz’s worldy and Tom Cairney’s late show, as to end the tie with a penalty shootout may have proved too grotesque for words. Still, a home tie against Barnsley in the fourth round this weekend is a worthy reward, not obviously for any excitement associated with the game, but for the prospect of an all-too-rare fifth round tie in February.

7: Peterborough United officials and volunteers deserve our thanks and congratulations for making sure the game on Saturday went ahead. The inclement weather and the lack of undersoil heating made the prospects bleak, but a spot of belief, a few shovels and a touch of luck with the Saturday morning conditions meant we got a game and avoided a midweek trip down there at some inconvenient point of the the later season. Again, though, City were tepid and deserved no more than the point acquired.

8: Peter Swan was asked on the BBC in midweek, during one of many lulls at Brisbane Road, his opinion on the players out of contract at the end of the season, and which should be offered new deals. He said one who deserved it, in the context of both the player’s form and the direction being taken by the club, was Paul McShane. And he is right.

9: It’s the Race Night for Andy Dawson’s testimonial tonight. A fiver on the door at the Mercure Hotel in Willerby from 7.30pm. He deserves a huge turnout.

10: It’s rare we can feel well disposed to Bradford City, but tomorrow night they take a two-goal cushion to Villa Park with a place in the League Cup final at Wembley awaiting them if they can maintain their composure and advantage. Frankly, beyond City being at Wembley themselves, one can’t imagine a greater footballing joy in these cynical, sanitised times than seeing Matt Duke, after everything he has been through, getting to a major Cup final.

#80 January 14, 2013

1. What agnawingly frustrating evening Saturdayproved to be. City haven’t looked as lacking in fluency as that in any game this season. There’s no obvious explanation either. Sheffield Wednesday obviously performed very well, but City anywhere near their best would have won that game. So why the tepid showing? It’s a mystery.

2. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Saturday’s defeat was the eagerness in which some of ourfan basedisplayed in putting the boot into City after one poor showing. We’ve said before that City have spoilt us with their superb football this season and that’s exactly how some chose to behave after a rare defeat, spoilt. “I think I’ll go to the ticket office and demand a refund” said one bitter fan as he filed out of the ground, well unless your ticket said admission to a Hull City win, you have little grounds for a refund, sir. Everyone was frustrated by defeat when earlier results gave us a chance to get nearer to top spot and put daylight between us and the chasing pack, but the outpouring of bile at the ground, on radio forums and Twitter was utterly disproportionate for the season we’re having.

3. It’s a pretty appalling thing to suggest that Jakupović was feigning injury to mask his considerable blushes after a truly terrible showing – yet that niggling doubt won’t go away. Surely a professional footballer would never stoop so low. We really want to believe no City player would ever be so pathetic.

4. If he has sustained any sort of injury and can’t play on Tuesday – who on earth is going to go in goal? Mark Oxley is cup-tied, Ben Amos is back at Manchester United and Joe Cracknell is barely out of school. Emergency loan? Trust young Cracknell with his first ever senior performance? However disappointing he was on Saturday, City could really do with Jakupović being fit.

5. Who else is likely to play at Orient then? Make the first team finish the job and try to re-establish some fluency against lesser opposition in a lesser tournament – or make the second string XI redeem itself? Now there’s a tricky one. We suspect Mr Bruce will stick with his fringe players.

6. Two weeks ago we wrote to the new Police & Crime Commissioner for this area, Matthew Grove – the winner of November’s election to the post. We wanted to ask whether the impeccable conduct of City fans in the Leeds and Huddersfield games will mean the end of pointless lunchtime kick-offs. We’ve not yet received a full reply as it’s apparently not under his jurisdiction, but we have been promised one soon by whoever actually makes these decisions. We’ll reproduce it upon arrival.

7. Psychology has always been as much a part of management as team selection and tactics, and Steve Bruce’s handling of Cameron Stewart’s mindset after the Orient game was masterful. His public chiding of Stewart for being unfit was followed by a quasi-apology and public praise that the player had responded in the desired way by training like a ‘beast’. The demise of Cameron Stewart has been a bigdisappointment, though it hasn’t been evident for some time the lad clearly has bags of talent, and hopefully Bruce can draw it out of him.

8. Such psychology may be needed to halt Jay Simpson’s slump too, his belief-free spot kick was emblematic of his loss of form and makes his impossible goal against Wolves seem like an eternity ago. When he was on form earlier this season some suggested that Barmby was very wrong to leave him out in the cold last year, but the lack of confidence shown in his last few outings replicates the Jay Simpson of 2011/12 who didn’t justify selection. Jay, leave penalty kicks to a German.

9. Away from City, but are we close to reaching a tipping point on ticket prices in this country? The national media’s love affair with the current English champions has come in handy for once, with plenty of publicity afforded for them sending back nearly a thousand tickets for their game at Arsenal yesterday. £62 for a regular League game is just insane. £28 for Sheff Weds at the Circle on Saturday was too much. Anything north of £20 for a second tier game really is pushing it; yet it’s almost always a fair bit more than that. It’s perhaps a little early to be sure, but there are increasing signs that football fans are going to vote with their feet very soon if the madness continues.

10. We saw signs of this on Saturday. Television or not, crap season or not, it was a surprise to see a club of Sheffield Wednesday’s stature bringing such a modest support to Hull. Similarly, a total gate of under 17,000 is a disappointment. It’s too expensive – but do City have any intention of doing anything about it? A week after spending £3.5m on players is perhaps a bad time to suggest the club reduce its charges, but if thousands can’t afford to go and see these new players in person…

#77 December 23, 2012

1. It’s on. It really is on. In our recent spate of form, theDerby victorywas perhaps the least convincing performance, yet City won with reasonable comfort. That in itself is hugely impressive.

2. Corry Evans is in the finest form of his City career. He does the running of two men, but there’s more to his game than rushing about enthusiastically. It’s perhaps lucky that a player of his nature isn’t the sort that struggling Premier League teams will turn to in order to save their seasons, but the way he’s playing at the moment wouldn’t look out of place in the top flight.

3. Eldin Jakupović made an assured debut on Friday evening, and has probably earned himself a run in the side on the back of it. A permanent goalkeeper would still be nice, but if Jakupović turns out to be any good and/or Stockdale returns in the New Year, we should be okay.

4. We’ll miss Stockdale though, and Meyler too. Both have contributed greatly in recent weeks, and City could do a lot worse than attempt to re-sign them next month. Loanees often make a big impact in the Championship, and that’s been the case here. Robbie Brady has been a revelation in his second spell at City, whereas Ahmed Elmohamady is a fixture on the opposite wing. Steve Bruce is quite right to say that our season could be shaped by our dealings in the loan market.

5. Anyone who thinks City should move to Melton is an idiot.

6. The timing of the Allams’ statement was pathetic and made him look vindictive and spiteful.

7. City fans going on and on about Nigel Pearson – both his sullen demeanour and messy exit – really ought to get over it. Just look at the League table instead. Leicester are guaranteed to start 2013 below City.

8. There now follows a complete list of all the Yorkshire clubs in a higher League position than City:

9. It would no doubt be an honour for the player himself, and a feather in City’s cap to have a man at such a prestigious tournament – but we can’t pretend not to be pleased that Sone Aluko hasn’t been selected in the provisional Nigerian squad for the African Cup of Nations in January/February. Would he have been called up if he hadn’t been injured though?

10. Why haven’t the prices for the Leyton Orient FA Cup match been announced yet?

#76 December 17, 2012

1. Three straight wins, briefly third place, and as the halfway point of the season approaches, we have every reason to be happy and optimistic. Reinforcement is required in a couple of specific areas in January, of course, but beyond that the squad is pretty much in place to go all the way this season, injuries permitting.

2. Alex Bruce was foolish, of course, but one hopes that Alan Lee will be punished just as heavily on a retrospective basis for the exchange of violence that occurred seconds after the final whistle on Saturday. At least the timing of it was acceptable; had they popped at each other in the actual game then City would have been down to ten and in peril.

3. Bruce’s absence will be felt heavily but one thing we are not short of is centre backs, especially now that Jack Hobbs is fit again. And what a reassuring presence he was in defence against Huddersfield too. It was as if he’d never been away.

4. Huddersfield were incredibly unambitious, even though the game was only 1-0 for a whole 82 minutes and therefore just a tad more optimism from their lot could have given the Tigers a problem or two. Their tactics are not our concern, of course, but it doesn’t stop us being a bit surprised.

5. Those tactics were apparently tailored for the Tigers, not the first time in recent weeks we’ve heard of a club ditching its usual approach to combat City. It’s very complimentary, and best of all it seems not to be working for anyone.

6. Tom Cairney is the most natural footballer to come out of Hull City’s ranks for more than 30 years and it’s great to have him back. Albeit with a somewhat drastic haircut that won’t win him any design awards.

7.The Hull Daily Mail’s scaremongering about the Huddersfield game last Thursdaywas disappointing, irresponsible and completely unnecessary. Had they really wanted to dredge up an event that took place eight years ago, why not actually bother to report what really took place that day? They have no excuse for not knowing as City fans have been telling them for years – or do they prefer sensationalist slurs about City fans to printing the truth, challenging the ineptitude of Humberside Police and condemning the violence of hoodlums from elsewhere?

8. In the interests of fairness, they did at least print our letter of complaint. A pity it was so heavily edited though.

9. The Amber Nectar forum members have, gratifyingly, been unswerving in their support for the sports desk, however, which has no part to play in the inaccurate, prejudiced musings of their news-centric counterparts but often gets it in the neck as a result. Currently the publication employs the best reporter on City it has had in a long time and one can only imagine how he must feel, privately, as his employers trample all over the reputation of City and its supporters 24 hours after his interview with Ehab Allam tried manfully to sell the club to new fans.

10. One thing that won’t need selling are City’s festive fixtures. The prospect of tackling Leicester and Leeds over the Christmas period is mouth-watering, all the more so because we’ll be approaching them from a minimum of fourth place. It’d be great to see two 20,000+ crowds.

#75 December 10, 2012

1. We’ve already covered theWatford gamein detail, but it’s worth revisiting one aspect of it – the unremitting control held by our midfield. The way it runs games is analagous to the metaphorical boot stamping forever on a human face inNineteen Eighty-Four. Um, sort of.

2. If there’s any cash to spare and the player and his parent club’s manager don’t mind, City could do worse than sign Robbie Brady permanently. It’s well and good being a skilful player, or a hard-working player, but one of the best things you can be as a youngster is one willing to learn. Compare Brady now to the one we saw just 15 months ago – he’s come on a long way.

3. It was pleasing to see Jack Hobbs not only return to the side on Saturday, but look as though he’d never been away. He’s a top class Championship defender and he comes across as the sort of no-nonsense player who’ll really appeal to Steve Bruce.

4. With his return to fitness and the emergence of Paul McShane, the manager now has five centre-back of serious and proven quality to choose from. Of course, Mr Bruce knows a thing or two about that position so we imagine he’ll choose well, but that depth of ability is extraordinary.

5. So how can opposing managers counter City?Millwallgoing 5-3-2 from their usual 4-4-2 was a painful calamity, whileForest’s recent defensive approachat homedidn’t work (and pissed off their own supporters). However, ceding the midfield to City just means more ammunition for whoever we’re playing up front. Not a nice dilemma.

6. Steve Bruce’s latest masterstroke/inadvertent success is 3-5-1-1, which occasionally means we have six in midfield. It sounds ridiculous, and it can lead to rather congested central areas, but it’s working for now.

7. It should be ditched when Sone Aluko is fit again though. Five is quite enough in midfield and we look more dangerous with two up front.

8. Credit to Jay Simpson on Saturday, playing as the most advanced forward – his ability to hold up the ball was instrumental in allowing the midfield hordes to swarm forward. Playing with your back to goal must be quite a thankless task at times, but he did it very well.

9. We hear that Kevin Kilbane is retire at the age of 35. The universal praise for his character and application from those who’ve worked for him is perhaps the best tribute that can be paid to him. His time at City was a difficult one, but no-one could ever doubt his committment and his gesture in exchanging a 50% wage cut for an extra year on his contract was a fine gesture at a time of acute financial distress for the Tigers. We wish him well.

10. There are only four days to go until the tenth anniversary of our final game at Boothferry Park, a solemn milestone indeed.

#74 December 3, 2012

1. “Paul McShane, you probably think this song is about you. Paul McShane, I bet you think this song is about you. Don’t you? Don’t you? Don’t you?”

2. You always celebrate a City goal of course, especially one that puts you in front at a crucial point of a tight away game. But the winning goal atForestwas much about the identity of the scorer as the significance of the goal, because Paul McShane has truly earned that moment of individual glory in front of the Tiger Nation. It was a bit untidy but it counted, it won the match and it gave a player whose attitude has been as exemplary as his form some just reward. The response of his team-mates, who jumped all over him with grins as wide as Pearson Park, suggested they were thrilled for him too.

3. That was a corking win at the City Ground, but it does kind of throw up the question of what kind of team City are. The last three matches have seen three entirely different styles of performance producing three entirely different results. At least it started with the baddest of the three and worked its way up, though – and kudos must go to Steve Bruce for making four big changes after the atrociousness ofBurnleyin order to right the wrongs.

4.Crystal Palaceare a very able side, and that it was only (albeit a big “only”) lax finishing that stopped the Tigers giving them a good spanking bodes well, as strikers of the quality of City’s won’t have many blank days like that, while we expect Robert Koren to look back on his miss as the single worst of his career, and all good goalscorers occasionally suffer bad misses.

5. Damien Delaney was terrific for Palace, actually. That he is still in the Championship nearly five years after City sold him is a tribute to him and perhaps as good an indication of his general footballing ability as anything. He also exchanged pleasantries with the East Stand in a way Dean Marney couldn’t or didn’t manage three days before; indeed, we wouldn’t be surprised if an astute Delaney decided to do thatbecauseof Marney’s idiocy.

6. Watford are battering teams at the moment and City’s task there next week is onerous, to say the least. But there hasn’t been an obvious standout team in the Championship as yet; the ones who have beaten City so far have largely done so because the Tigers were off-colour, nothing else. Steve Bruce will have every confidence his team can fetch at least a share of the spoils back from Vicarage Road, where our recent record is excellent.

7. Leyton Orient at home in the FA Cup is good for the hopes of a decent run (notwithstanding theatrocity against Crawley last season) but an utter nightmare for the marketing folk at the KC who have to persuade people to come watch it. They could do a lot worse than reduce ticket prices by a massive percentage, let kids in for nothing, offer corporate facilities at a discount and even reduce the beer prices on the concourses. Otherwise it’ll be a close to empty stadium.

8. All things considered, it’s a pretty rotten draw. No tick ground fun to be had. No big club against which to pit our wits. No local rival to add spice to the day. Those treats seem to be reserved for others; we have a middling Third Division club at home. Sigh.

9. Photographic evidence fromthe Twitter account promoting Andy Dawson’s testimonialshows that he went out on the lash with Boaz Myhill, among a couple of other heroes of recent vintage, over the weekend. One would hope any City fan that saw them and went over for a word was as enthusiastic towards persuading Myhill to return to the club (#bringbackboaz) as they were to congratulating Dawson on his season of honour.

10.Dean Windass says he’s going to ring Fraizer Campbell and tell him to come back to City. A player of Campbell’s obvious scoring calibre would be tremendous, of course, though ultimately it doesn’t matter how much Deano says to his former strike partner if Steve Bruce isn’t keen on the idea, or the Allams won’t finance such a move. The goodwill issue mentioned by some is a bit of a red herring though, as those who declared they loathed Campbell following his antics over the will-he-won’t-he guff in 2009 will soon forget their faux-vitriol if he does actually pull on one of our shirts again. It’s worth remembering how bloody good he was when he played for us, and who was advising him when he was ready to exit Old Trafford.

#73 November 26, 2012

1. Midweek games probably encourage managers to make a couple of changes, in order to keep everyone fresh. However, after theBurnley defeaton Saturday, Steve Bruce will feel compelled to shake things up. On that showing virtually the whole XI could hardly feel hard done to if they were on the bench on Saturday.

2. Sure, it’s only one defeat, and there’s no need to overreact. It’s more the supine nature of it, which let a spirited but limited opposition almost coast to victory.

3. It also means there’s a bit of pressure on tomorrow’s game against Palace, too. Picking up just one point or even zero from a brace of home fixtures would be pretty disappointing, and not really promotion form.

4. Dean Marney, eh…what was that all about? Gently applauded before kick-off, mildly sledged during the game and nothing more – so where did outpouring of rage come from? Disliking any of theWembleyheroes feels gravely wrong, but there’s a strong temptation to make an exception for a player whose career highlight came in black and amber and whoseunderachievement was tolerated by a Tiger Nation that generally appreciated his workrate. If our previous goodwill/ambivalence is now replaced by disdain, the blame lies solely with Marney’s peculiarly graceless behaviour. You made yourself look a very small man, Dean.

5. Eldin Jakupović must drop the ball loads in training.

6. Corry Evans is a hundred times more reliable and committed than Seyi Olofinjana.

7. Good to see Jack Hobbs and Tom Cairney back in full training and turning out in a stiffs game. We miss them both, for differing reasons and to differing degrees, but as the winter kicks in and the knocks and bumps become more prevalent, to have two very good players back like new is timed nicely indeed.

8. Belated happy 70th birthday to Ken Wagstaff, who passed that milestone on Saturday. To some he’ll be forever the greatest City player of all-time, and whatever the claims of the recent generation – who played at a higher level than Waggy – his name will forever be mentioned during discussions of our all time greats.

9. The tickets for the Palace game are at category C level, but the club don’t seem to be shouting about it very much, which is odd. Palace got beat at the weekend and fell off the top of the table in the process, but this is still a huge occasion on Tuesday night and at £20 for adults and a quid for kids under 10, the opportunity to fill the KC is obvious. The club have set these excellent prices but then not proceeded to publicise them at any great length, and will only have themselves to blame if the waverers don’t show up.

10. If you are on Twitter, the hashtags you need to enhance our little project are#hcafcand#bringbackboaz. It is as experimental as anything else, as we know that no supporter campaign, however in the right it may be, will have a bearing on a club’s recruitment policy. But it’s picked up pace since we first put iton Twitterlast week and it has also been mentioned in theHull Daily Mail. We’d like to think Steve Bruce at least knows about it and understands our logic behind it. Not everyone is in favour of a Myhill return, of course (a handful of tweeting City fans came up with the argument about his distribution last week, which we respectfully feel is both irrelevant and overstated), but right now we miss a keeper of his class and permanence more than ever.

Of course, with the (surprise) news yesterday thatFulham have now transfer-listed David Stockdale, our quest for a proper, full-time custodian of the leather might be over sooner than we thought. The Myhill campaign is almost as much about making a point on our absurd and uncertain goalkeeping situation for the last two and a half years as it is about our wish for the great man to come back, but if we can snaffle someone of Stockdale’s calibre then that would be excellent.

#72 November 9, 2012

1: It was a privilege to watchCity on Saturday. The first half was devastating and ecstatic; the second heartfelt and sturdy. Naturally a more convincing win seemed on the cards but by repelling a resurgent Birmingham on their own turf we actually learned and achieved a lot more than we would have done if we’d beasted them 5-0.

2: We may, however, have to get used to the idea of being without Sone Aluko for a month or so if his form and fitness remain. Nigeria will almost certainly come a-calling for the Africa Cup Of Nations, and that will leave us bereft of a very special player up front for as long as his country stays in contention. Jay Simpson is having an excellent season and Aaron Mclean is undoubtedly a powerful and good centre forward, but Aluko is a very different kind of player, our true sparkler up front and without him it would be tough. And yet, of course, there is the consolation of knowing that a fine player earned his call-up for a prestigious tournament due to his activities with Hull City.

3: Why the hell was Corry Evans dropped? He was an unused substitute for Northern Ireland in midweek, so didn’t come back from Belfast tired, injured or traumatised. His performance againstCardiffwas no more mediocre than anyone else, and he was our best player against bothBarnsleyandWolvesbefore that. It was a mystifying decision by Steve Bruce, not least because his replacement, Seyi Olofinjana, was deeply unimpressive against Birmingham.

4: Well played Ben Amos. He’s had some stick lately, not least from these pages, but he played well at Birmingham – the two goals he could do little about – and also made his England under 21s debut in midweek. A good week for him, and we all needed him to have one.

5: Burnley next, then.Their visit to the Circle last seasonproduced one of the unlikeliest and dumbfounding comebacks by an away side most of us will have seen, turning around a two goal deficit in the last 15 minutes to win the game. We haven’t beaten them for a bit, actually; they’ve done the double over us in each of the last three seasons, including in the Premier League, so we owe them one. It’s not quite a hoodoo that ranks alongside Bristol City, Birmingham City or Leeds United – we beat Burnley twice in our 2007/8 promotion season – but it needs nipping in the bud nonetheless.

6: One assumes Cameron Stewart is disallowed from playing against his parent club next week, though judging by his appearance record since going to Turf Moor on loan in August, his prospects are pretty grim there right now irrespective of who the opponent is. He has only started two games, and even a change of manager during that period hasn’t altered his fortunes.

7: There were some interesting figures among the Home Office’s official statistics on arrests and banning orders at football. That arrests are falling across football gained the most headlines, but the stats relating to City are of more concern to us. Last season there were just 14 at City, compared to a divisional average of 25. Only 8 banning orders were issued, taking us up to 55 in total. Remember that next time rugby dweebs start bleating on about how awful we all are or the police implement early kick-offs and charge the club for needlessly excessive deployment. Apropos of the Police, one wonders what, if any difference, the election of a Police & Crime Commissioner makes to the policing of football. At least we know who to grumble to (and vote against) if we’re not happy.

8: Now that City are guaranteed a play-off position until at least next Tuesday, will gates begin to pick up?

9: Great to see Boaz Myhill and Michael Turner playing blinders in the Premier League at the weekend; Myhill making a couple of superb saves as West Bromwich Albion beat Chelsea; Turner defending for his life as Norwich overcame Manchester United. Given that one is essentially a reserve and the other has had a very slow start to life at his new club, it was a brilliant weekend for both of them.

10: Whisper it quietly, but Alex Bruce is beginning to win a lot of people over…

#71 November 12, 2012

1: Boaz Myhill is out of contract in the summer and therefore able to talk to new suitors in January.

2: City were truly wretched for almost all ofthe occasion at Cardiff, with the expected width provided by a wingback system negated by both wingbacks seeming to be unable, or not willing, to provide true width in the final third, while the midfield three got in each other’s way and the three centre backs found themselves horribly overworked.

3: Paul McShane remains our most consistent player. And no longer should this be regarded as an indication of other players’ inconsistency, but as an out-and-out compliment and point of congratulation to our Irish defender.

4: It’s been noted that Hull Kingston Rovers are advertising their season tickets for 2013 on the KC Stadium’s screen during recent City games. While the Robins’ opportunism is laudable, advertising the product of a direct competitor, especially when taking into account our disappointing gates this season, is ill-considered. Rovers should have been politely but firmly told “thanks, but no thanks.”

5: Boaz Myhill is out of contract in the summer and therefore able to talk to new suitors in January.

6: Birmingham City, then. We’ve won three times at St Andrews, and the first two occurred before the outbreak of World War I. Our third and final win there was in 1970 and we’ve not really come close since. We’ve managed to exorcise a couple of demons at alleged ‘bogey grounds’ this season thanks to wins atLeeds(25 years after the last one) andBristol City(47 years) but lost yet again atMiddlesbrough(26 years, soon to be 27). We ought to be able to make it 3-1.

7: Steve Bruce is paid handsomely to manage (worth every penny thus far), and the coming week will be a particularly good test of his management skills. He has to re-shape a side that looked bereft of ideas and – sometimes – interest in the Welsh capital while also assessing the fitness of seven players who are disappearing off today for international duty. Only one of the games involving City players – Northern Ireland v Azerbaijan – is competitive, hence the reason why we still have club matches at the weekend. Whether we get a clean bill of health or – perish the thought – a handful of knocks and strains, he still has an awful lot of thinking to do about how to set up the team in Birmingham.

8: Good to see Robbie Brady back at the club, and he got a warm welcome when coming on as a sub inthe win over Wolves. That boy has returned for a second loan spell with a new, improved mature outlook. The swagger is still there but it’s controlled and channelled much more effectively, for the good of the team, and of course, he still possesses a truly tremendous left foot. Now we can have really high hopes that he can be a sensation for City for the duration of his time with us, though it’s possible we need to revert to a 4-4-2 before we see him at his absolute best.

9: Andy Dawson’s benefit season now has a Twitter account – you can find it and follow ithereand, of course, we would endorse every event and activity designed to celebrate the loyalty and reliability of a magnificent servant to our club. We genuinely don’t get many of these; the last player to manage a decade of unbroken service to City was Steve Wilson, and he wasn’t even given a testimonial.

10: Boaz Myhill is … you know the rest.

And it really isn’t just sentimentality. In fact, it’s easy to say there is little need for sentimentality in our desire to see him return because the other factors bear such a collective weight. He’s just turned 30, and therefore is in absolute goalkeeping prime. He only left the club after seven superb years because of chronic mismanagement under the previous regime which meant that a paltry million for our best custodian since the 1980s had to be accepted. He has never stopped being one of ours; he adores the club and the area and was in tears when he was told he was off. He is only a Premier League reserve; despite playing, and playing well, for West Bromwich Albion at the weekend he was only in there because Ben Foster has a groin injury and the former England goalkeeper will be straight back the moment he is fit. His return to the KC wouldn’t just involve the procurement of a top keeper, but would also be regarded as a massive PR coup for the club, seen to be righting wrongs of a ghastly previous administration. He would be not remotely fazed or superstitious about returning to old haunts, especially as a chap called Dean Windass came back 11 years after leaving and duly scored one goal to save us from relegation and then, a year later, another to take us to the Premier League. He isn’t remotely bothered about money or glamour; his priority has always been the happiness of himself and his family and comfort in his surroundings. And we really need a proper goalkeeper; one that’sours. So strange to look at the unsatisfactory goalkeeping merry-go-round at the KC in the last two and a half years – Mannone, Guzan, Gulacsi, Basso, Amos, Jakupovic, not to mention Mark Oxley – when for seven resourceful, brilliant years it was only ever about the brilliant Myhill and a fine understudy in Matt Duke.

Myhill, in the middle of our goal. We’d dearly love to be singing that song again soon.

#70 November 5, 2012

1: Wasn’t much of a game, that. But good sides having good seasons will always have a good measure of occasions like the weekend’s unambitious1-0 defeat of Barnsley, and we should be happy to come out of it with the three points and now move on.

2: Corry Evans has his critics, something that we’d only just begun to notice, really. Against Barnsley, he was the standout performer, however, with incredible energy, minimal profligacy and some crunching challenges. He was a leader of midfield men and deserves every praise coming his way. Cynics will say that only a midfield trier will emerge when a game is so devoid of quality and activity, but that’s not Evans’ fault. He was picked for a reason and that reason against the Tykes was obvious.

3: Scott Wiseman was indulged by Peter Taylor, who saw plenty of good in the full back who came through our School Of Excellence and eventually became a semi-regular in Taylor’s last few months in charge. He was released within days of Phil Parkinson taking over, and while he obviously hasn’t been missed, it was nice to see him wearing a skipper’s armband in a Championship side and marshalling the Barnsley defence so well. Kudos to him.

4: No kudos to Barnsley, though. They were absolutely dreadful, and should think themselves lucky they caught City on an off day. A popular refrain among Tigerfolk lately is “someone’s going to get a stuffing from City soon”. It really ought to have been Barnsley on Saturday.

5: Wolves, then. Huge club who haven’t pulled up every tree this season after relegation, but are poised relatively well in the top half of the table. They weren’t good at Burnley over the weekend and will come to the Circle on Tuesday night anxious to make amends. This will seriously test City.

6: Sadly, we won’t be seeing one of our Premier League heroes return to the Circle, as Stephen Hunt is recovering from surgery on a long-term hip problem. That’s a shame, as he was a fine player for us in his one abortive season. There are plenty who believe that had Hunt stayed fit all through the 2009/10 season, his presence would have earned us a few extra points and kept us up.

7:The emerging details of the Stephen Quinn transfer are remarkable. £2,000 per game, up to a maximum of fifty games, represents extremely shrewd business by City, and is amusingly awful for Sheffield United fans. Well done to Steve Bruce and the Allams for this canny transfer.

8: The Sheffield Wednesday home game in January was already one to look forward to, but making it a 5.20pm for Sky Sports improves the prospect further. With luck, City will still be in the promotion race, so an opportunity to show off to the nation in what’ll be a hot atmosphere against Yorkshire rivals is very pleasing.

9: Whether Humberside Police were thrilled by that decision is another matter…

10: Well done, Matt Duke. One of the good guys of the game got himself a bit of national glory by saving the shoot-out penalty that put Bradford City in the last eight of the League Cup, far further than City have ever managed. That’s ever. Ever.

#69 October 29, 2012

1. If one can find credit in defeat, it’s for the manager, who said after theloss at Middlesbroughthat he shouldn’t have made the alterations that he did. Steve Bruce is proving to be pretty candid, showing he can ‘fess up when required. And he was quite right to admit his error, as dropping Sone Aluko and Jay Simpson was an eyebrow-raiser, certainly.

2. The abject record at Middlesbrough continues – 26 years since a win there – but at leastthe marathon run of winless games at Bristol City is now over. Bruce remedied his selection errors and the two restored frontmen responded by making and scoring a goal as easy on the eye as any we’ve managed in recent memory.

3. Ben Amos is not displaying his early-season form, however. It’s often only small errors that we’ve seen, but that can be fatal. Had the ball that struck the bar late in the game on Saturday looped in, his unwise dash from his line would have cost us two points, and that’d have been very difficult to take.

4. Making the “imaginary yellow card” gesture is the act of an imbecile. We’d like to think Ahmed Elmohamady will not do such a crass thing ever again. And he was quite rightly booked himself for it.

5. The news that Matt Fryatt will be out for the season is sad, but unsurprising. The news that Joe Dudgeon is out for the season is also sad, but has come rather out of the blue as well. For him, as with Fryatt, we wish a speedy and untroublesome recovery; for City we hope there are plans afoot to find someone comfortable as a left wing back to add to the squad, as it isn’t ideal for either Liam Rosenior or Andy Dawson.

6. We can confirm that smoke bombs have an effect upon your clothing not unlike twelve hours in a smoky pub used to have – the main difference being that they’re a lot more colourful and fun.

7. Two home games in a row for City provide the opportunity to really dig ourselves into the top six. Barnsley is a game that any side with serious promotion aspirations would be disappointed not to win, while Wolves at home need hold no fears.

8. Are we alone in thinking that apart from doing a good job and producing some extremely appealing football, Steve Bruce is reallyenjoyingbeing City manager? Shorn of the insane pressures that riddle the Premier League, he has a lot of freedom to express himself, and let his team express themselves. Certainly, he cuts a jollier figure in interviews than the slightly haunted man we saw at the end of his Sunderland days. If it helps, Mr Bruce, we’re enjoying ourselves – a damn sight more than we probably expected to this season. And really, didn’t football always used to be about enjoyment?

9. The Club are doing a good job of interacting with fans of late, the safe standing discussions, meet the players sessions*, that kind of thing. City’s back office staff are finding the right balance between nauseating chumminess and aloofness, and that isn’t as easy as it sounds to pull off, so when it is done right it should be noted.

10. Having the players wear shirts without ‘Cash Converters’ on is fine by us, even if it is a derivative.

10a Is anyone else slightly nervous about what Proschwitz’s tash will turn out like? Oh, ok.

#68 October 22, 2012

1. There’s something uniquely fabulous about injury time winners, whether you deserve them or not. Some in recent times – Manucho at Fulham or Turner at Burnley – ended even games on a high, whereas Elliott against QPR was the late triumph of good over snivelling, malign southern evil. Ipswich aren’t evil, but their poverty of ambition and relentless timewasting, coupled with a remorseless determination to attack by City, made it not only an important, enjoyable winner, but a wholly deserved one.

2. If you could have picked a player to pinch a late brace, it’d have been Proschwitz. Though we won’t be able to judge its impact for some time, his late matchwinning contribution has the potential to spark his City career into life.

3. We needed it, too. The win elevates City to sixth, which is very nice – but with two away games approaching at grounds where our record isn’t great, the points are very handy and relieve the pressure on us to bring something home. Middlesbrough are a very good side and anything we get there will be useful.

4. Paul McShane. Crikey, what a player.

5. Off the pitch, the club’s media and marketing managerGeorge Hudson told WHCR on Friday nightthat the club is to support the Safe Standing campaign. Though it won’t change anything else just yet – the Circle isn’t suddenly going to sport a terrace – it is still a big victory for the Tiger Nation, who demonstrated in April that they’re100% in favour of its introduction.

6. The key to victory in the campaign for Safe Standing will come when a critical mass of clubs openly support its introduction. Aston Villa are the most high-profile advocates so far, while the SPL has also come out in favour. The case in favour is simply incontestable, and it’s only a matter of time – City adding their name to the cause at this early stage is welcome, and we hope they’ll be privately lobbying the powers-that-be.

7. Apropos of Mr Hudson, he impressed us on Friday night, and seems likely to be taking on a more public profile at the club. Since Adam Pearson first stepped down from the club, a major concern is the club’s lines of communications with the supporters. The disbanding of the FLC under Paul Duffen was a regrettable occurrence, while the loss of a Fans’ Liaison Officer compounded the problem. The club does at least seem aware of the problem; lets see how they solve it.

8. A crowd just short of sixteen thousand on Saturday was the highest of the season so far. Was that due to its Category C status and subsequently lower ticket prices, or is Steve Bruce’s brand of exciting, attacking football persuading the waverers to return?

9. Maybe it was just us that felt this, but we were just a little aglow with pride when the Republic of Ireland went two up against the Faroe Islands in midweek thanks to goals from two former Hull City players, even though both players – Jon Walters and Keith Andrews – didn’t exactly pull up trees during their spells with the Tigers.

10. Nice touch that the club asked the supporters on Twitter in midweek what kit combo(s) the players should sport when at Middlesbrough and Bristol City for the next two away games. The answers were varied and the club will clearly have the last say, but at least opinion was gauged. That was smart, City.

#67 October 8, 2012

1. The victory over Sheffield Wednesday was extremely welcome. It was perhaps a win that called to mind the Pearson reign – and that’s not meant unkindly. Grinding out 1-0 away wins with important players missing is exactly what our promotion rivals will spend the season doing, so it’s important City also possess that ability.

2. With ten games now gone and an international break looming, it’s a reasonable time in which to take stock of our present situation. 10th, a point behind 6th: good. Scoring lots: good. Conceding lots: um, less good, but remediable. Style of play: some of the best we’ve ever seen.

3. How good has Paul McShane been in the last two games? There must have been some anxiety among the Tiger Nation when he stepped into the side, but he’s been immaculate. With his flowing ginger locks, alice band and capacity for gloriously unorthodox play, there’s real cult hero potential there if he’d just get a longer run in the side.

4. It was good to see one of last season’s best players, Paul McKenna, in the side on Saturday. Steve Bruce initially didn’t seem keen on him, and his idiotic dismissal at Doncaster will hardly have helped, but it’s interesting to see that he was favoured on Saturday ahead of Corry Evans. As usual, he didn’t let us down.

5. The prospect of Andy Dawson playing as a wing back in a 3-5-2 is unrealistic and a bit gruesome, but our defence still seems a better thing for his presence when it’s flat and made up of four. His first appearance in the Championship this season emphasised how much his gravitas, experience and ability can prove useful in what will almost certainly be his last campaign with the club.

6. The news that Matt Fryatt is likely to miss the whole season with his ever-worsening Achilles issue is awful and we wish him well, of course. Fryatt is our most natural out-and-out finisher since Stuart Elliott, and he’ll be missed. But doors open as well as close, and it was good to see Aaron Mclean take his chance for his own sake and the team’s when he sauntered on at Hillsborough and promptly won us the match.

7. City remain firmly under the radar, as ever. There’s little prospect of that immediately changing, with games against Ipswich and Middlesbrough unlikely to stir the media’s interest. We’re on the television soon, which could let the country into our little secret – however it’s at Bristol City, where City haven’t won in aeons.

8. Where did those scrotes who kicked off at Sheffield on Saturday come from? They’re clearly not regular City fans as we hardly ever see them – but why Saturday? And, lads, if you want to be hard and have a fight, the Army is recruiting, y’know.

9. We’ve not heard much from the Allams lately, have we? We maintain that they’re at the best when operating quietly and unfussily in the background.

10. The news that Jimmy Bullard has retired from professional football to spend more time with his money will have surprised no-one here, though the national view of “awww, what a shame” reflects the success this greedy wastrel has had in persuading others of the authenticity of his football-loving cheeky chappie routine. That’s nothing something anyone in East Yorkshire has believed for a long time. The game is better without his tawdry ilk.

#66 October 1, 2012

1: Peterborough deserved their win and City did look somewhat disjointed and shellshocked, but the whole thing was evidently a freak and there’s no need to panic.

2: Such panic has manifested itself in calls to change formation. Granted, leaking eight goals in three games is a major worry – but City look like scoring every time they have the ball. Would it really be progress to ditch a formation that’s brought goals, victories and some thrilling football at the first sign of trouble? Of course not.

3: Then again, defeat against Blackpool tomorrow night would be a concern, particularly if it’s accompanied by another porous defensive showing. We’d understand completely if Steve Bruce opted to retain the 3-5-2 shape, but instructed his wing-backs to be a little more circ*mspect and offer more defensive assistance. Blackpool are an excellent side in great form, and there’s nothing at all wrong with adjusting your plans a little.

4: It has the potential to be a great game. Both sides will be attacking from the outset, and any winner of the game will really fancy their chances of a serious assault on the top two.

5: When do we start to become just a little worried about the prospects of our £2.6m signing from Germany?

6: That the manager will not face further punishment from the authorities over his bonkers tirade at the officials over a dodgy throw-in at Leicester is down to a mixture of common sense and Steve Bruce’s own contrition afterwards.

7: The news that Bruce wants to get James Chester tied to a new long-term deal is excellent. Chester’s talent is obvious and reputation growing, and it’d be nice to think that he will either be ours for a good few years to come yet or, at the very least, he will go on to bigger things in return for a substantial amount of money.

8: Another home game, another lengthy queue outside the East Stand before kick-off – and this with ten thousand empty seats. The club’s pie-and-a-pint offer before 2.30pm wasn’t a terrible idea, but really, what is the incentive to get into a ground thirty minutes before kick-off? Adam Pearson once remarked that City fans are notoriously late arrivers, and that’s something the club isn’t going to change over night.

9: Similarly, the two-games-for-forty-quid isn’t an awful move, but it made precious little difference, because the offer just didn’t go far enough. We appreciate that the club is trying, but you need to try a bit harder, City.

10: Remarkable the number of traffic wardens suddenly available for weekend duty as soon as all the official club car parks are shut for seven days, isn’t it?

#65 September 25, 2012

1: City were stupendous at Leeds and, given that we’ve done Wembley and the top division, the game probably represents the last realistic ambition of any supporter with a modern day ‘bucket list’ to be achieved, given that we had to go back 25 years to the month for our only other post-war success at Elland Road.

2: Even in victory, there is every reason to respect and admire the principles of those who chose not to give that odious, nasty Ken Bates 34 hard-earned quid and stay at home. The percentage of those who made such a decision that now regret doing so is, we reckon, somewhere around the 100 mark…

3: As for Leicester, it was no disgrace losing there, but City weren’t very good while also being entirely out-thought. Many supporters choose to scorn Nigel Pearson’s footballing ethos, and while we’ve been a lot more entertaining and productive since he left the Circle, yesterday’s game proves that his careful negativity has both its place and its use.

4: Someone claimed that the Steve Bruce completely losing his rag over the decision to award Leicester a meagre throw-in at Leicester proved “that he’s a winner”. Laudable a viewpoint though it is, we’d be more inclined to think it proved he was a bit daft. And his comments afterwards suggest he agrees.

5: Bruce did the right thing, however, in offering a profuse apology and no excuses at all for his tirade at the officials. He’ll still get a touchline ban, probably, but it’s now likely to be a shorter one thanks to his post-match words.

6: Irrespective of the result and display at Leicester, the Tigers will be pleased that a pointless and guileless Peterborough United are the visitors to the KC this weekend. The mantra of ‘typical City’ will be on the cynical, experienced supporters’ collective minds during pre-match ale time on Saturday as we contemplate the Posh breaking their duck with some form of reward from the game, but it really shouldn’t happen.

7: There’s also no need to change the formation, even though Pearson completely rubbished City’s system at the weekend. One setback isn’t going to nullify the impact of three superb wins with a 3-5-2 that yielded ten goals, and it needs to be pursued.

8: What, we wonder, is going to happen of Nick Proschwitz? He looked a reasonable handful when City were playing a more direct game in the closing minute, but his career in England hasn’t got off to a great start. With no more League Cup games to play, when will his next start be? Simpson and Aluko are undroppable at present, and with Aaron Mclean also sitting it out, we can certainly say that City have options in attack – but how long do you keep a £2.6m signing on the bench?

9: City’s discounted ticket offer for the upcoming pair of home games is a laudable step in the direction, but there are two main problems with it. Firstly, £20.80 is still just too expensive for a Championship game, especially when you need to buy two of them. The country’s skint, Fair’s approaching and Christmas is making ominous jingly noises in the distance – forking out £41.60 for two games is simply too much. And second…why on earth not just make it a round £20 a game? Is that 80p really so important? Fair enough, it’s a start and City are at least trying – but making it a round £20 for every game left this season, and making that available for individual games is a better idea. But have something ready for those season ticket holders whose immediate reaction is “well, what about ME?”…

10: A former Hull City player nearly wonMastercheflast week. But as it was Danny Mills, we’re glad he didn’t.

#64 September 17, 2012

1. How good was that first half againstMillwall? City were organised, polished, incisive, creative, ruthless … the list of congratulatory adjectives could go on and on.

2. Many a wizened City sage worried about dour, unprogressive football under Steve Bruce when he was appointed, and a few claimed their concerns were justified when he quickly adapted the system to include three centre backs. How wrong they, we, were, and how nice to be able to admit it.

3. Millwall were, of course, beyond all definitions of rubbish. But that has a negligible bearing on the performance or result, so good were the Tigers.

4. Among the many moments to treasure, that of James Chester dummying into space and sending a perfect cross with his left foot is perhaps the most stunning. Had that been done by a Premier League winger we’d have drooled over its vision and execution. For a Championship centre-back to have done it is incredible (and further proof that the Championship is surely only a temporary home for young Chester).

5. Meanwhile, Humberside Police have again made a wedge of cash out of the club for doing very little except placingits usual scare story into the local pressabout the potential for trouble, based on onefixture that occurred four seasons agowhen City were in the Premier League and Millwall were two divisions below. The number of away fans that bothered to travel was pathetic; but more pathetic was that the police knew (via ‘intelligence’, naturally) that this was going to be the case (while the rest of us could point to lack of ticket sales and last season’s similarly sparse turnout from south east London – easy really) and yet still chose to cast the game as one bubbling with a troublesome undercurrent, purely in an exercise of self-importance and self-justification. That was considerably more pathetic than the away following.

6. Now then, Leeds. We won there in 1987-88 but have had no maximum haul from Elland Road since, and tooka bit of a seeing-to there last season. Nothing is certain – this is City, remember – but it’s doubtful we’ve gone into a game at Leeds in as good a shape as this for some time. If these players can show even a fraction of the form they displayed against Millwall, we could be in for one of our best nights in years.

7. Will we sell our allocation for Leeds, however? £34 is a despicable price to levy and no-one could be blamed for refusing to pay it.

8. This has the potential be an epically entertaining week. Nigel Pearson is already under pressure after Leicester’s mediocre start to the season, and if they fail against Burnley on Wednesday, how would their notoriously rash owners and notably impatient supporters react to a defeat against City? It’s been a little while since we prompted a managerial sacking…

9. Being realistic, emerging from those two games with a few points would be a very useful outcome. City’s foul record at Leeds and Leicester’s possession of a very good side (and manager) means we ought to refrain from excessive expectations just yet. And we have a home match with Peterborough to look forward to after them, which you’d fancy will turn out quite well for the Tigers.

10. Apropos of the Peterborough game, this is one the club really ought to be targeting to attract absent supporters back. Kids for a quid, two-for-one ticket offers, sending freebies to local schools – whatever it takes really. Peterborough won’t bring many, while those put off by the steepling cost will need more convincing to part with £26 than two excellent performances. It’d be a real shame to have 10,000 empty seats yet again. The club must be proactive about filling them.

#63 September 10, 2012

1. Andy Davidson,the anniversary of whose debut we celebrated over the weekend, made 520 League appearances for City. That’s a truly remarkable feat, and it’s a record that’ll probably survive every one of us.

2. Footballers can still have lengthy one-club careers, of course. The redoubtable Ryan Giggs is an excellent example. However, for the likes of City, who tend to bobble about the divisions, for one player to remain here for the 12+ years necessary to accumulate that many appearances seems inconceivable.

3. Take James Chester, who we’d all like to break that record. If City went down, he’d obviously be off. If City went up, he’d stay; unless he did well, in which case a bigger club would take him off us. If we went up and then back down, ditto. And if we stay in the Championship, someone in the top flight will eventually take a chance. And even if the peaks and troughs of City’s next decade roughly parallel James Chester’s development, there’ll always be agents agitating for transfers and their own cut of such deals.

4. As if to reinforce the point, none of the top ten appearance-makers for City have played for some time. Garreth Roberts, whose time at the club ended 21 years ago, is the most recent.

5. Stan Ternent, eh. Who saw that coming? There’s doubtless a range of views on his ill-starred time at City between 1989-1991, which we’ll leave to one side for now. He’s the second ex-City manager from the receding past to return in our Circle incarnation, following Brian Horton’srecent stint. Ternent’s successor was Terry Dolan…

6. Apropos of Terry D, Saturday also marked 11 years to the day that City gubbed his York 4-0 at Boothferry Park, to the general amusem*nt of all. There were four different scorers on that warm autumn afternoon, all long since departed. Who, without looking, can name them all?

7. Was it a good thing that we had a weekend off to continue basking in the happiness engendered by theBoltongame, or a pity not to be able to capitalise upon it? Even though the football under Messrs Pearson and Barmby was generally very good and the results perfectly serviceable, there remains something indefinably encouraging about what we saw nine days ago. It’s therefore maybe a shame City didn’t have the opportunity to build upon that superb display.

8. Millwall at home would have been the ideal fixture, too. A club unlikely to feature in the upper reaches of the table, negligible away support to bolster them – we’d have taken them. Right?

9. Beyond determining whether last weekend was the shape of things to come or merely an exhilarating one-off, it’ll also be interesting to see the crowd. Not sinceJanuary 2008have we seen so few at the Circle for a League game. Whatever the rights or (more pertinently) the wrongs of the pricing, it’s a real shame to see ten thousand empty seats. Must it really be like this?

10. Fraizer Campbell to City? That’s unlikely, for a variety of reasons – but he’d absolutely destroy the Championship. Yes please.

#62 September 3, 2012

1. What a delightthe Tigers were on Saturday. The same pleasing brand of football last season was evident, but there was greater steel and purpose to it. One game doesn’t make a season, but it can certainly alter the mood. City’s fizzing display against Bolton has definitely done that.

2. It’s always a nice bonus to win the game before an international break too. City now have two weeks to enjoy the memories of an extremely impressive victory, and you’d imagine the camp is a happy one as a consequence.

3. 5-3-2, then. It’s not something fans tend to clamour for, but whether by accident or design Steve Bruce has probably got the personnel for it. Elmohamady was outstanding on the wing, tracking back impressively to help out, while Dudgeon evidently enjoys the freedom to go up. It also means Koren needn’t be pushed out wide, where his talents are slightly wasted. Saturday’s towering display means we’ll probably see this formation a lot more in the coming weeks and month, and if it can yield performances and victories like that, 5-3-2 will do us very nicely.

4. What now for Liam Rosenior and Andy Dawson? Two ever-presents in 2012 until yesterday, they don’t look suited for a 5-3-2. That’s hard on both, who were excellent last season – however, promotion pushes occasionally need ruthless decisions making. Steve Bruce looks like he’s capable of making such calls, as Nick Proschwitz also found out on Saturday.

5. Suddenly, City seem to have a real squad. Look at the subs’ bench two days ago – most of those would get into most clubs’ starting elevens every week. When you can bring on someone like Corry Evans, you know we’re equipped for a long hard winter.

6. One more player to enthuse over: Ben Amos. He’s decisive, and not afraid to punch the ball if he feels it the best option. Far better to punch it thirty yards clear and give your defence the chance to set itself again than attempt an awkward catch that drops at a forward’s feet.

7. The gate may have been another low one on Saturday, but the City fans played their part too. When Bolton took an undeserved lead the response in the stands was impressive. Positivity and noise abounded – maybe a recognition that City were playing well and needed encouragement rather than scorn, but it’s not often the perma-subdued Circle crowd can be said to have made a real difference to a game.

8. The decision to let Cameron Stewart go on loan to Burnley seems a fair one. If 5-3-2 is City’s intended formation for the time being, it’s hard to see how he fits into the side. A few starts in Lancashire and a change of scenery may be just what he needs. It’s a big few months for the player. He’s got huge potential, but he needs to begin really applying it, lest he become just another ex-Man Utd starlet who sank into the lower leagues.

9. Why is it taking so long to get in with the new season card system? Is it really a lengthier process to place a piece of plastic underneath a scanner than to tear a piece of paper from a booklet? It’s baffling.

10. Referees will always be inconsistent, and complaining about that very human failing is a total waste of time. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see Mr Steve Rushton sending off Barnsley’s Bobby Hassell for a two-footed challenge yesterday. He got that decision completely correct. A pity he missed amore obvious onefour days earlier.

#61 August 27, 2012

1: The optimist thinks it’s only a matter of time before City click and someone gets a good paggering. The pessimistic looks at the League table and notes one goal from three, a troubling statistic whatever the mitigating factors may be.

2: City sure looked menacing in all black at Charlton, they just need to actually be menacing.

3: Paul Robinson applauded the City fans before and after the match at Blackburn in midweek. This action has always appeared to divide opinion; some say he’s an East Yorkshire boy showing empathy and respect for the people he grew up with, others claim he’s trying to curry favour now that we have a bit more of a profile, having previously shown little regard for area or club in his formative years when electing to go to Leeds United. And there are one or two of us who don’t especially care either way.

4: Doncaster next in the League Cup. They really do deserve a serious spanking, six of the best with trousers down. The reality of the situation, however, is that we must fear a half-arsed second XI wandering out at the Keepmoat, losing 1-0 while trying not to dirty their knees, and then seeing the South Yorkshire runts get Manchester United away in the next round. This is City, remember.

5: Talking of Doncaster, there have been strong rumours of a possible deal to take Paul McKenna there. One assumes he is aware that he is way too good for them, and for League One as a whole, and while he is in the team and Steve Bruce’s overall plans for the season, there is no good reason for either player or club to agree to the move.

6: Bolton Wanderers at the KC this weekend is, by contrast to that ghastly League Cup assignment, a really mouthwatering prospect. We always have eventful games against them that produce once-in-a-lifetime moments –pitch invasions,tennis ball protests,ridiculous goalkeeping performances,survival in the Premier League,comebacks in snow from two down;one of these games even produced a goal by Kamel Ghilas, proving how bonkers the fixture is. The latest incarnation of Bolton is a bit of a sorry one and their manager Owen Coyle, as amiable as he is, might be on the bones of his backside if he doesn’t get something on Saturday. Good prospects for City.

7: Maybe it’s true that Sunderland want to shift out Fraizer Campbell and Wolves are happy to offload Stephen Hunt, and maybe it would be dreamy to bring back two massively important players in our recent history, but excitable discourse about the possibility of their returns to the KC really is futile. Neither of them are coming back. They’re just not.

8: There may not be many City fans familiar with the name of Phil Hough, who was club secretary until recently, but the man was well known and hugely respected within the game. The administration of the club ran like clockwork while he was here, and as soon as he was gone, replaced by some accountancy wonk from Allam Marine, arose a situation where international clearance was late in being granted, with a player only being declared eligible to play at the eleventh hour. Would the delay have happened had Hough still been around? Highly unlikely.

9: Hough is just the latest name on a long list of tenured staff who have departed the club since the Allams took over. The continuing brain drain is alarming, there are very few people left with experience of running a football club properly. Will that cause problems down the line? We’ll see.

10: We’ve no idea who he is, but welcome to Hull City Glen Boyd.

#60 August 20, 2012

1. City will certainly play better this season than againstBrighton on Saturday, who can count themselves unfortunate to lose. However, a tight division will produce plenty of tight games, and nicking them 1-0 is the sort of thing we’ll need to see a lot of this season.

2. The defence seemed no poorer for Abdoulaye Faye replacing Jack Hobbs or Joe Dudgeon filling in for Andy Dawson. You’d expect Steve Bruce to know a few things about defending, and if we can be as stingy as last season we’ll have a chance of being involved in the top six come April.

3. You can count on one hand the number of Tigers players in recent history who would have noticed, let alone played so superbly, the ball that Robert Koren picked out in order to send Joe Dudgeon away and set up the goal. We’re really blessed, and should also feel relieved, that the gifted Slovene is ours for the long term once more.

4. The attendance on Saturday is a bit of a worry. It’s been four and a half years since so few filed into the Circle for a League game. The ongoing economic malaise, the price, the hot weather, the national post-Olympics downer on football – pick your preferred reason(s), but it’s a great pity to see 10,000 empty seats.

5. The club justified price rises by saying that the drop in sales was negated by those inflated costs. Fine, it’s nice to know the club isn’t suffering financially, but when huge swathes of people are being priced out of second-tier football, something somewhere isn’t quite right.

6. What a grimly awful drawDoncasteris in the second round of the League Cup. Why does this competition hate us so?

7. The large queues for the East Stand were more down to bad advice from the stewards outside the turnstiles than any delay caused by the new barcode system for season passes. The supporters joining the queue from the footbridge and south side of the stadium should have been told by the stewards that there were two more lines of people forming on the other side of that cluster of E1 turnstiles, and those waiting there – ie, those accessing the area from the north – got in a lot more quickly. And the process of getting in wasn’t actually any slower than the rip ‘n’ nip system of old-style season tickets anyway.

8. Not a good start for Michael Turner as a Norwich City player, was it? Part of a defence that struggled all afternoon with the offside trap, and then he made a howler that prompted him to give away a rash penalty as he tried to make amends. We remember him scoring a terrific late, late,lateequaliser at Norwich for the Tigers once. Given that our current manager was the one who took our finest ever defender from us, we are happy to plant an idea in his head just in case Turner doesn’t settle in East Anglia…

9. Blackburn will be an interesting test.Steve Bruce may think City are no longer under the radar, but we respectfully disagree with the new boss. We remain unfashionable and unfancied, and that (together with three points already secured) means there’s no pressure on us to get anything at Ewood Park. Any result there would be very nice.

10. We really want Nick Proschwitz to do well, and he needs time to adjust to the English game, but he looked out of his depth against Brighton and his substitution was a mercy. He was more Der Microlight than Der Bomber. That seemingly over-the-odds transfer fee will be a millstone for him, the manager and the owners if he doesn’t show vast improvement and all Tiger Nationals will hope that he does.

10a. Sone Aluko though eh? That was a wonderful league debut.

#59 August 13, 2012

1. It’s difficult to know what, if anything, we should take fromSaturday’s game against Rotherham. The unsurprisingly giddy away support excepted, it felt a little like a pre-season game – and of course, we know not to take anything from those.

2. However, if we are divining anything from a League Cup tie, a few things did stand out. One is that Cameron Stewart looked a lot sparkier than he did towards the end of last season. Sure, a few of his tricks didn’t come off and the final ball wasn’t always executed, but he was back to trying things and worrying opponents. More, please. And let’s cut him some slack while he gets his game back together, please?

3. Matt Fryatt also looked very lively. He’s not a player who tends to shine in pre-season and he didn’t start last season terribly well, but he appeared sharp and hungry. Given his comments in the media about being unhappy as a lone forward in 2011/12, is it possible that he’s quite pleased at a change of manager and formation?

4. Also impressing was Joe Dudgeon. He reacted to his replacement in the first-choice eleven by Andy Dawson in a commendably low-key way, but will surely fancy usurping him this time around. Steve Bruce arrives with no prejudices and favourites, so Dudgeon may just have a chance of overtaking a City legend in the pecking order.

5. Nick Proschwitz looked a little bit by-passed by the game – but his penalty was easily the best in a general high standard shoot-out.

6. Had City bothered practicing penalties, we wonder? They were extremely good. A result of pre-match practice, or just the consequence of a low-pressure shoot-out?

7. Though most of those in a miniscule crowd seemed largely indifferent to the final outcome, we can only suppose it was good for Steve Bruce’s first outing as City manager to not end in failure against a Fourth Division side. By selecting a strong XI he’d done his bit.

8. Steve Evans is a thoroughly dislikeable individual. It appears he’s adding to this charge sheet too – already a noted tax cheat, he appears to be wholly delusional. Rotherham competed gamely and we may not see a better goal than theirs all season, but the suggestion that they dominated the play is either a transparent attempt at encouraging his own players (in which case, fair enough) or hints at epic idiocy.

9. No less witless were the Rotherham fans. Did we use to whinny at referees with quite the same febrile stupidity when we drew a club from the higher reaches in the cups? Let’s hope not, because they were frankly embarrassing.

10. Massive congratulations to Luke Campbell on winning an Olympic gold medal. Hull is proud of you.

#58 August 6, 2012

1. It’s only pre-season, results don’t matter. Repeat as necessary.

2. The most important part of the pre-season is taking place off the pitch – the attempts by City to retain the services of Robert Koren. The club’s willingness to improve and extend his contract is admirable, as he’s a Premier League quality player we cannot hope to replace and losing him to another Championship side would be a huge blow. Equally, City being reluctant to give long contracts to players in their 30s is also understandable. We can only hope a deal is struck.

3. Less heartening is the rumour that surfaced last night about interest from Aston Villa in James Chester. Realistically, we can’t hope to stop such a move if they really are set upon acquiring his services. Our only hope would be that Chester wouldn’t be convinced that he’d be getting enough first-team action there; that Steve Bruce proves extremely persuasive…or that the Allams resolve to screw every penny out of potential suitors. It’d be great to see him line up for City on August 18th, but the club’s high command ought to be preparing for all eventualities.

4. The brave new world of season cards is upon us. It’s all very shiny and modern, and doubtless there’ll be some who complain about them. We may strategically forego the final pre-match pint for the visit of Brighton – just in case….

5. Anthony Gerrard to Leicester sounds like a solid bit of business. We’d rather have him than Alex Bruce, but City don’t have anything approaching the resources available to Nigel Pearson. A useful reminder of what we’re up against this season.

6. Not being keen observers of the Cumbrian non-league scene, we were startled to discover thatStuart Green is the new manager of Workington Amateurs. They currently play in Northern League Division Two, the tenth tier of English football – three below North Ferriby, to place it into context. How on earth has Stuart Green, a player of evident talent, ended up managing there at the age of just 31? His attitude always left a lot to be desired and his petulant sulk to Carlisle while a City player in 2003 meant he was impossible to respect – there’s nothing left now but to reflect upon a talent horribly wasted.

7. He’s certainly no Ben Burgess. It was sad to hear of his awfully premature retirement during the week. Do footballers ever get to hear about how they’re thought of at former clubs, we wonder? If so, it’d be nice to think that Burgess’ shattering news could be even fractionally offset by him knowinghow well he’ll always be regarded here.

8. The success of the British Olympians raises some interesting questions about how footballers are perceived in this country. Contrast some of the Premier League’s more notable ne’er-do-wells with Mo Farah and the rest of our Gold winners, and suddenly the national sport looks pretty sickly. Of course, most footballers are probably decent guys (for every John Terry there’ll be two Richard Garcias), but there’s a serious image problem that London 2012 is only exacerbating. We hope some of football’s more thoughtful voices are noting this.

9. That said, football remains secure as the country’s favoured sport. There was much excitable talk about what’d happen after England won the rugby world cup in 2003 or the Ashes in 2005, and neither laid a glove on football in terms of popularity. If they can’t, what hope for athletics, rowing, cycling et al? Nonetheless, anything that delivers a jolt to football’s bloated, arrogant nature can only be a good thing, even if it’s perhaps wishful thinking to suppose it’ll suddenly become noticeably more humble and sporting.

10. Nothing to do with City, but congratulations to Hull’s very own Luke Campbell for winning an Olympic medal in the boxing.

#57 July 16, 2012

1. We should all know better than to judge a prospective signing from bare statistics and the inevitably flattering YouTube video – but nonetheless, we can’t help thinking that Nick Proschwitz could be one heck of a signing for City. Nothing is ever guaranteed when signing a new player, but it’s not hard to see why Steve Bruce is keen. Let’s hope the player opts for City.

2. It’s also encouraging to see that the Allams are keen to dig deep to bring playes to the club. They’ve had a lot of criticism during the summer, mostly warranted, but as owners they reassure us a lot more when they keep quiet and go about their business rather than making silly proclamations.

3. So, it all begins again tonight, with the annual Billy Bly Trophy match with neighbours North Ferriby United. This is a great fixture – but why can’t it be on a Saturday? North Ferriby would be virtually assured a sell-out, the village’s hostelries would presumably benefit, so why the recent move to midweek evenings? A pity.

4. Something we’ve heard very little about recently are potential transfers away from City. Has the Allam family’s constant refusal to even contemplate our stars sunk in to rest of the footballing world – especially the bit in Leicester? It’s too early to know for sure, but we’re only a month from the season starting and we’ve kept hold of everyone so far. With a crop of youngsters as talented as City’s, that’s every bit as important as who is recruited.

5. Though it’s a consequence of insane contracts agreed to years ago by long-departed individuals rather than anything to do with City, it’s still necessary to note that the club’s redesigned official website isn’t terribly good.

6. It’s now possible to part with £552 for a City season ticket. Granted, you’d have to wait until August 9th, and choose the West Stand, but that’s an eye-watering sum of money.

7. It’s unlikely that anyone reading was present at Brighouse Town v FC Halifax Town on Saturday – but if you were, you’ll have recognised the, um, solidly-built fellow appearing in goal for Halifax in the second half: Matt Glennon, formerly of this parish. Shall we charitably assume that the picture of himhereis merely the victim of unfortunate distortion rather than evidence that he’s continued living the good life since leaving City?

8. Alex Bruce, son of Steve, is training with City. With the best will in the world, let’s hope that’s all it is. Even though City could do with a decent centre-back during Jack Hobbs’ on-going absence, his time at Leeds didn’t suggest he’s up to scratch for the Tigers.

9. Isthis graffitireal? If so, where is it?

10. Wouldn’t it be ace if the shirt of Eldin Jakupović had an acute accent diacritic over the C? Oh, just us then.

#56 July 9, 2012

1. The club announced new matchday prices for next season on Friday evening. They make for unattractive reading. Categorising games is somewhat irksome, having three categories is a bit unecessary and not stating which games fall into which pricing level is annoying. Category A games will now cost a minimum of £27, and up to £30. City are far from being the division’s worst offenders, but £30 for a single game of second division football is frankly ludicrous.

2. It’s excellent to see Andy Dawson earning a tenth year at City. There’s much in the modern game to grumble about, but Andy Dawson is everything that’s good in the sport.

3. It maybe doesn’t mean much, but since the appointment of Steve Bruce, City’s title odds have shortened appreciably.

4. Guzan, Mannone,Gulácsi and now Amos. City haven’t had an established ‘keeper of their own since Matt Duke departed, relying instead on loan signings to go in nets. Steve Bruce’s old boss Alex Ferguson, who has lent us Ben Amos, knows the importance of having a firmly entrenched number 1, Schmeichel and Van Der Sar were lynchpins of his Champions League winning sides. For City, settling on Bo Myhill was a key factor in achieving a long awaited promotion from the basem*nt division and he was a fixture in two further promotions in his 7 years as a Tiger. It would be nice to have a ‘keeper that is a full Club employee and cannot be recalled.

5. Though that might just beEldonJakupović, the Swiss netman who was on trial with Nick Barmby’s Tigers last season and who’s been flirting with Ipswich Town. Scuttlebut is Steve Bruce is interested too.

6. Moving the Bristol City away game to 5.20pm at the behest of Sky is a little annoying. Nice for those not planning to attend of course, but it makes returning to Hull on the train impossible. Furthermore, City’s astonishingly awful record at Ashton Gate means the watching nation needn’t expect an away win.

7. At least Sky Sports appear to recognise our existence, however…

8. It was reassuring to read Cameron Stewart say he’s happy at the club and also acknowledge his poor form as he recovered from injury. The lad had a risible 2011/12 and will hope, as do all Tiger Nationals, that he can recover the form he showed after joining City.

9. The £1.7M City spent on Kamel Ghilas represents some of the worst business ever done by the Club, and City have done some shoddy business over the years. His permanent departure is good news for all concerned though curiously the Club are yet to acknowledge the move. Maybe they’d prefer to pretend the whole thing never happened, which is understandable.

10. Stop teasing us City and release the away shirt. We’re informed that the all black kit is very sexy, Aaron McLean tweeted that it is “ledge”, which is presumably a good thing and not shelf related.

#55 June 25, 2012

1. City’s pre-season fixtures are a deeply uninspiring bunch, far removed from the recent excitement of jaunts to Portugal, China and Belgium. Doubtless the club would argue that it’s more important that they provide a useful preparation for the new season though, and from that perspective a brace of games against friendly local non-league sides before a clutch of matches at sides in the third to fifth tiers seems about right.

2. It’s hard to imagine too many City fans bothering with them, however. Hartlepool, Doncaster and Rochdale were done to death during City’s grim ordeal in the bottom division, while a Friday night in Grimsby is hardly unmissable. As fans, it’s hard not to wish for a pre-season tour somewhere we’ve never been before.

3. Moving City’s League Cup game against Rotherham to Saturday 11th August is a wise move. Playing it a week before the season begins properly means Steve Bruce is more likely to field our strongest XI, which ought to avoid embarrassment against a Fourth Division club, while giving the club a chance of a five-figure gate.

4. Many have wondered whether Andy Dawson’s long and distinguished career at City was coming to an end, both when he lost his place to Joe Dudgeon and when the contract extension promised by Nick Barmby was shelved upon the latter’s dismissal. It’s therefore great news to see such a hugely capable and respected character likely to achieve a full ten years at the Tigers. Already, a testimonial against Tottenham next summer has mooted. We can think of no better tribute to one of the most decorated players in our long history.

5. Emile Heskey to City? Yes please. It’s always difficult to know exactly how a player will do in the autumn of his career at a new club though – he could be unfit, disinterested and so on, or he could have one final burst of form. A strong, fit, motivated Heskey could tear the Championship apart, so it’s well worth a try.

6. The only possible reservation about Heskey – assuming he’s on an affordable wage – is the impact it’d have upon our style of play. City played a very watchable brand of football last season, but the insertion of a big striker can all too often lead to hopeful punts upfield instead of a more precice approach through the midfield. Steve Bruce’s football has tended towards pragmatic middle-ground stuff – neither Barcelonaesque tiqui-taca nor Beck-era Lincoln – so maybe we shouldn’t worry too much about City lurching towards long-ball dross on a regular basis, and maybe a plan B is something we’d missed last season.

7. During his introduction to the media, Steve Bruce cited the club’s pressing need for a new keeper. Brad Guzan’s name has cropped up and we could do much worse – however, during his time at the club he looked a less promising prospect than Vito Mannone. Blowing a large chunk of your summer budget on one player isn’t ideal, but City cannot hope to prosper without a good goalkeeper and it may be that matching Arsenal’s valuation is our best option.

8. It’s hard to have much of a view on the prospect of Paul Anderson perhaps returning to City – he seems a player with considerable talent who’s yet to fully deliver upon that potential, which hardly makes him unique among 23 year olds in the Championship. File under “worth a punt, but don’t pay too much”.

9. What it does do is bring to mind the sad waste of talent that was John Welsh. He’ll be lining up in the third tier for Preston next season, a level of football far below where he could have been. When the then England Under-21 international signed for City as a makeweight in the deal that took Paul Anderson to Liverpool, we were greatly excited about it. Sadly he didn’t come close to building upon that early promise and never recovered from breaking his leg in 2007. He’s 28 now, and while regular football in the Third Division isn’t a disgrace, he could have done so much more.

10. We’ve seen no mention anywhere of figures for season ticket sales, not even rumours on the internet. That presumably doesn’t bode well.

#54 June 19, 2012

1. As we must play everyone home and away, it matters only at the margins how the fixtures are arranged. However, they do seem quite helpful for City. Starting and finishing at home is always nice, and though the first four fixtures look difficult we may be able to catch sides new to the division a little cold. Even the run-in doesn’t look unduly onerous.

2. They’re quite fan-friendly too. The restoration of Yorkshire derbies on Saturday is extremely welcome, though will be spoiled slightly if the police force an early kick-off to the Leeds game at the Circle. While the masoch*st may enjoy long Tuesday treks to the other side of the country, Palace away on a night in March is as bad as it gets, while a home match on Boxing Day is always good, and it being Nigel Pearson’s Leicester is certain to add to the occasion.

3. Assuming the bunch of mentals who run Leicester haven’t sacked him by then, of course. Rumours continue to surface about him wanting to take City’s better players south. It’s to the club’s credit that this isn’t being entertained in the slightest, and we can only hope this resolute stance continues.

4. The Koren-to-Reading rumour is of concern however. He’s 31 and with more years behind him than ahead as a player – if a (probably) final chance to play in the Premier League arrived it’d be difficult to stand in his way, even if he is virtually impossible to replace.

5. Anybody that was irked over the Steve Bruce appointment press conference not being shown live on TV will understand why if they watch theHull Daily Mail’s videoof the event. The first four minutes are excruciating as Allam Snr. bumbles his way through an introduction, largely ignoring his notes. Not everyone is a great orator, and our owners will be judged on actions not press conferences, so the club is right not to have live broadcasts if Assem Allam is going in front of the mic, as that footage would not have looked good going out nationally on Sky Sports News.

6. With a new manager comes a new Amber Nectar graphic. It’s on the right, we’re starting it off at 7/10 and it’ll be amended from time to time depending upon how Steve Bruce fares with City.

7. Jon Parkin signing for Fleetwood Town is a good example of what can happen if players in the modern era don’t look after themselves. He ought to be in the prime of his career and has the ability to play in the Championship – instead he’s about to play for his fifth different club since the beginning of last year.

8. The new kit. It’s alright, but we’d rather have stripes, which say ‘Hull City’ more than any plain amber shirt could. The launch was quite low-key, just photos on the OWS (Robert Koren must wish his coldsore had been airbrushed away). Let’s hope there is more fanfare over the all black away kit, which sounds quite sexy.

9. The club are running a competition with the prize being a squad number for the winner, who will have sent in a photo of themselves wearing the new home shirt. Somewhere, Bryan Hughes, who wasn’t deemed worthy of a squad number in 2008/09, is silently seething.

10. Danny Fullbrook was among the first of the proper journalists reporting on City for the Hull Daily Mail, and arguably began that newspaper’s climb out of its nadir of the late 80s and early 90s. He went on to bigger and better things, becoming Chief Football Writer at the Daily Star and regularly appearing on Sky Sports’ Sunday morning programming. He passed away at the age of just 40 over the weekend, and Hull City has lost a friend of yesteryear.

53 June 4, 2012

1. The 2012/13 season will start with a League Cup fixture for the first time we can remember. What a deeply dissatisfying way to being a new season – it’s supposed to begin on a sunny summer’s afternoon and a full day of anticipation before kicking off with a League game; City may commence the new term with a trip to bloody Rochdale on a Tuesday night in the least important competition we enter.

2. So what’s the new manager to do? Pick his intended first XI and treat the match importantly, or regard it as a final pre-season friendly but risk opening his City career with an embarrassing defeat? Whoever it is has is going to suffer from being Not Nick Barmby; losing to a Fourth Division club in his first competitive fixture would be far from ideal.

3. Quite who the new manager will be remains as unclear as ever. Steve Bruce remains the favourite, yet his agent is categorical in emphasising his apparent lack of interest and/or contact – though football agents are not renowned for their unimpeachable personal probity. The saga is dragging along quite frustratingly now and requires resolving this week, lest season ticket sales be harmed even more than seems likely.

4. One demographic from which smaller support will be collected is disabled supporters. Whether one disagrees with the club removing the concessionary rate for disabled supporters or not, one thing they’ve clearly messed up is the consultation and communication. To have the cost of a pass doubled with no prior warning is something everyone would struggle to cope with.

5. The one thing the clubhavecommunicated about well of late is why the pitch was in such a state last season. In an astoundingly detailed report on the OWS, we are told parasitic nematodes are to blame.

6. No, that isn’t a euphemism for Hull FC players.

7. Speaking of ‘effsee’, some of their fans elected to brick the St. Helens team bus, smashing a window or windows. This isn’t an isolated incident, but Hull FC never acknowledge thuggish behaviour from their own and seek to push the blame elsewhere, often, quite hilariously towards City fans. If that was the case, City’s opponents would often have their team bus damaged, but it doesn’t happen. A problem won’t cease to be a problem unless it is acknowledged, and whenever things like this happen, fingers get put in ears and the refrain ‘la la la la family game’ is uttered.

8. Ok, he spent most of last season playing for Crystal Palace and he’s hardly a ‘fan favourite’, but Paul McShane’s inclusion into the Republic of Ireland squad gives City fans a credible point of interest in Euro 2012 beyond anticipating another England tournament failure. McShane v. Iniesta/Balotelli/Modrić, how could that not be entertaining?

9. We wish the first City player to take part in a World Cup finals, Richard Garcia, every success in his future endeavours. He has served our club with distinction, playing a part in some our club’s greatest moments and has always behaved with grace and dignity.

10. If only Tom Cairney could get the nod for the Great Britain men’s football team, we’d have all the major tournaments covered at last.

#52 May 28, 2012

1. We’ve looked atCity’s season ticket pricingalready, but not at its likely impact. It’s a certainty that the numbers will fall for 2012/13 – the question is only “by how much?”. A slew of factors are relevant, and it’ll be impossible to say which will influence things the most. We fear it could be alarmingly bad though. The club’s own situation, with a pointlessly sacked manager, growing unhappiness with the owners and the general lack of optimism for the next season could combine toxically with the on-going economic malaise and those price rises to cause a real dip in sales.

2. If that’s true, then what? City’s explanation for the price hikes is that a top six wage bill needs funding through at least a midtable pricing structure. Fair enough. In terms of size and appeal, something midtable-ish is where City probably lie in the current Championship hierarchy. But if gates fall drastically, so does our appeal. Not, admittedly, a problem for this summer – but one the owners would be well advised to be mindful of.

3. Of course, there’s a potential upside to lower pass-sales, though it’s one for the optimists among us: were City to tear the division apart next season, there’d numerous gates topping 20,000, with a large percentage paying on-the-day with a correspondingly inflated price. If that does happen, well, sorry we ever doubted your business acumen, Mr Allam…

4.Standard procedure or not, the internal appeal over Barmby’s dismissal was an utter waste of time. However you dress it up, there was no independent review, no impartial and objective look at the facts and all that was achieved was Nick Barmby was kept quiet a little longer. Maybe that, and that alone was the point from our owners perspective, but it made them look unflatteringly aloof and slowed down our search for a new manager.

5. Whatever view one takes on the dismissal of Nick Barmby, the club is certainly succeeding in keeping us guessing about his successor. The Allam family certainly run a tight ship in that regard – rumours and conjecture may sweep the city, but from City we hear nothing. Frustrating as that can be for us, it’s probably better to conduct such discussions far from the public eye.

6. Let’s just hope they get the decision right. Steve Bruce would be a real coup. As ever it’s necessary to separate the popular perception of a man from his actual CV. Steve Bruce’s contains no little success at this level and the level above. Whatever caveats you wish to apply to that success and whatever limitations you choose to cite, were a rival club of ours to appoint him we’d thinking “hmm, not bad”.

7. Recent speculation about his future has us contemplating Andy Dawson’s ranking in the City great pantheon. Whatever you think about his current ability level and whether or not he should be retained for a testimonial season, you should respect what he has done during his time here. He’s the last of four ‘immortals’, players who turned out in every division during the Tigers rapid ascent through the league, and each time he’s been written off he has endured and prevailed. He’s a Hull of Fame entrant for sure.

8. Season card? Shurrup. Whatever form of the actual pass takes, it is still a season ticket/pass and we’re not for turning where new nomenclature is concerned.

9. In terms of true fixture juiciness, a Sheffield United play-off victory may have been the better outcome, but welcome back Huddersfield nonetheless. Those 4-0 defeats at the McGalpharm still sting and need avenging.

10. The League One play off final had kit geeks among our number thinking City were too hasty in moving away from Umbro who have produced some fantastic kits in recent years (Manchester City and Forest’s hooped socks, mmmmm) but at least we’ve not gone down the Macron route as Sheffield United (and Leeds and West Ham) have as their apparel is unremittingly bab.

#51 May 21, 2012

1. The record of Manuel José as manager of Al-Ahly is quite impressive; 6 Egyptian Premier League and 4 CAF Champions League titles. Since announcing he’s to leave Al-Ahly the 60 year old Portuguese has been installed as favourite by some bookies to be the next Hull City manager. Is this just mischief making or is there really something in it? Hard to say, but it’s also hard not to be cynical about such an appointment, regardless of his successes in Cairo.

2. Last year City gave a trial to an Egyptian goalkeeper at the behest of the Allams, Nigel Pearson was not impressed. Nick Barmby too was instructed to give trials to Egyptian players. When you’ve admitted in public many times that you don’t really know much about football, maybe you should let the manager decide who he wants to give trials to instead of imposing on them a belief that Egypt is an untapped gold mine of footballing talent. If you’re determined to get your way and have some Egyptian players at Hull City, maybe you should install a manager familiar with Egyp… Oh.

3. Speaking of Al-Ahly, there has been no recent mention of the end of season friendly the Allams proposed with them. The attendance of such a game would give a truer indication of current feeling towards the Allams than fan-site messageboard posts which seem to be heavily polarised. There’s often a marked difference between the opinions of the man on the street and the man behind a keyboard.

4. Don Revie managed managed Al-Ahly in the mid 80s before ending his post-England job managerial tour of the Middle East. This has nothing to do with Hull City, it’s just quasi-fascinating trivia.

5. In January the HDM said “Andy Dawson is closing in on agreeing a new deal at Hull City, with manager Nick Barmby backing him to play on for another three years.” It was assumed he had indeed signed for another year but word on the street is that wasn’t the case and that Ehab Allam will be dispensing with Dawson along with Mclean and Simpson. Time has ravaged Dawson’s pace but he is still good enough to be part of one of the Championship’s stingiest defences in 2011/12 and is good enough for another one year deal in what would be his testimonial season.

6. Cameron Stewart to Celtic? Really? There’s no doubt he’s good enough – Scottish football’s seemingly unstoppable decline ensures that – but it’d be a poor agent who advised his client to swap the Championship for life north of the border.

7. Apropos of pre-season friendlies, aren’t these usually announced by now? Trips to local non-leaguers North Ferriby and Grimsby are already in place, and while we understand it’s usually managers who assemble their club’s programme, if there’s really nothing else in place we’re at risk of most other clubs not having space to fit us in – another illustration of how the club is slightly drifting at present.

8. Congratulations to Malet Lambert School, whose Year 7 football side made it to the National Schools Final on Friday. Though they lost 2-1 (at Stamford Bridge, no less), it’s always nice to hear of a side from this part of the world excelling on a national stage.

9. West Ham leaving the division is no bad thing. We won’t have to endure excruciating shots of their players disembarking a team bus on theFootball League Shownext season.

10. York City defeated Luton Town yesterday at Wembley to escape the realms of pub-leaguery. A shame really as Luton are a proper club with a passionate support, a more successful history than ours and participants in some terrific encounters with City in the last 15 years or so. York’s promotion is entirely unwelcome, their fans despise Hull City with the same jealousy ridden rage that many of our other former opponents have (think their fans celebrated our Wembley win?), though the majority of the York populace treat football and its fans with utter disdain. If Twitter is truly indicative of what people are thinking, many City fans appear to welcome their elevation, but should we be magnanimous to a set of supporters that have seethed at City’s successes in recent years? Their relative proximity to Hull seems a poor excuse to do so.

#50 May 14, 2012

1. City are “scouring Europe” for a new manager, we hear. It’d be something of a surprise were the identity of our new manager not someone already very well known in England’s second tier.

2. Billy Davies remains the strong favourite, and he’s one whose name appears to elicit a similar reaction everywhere: good manager, but bit of a chippy moaning sod. After the brief joy of having a Hull-born local hero in charge, is a sulking Scot likely to go down well?

3. Of course, anyone who comes in is certain to be eyed suspiciously on account of being Not Nick Barmby. Whoever it ends up being can win over the sceptical Tiger Nation in one of two ways: sure-footed media appearances at the start, suitably genuflection to the memory of Saint Nick, and so on; or better still, win the first five games. If the latter happens, we’ll be in a forgiving mood. We’re football fans, and therefore massively fickle.

4. What if it’s not Davies? The rest of the names being bandied about are unremarkable. Greg Abbott’s City connection is so distant as to be non-relevant for most of our support, meaning we judge him solely upon his record. It’s actually not bad, with a record of consistent improvement at Carlisle, a small club punching above their weight in the division below. But he’s never managed at this level before – dare we give him his first crack at it?

5. The gloriously forthright Mick McCarthy is surely too big a character for the prickly Allam family. With plenty of top-flight experience, you fancy he may want a bigger club to come calling than City – but he knows his way out of this division and if he could be persuaded here, and then persuaded to be scrupulously on-message at all times, it could work well.

6. Please, not Phil Brown. His legacy cannot be improved upon, it can only be worsened. It just wouldn’t work the second time around, and while one sacking can never tarnish Wembley and 2008 in general, a second could.

7. As regards the Allams – it’s a long time since Don Robinson’s vivid reign at Boothferry Park, but he remains a man worth listening to on all matters City. In the Hull Daily Mail over the weekend,Robinson spoke in favour of their recent actions. Pause for thought, perhaps.

8. Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves are rejoining the Championship. Two short hops to deepest darkest Lancashire, and a fairly easy Midlands jaunt. Along with the elevation of Sheffield Wednesday and likely climb behind them of either Sheffield United or Huddersfield Town, plus the removal from the equation of Reading, Southampton, Portsmouth and (possibly) West Ham, away games for 2012/13 just got a lot easier. With Bolton’s demise, we all get to laugh at Phil Gartside, whose deluded ideas about scrapping relegation make him a worthy object of ridicule, though simultaneously their fall prompts us to offer sympathy for Sam Ricketts. While all three of these ex-Premier League sides will presumably be quite strong, there’s no reason to suppose any of them will walk the division.

9. We’re going to see Jon Walters, Keith Andrews and Stephen Hunt play in Euro 2012 for the Republic of Ireland. Their periods at The Circle were varied – inconsistent, uninspiring and heroic respectively – but it’s quite something to see three very recent former players about to take part in a huge football tournament. We wish them all well.

10. Several people known to us have now decided to spend the money originally saved for season tickets on other things. Delaying the issuing of renewal forms so long is in danger of becoming a grave mistake by City.

#49 May 7, 2012

1. Phil Brown told Radio 5 Live that he’d love to come back to Hull City but has not yet been approached. This had some Tiger Nationals squealing with delight, but would a return really be wise? He’ll always be the man who took us to Wembley and the Premier League, but the tail end of his reign was a mess, he seemed more interested in boozing, boosting his own profile and attending horse races than putting right wrongs on the pitch. Let the past stay the past.

2. Of course Phil Brown hasn’t yet been approached, the manager’s position isn’t vacant. Speculation about the next manager, when the current manager’s fate hasn’t been resolved almost a week after his startling suspension, just adds to the conviction that this is a sorry mess that could and should have been avoided.

3.Though the Allams have said money was available in the January transfer window, they’ve been relatively vague about what money is there to spend in the summer. Received wisdom is that summer is the time to do your main spending and that the winter window is for the desperate, when fees get inflated to take advantage of that desperation, but apparently our owners think differently. This reinforces the perception that they have little understanding of the game and that knowledge of what works in marine engineering isn’t particularly transferable to nuanced world of professional sport.

4. Reading [City]*passholders proclaiming vehemently on messageboards that they won’t renew this year is quite saddening.

5. We know that pass prices are going up, but we still don’t know when fans will actually get to pay for a season ticket. Given the constantly stated mantra of running the club on sound business principles, stating that the club doesn’t really need the money now seems a little strange, given that there is no other money coming into the club in the close-season.

6.Speaking of strange statements; “Who puts £50M in and then scrimps and saves on £30,000 to £40,000 a week to get you promotion?” That seemed out of kilter on Wednesday and it still does now, it is contrary to every noise the club has made about money in the last year.

7. The idea that a £17M wage bill should equate to a top 6 finish wilfully ignores that a significant chunk of that amount is Premier League legacy wages.Daily Mirrorfootball journalist James Nursey said that Barmby was told not to pick Olofinjana, McShane, Simpson* and Harper* as the club didn’t want to activate pay-rise clauses. League position expectations should be reassessed with those player’s wages not counting if they’re not available for selection. (*these two, obviously, aren’t on Premier League era wages)

8. The BBC’s Late Kick Off show tweeted that the Allams have said they won’t go before the cameras for an interview. That comes as little surprise, interviews with theHull Daily Mailcan be conducted with a press officer on hand to deflect tricky questions, respond to others with a pre-established soundbite and generally vet what gets published, whereas in a televised interview Assem Allam could to go off on an ill-advised tangent that once recorded, stays recorded.

9. Sheffield Wednesday’s promotion is welcome, giving us another local derby next season. It’s a shame Nick Barmby is no longer playing as he always has a blinder at Hillsborough.

10. We’ve been critical of Radio Humberside andHull Daily Mailcorrespondents in the past, but we’ve no complaints about their current incumbents. Dave Burns and Phil Buckingham have done an exceptional job keeping fans informed during #Barmbygeddon, enduring unwarranted flak from people who blame the messenger when the message is gloomy. Good work sirs.

#48 May 2, 2012

1. The Allams alleviating the club’s debt concerns when they bought Hull City was an act for which they deserve, and have received total gratitude. However, they should still be judged on how they run the club over the duration of their ownership rather than just on the initial purchase. David Lloyd, you’ll remember, saved the club when he bought it from Christopher Needler, but he’s remembered for what came later, the naiveté, the petulance, the rash decision making.

The respective amounts paid by Lloyd and the Allams to clear inherited debts differ massively of course, £51m is a huge sum. Nonetheless, goodwill accrued from a benevolent act can dissipate rapidly when subsequent acts are damaging to the club. The events that have led to the departures of manager Nick Barmby and director of football Adam Pearson, two men whose work has improved the lot of Hull City to an unquantifiable degree, are to say the least, damaging to the club.

2. We understand, and support, the Allams’ stance that the club must be run on a secure financial footing, but the club still has to compete. That doesn’t mean you have to spend millions, before he left (and scuttlebutt is he couldn’t work with the Allams and felt the club wasn’t run as a club should be) Nigel Pearson put together a motivated, talented side that fell just short of play off contention for £NotMuch.

3. The Allams stated publicly that there would be money to spend in January, it wasn’t and at the time Barmby went along with that. Recently though he has spoken openly about his ambition and desire to strengthen the squad with a barely hidden sourness that implies a burgeoning disillusionment with what he has/had to work with, having secured assurances before taking the job that appear to not have been fulfilled.

If you don’t want to spend money, don’t make grand, playing-to-the-gallery statements that you will. Don’t expect the man you have effectively lied to in public, a man who ended his playing career to commit to a job at your behest, to not show his discontent, and don’t then sh*t all over a bona fide local hero who everyone knows loves the club out of childlike toys-out-of-pram petulance. That £51m worth of goodwill? A lot of it was pissed away in one crazy day.

4. The Allamsimmediate, make that initial response to the suspension of Barmby and departure of Pearson was to say that the club must be run on sound business principles, as if Barmby’s requests for players somehow went against that policy. In today’s HDM interview they say they offered to pay £40,000 a week to a striker and that Nick Barmby and Adam Pearson said thanks but no thanks, that’s too expensive and would cause dressing room unrest. That shows Barmby and Pearson have/had no problem whatsoever with the club being run on sound business principles, and that they had the club’s financial health very much in mind. The club don’t need to be paying that kind of money to one player, and shouldn’t, so why is our owner saying he is fine with that while saying the club must be run without waste. The two statements are incompatible, and the ‘we’d pay £40,000 a week’ line isn’t believable.

5. If you want to appoint a manager who doesn’t complain if he’s given nothing to work with, Billy Davies is not that man.

6. Some people castigated the local Council, but they were absolutely correct to rebuff the Allams when they tried to get the KC Stadium for gratis or near to it. Their ‘gift’ to the city, a sports complex paid for by borrowing on the stadium, would have been a threat to Hull City’s home had the Council been bullied into giving it up, thankfully they stood up to the Allams and stood firm. Incredibly some people suggested City should move to Melton to spite the Council, these people are utter cretins. Speaking of Melton, does anybody still seriously believe that the Allams were serious about funding a stadium if they didn’t get their way and the KC?

7. No ifs and buts, Robert Koren is absolutely irreplaceable – as are quite a few of City’s others players. One thing the Allams have delivered upon, so far, is a refusal to countenance selling our best players. For Assam and Ehab the road back to public acclaim is lengthy, but maintaining this stance would be a useful first step.

8. However, two steps backwards will be made if season tickets really are to rise 10%-15%, as today’s Hull Daily Mail suggests. The club has already erred badly with the lateness of renewal forms being issued – plenty will have spent their money elsewhere, while the débâcle earlier in the week will have persuaded many more to join them. It’s hard not to envisage a serious fall in season ticket sales if existing mistakes are compounded by a price rise.

9. We’d stop a long way short of suggesting the Allam family are not fit to run City, as others have. They’ve made mistakes – bad, preventable mistakes, then made things worse with contradictory and ill-judged communications to a bewildered Tiger Nation. However, this week’s events leaves them needing to demonstrate their suitability to own our football club. Their success in business demonstrates they’re no fools, but running a Championship football club on which the hopes of an entire city rest requires a different skillset – perhaps acknowledging that fact and spending the summer listening and learning would a good start. If only they had someone like Adam Pearson from whom to learn…

10. It’s not entirely relevant here, but worth noting anyway – Paul Duffen’s crowing on Twitter is quite revealing, and perhaps not in the way he intended it.

#47 April 30, 2012

1. Eighth place is a very respectable finish for City, and one we should be proud of. With an unwanted change of manager in November, a young side, no money to spend and an untried replacement boss, lesser outfits would have folded. Not City: to stay in the play-off race until the very end of the season speaks volumes for the determination of team and management, and we salute them.

2. Thedefeat at West Hamwill have been a valuable learning exercise. Rarely will we come up against such a physically strong side playing such ugly football, but its effectiveness was undeniable and a couple of City’s side let themselves be bullied a bit in the first half. Standing up to such agricultural football isn’t always easy, but it is important.

3. Nonetheless, it was a fairly enjoyable outing. The atmosphere is always better when everyone is stood, and Upton Park is one of those grounds where this always seems to happen. Even a defeat, an early kick-off and the grimness of East London didn’t prevent a fine send-off to the season and rightful appreciation of the players’ efforts.

4. Vito Mannone and Richard Garcia were given the ovation their unceasing application merited at full-time – sadly it seems likely we won’t see either next season. There was a definite note of farewell at the end.

5. It’s none of our direct business, but West Ham look a good bet for the play-offs. Their football may be next to unwatchable, but they’re on form, scoring goals and do have genuine Premier League class in several areas. Allardyce is a tedious clown, but he does get results for his sides and they’ll be rightful favourites. It’s irritating to see Ricardo Vaz Te look like a useful footballer, considering how spectacularly abysmal he was during his brief loan spell with the Tigers five seasons ago.

6. Once Carlton Cole went off, mercifully early in the match, Liam Cooper was able to defend a bit more freely and confidently. It’s a pity for Cooper especially that the season has ended as he was starting to get into a comfortable routine. Cole is a Premier League attacker in the Championship and most weeks a fit and confident Cooper, given a mandate by his manager, should be fine at this level. The manager may well look for another centre back in the summer, especially as Jack Hobbs is out until October at the earliest, but Cooper should feel pleased with himself.

7. Talking of centre backs who should be pleased with themselves, congratulations to James Chester, who has topped the Amber Nectar player ratings for the season with an average of precisely 7 for the campaign. We’ll list, explain and analyse the ratings in full in the next couple of days.

8. It’s a long time until football restarts – August 18th is the scheduled start of the 2012/13 Championship season, owing to the Olympics. That’ll be our latest start since 1990, and with next season’s play-off final dates already published and looking similar to this, means a season being compressed by two weeks. So, more midweek games to look forward to. Lovely…

9. Bransholme’s Number One has retired after a 22 year career. Good luck Willo.

10. This tweet from the HDM’s Phil Buckingham amused: “owner Assem Allam worth £417m according to ST Rich List, up by £130m in the last year. Nick Barmby makes note ahead of meetings.”

#46 April 23, 2012

1: Seventh, eighth or ninth is where City will end the season. Considering the youth of the squad, the managerial upheaval, the general unpredictability of the divisions and the strain of Mad March, this is pretty satisfying.

2: And yet, and yet, and yet… the goalless draws that should have been wins, the defeats snatched from the jaws of victory, the profligacy in front of goal… if we’re not careful, it will still feel principally like a season of regrets.

3: The Forest game wasn’t up to much but nevertheless it was good to see City have the appetite to go on and win it, and there’s little to be sniffed at in winning the final three home matches of the campaign. Matt Fryatt’s hat-trick against Barnsley in the previous victory was, meanwhile, a timely reminder that we do have a very good goalscorer at this level. If City let him go because of his familial issues, then he will be very, very hard to replace.

4: Richard Garcia has tweeted that he has “possibly” played his last game at the KC. The use of that word might just be an act of typical conscientiousness from a player not wanting to let any cats out of the bag until the club officially announces its retained list, but if the alternative is true – ie, the decision on Garcia’s future has yet to be made – then one hopes the Aussie’s form and attitude in recent weeks has shown the paymasters that he’s more than worth keeping.

5: If West Ham beat Leicester tonight, then City’s finale at Upton Park next week becomes an “active” game. It’d be fantastic to be the club that prevents the execrable, ludicrously indulged Hammers from getting automatic promotion – and pretty much everybody, including West Ham fans themselves, know they are likely to flunk the play-offs.

6: Paul Anderson, formerly a youth of this parish, was barely noticeable for Forest yesterday. Wonder if his dad is regretting his insistence that City let his lad go to Liverpool, whereupon his devlopment promptly stalled?

7: The decision to host the Player of the Year awards on the pitch at full-time on Saturday wasn’t a bad one, but it needed doing more promptly. A thirty minute wait for the players to re-emerge was just a bit long.

8: Robert Koren is a deserving winner of the Player of the Season award. We’d argue that James Chester has been 2011/12′s star performer, but Koren’s worth is so much more than simply conducting his own personal goal of the season contest – rarely can a City player have looked so serenely assured in possession, so skilful with the weighting of his passing and more visionary in what he sees before anyone else. It’s a pleasure to be able to watch him doing his thing for the Tigers, and we desperately hope he’s here next season.

9: Come on City, let’s do a pre-season tour somewhere interesting in the summer. Norway, for instance.

10: Where the bloody hell are the season ticket renewal forms?

#45 April 16, 2012

1. So, 2011/12 is effectively over. It’s a shame we didn’t take it to the final week, or at least something near to it – to fall from the play-offs places in January to the season having three meaningless fixtures at the end is a pretty stark illustration of our fall from contention.

2. The draw atWatfordsummed the season up perfectly – so much good stuff undone by all-too-familiar failings in the final third. It’s doubtful that any side in the division has played better football than City, but equally true to say that few sides can have had a worse possession to goals ratio.

3. We all know what the problems are, but they probably need money to be solved. Mr Allam has suggested there won’t be much available; Nick Barmby has rather unsubtly appealed in public for it anyway. We’d rather the owner and the manager conducted their discussions about summer spending in private, for the risk of an unedifying public quarrel benefits no-one.

4. Although he played no part in City’s rise or subsequent fall in 2012, it was something of a relief to seePéter Gulácsi depart East Yorkshirein order to sit on a bench at Wembley for an afternoon. Perhaps Nigel Pearson’s worst signing, his continued presence in kit and gloves represented a minor worry for where we would end up should Vito Mannone pick up an injury.That display at Leedsand (what became) his last act for the Tigers inconceding a ludicrously soft goal at Burnleywill be the long-term images we recall of his time at the Circle, and they’re not ever going to be pleasant.

5. On a similar tack, what must it be like to be Mark Oxley? He could be our most enigmatic player ever; he’s been at the club for almost four years, he’s approaching 22 and still he has yet to play a senior game for the Tigers. Stats don’t keep tabs on non-playing sub appearances – and Matt Duke and Nicky Featherstone probably have the monopoly on those for many a year to come – but even so the young keeper must be wondering if he’ll ever be a professional footballer in any way other than technically. He’s now on the bench, possibly for the remainder of the season, and he’s one kick on an Italian shin or a foul on a striker away from getting his go. He must feel he can almost touch his debut.

6. Along with the boys at CI, we carried theresults of the Safe Standing surveylast week. The results were better than we dared hope – 100% in favour of its introduction at the Circle represents an overwhelming mandate. We hope the club is paying attention to this. While it’s unlikely to represent a magic bullet for the lousy atmosphere at home games, it’d be a huge step in the right direction, as well as improving matchdays for both frustrated would-be standers and view-obstructed sitters.

7. The club has opened the voting forthis year’s Player Of The Year awardand have sensibly provided a non-negotiable shortlist of 11, preventing a potential sabotage campaign to give Kamel Ghilas the award. If you’re unsure of who to vote for and need a mature, well-adjusted guide to the quality of individuals in the squad, then humbly we suggest the Amber Nectar ratings may assist you (though interestingly, one of our current top five hasn’t made the club’s shortlist at all).

You can alsovote for Goal of the Season, for which the nominees number just five. All fine goals, but it simply has to be the fifth of the options on offer. But don’t let us influence you in any way. Really, don’t.

8. How City will react on Tuesday to the end of our season is anyone’s guess. Demob happy and a thrashing of lowly but unthreatened opposition is our preferred option, and perfectly plausible too – City tend to do well at home to Barnsley and we’re miles better than them, which helps. Nick Barmby’s post-Watford comments about insisting upon high standards at the end of the season sounded a little more forceful than merely saying the right thing for appearance’s sake. It’d be a terrible pity to put at risk a top-half finish.

9. Whatever does happen on Tuesday, we can look forward to one thing: whoever pens the match report for Barnsley’s official website will spend much of it whining about Paul Tierney, who’ll be our referee. They have form for chip-on-their-shoulder paranoia about referees against City – here’sone enjoyable examplefrom a recent Barnsley/City game, while one was soabsurdly deranged it got Barnsley into trouble and was removed from their website– let’s hope Barnsley haven’t spoiled the fun by appointing an adult to do them.

10. Apropos of South Yorkshire clubs, cheerio Doncaster. You won’t be missed.

#44 April 10, 2012

1. What a corking game against Middlesbrough, and what a relief to see City win a game again. To come from a goal down against dangerous (if considerably off-form) opponents when our own run of zero in 15 was evidently haunting everyone associated with the club was absolutely terrific.

2. We heard stories of season ticket holders not attending on Monday. What a shame, but their loss.

3. The two Easter games have been pivotal for Nick Barmby. Hurt and vengeful after the catastrophe at Millwall, he put his own future into question by using the word “whoever”when talking about the manager’s role in the near future, while also laying into his players rather than choosing the glare of publicity to defend them. Buoyed and galvanised by his own bravado, Barmby promptly rung the changes in both personnel and tactics for Middlesbrough and was handsomely rewarded. That’s the Barmby we want.

4. The “whoever” moment might have just been Barmby letting off steam after a wretched afternoon, but if not, then clearly there are still issues to be resolved by both club and gaffer over whether he will stay and under what circ*mstances. Perhaps the improvement against Middlesbrough will offer Barmby some hope that he can make this work; the remaining four games will undoubtedly tell him – and us – a lot more.

5. Seeing James Chester and Robert Koren back in the team, a week ahead of schedule, was most gratifying. Koren’s fitness was clearly being risked judging by his pedestrian-esque status in the second half against Boro, but his influence was huge just by dint of being there. Chester, despite his own occasional lack of sharpness, was not only crucial by himself but also as a guiding hand for Liam Cooper, whose performance in the second half was very good.

6. Richard Garcia is a fine wide midfielder but notmore than an adequate emergencyright back, yet there’s something comforting about seeing him on the pitch again, even out of position,especially as a major issue surrounding City’s recent woes was with the attitude of individual players. Whatever verbal slurry some dense individuals choose tothrow at Garcia, they could never argue about his dedication to the cause.

7. With Paul McKenna suspended against Middlesbrough, Tom Cairney needed to raise his game, and he did. For all his slick, patient passing, he can be an onlooker when we don’t have the ball. That charge couldn’t be levelled at him on Monday, he was excellent.

8. Football, combined with arithmetic, is a sod. We’re probably going to end up nowhere near the play-offs but the gap between us and sixth, combined with 12 juicy points still up for grabs, means that we have to remain hopeful, just in case,as it’s the human thing to do. Bah.

9. “You are receiving this e-mail because you have previously submitted your e-mail address to Hull FC.” Err, no, we didn’t. We wonder how many City fans took up the offer of a free sausage sandwich and Derbygeddon after receiving an email about it.

10. One of the silliest rumours we’ve heard in a while suggests the Allams are planning to do away with season tickets. That has to be codswallop. Who starts these things?

#43 April 2, 2012

1. The collapse of City’s season is as unexpected as it’s been sudden. Four games ago the play-offs were still very much on, now even a top half finish is touch and go. It’s a great shame to see a season that’s produced some fine victories and marvellous football ending this way.

2. Hull’s unique nature means it’s a city in which rumours swirl with never-ending regularity, and most are very much of the “this taxi-driver’s brother heard that…” ilk – but a few troubling ones have surfaced in recent days. If something did indeed occur at the club in the first part of last week it’d certainly help to explain thePortsmouth debacle, which was not just a rotten performance but a complete non-effort.

3. An explanation is very different to an excuse, however. Accusing any professional footballer of not trying is a grievous charge usually issued by the terminally oafish and incorrectly made. Not so for the shambles at Fratton Park. Even if something did take place at the club we don’t know about, the few hundred who made the long, tiring, expensive journey deserved a hell of a lot better.

4. More understanding souls may point to tiredness. There’s no doubt that Mad March has taken a toll upon the players and broken rather than made the season. City have certainly been unlucky with their fixtures of late – again, whether this is a valid excuse for the two rotten offerings in the past seven days depends upon the kindliness of the observer.

5. It’d be a courageous City fan who backed us to finish with the division’s best defence now. With both centre-backs missing, we cannot realistically hope to shut sides out with Bradley and Cooper, however good their future prospects may be. Luckily we have a week until the next game, which is going to require some serious thinking about how to patch up a defence to at least make us competitive for the remainder of the season.

6. We don’t wish to sound like a broken record, so we’ll not say again that Richard Garcia deserves to be back in the team (oops, seems we just did). However, the complete omission of Jay Simpson against Coventry, when his 35 minutes or so at Portsmouth was the one – that is, theone– remotely bright thing to emerge from Fratton Park, was actually staggering. Simpson, with just a modicum of commitment around him, could have led the comeback at Portsmouth. Mark Cullen, by contrast, isn’t going to turn anything round against any opponent at any stage of a game but Nick Barmby preferred him to Simpson at the weekend.

7. Barmby needs to be careful about apologising for performances in the future. Offering fulsome public apologies isn’t a trick you can pull off very often without either aggravating the dressing room or losing the effect of doing so. Leicester was a disappointment but hardly an outrage; Portsmouth was the pefect example of a once-a-season disaster that required immediate contrition, but its currency was slightly devalued by us having already heard one that week.

8. Sadly, the manager’s confusing tactics and shirty post-match interviews mean his 7/10 rating on the right must be considered to be on a negative outlook.

9. Still, on the plus side, at least the pitch is looking a bit better now…

10. And, as a considerable consolation to City’s current woes, Aaron Wilbraham’s first Premier League goal at the age of 32 is something to celebrate, isn’t it? Well done to him on a feat few would ever have envisaged.

#42 March 26, 2012

1. It’s not been a good week for City. Little shame in being outclassed by Southampton, but the nature of the defeat at Leicester was worrying. It’s always bad to lose having led, but City had three-quarters of the match to rescue something, much of it against ten men, and rarely looked like doing so.

2. Southampton are a brilliant Championship team, it causes no shame or hurt to say it. Cracking team, positive attitude, really good manager who threatens to actually become great (and this is an ex-Sc*nthorpe boss with a bit of foot-in-mouth history round our way, so that’s some renaissance) and, actually, a rather sporting and generous set of fans too.

3. Without Robert Koren, there is a lack of proper x-factor in the Tigers team. Koren doesn’t always fully show up when on the teamsheet, and it’s both unfair and unrealistic to expect him to deliver something dramatic and spectacular every single time, but good gracious, you miss him when he’s not there. But let’s get used to it, as Koren is out for at least three weeks. The timing of his hamstring injury is appalling. The lack of Koren clones ready to step in is stark.

4. What should be changed for Portsmouth? The decision(s) ahead of Nick Barmby are crucial; luckily, results elsewhere generally were favourable and City will go sixth – and even fifth with simultaneous defeat for Middlesbrough – if three points can be attained at Fratton Park. The performance at the King Power Stadium may have been bleak and listless, but give it a couple of days and suddenly the bigger picture will begin to take over again as we begin to fuel up the cars for Tuesday’s long trip south.

5. On the subject of the Tigers, Nigel Pearson said in a post-match interview: “I don’t think I was particularly popular when I was there anyway.” Really? Let’s think back. His name was chanted frequently enough, his input into making us nigh on impossible to beat away from home last season was acclaimed regularly, and a vast majority of supporters saw the progress he was making when he – that’s he, not the club, and certainly not the fans – decided to loosen his association with City and head back to the Midlands.

He claims that what the Tiger Nation thinks of him doesn’t bother him, but it all feels a bit disingenuous – firstly, he clearly does care what the fans think, and that legendary dourness is a smokescreen; and secondly, what he believes the Tiger Nation thought of him is, with the vast majority, totally false. Who would – without any benefit of hindsight – have been unhappy if he had chosen not to request permission to speak to Leicester and continued his work at the Circle? Not many at all. Let’s not forget that we have many boorish clots turning up at games dressed in black and amber week by week, the types who hated Peter Taylor even after two promotions and were loudly adamant, after saving us from relegation in 2007, that Phil Brown was not going to be much cop.

Pearson was a very good manager, one who could quite easily have taken us back to the Premier League, whose only real shortcoming was his rather standoffish personality, and anyone who considers that to be as important a trait as tactical acumen or leadership quality is a fool. Pearson’s comment refers only to the fools, and caring what they think. He isn’t necessarily missed now, of course, but that’s purely in retrospect, and has got nothing to do with his own standing at the club when he was in charge. On the day it became obvious he was off, the vast majority of City fans would have been very disappointed indeed.

6. What’s happened to Richard Garcia, then? It needs to be asked. Unsurprisingly, the squad is lacking in freshness now, the two wingers of choice – Robbie Brady and Cameron Stewart – have evident form and fatigue issues, and at this moment a spot of experience and aptitude to play within a team ethic is really needed. Garcia fits all bills here. He’s done it before. Is he still being punished for not playing well in the FA Cup against Crawley? Have he and the manager had a tiff?

7. “We should have bought a striker in the January transfer window” is a sentiment many of the Tiger Nation have expressed in the last week. Not bolstering our attacking corps. is being viewed as the first failure of Nick Barmby’s management career, after all he had money to spend didn’t he? In November Assem Allam was quoted as saying “We said… that money would be availableto Nigel [Pearson] – a million pounds in January for the transfer window, that same amount is still available for Nick.” and just before the transfer window opened Barmby said “If the right player comes along then we will go for him and hopefully get him.” By the end of January though Barmby stated he was happy with his squad and despite some loan additions no money would be spent.

Odd then that when discussing the possibility of signing Vito Mannone permanently from Arsenal, the manager said “I was told in the press conference when I first got the job there’d be money to spend so we’ll see.” The wording of that could imply that Barmby rues not having the money he thought he had to spend in January, that available funds haven’t even been discussed since he took the job permanently. Then again it could just be a throwaway remark with no hidden meaning, it’s hard to glean context from words printed but not heard first hand. In any case, the manager is reminding everyone that the Allams have publically pledged transfer funds, it just seems strange that he felt the need to do so.

8. Openly discussing the option of signing other goalkeepers, such as Swiss trialistEldin Jakupovic, is a savvy move by Barmby. He wants to buy Mannone who seems very keen on making his stay in Hull a long one, but won’t pay over the odds for the Italian. Checking out alternatives lets Arsenal know we won’t bend over a barrel.

9. If all that’s required to be regarded as a big club is for your supporters to deem it so, then Leicester boasts a rival to Manchester United and Real Madrid.

10. It’s troubling to hear a few City waverers in the long-standing and highly commendable contempt for drums held by the Tiger Nation. That, along with music after a goal, is the ultimate manifestation of McFootball, a feeble acquiescence to the transient and shallow nature of Nu Fanz – those who would regard the hom*ogenisation of football as something to celebrate. Let’s try to be a bit better than that.

#41 March 19, 2012

1.The game at Cardiffwas probably our finest awayday since the earliest weeks of the Premier League and those planet-trembling successes atArsenalandTottenham. Going to the stadium of a genuine contender with intimidating support on a Tuesday night within a relentless month of fixtures and winning by three clear goals is the kind of thing that you almost dare not feel entitled to.

2. A big test for Nick Barmby within Mad March has been that of deciding when and where to make necessary changes to rest tiring limbs and freshen up the starting XI. So far, only the decision to start Seyi Olofinjanaat Blackpoolhas backfired on him, and even then he had the gumption to see in time that it wasn’t working and alter the personnel. The introduction of Josh King and re-introduction of Aaron Mclean to the side have worked excellently, however.

3. James Chester’s goal at Cardiff was a privilege to witness. Kudos to the club for acting upon our suggestion of treating the thousands of City fans who couldn’t get to Wales to a free look at this amazing team goal via the club’s official Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook, it’s still there – but even if you’re not a Facebook subscriber, you can still see it as the club has not placed heavy restrictions on its content for non-users. Sohere you are.

4.The game at Crystal Palacewas an act of mutual cancellation between two sides proving very difficult to defeat. City would have gone fourth with a win, but there are more than enough games left for that fourth place – and higher – to still be an achievable, realistic goal.

5. Southampton, then. They are quite clearly a terrific side, in possession of the division’s most prolific goalscorer (which helps) and yet we know only too well that this City side can beat anyone in this division. Victory at the Circle on Tuesday night would be seen as a shock and a scalp but to us, anything but an impossibility. We’d have to be on form in front of goal though, which isn’t something we are exactly proficient at, while our impenetrable defence will need to be on its toes more than ever to keep Rickie Lambert quiet, but it’s doable.

6. Tom Cairney deserves to start against Southampton.

7. And after the leaders, the alleged sworn enemies. Many members of the various singing splinter groups that attend City away matches are still insistent on hollering unflattering ditties about Nigel Pearson and Leicester. However, the whole Pearson thing just feels like an awful long time ago now, and the best way to put it to bed once and for all is on Saturday to go complete a double over the club he felt were a better option for his career than us. The thought of still singing anti-Pearson or anti-Leicester songs at the end of the season, or even the start of next, is not an especially warming one.

8. Andy Dawson has just made his 300th appearance for Hull City and this is worthy of raucous congratulation. The way he’s playing, he could add another ton to that total yet.

9. In the days of hyper-wealthy professional footballers, testimonial fixtures are largely redundant. However, Dawson is approaching the decade of service traditionally required for one. Who would it be against? Forest, the club he and brothers Michael and Kevin also appeared for, is one option. Tottenham, where Michael currently plays, is the most attractive. Whatever. Dawson has been an outstanding player for City, and the huge respect held by the Tiger Nation is hopefully a reward in itself.

10. We do, of course, offer our best wishes to Fabrice Muamba and hope for his speedy and complete recovery.

#40 March 12, 2012

1. We’ve gone from hardly ever drawing to being able to do nothing but, and the promotion aspirations fade a little with each two points dropped. Recording 0-0s in winnable games is quite frustrating, but that frustration is squared watching a 2-0 lead vanish when scoring goals has been troublesome.

2. We seem to dislike Leeds less now than in previous years. Tuesday’s game was not a full house and the atmosphere was hardly hostile, the occasional ‘We all hate Leeds’ chants weren’t sung any real zeal. Have Leeds totally lost their mystique? They’re no less loathsome now than they’ve always been but it seems that much harder to get worked up about them as it once did.

This is a shame only in that we seem to lack a defining local rival. Identity is as much about who you are not as who you are, and – first – our scuttling about in the basem*nt division (1996-2004) and – second – our rapid ascent through the divisions (2004-2008) has left us without a permanent local rival. Leeds fans noting their hatred of Chelsea was highly amusing, given how much they’ve said how little they care about us. It’s hard to imagine that Leeds have been in the consciousness of any Chelsea fans for a few years.

3. Radio Humberside reported on Saturday that Jimmy Bullard has lost his appeal against dismissal and will receive no payout from City. That’s great news, the scraggy-haired waster has taken enough cash from Hull City and gave very little in return. He was sublime in November 2009, but that is pretty much the extent of his useful contribution to the cause. Who knows when the club will get round to making an official statement, and when it comes it will be short and vague, but wouldn’t it be something if the true nature of his dismissal were made public?

4. We really need to sort the pitch out.

5. Is it out of the question for Nick Barmby to temporarily renounce his retirement from playing? His experience, skill and propensity for high-tempo activity would be invaluable at the moment. Granted, it risks putting a few players’ noses out of joint if the recent-retired boss decides he can do a better job than some of them, but if Barmby wasn’t the manager there’s no doubt he’d be playing some part in games.

6. One of the positives from Saturday was the crowd’s refusal to turn on Cameron Stewart, even though he was having a bit of a ‘mare. Or a lot of a ‘mare, if truth be told. Young players deserve to be cut more slack than their older colleagues, and it was heartening to see that being recognised amid the general frustration.

7. However, him being rested for a while is surely a matter of time, barring a sizeable improvement in form. If that happens, surely Richard Garcia is his natural replacement. The Aussie international is calm, experienced and a bloody good team player who’s very unlucky to have seen so little involvement lately.

8. By the time you read this, Stuart Parnaby’s trial with the club may be over. However, the fact that he’s an experienced and well-regarded right back – the one position on the park for which we lack specialist, senior cover – means that if there is an opportunity to sign him in the short term, we should probably take it. The last thing we need is for Liam Rosenior to get an injury or a red card and for Barmby’s only option in his absence to be to split up a centre back pairing that has, remarkably, not missed a single second of Championship football this season.

9. Cardiff is a big(ger) game now. City have, astoundingly, won just 1 of 14 night matches this season. A victory away to play-off rivals would be precisely the fillip we need at this stage of the season.

10. We’re back to the old Fans Liaison Committee days with this (and with it, you can tell we can only think of nine football-related subjects to comment on this week) but £3.70 for a can – note, acan, and one that doesn’t quite fill a pint glass – of Guinness from the KC kiosks is a total disgrace.

#39 March 5, 2012

1. City have drawn quite a few lately, and they’ve mainly been undeserved – Friday’s game at Blackpool continued that sequence but with the twist of us being the fortunate party. Credit the lads for staying in the game, but the overall performance was disappointing.

2. That said, Blackpool were very good. Like City, they play an attractive style of football and deserve their elevated position. However, we didn’t see anything to suggest we still can’t finish above them.

3. Seyi Olofinjana’s performance divided opinions. To some he appeared ponderous in possession and generally bypassed in midfield, to others a calming and thoughtful influence. He certainly didn’t do anything Corry Evans can’t, and it’d be a surprise not to see them exchange places on Tuesday night.

4. Cameron Stewart’s performance received a more unanimous review, alas. He’s still obviously a very good player, but the time may have arrived for him to spend a few games out of the side. Young players shouldn’t be whisked from the side at the slightest dip in form or confidence, they should be persevered with where possible – but his recent difficulties may stem more from the lack of match fitness owing to that awful injury. A rest may do him good and allow him to return refreshed for the final run-in.

5. A Leeds United team led by Neil Warnock threatens to be the most cynical side ever to visit the KC when they – dragging along half of Beverley and Driffield – come to the hygienic side of the county on Tuesday night. How it is done is actually irrelevant, but City very simply must win the game. Fair means or foul, fortunately or convincingly (though either of those specific ways would register high on the amusem*nt scale), the three points have to be ours. This is one occasion when it is handy to have a Hull-centric manager, and we’d like to think Nick Barmby will tell the players he hates Leeds as much as the rest of us do, and that victory will simply make them heroes forever.

6. Jimmy Bullard is a toxic, nasty, selfish, narcissistic wastrel whose suspension at a second successive club will, hopefully, open the wider public’s eyes about the real character behind the jolly, cheeky figure that sits on theSoccer AMsofa or advertises shampoo. Hopefully, this latest act of intoxicated idiocy will also aid City’s case as the grotesque man continues to try to force even more cash out of our club.

7. That he’ll be missing from next Saturday’s fixture when Ipswich arrive is both a relief and a shame. A relief, because it’d be Textbook TypicalCity for that detestable specimen to have his game of the year and belt in a 30 yard winner; a shame, because one fancies the Tiger Nation would have some particularly forthright views to impart on his human worth, or absence thereof.

8. As if by contrast, another experienced pro from the Tigers’ spell in the limelight has begun what we expect to be a very long coaching career, due to his natural intelligence and vast experience in the game. One hopes Kevin Kilbane, one of football’s good guys, proves to be a success in charge of City’s reserves and that great achievements await him.

9. It was nice of the BBC to show West Ham again yesterday.

10. Mind you, seeing Cardiff do a passable impression of a side whose league season is collapsing wasn’t an unwelcome sight.

#38 February 27, 2012

1.Cameron Stewart’s call into the England under 21 squadis nothing short of a brilliant achievement. There is oodles of talent available at that level, and for the Tigers winger to make it so soon into his first-team career, and with one bad injury already interrupting those early days of senior football, is something to make us all very proud.

2. Fraizer Campbell’s call-up to the senior squad, meanwhile, took everybody by surprise but when a new gaffer is around, there is traditionally always a radical “new face” within the familiarity of his first squad, and Campbell is the Ricky Hill/Andy Hinchcliffe/Chris Powell of the Stuart Pearce era. With Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent now out of contention with knocks, it means he’s actually likely to play now, too. And yes, he was “only” a loan player with us, but nonetheless we’ll happily cast him as an ex-Tiger in this instance. It’s about time someone finally followed Brian Marwood’s ludicrous nine-minute cameo of 1989 anyway.

2 a. Going by the reaction of City fans online since Campbell’s call up, the Tiger Nation appears to have largely gotten over its seething indignation at his not joining us permanently. Holding ill will towards a man who was integral to our last promotion campaign will raise the blood pressure and harden the arteries, we should have only gratitude and warm feelings toward Fraizer Lee Campbell.

3. You’d expect the prospect of levelling a century-old record to have been on our minds throughWednesday’s draw with Brighton, yet there never really seemed any doubt we’d secure a sixth successive clean sheet. Testament to both our phenomenal defence and the general dominance enjoyed throughout. Last season saw that record-obliterating run of away games without defeat, this season is 90 minutes from creating its own slice of history – the class of 2011/12 deserves its place in the Hull City record books.

4. It’s impossible not to keep an eye on results elsewhere when you’re not in action. It was a mixed day, with City unsurprisingly falling to 9th. However, we’re the only side in the top half with 15 games left, and it’s still in our hands – plus the three sides below us, Leicester, Leeds and Burnley, all look to have a lot to do to make the top six. Ours remains a strong position.

5. Dare we hope that Cardiff’s distressing penalty shoot-out defeat at Wembley yesterday will cast a shadow over the rest of their season?

6. A common utterance ahead of Mad March is “they’re professional footballers, they should be able to play that many games”. They doubtless can. The question is not whether City’s first XI, plus a few others, can between them get through nine games in a month, because they obviously will. They could probably manage twenty. The issue is the extent to which tiredness will creep in and potentially affect performances and results. At this level of the game, even a slight decrease in standards will be punished, and the division is too tight for there to be many. Remarkably fit though a 20 year old footballer is and as enviable as their wealth and lifestyle may be, they’re still going to have to work bloody hard to get us close to contention and there’s no harm in acknowledging that.

7. City fans haven’t tended to have a very high opinion of the local media’s coverage of the Tigers, with both Radio Humberside and the Hull Daily Mail coming in for plenty of criticism. Going all the way back to the late 90s we tended to side with that view – seehereandherefortwo particularly lurid examples. So maybe we should be equally willing to offer praise for the improvement of both in recent years.

8. Once upon a time, things were so bad that the HDM was widely reviled and Kempton would made vivid allegations about the onanistic tendencies of BBC Radio Humberside’s David Gibbins. Hard to imagine that happening now. While Humberside’s still not entirely to our taste it’s audibly improved, while the HDM of yesteryear was never capable of this sort ofexcellence by Philip Buckingham. The local media can never really hope to properly tap in to the supporters’ culture, but it’s trying, and it’s improved, and in a quiet period that too is worth acknowledging.

9. Seeing Birmingham win the competition last season and Cardiff make its final yesterday illustrates that silverware and European competition via the League Cup is possible for any of English football’s top 30 clubs. Let’s hope City take it seriously next season, some 2013/14 trips to unpronounceable places thousands of miles from home would be rather fun.

10. Sympathy for Anthony Gerrard on the above, of course. Mind you, the penalty he took was absolutely shocking.

10 a. Though not as bad as Charlie Adam’s, which had inhabitants of the International Space Station frantically firing retro-thrusters to avoid a collision with a size-5 Mitre.

#37 February 20, 2012

1. Tuesday’s point at Birmingham was a very useful one, even if it means City are going to spend a period outside the top six. We’d have taken a draw before kick-off.

2. It was encouraging that this didn’t represent the limit of City’s ambitions, however. Amid the formidable ball retention and impenetrable defence we’ve become accustomed to, there were genuine attempts to push forward for a winner.

3. Sadly another thing we’ve become accustomed to is City’s inability to convert possession and chances into goals. We’d be top of the league if we could.

4. One of the mysteries of Birmingham was hearing “bit crap last night, wasn’t it?” from those who couldn’t make it the following morning. This seems to have come from dullard pundits on both radio and television, for whom a match can only be entertaining or worthwhile if laden with goals from famous people. The acclaim the side received from the away end at full time provides a more informed verdict than anything Tony Cottee could hope to come up with.

5. Players and managers are surely fibbing when they say they don’t take much notice of others teams’ results – so they’ll presumably have watched with satisfaction as Brighton’s big day out in the Cup ended with a heavy defeat. Gus Poyet is an admirable manager and this is certain to be a difficult game on a lousy surface, but there are few things a Sussex side would want less than a night match in Yorkshire three days after being battered in Liverpool.

6. It’s a game we could really do to win, however. Come Wednesday night we could be unable to reclaim a top six place without a very big win, and another weekend off could put us half a dozen points adrift if things go badly. Games in hand or not, that’s a lot to make up.

7. Robert Koren’s retirement from international football does City a great service and also acts as a huge gesture of respect from player to his club. We need him more than ever as the games pile up and our thin squad is pushed to its limit. It’d have been profoundly irritating if we’d lost him for Mad March because of some limited Scottish hobbledehoy severing a ligament of choice in next week’s friendly.

8. Dean Windass begins his 26 days of rehab today. We know he will emerge a stronger man at peace with himself, and he will always be our Deano.

9. Colin and Ken, together at last. Truly this is the end of days.

10. Amber Nectar is 14 years old this week. Crikey.

#36 February 13, 2012

1. What a welcome relief to get allthree points against Bristol Citywithout too much strife and in some degree of comfort. The early 2-0 margin wasn’t insurmountable – think about how Burnley responded to an identical deficit at the Circle earlier this season – but nonetheless City were clever enough and professional enough to exploit the many weaknesses of what was a most listless Bristol City team. Victories like these, against the teams we “ought” to be beating, will be key to our ambitions for the remainder of the season.

2. When Matt Fryatt stays up front, gets good service and deliberately aims for nets with every run, he’s a very dangerous centre forward. He has taken some flak from many supporters lately so it’s time to offer credit where it’s due, as against Bristol City he was excellent and his goal was a cracker.

3. Fewer dropped players in recent memory have been unluckier than Aaron Mclean, statistically the Amber Nectar player of the season thus far. But NickBarmby called it right.

4. Another correct call was the inclusion of Robbie Brady. He’s improved markedly in recent weeks – gone is the maddeningly selfish play and bouts of petulance, replaced by a greater team ethic and a focus on the simple things. His assist for Koren’s goal was exactly what he should be doing, using his skill to create a yard of space to send in a dangerous cross. More of this, please.

5. Barmby, meanwhile, has stated the loan market isn’t something he will seek to exploit over the days and weeks. He is being very optimistic, however, if he thinks the 12 or 13 main performers are all going to keep form and fitness over the next 11 games – nine of which occur in a mental March – and also quite ambitious if he thinks that the array of back-up players currently at his disposal will prove adequate.

6. Birmingham, then. The pressure on City to get a result has been greatly reduced by Saturday’s victory, so a defeat wouldn’t be a disaster – unless you’re one of those who thinks the top two is still on, of course. Victory would indeed make automatic promotion a genuine possibility, if still fairly improbable.

7. You’d think City were 13th, judging by the amount of media attention we’ve received. This isn’t a bad thing, quite the reverse – it’s allowing this young side to go about its business without unwanted distractions from outside the club. One does wonder at point we’ll be noticed though – halfway through the play-off final itself, perhaps?

8. Congratulations to all involved in bringing the FSF’s Safe Standing roadshow to Hull on Saturday. Mentions must go to the official supporters’ club, City themselves, the FSF, the boys at City Independent, WHCR and everyone who took the time on a numbingly cold day to take a look at what safe standing is and could do for The Circle. We remain optimistic that this will eventually become a reality.

9. Let’s throw you a curveball; in the event of Paul McKenna becoming unavailable, is it worth offering a short-term deal to Ian Ashbee as back-up?

10. An impeccable silence was observed prior to the Bristol City game, rightly requested by the benevolent owners of Hull City as the latest footballingtragedy occurred in their Egyptian homeland. But why didn’t the club see it fit to acknowledge similarly the passing of Paul Feasey and Bob Chapman? One was a player for 12 years and distinguished skipper, the other a well-respected chairman. Whatever other marks of respect did occur – black armbands, pieces in the programme – the silence (or applause) is the only way supporters can collectively proffer their own respect.

#35 February 6, 2012

1. Most City fans travelling from Hull were well south of Leicester when thePortsmouth match was postponed. To be allowed to travel more than halfway for a game that had no prospect of being played is a complete disgrace.

2. Quite who’s culpable is presently unclear. The rumours about Portsmouth not even troubling to print a programme, such was their certainty of a postponement have been debunked – yet finding a Portsmouth fan who didn’t know the game wouldn’t be played is a difficult task. It seems to have been common knowledge in that part of the world. So why were we allowed to set off?

3. Some Portsmouth supporters identify the officials as the guilty party for not holding an inspection until after we’d all left. So why did Bournemouth, just 50 miles away, manage to declare their pitch unplayable 24 hours before kick-off? The answer may lie in Portsmouth’s desperate financial state – so keen were they to get the cash from a home match they were willing to let us waste a journey in the hope that the weather forecast ended up being totally wrong.

4. These may seem minor trifles grievances comparison to what the Portsmouth fans are going through, to which we can of course relate. But the fact remains that time and money has been unnecessarily wasted. Not much of either, but more than was necessary given even a moment’s consideration. That’s not good enough. It contrasts starkly with City’s own conduct – from 10.15am the club began calling people whom they knew had bought tickets to advise them to turn around. Well done City, that’s classy stuff.

5. Also not good enough is the fact the game wasn’t on anyway. The technology has existed for many years that allows pitches to be rendered playable even in the depths of winter – and this is a club on the southern coast of a country with a stable and moderate climate. Extreme weather just doesn’t happen in England. That technology, which is admittedly not cheap, nonetheless costs a fraction of the money Portsmouth recouped from their Premier League years, Cup win and European adventure. The FA needs to adopt a tougher stance: from 2014, any club in the top two tiers that cannot prepare a football pitch should be deducted three points. This’d focus a few minds and prevent a repeat of Saturday’s farce.

6. That postponement does little for City’s hopes of making the top six. While Saturday’s results weren’t unhelpful, the appalling fixture backlog we’ll have in March and April is going to be a severe test of a young side and a thin squad – while having three of our four longest away trips of 2011/12 on Tuesday nights is a severe test of supporters’ stamina and holiday entitlement.

7. Booing the team off the pitch for a goalless draw against aDoncasterside so much on the bones of its arse it was prepared to resort to ultra-desperate defensive tactics to quell a run of six straight away defeats, was an act of outrageous stupidity and ingratitude. Where do we find these cretins?

8. What is the problem with our set-pieces? It’s not as if we keep coming close to scoring from them; either the delivery is poor or the attempt to make contact with a better effort is inept. Robert Koren and Andy Dawson can put in wicked centres and Jack Hobbs and James Chester are hardly difficult to see in a crowd of bodies, but it just isn’t happening. Nick Barmby clumsily and naively expressed his preference to score from open play as a way of defending our awfulness from dead balls, but he must see the problem. One hopes more and more priority is being given to them, especially as a starkly obvious aerial threat in Seyi Olofinjana has now returned to the squad. All good sides have a reasonable success rate from free kicks and corners and just because we aim for a pretty, flowing, open game it doesn’t mean our ineptitude from set-pieces should be labelled as unimportant.

9. AgainstCrawleyand particularly Doncaster, the KC greensward looked in poor condition. It’s a difficult time of year to keep football pitches in pristine condition, but it’s no coincidence that its sudden deterioration has begun at the time when egg-chasing has recommenced. Now, we appreciate that both sports cause damage and sadly it’s not possible to evict the rugby franchise or stop them playing “Super” League games, but it really isn’t acceptable for friendlies to be played on the pitch in January, as has happened twice in recent weeks.

10. Nor is it acceptable for Hull KR to be allowed to play at the Circle, as recently mooted.

#34 January 30, 2012

1. Thedefeat against Crawley Townwas absolutely abject – not the result itself, embarrassing though it was, but the nature of it. One part poor team selection, three parts woeful application. That’s what is difficult to take.

2. Crawley have drawn Stoke City at home in the next round. You’d fancy City at home to Stoke – and from there, you’re suddenly in the quarter-finals. It’s galling to see other clubs enjoying the FA Cup when it appears to bring us nothing but disappointment.

3. Anyway, onwards and upwards. Doncaster Rovers, Portsmouth and Bristol City are our next three opponents, and they’re all beatable. Six points or more will keep us nicely in the top six, but with Southampton wobbling, suddenly quite a few clubs must see second place opening up as a possibility. Why not us? Nine points from those games would certainly see the Tigers edging ever closer to the top two, and would atone for Crawley.

4. City’s scheduled fixtures at home to Brighton & Hove Albion and away at Cardiff City in February both now need rearranging as those sides have each taken the cup competitions seriously and find themselves both involved in money-spinning, headline-making games against Liverpool on the days they were supposed to play the Tigers. It’s an unfortunate coincidence that these two City games would have been in successive weeks, but it does mean that unless one can be allocated a February midweek slot, we could have a period of 17 days without a match – from Birmingham City away on February 14th to Blackpool away on March 2nd. That’s a long time to be not playing football, and while it may have benefits for the health of the team, it will do nothing for any momentum they may have achieved. It also, incidentally, creates an extraordinary 24-day gap between games at the KC – from Bristol City on February 11th to Leeds United on March 6th.

5. Quite clearly, the dreadful car crash against Crawley has proved that we have a poor secondary set of players backing up our fine starting XI. Maybe 14 or 15 outfield players in total, as a semi-generous figure, could state their genuine worth to the squad but there’s clearly a stack of dross also around which, irrespective of our division next season, need to be handed their sticks and handkerchiefs in the summer, a process begun this week with Will Atkinson’s departure to Bradford City.

6. It won’t happen, but it’d be great if City could use the final 48 hours of the transfer window to make a proper bid for Vito Mannone and see what Arsenal say. You never know. It’d just be nice to have a goalkeeper of our own – one who is young, gifted, ambitious and of long-term benefit to the team. Mannone himself has made noises about potentially joining up permanently in the summer, so it’s not as if the player’s own ego or sense of entitlement makes it impractical.

7. That said, a quiet transfer window may not be a bad thing, mainly because it’d mean City have managed to keep hold of everyone.

8. He mucked us around good and proper but it was only the stoniest of human hearts that didn’t melt a little when Fraizer Campbell scored in the FA Cup for Sunderland at the weekend. As the telly commentator pointed out, it had been exactly 500 days since his last taste of senior football, with horrific injuries in the interim period threatening to end the career of a young player who was just a total superstar up front for the Tigers when we got promoted. Some ex-players are unforgivable, but Campbell represents a period of total Tiger euphoria and time can heal, so of course we should join in with his joy. And the goal, a divine side-footed finish from the edge of the box, was reminiscent of the fearless, totally confident finishing he showed regularly in 2007-08 as City rose to the top flight. Brought back a lot of happy memories. Well done Fraizer.

9. Seeing Crystal Palace pin their Wembley hopes on a defensive partnership of Anthony Gardner and Paul McShane in midweek was nothing short of hilarious, and yet it almost worked, with the Eagles only losing their Carling Cup semi-final to Cardiff City on penalties in the end. It would have been a briefly joyful moment had McShane stepped up to take a kick, but that script seems, sadly, destined to remain unwritten.

10. Hearing that the Football Supporters’ Federation are bringing theirsafe standing roadshow to Hullis excellent news. Even if it’s not your preference to stand, the choice should be provided for those who do. We hope the event on February 11th is a success and eventually does lead to a standing area at the Circle. In the meantime, why not go sign theFSF’s petition on the issue?

#33 January 23, 2012

1. Another week, another win. Frankly, we didn’t deserve it, but we didn’t deserve that run over Christmas. These things really do even themselves up.

2. Was Aaron Mclean offside? Yes. Was he interfering with play? Well, he got to within a yard of the ball, so yes. Was the linesman right not to flag? Yes, according to the laws as they currently stand. It’s the laws that are patently stupid, not the officials’ application of them.

3. It also made Brian McDermott sound unusually foolish. One can understand his frustration, but suggesting this is some mysterious new development is woefully ignorant and to blame Saturday’s officials is to select the wrong target for ire.

4. The trip to Berkshire has begun, hopefully, to prove the worth of Robbie Brady as a good player, rather than just a flick-heeled show pony with minuscule discipline or appreciation of a team game. He got his chance, both to play and to score, and took each in the correct manner. Let’s hope this makes him a crucial member of the squad for the remainder of the campaign.

5. His fellow winger is faring a little less well, however. Have other teams worked out Cameron Stewart a little? Maybe they have. There’s no appreciable drop in his work rate, which is promising, but his effectiveness has been greatly reduced in recent weeks. How he responds will be fascinating. He’s a young player still learning the game, and there’s no reason to suppose he won’t react positively to it. Let’s hope so, because Stewart on his day is almost unplayable.

6. Crawley on Saturday represents an outstanding opportunity for progress in the FA Cup. We’ve only made the Fifth Round once since 1989, which is serial underachievement even by City’s standards. Assuming Nick Barmby picks something approximating to his strongest side, and it applies itself correctly on the field, the result should only go one way. Anything else and we could find ourselves embarrassed. It’d be a shame if that were to occur during such a successful season.

7. It’s probably rash to start issuing targets and getting ahead of ourselves, but City’s next three games are against sides in the bottom eight, two of them being at home. If any of rivals were to encounter such a run of games we’d expect them to amass five points, at the least. If City can do the same we’d be on 50 (or more) from 30 games. Another seven wins from the remaining 16 games would virtually guarantee the play-offs…

8. Perhaps Barmby just likes the insurance of extra defensive cover, but his selection as a substitute for the last three games of Liam Cooper, who had been off the radar – and, indeed, off the premises – for quite some time, shows considerable and welcome faith in a youngster who just momentarily looked set for a major future when he played in the Premier League. The remarkable ever-presence – by minutes as well as by matches – of Jack Hobbs and James Chester suggests game time may be of a premium for the young man, but at least he’s been noticed again.

9. The transfer window closes in just over a week. The arrival of two goalkeepers and one centre forward, all on loan, has been most welcome but is there cover anywhere else that we would really regard as urgent? The defence seems strong, the midfield currently picks itself but has back-up available, and we have enough width and central ability in attack for Barmby to play around with. From here, the squad looks pretty much as we would need it to be, on both content and form.

10. Aston Villa, Rangers and Celtic have all publicly declared themselves willing to introduce safe standing areas at their home grounds. Villa’s intervention is significant as they’re the first Premier League club to officially state this, though plenty of others sympathise. More than two decades have passed since the ill-advised move towards all-seater grounds began, yet the issue refuses to go away. If anything, the momentum is now with the pro-standing lobby.

#32 January 16, 2012

1. Thevictory over Peterboroughwon’t live long in the memory, but there were still positive signs to take from it. Robert Koren’s goal was yet another delightful strike, and the way City ruthlessly closed the game out by starving an eager but limited side of possession was a sign of maturity from a youthful side.

2. A couple of modest concerns, however. City started very slowly and a better side would probably have capitalised on that by scoring at least once. We were also very fortunate not to concede a penalty close to half-time, and would have had a tough job on to win the game in the second half. Nick Barmby has described that as a bit of overdue good fortune and he’s right, but starting better and scoring that second goals are things City can seek to improve.

3. Even so, there’s a lot of truth in that hoary old cliché that good teams can win when playing below their best. City are sixth in the Championship – we are undoubtedly a good side.

4. A good psychological move on behalf of his players from Barmby in selecting his team for the Peterborough game; despite three straight defeats, the “established” XI was carded, whatever the temptation to alter things following those losses and a few good claims made by peripheral players after the FA Cup win over Ipswich. Barmby was essentially saying “you’re my best team, lads, forget the last three games, it’s still all about you”.

5. And as interesting was his choice of substitutes. Many more players are now available to the new City gaffer and so he knew he was going to be left with some disappointed faces and perhaps spring a surprise or two. Richard Garcia and Jay Simpson will maybe have raised eyebrows for longest through their omission as they stayed suited up while four of the more youthful, inexperienced members of the squad were given a shirt.

6. If one player from the “establishment” does look ready for a spell of battery recharging, it’s Matt Fryatt. He doesn’t seem entirely happy, and isn’t helped by the lack of a regular strike partner whose brief doesn’t include also filling in at left wing and right back. Josh King’s arrival, as well as Simpson’s return, give Barmby real alternatives now, should he feel he needs them.

7. Only Kamel Ghilas of the senior squad is still out on a loan spell arranged prior to Barmby’s appointment; the rest have returned. We can’t imagine Barmby will be in a hurry to recall the Algerian, though. When is he out of contract again?

8. Assam Allam’s patient persuasion of Barmby to take the job and his robust repelling of unwanted transfer offers from lesser Championship sides have been very welcome. Therecently-released accountsillustrate the extent of his benevolence, for which we will be eternally grateful – his conduct in recent weeks is a pleasing indication that there’s more to his ownership of City than financial assistance.

9. Sky’s decision to bring forward the Blackpool away game in March to the Friday night is typically inconsiderate towards travelling supporters, but that’s now as much part of television’s contribution to football as boneheaded punditry and copious advertising breaks.

10. The news that Dean Windass is suffering from depression is desperately sad. We hope an authentic City legend gets the help he needs.

#29 December 19, 2011

1: Fourth at Christmas. We can cope with that.

2: A mixed response toone Amber Nectar author’s view that Brian Horton would be a suitable assistant manager to Nick Barmby, which is fair enough. However, as Barmby gets ever nearer to ditching the caretaking caveat and becoming the bonafide boss, the issue of an assistant is a live one. Steve Wigley and Stuart Watkiss both currently hold the title of First Team Coach, so unless one of these is set to take on managerial duties too, then the need to find Barmby the right kind of adherent becomes more pressing.

3: Whether he takes the job or not, no-one can accuse of Nick Barmby of not taking his time to decide, or of making his decision in haste. He’s in a remarkably fortunate position: few managers have had the chance to have a trial run at management at a club where they’re already a hero and with a young, gifted squad.

4: Where on earth were the Millwall fans at the weekend? Whether the purpose of their collective’s previous visits was to watch football or wreak havoc, you could at least always rely on them to pitch up in proper numbers. There was almost one steward per away supporter on Saturday. Were all the hoolies dragged out Christmas shopping by their wives instead?

5: Given that under 200 made it north and were wholly becalmed throughout the entire game, the decision to have mounted police outside the East Stand before kick-off looks even more ridiculous. Sure, that’s carping with the benefit of hindsight, but we’re not paid to use foresight. Others are.

6: Tom Cairney is a very unlucky young man. He played a terrific game at Southampton when roped in to cover Paul McKenna’s one-match ban, and though it was no shock for McKenna – a super footballer – to be recalled afterwards, the fact is that Cairney has since been an unused substitute three times, prior to being dropped altogether by Barmby at the weekend.

7: The Middlesbrough game on Boxing Day has all the ingredients of an absolute classic. A Yorkshire derby between two sides fighting for automatic promotion – yes, we said it – at one of the division’s more atmospheric grounds, a whopping great away following assured, it’s going to be a belter.

8: We just need a result now. Things are getting A Little Bit Serious. More points separate City from 7th than 1st. This is an authentic promotion challenge by the Tigers, even if no-one outside East Yorkshire has realised it yet. Long may that continue, too.

9: News that the site on which Boothferry Park stood is to be redeveloped is welcome. Our wonderful former home being allowed to slowly decay was a grim spectacle indeed.

10: City (and Ipswich) deciding to make ita tenner for season-ticket holdersto attend the FA Cup match next month is both a reminder of the competition’s decline, and a very sensible and welcome move.

#28 December 12, 2011

1: With only Middlesbrough matching the Tigers for victory among the top six at the weekend, and with the two teams at the top both undergoing a little pre-festive wobble, it’s not unrealistic to believe that City could be in an automatic promotion place sooner rather than later if our own form, verve and confidence holds up.

2: However, just for now it’s great to have a cushion of four points between ourselves and 7th. It means City are certain to be in the play-off places at Christmas, and it’d take a real dip for us not to start 2012 in them.

3: One thing Nick Barmby needs to work on is his timing and decision-making as far as substitutions are concerned. After the ultra-fatal confusion against Burnley that followed Andy Dawson’s introduction, the Tigers fell to bits completely in midfield at the weekend when Corry Evans got the shepherd’s crook and Joe Dudgeon, not a central midfielder in a thousand years, came on. Only Coventry’s brazen incompetence prevented them from exploiting a needless chasm of weakness which more adept sides in this division would have managed straightaway. It was all the more baffling because Tom Cairney, a like-for-like replacement for Evans, stayed on the bench.

4: An additional concern is that City looked just a bit leggy on Saturday. That’s to be expected given that we played in midweek and a week off ahead of the busy festive period will help – as will the youth and enthusiasm of the side – but it’s definitely something the manager needs to keep an eye on.

5: With Richard Garcia back, one wonders if he is now, for the short-term at least, pencilled in as the replacement striker for Matt Fryatt or Aaron Mclean, given his selfless displays of workaholism up front last season, some of which were on his lonesome. Whatever the plan is for the Australian, the fact that Barmby found immediate room for him in the 16 after a very long period out with a serious injury shows the mark of player and man.

6: The decision to bring Garcia in for Dele Adebola left City without a proper forward on the bench, however. The need to bolster our forward line is surely the January transfer window’s greatest priority.

7: Congratulations to the E4-E7 section of the KC, which collectively and rapidly on Wednesday night booed down the hideous “how sh*t must you be, we’re winning at home” chant that has been an embarrassment for some weeks now, and is indicative of numbskulls whose priority on a match day is to antagonise opposing supporters rather than indulge in activity that benefits and inspires the team. One expects now never to hear that execrable song again, even if our next home win doesn’t occur until April.

8: Whisper it quietly, but Péter Gulácsi hasn’t done anything to alarm us lately. It may be considered that that’s somewhat essential in any goalkeeper at this level, and that’d be correct – however, it suggests he’s finally finding his feet after an, ahem, suboptimal beginning to life at City.

9: We’re not naturally inclined towards sympathy towards other teams’ fans, but Coventry’s come close. A team as awful as that playing in front of four-figure gates (12,652, give over) in a empty, echoey, soulless stadium – that really cannot be any fun at all. Given that they haven’t finished in the top six in 40 years, we’re tempted to think a relegation may be needed for them to have a bit of enjoyment. Then again, they probably thought that when they were relegated from the Premier League…

10: Strange old world, isn’t it? On the bench for Norwich City at the weekend, though not eventually called from it to play a part against Newcastle United, was a 32 year old centre forward who is clearly now very close to making the first top-flight appearance of his football career. His name? Aaron Wilbraham.

#27 December 5, 2011

1: Well, that felt good onSaturday. Before the game, We anticipated an afternoon of low wit on the terraces, but “We’re not boring anymore” was very good. Time to put the Pearson vitriol to bed now though.

2:Southamptonare by far the best team we’ve faced this season and are top of the table on merit.

3: Why does theFA Cup hate us so much? Ipswich at home is a cack draw, though at least it’s not Ipswich away. Or bastard Wigan again.

4: It’ll also be nice to share our opinions on life, the universe and everything with James Richard Bullard. We trust he’s looking forward to it too, and won’t wuss out with a phantom injury. Or be in the Weir bar.

5: Nick Barmby noticeably prevaricated when asked whether he wants the job on Saturday. We get the feeling he’s still unsure about the whole thing – and if so, he’s doing terrifically well to not allow that personal uncertainty to spread itself to the team.

6: Yes, he’s 19, yes, he’s naïve, yes, he’s skilful, but boy, is Robbie Brady so frustrating already.

7: Joe Dudgeon was tremendously unlucky to lose his place against Leicester, but the Hull City team does always feel like a better thing for having Andy Dawson in it.

8: If the Tiger Nation wish to sing “sign him up” every timeBoaz Myhillcatches the ball on Wednesday night, that’s perfectly okay by us. One suspects that Convicted Sex Offender Marlon King may get a slightly less adulatory welcome…

9: Cameron Stewart hasn’t noticeably lost any pace, skill or confidence during his time out. When Leicester went down to ten men and couldn’t put two men on him any more, he absolutely tore them to pieces at times. What sets him apart from lots of players of a similar nature is his ability to make the right decision more often than not – stepovers when the time is right to try them, a short pass when it’s not. He’s going to have a superb career.

10: Five years ago yesterday,Phil Parkinson was sacked by Cityafter winning just five out of 24 games, only a few days afterThe Colchester Debacle. It seems an absolute age ago. Mind you, was it only 20 days since Nigel Pearson left? Seems longer somehow.

#26 November 28, 2011

1. The reaction to the Burnley defeat remains, two days on, primarily one of shock. What little recriminations there have been have centred on a poor substitution made at the wrong time; most are just accepting that every now and then inexplicable things like that just happen in football.

2. While the 15 minutes of madness at the end will remain as our abiding memory of the game, one trusts Nick Barmby has cleared his head enough to emphasise to his team that the preceding 75 are worth recalling too. City played some marvellous football for much of that time, and a freakish spell at the end shouldn’t be allowed to cloud what was a display full of verve.

3. The atmosphere was a decent one on Saturday, the unquestionable highlight of which was a couple of thousand schoolkids taunting the Burnley fans with a high-pitched squeal of “who are yer”. Let’s hope the youngsters in the North Stand enjoyed proper football played in front of them instead of on Sky Sports enough to pester mum and dad for return visits.

4. That lad who suffers the indignity of walking around the stands dressed as a slice of pizza, is that some sort of community service penance? If it isn’t restorative justice in action, we sure hope he’s on more than minimum wage.

5. Paul McKenna had a slow start to his City career, but he’s been a star of late. City’s man of the match on Saturday, his knack for quietly tidying up in midfield is an unglamorous but essential role. He’ll be sorely missed tomorrow night at Southampton.

6. More glamorous is Cameron Stewart. What an outstanding talent he is, and he’s seemingly lost no pace, talent or confidence during his time injured.

7. Unfortunately, it seems inevitable that Robbie Brady will be judged on how he compares to Stewart. On Saturday, that was very much as the lesser of our two wingers.

8. Southampton, then. They’ve won all nine at home this season, and are clearly something more than a flash in the pan. If anyone can ruin a side’s outstanding home record it’s City, but the task looks a daunting one.

9. The visit to St. Mary’s offers the last readily justifiablechance of 2011/12 to use the alternate amber shorts and socks set, as Southampton are the only side we’ve yet to face away that use black home shorts. Go on Johnny, give us another fix.

10. Sorry Bill Shankly, but you were wrong about football being more important than life and death. Gary Speed’s untimely end is testament to that.

#25 November 21, 2011

1. As much as our managerial alteration was untimely and potentially disruptive, in the short term at least the appointment of Hull’s greatest footballing son to the top job looks like a masterstroke. One game makes no season of course, but just to have Nick Barmby re-iterating the importance of club and team to a group of young players still in relatively new surroundings will have made a major impact.

2. The football played by the Tigers during the middle section of the second half atDerbywas an utter joy to behold. All shackles had been removed, freedom had been granted. Talented players were given the opportunity to play intricate one-touch football and offered an all-too-brief reminder of why this game remains the most aesthetically pleasing of all when done correctly.

3. Hopefully the game and result against Burnley this coming weekend won’t do too much to change the currently held view that next Tuesday’s trip to Southampton will be an absolute corker of an occasion.

4. If there is an issue for Barmby to work on with some urgency, it’s the goalkeeping situation. Peter Gulácsi simply looks too nervy and erratic to forge a career at this level – and this is a keeper good enough to win a contract at Liverpool, of course – while Adriano Basso has been sound without ever being entirely able to convince us he isn’t one howler away from total meltdown. In the short term, he should be restored to the team but in the long term a new custodian should be first on the club’s shopping list come the New Year.

5. That aside, Barmby may be best served by doing fairly little. Often clubs appoint new managers to right wrongs, but there’s very little wrong with City at present so we should carry on as before. That’s not to say he’s not entitled to implement his own ideas in time, but right now we could do much worse than look to tweak rather than overhaul. Barmby himself doubtless appreciates this – if it ain’t broke..

6. The managerial change could mean a return to favour for Seyi Olofinjana and Jay Simpson. Jimmy Bullard’s continued omission was justified, he was a poor example for fellow pros, something Barmby witnessed first hand and wasn’t happy with, but Olofinjana’s case is different and we may as well get some value from paying his wages. Simpson clearly has talents and might benefit from a manager using a new broom at his parent club, especially as Martyn Waghorn is now unlikely to stick around.

7. The Allams’ interview with the HDM after Nick Barmby’s appointment was very interesting; they move to address some concerns about the day to day operations of the club, rebuffing talk of interference and penny pinching. No one is ignorant of the fact that the Allams rescued the club from financial meltdown, but that doesn’t exempt them from healthy scepticism from fans who’ve witnessed all sorts of boardroom behaviour in the last 20 years. There remains the unsettling feeling that the Allams are more preoccupied with capital projects than the long term success of Hull City AFC, but reassurances about squad investment in the January transfer window certainly make for pleasing reading. So do statements of a desire to have the club operate with relative fiscal normality, given that the club has been in some parlous monetary states over the years. It’s a tricky balancing act for sure, and only time will truly tell how well the club is being run.

8. Calling Nigel Pearson a Judas and other choice names, as some fans have been wont to do, is needless, wrong, counter-productive, inaccurate and, if we’re brutally honest, unfair.

9. We hear that Jimmy Bullard isn’t doing terribly well at Ipswich. Shame.

10. Theamber alternate shorts and sockswere a good move by kitman John Eyre, far better than using light blue and white against a team in white and black. Kudos.

#24 November 14, 2011

1. So Nigel Pearson is gone. That fills us with sadness rather than a sense of outrage, as he was doing a sterling job of rebuilding the team. He had (with help) removed disinterested mercenaries and packed the squad with hungry, motivated and talented players who it seemed would run through a brick wall if the manager told them to. The team were upwardly mobile under the irascible Pearson and, contrary to what some hard of thinking types insisted, were playing good football. There now lurks in our minds the worry that such a team could be broken up in the January transfer window.

2. Some havechosen to believethat Nigel Pearson’s motive for leaving was money, and moneyalone, but that doesn’t chime with what we know of the manat all, and we’ve heard stories of a manager driven to disillusionment by interference and lack of support from the club’s frontoffice as well as theside-lining of his staunch ally Adam Pearson. Radio Humberside’s David Burns last week made a remark that aligns with what we’ve been told, so we’re not as inclined to believe money is the main factor in Pearson’s defection as some.

3. It’s irritating when official club websites go silent at the time supporters are most clamouring for reliable information about events unfolding at the club. The rest of the year they posit that they are THE go to source for up to date information, but when a manager requests permission to talk to another club, it’s up to Radio Humberside and the Hull Daily Mail to say so while the OWS talks about a curry night. It doesn’t have to be this way.

4. Warren Joyce and Nick Barmby, two men for whom the Tiger Nation should have nothing but love and respect for. If we do appoint them this week we need to add patience to that, Joyce hasn’t managed a first team side in a few years (and Royal Antwerp is used as a satellite reserve side for Manchester United, who later made Joyce manager of their actual reserve team) and Barmby is taking his first tentative steps into a management set up. If owner interference was an issue for Pearson, it will surely be an issue for these two, so we hope they (or whoever gets the job) are given every tool needed to succeed.

5. We’d feel a lot better about the appointment of any new manager if Adam Pearson was in total control, but his authority has been gravely eroded. Recently, the personal assistant shared by both Pearsons was made redundant without the prior knowledge and consultation of our director of football, which illustrates the curious lack of regard our owners have for a manwhose services are coveted by other football clubs. When we asked Assem Allam directly what value he places on Adam Pearson’s continued involvement in the club (in light ofhim buying Hull FC), the answer was troubling…”if he goes, he goes, the club will go on.” Yes, the club will go on, but with a dearth of experience in running a football club competently. Does anyone really think Mark Maguire or Assem Allam could do a better job than Adam Pearson recruiting a new manager?

6. Some willmentionthenames of Molby, Parkinson and Dowie to show Adam Pearson hasn’t always gotten managerial appointments right, and they’d be correct.Choosing a manager isn’t an exact science, and plenty of clubs have made wrong choice after wrong choice after wrong choice. When Adam Pearson has got it wrong, it’s been put right quickly, and it’s been put right with spectacular effect, Taylor after Molby, Brown after Parkinson, Pearson after Dowie.

7. The Allams may have been a little misguided in their attempts to blag £1.2m for a manager (and staff) that cost them £675,000, and a tribunal would have surely favoured Leicester and their lower valuation if it had come to that, but who can blame them for messing Leicester about a bit? The Foxes arepotentially derailing our season because they made a stupid appointment/hasty decision to get rid with Sven, and now need to put it right at our expense. The long term benefit of the Allams’ obduracy is Leicester won’t be inclined to deal with them again, and may think twice about poaching James Chester, Liam Rosenior et al in January. Our chances of permanently signing Martyn Waghorn, however, will surely have plummeted.

8. We were surprised to discover that the tawdry Jimmy Bullard saga isn’t yet concluded, City are still dealing with an appeal made by the player and the main witness for the defence of cashiering him out of the club is the new Leicester manager. The dynamics of Bullard’s appeal, a case with £5m riding on it, have just changed somewhat.

9. It’s natural that off-field considerations have dominated lately. However we’ve got a fascinating game coming up next weekend. It’ll be first without Nigel Pearson, and the attitude of the squad to his departure will be interesting to observe. A solid result against play-off rivals would offer reassurance that our season is still on track despite the change of manager. Anything else, though…

10. On Saturday morning, there were still tickets left for the egg-chasing at the Circle between England and world champions New Zealand. Anyone imagine England v Spain at football not selling out many times over at City’s home ground? Rugby town, you know.

#23 November 7, 2011

1. On the day of theBarnsley match last week, the Hull Daily Mail credulously carried anarticle with the usual scaremongering by Humberside Police, quoting Chief Inspector Andy Oliver as saying “The match will be an all-ticket game due to an anticipated increased demand – no supporters should travel to the game without a ticket.” Err, no Chief Inspector, it wasn’t all-ticket, as a two minute check onCity’s official websitewould have told you. The newspaper carried ahasty retraction a few hours laterstating that it was not in fact all-ticket. Ordinarily we’d have a little sympathy for Barnsley FC, the inaccuracy of these two organisations potentially cost them money through slightly diminished away support; however, with them charging £30 a ticket, they can get stuffed.

What is more concerning is that the Hull Daily Mail didn’t bother checking before publication (oh and they recently called the club’s colours “orange”, for crying out loud), and that the publicly-funded police seemed more concerned with scaremongering and yet again demonising one section of society than with checking their facts. Not good enough.

2. The Hull Daily Mail, without ostensibly favouring one side or the other, has ran more stories featuring criticism of the Council’s stance on the stadium sale issue than articles speaking in the local authority’s defence. It was then a surprise to see pretty much all of the letters from readers featured in a ‘Fire off at Fewey’ section last week express scepticism of the Allams’ plan to borrow heavily on the KC Stadium, should they acquire the freehold of our home.

3. So far, Nigel Pearson has carved out an excellent reputation as both manager and man since he came to Hull City. After the clubsensibly and mercifully rejected Leicester City’s overtures towards him at the weekend, we’ll see once and for all whether our faith in the manager’s ability and character has been justified. The club has said its piece; now it’s up to Pearson himself.

4. While we wait for him to confirm that he’d rather stay with the club that has always wanted him, rather than go back to a former club that a)didn’t want him enough; and b) has just sacked an internationally acclaimed coach with typically boneheaded impetuosity, we can remind ourselves through this smart bit of action by Hull City of just how important, how crucial, how invaluable Adam Pearson is to the Tigers, even though his profile is lower and his general contribution to the day-to-day affairs of the club has apparently reduced. It seems inevitable that he has been the one who has told the Allams exactly how they should respond when Leicester made their call.

5. We shouldn’t panic nor worry about two defeats in a row. City played brightly in each match and could have easily got a point or more in both. Let’s just assume that this is the equivalent shocker period to the one we had in 2007-08, when we lost3-0 at Prestonand4-0 at Southamptonin the space of five days, and still finished the season with a Premier League spot.

6. It may sound obvious, but that pair of losses a few years ago were thoroughly deserved. City have deserved to lose neither game in the past six days.

7. Lose them they have, however. This is a young side hopefully learning lessons. One suspects this week’s footballing education will focus on the importance of capitalising when you’re on top in a game.

8. International breaks are a pain in the arse. Whether you go into one on a winning streak, or enter it a little out of form, that two-week chasm of inactivity does no club any favours at all. City need to play again quickly to get back on the winning trail, just as they would want another game to maintain the momentum had the break arrived when points were going on the board.

9. Yes, by the time the break is over, we could have Nick Barmby and Martin Pusic back in contention and Andy Dawson and Cameron Stewart back in full training, but that would have been the case even with a game next week. The only effect an international break has on an injury list comes via the risk of extending it through the activities of those players called up by their countries.

10. Robbie Brady needs to be told that football is a team game at all times, but never more so than when you are brought on in an effort to influence things because your side is trailing at home and needs something different. His performance as a sub against West Ham United was self-indulgent, immature and inept. He may be a good player technically but defenders at this level tend to be good too, and West Ham’s back four aren’t third-string airkickers who can be embarrassed by tricks and shimmies. Brady’s contribution to the cause amounted to nil, despite the edit on theFootball League Showsuggesting differently.

#22 October 31, 2011

1.Forest on Saturdaywas just about the textbook away performance. Soak up some early pressure, frustrate the home side, ruthlessly capitalise on an opportunity to score and close the game out. It wasn’t as pretty as some of the stuff City have played lately, but you don’t gets points for artistic merit in the Championship.

2. You do get points for grinding out results in tough places, though. It may be a cliché, but victories like that are those separate pretenders from the real deal. Increasingly, City look like the real deal.

3. We wouldn’t claim that the Amber Nectar ratings on the right necessarily constitute a definitive guide to who’s been our best player, but Aaron Mclean is currently top, and deservedly so. Now that he’s begun adding goals to his already-formidable contribution in other areas of the game, he’s looking a class act.

4. What a massive week awaits. Barnsley first – with respect to our South Yorkshire friends, who always seem to raise their game against City, this is a game we’d be disappointed to lose. Theirs is not a happy camp at the moment, with themanager criticising the fans after Saturday’s loss, they’re in a relegation scrap and gates are down into four figures – maybe because of the disgraceful practice of charging some away fans over £30?

5. Some have spoken of boycotting the game because of that, but advocating the withdrawal of support from City isn’t something that sits comfortably with us. Instead, we’d suggest attending as usual if possible, while refusing to buy anything inside the ground.

6. At the risk of looking too far ahead, Saturday’s match with West Ham is potentially the game of the season so far. West Ham are second but remain favourites for the title, while City’s own burst up the table makes this a match to look forward to. Just one point: was it absolutely necessary tohand the Hammers 4,100 tickets? Obviously, these things need deciding upon well in advance (it was arranged in late-September), and with City a fair way from selling out the Circle at present it be understood from the perspective of maximising income. However, West Ham look unlikely to sell them all and this is surely a game to entice the casual follower – let’s hope we don’t end up with gaps in the away end and City fans locked out.

7. The Championship’s best selling point is the parity between teams at the top, though it can be frustrating that a great run, nine games unbeaten, doesn’t put us higher than 6th. Still, that should serve to keep the under-the-radar Tigers hungry for continued success.

8. Jay Simpson scoring two and setting another two up on Saturday is interesting. Has his return to form been prompted by returning south, we wonder?

9. Those goals came against Ipswich, whose solitary reply came from one James Richard Bullard. Remember him? He’s dividing opinion in Suffolk in a way reminiscent of his latter days here. When we look at City’s current midfield it’s clear we’re not missing him on the pitch, and when one considers the obvious team spirit we may safely conclude that we’re not missing his off-field antics either.

10. The manager was less than emphatic when asked over the weekend about him being linked with the Leicester job, concerning some. We’re disinclined to worry, however. That’s just his style, and having spent more than a year carefully assembling a squad bursting with potential, why would he leave to join a club eight places lower? Leicester may be cash-rich but they’re common sense-poor, and Nigel Pearson is not lacking in good sense.

#21 October 24, 2011

1. City played better againstBrightonthanWatford, yet drew the former and won the latter. Four points from the two games is probably therefore fair.

2. Pinching a last-minute winner bodes well for the future. City’s young team will remember that moment for the rest of the season and will always feel itself capable of winning late in a game.

3. The timing of winning was good on so many levels. It meant there was no time for that tedious “how sh*t must you be” nonsense, it meant that a side that’d devoted much of the afternoon to timewasting had no opportunity to respond, and provoked one of those gloriously mental goal celebrations you only get a few times a season. Most pleasing.

4. Should we ever get stuck for a goal, letting Robert Koren shoot from 25 yards is as reliable an option as anything else. Not since the halcyon days of Stuart Elliott shooting and scoring from all angles and distances have we had a player who always looks like succeeding from outside the box. It’s a wonder that sides still let him get away with it, the knaves.

5. Nottingham Forest next week is shaping up to be a much harder game than it looked a few weeks ago. A couple of wins under new boss Steve Cotterill has lifted them out of danger and they’ll regard the seven point gap between them and the top six as one that can be easily closed.Forest away last seasonwas one of the highlights of 2010/11 and the game that made us believe we could make the play-offs. That belief – ultimately misplaced – took until March to arrive. Level on points with fourth and sporting a game in hand on many, we’ve revisited that heady confidence five months early.

6. It won’t hurt to be realistic, however – at some stage, a young side is going to stumble and have a difficult patch. When that does happen (and it almost certainly will), it’ll require experience on the pitch and patience in the stands. But that’s looking at the downside of having a side with a low average age. Fearlessness and confidence are the obvious benefits. May as well make hay while the sun is shining.

7. So how far can we go? The play-offs was the target at the start of the season, and with City very much in contention for that, do we re-evaluate our targets and aim higher? Perhaps not. A top six finish will still do very nicely, anything else is a unlikely but welcome bonus.

8. It was interesting, and a little troubling, to see Nigel Pearsonacknowledging in the Hull Daily Mailthat some of his promising youngsters will be attracting the attention of others. You’d expect City to fight off the advances of any other Championship club, unless West Ham are that club or someone like Leicester make a silly desperation-fuelled offer. But lower-half Premier League clubs must be well aware of the promise shown by James Chester and company, and one hopes that City are making whatever preparations they can to keep the side together come January.

9. Do you remember Lincoln City? We used to play them in the bad old days – y’know, air-raid siren at corners, neanderthal playing style, idiot supporters always trying to start a rivalry with us, local police needlessly antagonistic towards us, endless sequences of defeats there? They’re currently in the relegation zone in the Conference. How unfortunate.

10. Following discussions with City, we’re pleased to announce the return ofTigerTube, and offer thanks to the club for handling its restoration in a cooperative fashion. We’ll have lots of splendid videos coming up, though whether anything will ever match theHerley Berdzis doubtful…

#20 October 17,2011

1. Thedraw at Brightonwas, seemingly by common consent, the best 0-0 draw we’ve seen in recent years. At full-time the players came over almost sheepishly at failing to win the game; hopefully the hearty roars of approval they were greeted with will remind them that all is currently very well between team and fans.

2. It must be admitted that the lack of goals is not a problem we’re getting much closer to solving though. No-one doubts the intent, and between them Fryatt, Waghorn and Mclean should be good enough to convert good play into goals. Perhaps we just to be patient a little longer.

3. Brighton’s ground is good, but ours is better – not only because it’s not out of town, but because it looks and feels finished. However, we’ll visit worse this season. Nothing could be worse than the Withdean.

4. When the Tiger Nation sang “you’re so southern, you’re practically French” to the Brighton fans, do we suppose that comparing them to our Gallic neighbours was intended in a complimentary manner? No, us neither.

5. Moving inside has really benefitted Robert Koren’s game. He was a useful contributor out wide anyway, but a more central position appears to have upped both his game and his work rate. His ability to play out wide may actually count against him when it comes to choosing the central pair (assuming we stick with 4-4-2) as it allows him to be shunted elsewhere, but on his day he’s one of our best players, so should the manager pick him in his best position and build from there?

6. The BBC seems to have forgotten that the Tigers took part in the weekend’s game at Brighton. When two attempts at goal that hit the woodwork are not considered important enough to feature ina match report, no matter how short, one despairs for who is receiving a wage from the licence payer to write this guff. It was either careless, incompetent or biased. Possibly all three.

7. Auntie also appear in no rush to broadcast the Tigers. Not that we should be overly fussed about their (and indeed other media outlets’) relative lack of interest in City. Nigel Pearson strikes us as a manager who’d prefer it that way and would prefer to take the nation by surprise by pinching an unexpected promotion next April/May than spend the winter bragging about a few wins.

8. Of course, if City are putting together a genuine promotion push, is Watford at home next week “the sort of game we need to be winning”? We fear it may be. With the rest of the division playing in midweek without us, there’s a chance that by 5pm on Saturday the Tigers could be firmly in mid-table with an unfavourable result against the Hornets. Early days of course, but it’s a good feeling to be in the top six and it’d be a pity to slip too far out of it.

9. It appears thatRichard Garcia is set to win his battle for both fitness and a new Hull City contract, judging by the positive comments from Nigel Pearson on the Aussie’s recovery and general attitude. Garcia is a favourite on these pages, for both his ability and his maturity, and it will be genuinely pleasing to see confirmation next month of his return to the Tigers’ payroll.

10. Paul Duffen had the temerity to tip up at Brighton’s AmEx Stadium wearing a Hull City tie. That loathsome freeloader simply has no shame. He also has no job in football (occasional stints on TalkSh*t don’t count) and desperation to get back into the game oozes out of his every pore. He’ll no doubt get one at some point, as football is a ridiculous industry that doesn’t let repeated disastrous failure hold anyone back (just look at Peter Ridsdale). There is no greater example of modern football’s soullessness than hearing the bewigged knave Duffen defending Jimmy Bullard while castigating Adam Pearson, it’s enough to make you weep for the future of the game.

#19 October 10, 2011

1. Given the usual post award slump, Nigel Pearson not being declared manager of the month is a good thing, especially if you’re of a superstitious bent. Still, it is good to see our manager’s efforts recognised with a nomination, and it is a shame that some of our own supporters don’t see his worth, babbling on about a dour interview demeanour. His job is to win games, and after a shaky start, Nigel Pearson’s City are doing just that this season. Fans who think that giving controversial or charismatic interviews is more important than winning football games might prefer watching WWE Smackdown to watching City.

2. On the subject of monthly awards, the accolade of ‘Cash Converters Player of the Month’ doesn’t sound very accolade-y does it?

3. There has been no hint of progress regarding the Allam’s bid toacquirethe KC Stadium during the last week (and we don’t count ambulance chaser Neil Hudgell’s words as ‘progress’) but at least we’ve been spared more of the the unseemly bickering that has dominated discussions so far.

4. Steve McClaren’s return to Hull City as a visiting manager is unlikely to happen in 2011, which is a pity. The man is a fine coach and, given that he was an excellent player in the black and amber and someone pleasingly prone in recent years to talking fondly of his time with the club, it’s only with sorrow that we note his time at Nottingham Forest was a brief and unsuccessful one. We wish him well wherever he next goes.

5. Hopefully, Martyn Waghorn’s hamstring knack isn’t as bad as first reported, as we’ve looked a far more potent side with him in the side than we did when without him.

6. We’re still annoyed by bloody Brighton’s decision to put back the kick off time of this weekend’s tie, or at least their announcing of it so late.

7. Um, that’s it really, hard to think of 10 things during an international break.

8.*EDIT*Maybe we spoke too soon about bickering.In today’s TelegraphAssem Allam speaks about ‘moving’ a national squash tournament from the proposed sports village. Until he securesa deal with thelandowners that would see the realisation ofsports village dream become a distinct possibility rather than a maybe, he shouldn’t be telling any sport national body that events will be hosted there. Every time Allem speaks on the sports village topic, he looks less like a successful local businessman, visionary and philanthropist, and more like someone prone to making grand pronouncements of projects with littlethought put into how it will actually happen (or willingness to show the people who really need to be convinced detailed plans).

The cynic in us thinks this squash announcement is a convenient way to portray the Council as uncooperative villains once more, but really, how many City fans give a hoot about a national squash tournament being held in Hull anyway?Not that it matters, Leeds and Halifax are only 15 minutes away, aren’t they? Oh.

#18 October 3, 2011

1. City can win this division. Absolutely no question.

2. One feels slightly unclean at the prospect of singing a song for Adriano Basso that should be the exclusive property of the iconic Boaz Myhill, and therefore has yet to join in. Still, it’s nice to see our new keeper being well appreciated.

3. The decision to play Martin Pusic against Cardiff rather than a more orthodox central replacement for the injured Tom Cairney adds extra credence to the belief that when Cameron Stewart is fit again, Nigel Pearson intends to use two orthodox wingers in the team.

4. Nick Barmby’s winning goal should be shown to young strikers the nation over. Few types of chance are more difficult than the one that bounces across you as you charge in, meaning you have to time your impact with the ball alongside the momentum of your run. The height of the bounce meant that a vulgar studding of the ball or less controllable sidefoot were Barmby’s only options, and he despatched it magnificently. So many of those will be scratched wide, spooned high in the air or missed entirely by lesser players.

5. Robert Koren delights and frustrates in roughly equal measure, but yesterday was one of his best days for City. He can pass, shoot and run with the best of them, but his workrate was refreshing against Cardiff, including an instance of tracking back that quite possibly saved a goal when Dudgeon was left exposed on the left

6. It’s rare to see decisions overturned as dramatically as on Saturday, but ultimately the right decision was made. It’s easy to understand Cardiff’s annoyance, especially that of their fans who may not have spotted the offside and travelled back feeling robbed, but far worse than their irritation would be an unjust decision undeservedly taking the game away from City.

7. It seems questioning the Allams’ plans is an act of heresy to some, they safeguarded the club’s existence with £7M cash and over £30M in guarantees to resolve a debt crisis that could have destroyed the club. For that, they are entitled to a whole heap of gratitude, and they get it, but are they entitled to have all future decisions and plans go unquestioned? We don’t think so, any more than getting us promoted to the Premier League meant thatDuffen and Bartlett were beyond reproach forsubsequent acts. Fans of a club that has had six owners in 15 years and endured a myriad of financial crises in that period really should be eternally vigilant when it comes to evaluating plans of owners. It isn’t heresy to query things, quite the opposite, it is a patriotic (of sorts)act bypeople who care.

Oddly, the Councilsafeguarding City’s existence by building a £43m stadium complex when the club faced ruin and homelessness a decade ago no longer entitles them to gratitude or a fair hearing in the eyes of some supporters. They view the people who paid for the facility that kick started Hull City’s rise through the leagues asvillainsfor not immediately and thoughtlessly selling the KC off for cheap because a wealthy local businessman demands it. That said, the Council really haven’t helped themselves,historically they’ve failed to secure outside investment, recently they’ve flip flopped on a referendum promise, and theirciting Hull Fair’s historical significance and the scaremongering aboutHull FC being evicted within 15 months has made them look like backwards thinking dinosaurs with petty reasons for refusing investment in the city.

8. It would be good to know what value the Allams place on the KC.A councillor recently said that the Allams want the stadium for free(we’ve heard an informal offer was a derisory £250,000), a statement refuted by the Allams since. They then said :“We are willing to do the whole scheme but we need a significant contribution from the council. If they can’t generate their own funds to make a contribution, then give us the freehold of the stadium as their contribution. We would pay them for the stadium, if they paid back a percentage of that to help fund the sports village.”

Theexpectationof the Allams for financial input from the Council is a relatively new discussion point, previously the Allams said the complex was to be a gift, but if this gift is to be paid for with money borrowed against the stadium and what would effectively be donated capital from the Council, then really how is it a gift from the Allams? If you want the Council to give you back ‘a percentage’, presumably a hefty percentage, then that isn’t much different to asking for the stadium gratis is it? The way it has been described doesn’t suggest the Allams are putting in much themselves, it would be nice if they cleared that up rather than insulting the Council and making vague statements of intent.

9. Just how financially viable woulda sports village on Walton Street be? Assem Allam said at the Power of Sport event at Hull University that he needed to own the KC Stadium to generate the funds to build the sports village. That means taking out a loan againstour home ground to pay for squash courts,an Olympic-sized swimming pool etc. Taking loans against assets is not an unusual move, but you need the final project to pay for itself, or ‘your home is at risk if you do not keep up payments.’

Seldom are sports amenities cash cows,which is why they’re usually municipally owned, Councils have a remit to providepublic facilitieseven if they cost more than they generate.Only this facility has to make money, or else the stadium that has been borrowed against is at risk. The facilitiesproposed promise to be a very good thing for Hull, and the city sorely needs money spending on it, but wouldmortgagingthe stadiumagainst hoped for profits be in the interests of Hull City (or Hull FC)?

10. We must never, ever move to Melton.

#17 September 26, 2011

1. TheBristol City drawwas a point gained overall, but it’s the first time we’ve been punished for not scoring a second goal and putting the game away.

2. That said, there’s a growing air of confidence about the side, and sooner or later someone is going to get absolutely destroyed by City.

3. The latest Amber Nectar ratings, while not scientific and usually at the whim of no more than half a dozen people, show Aaron Mclean to be at the top of the pile. That he is less popular with a not insignificant quantity of City fans represents an act of blinkeredness that presumably is a by-product of only seeing the team play at home. Mclean is a good footballer and just so happens at the moment to be a more comfortable one in City colours when not at the KC.

4. However, nobody is saying that Mclean’s lack of goals since joining the Tigers represents an irrelevant point for his detractors to make. But this is a Nigel Pearson team which we now know conclusively is one that will win games by conceding few rather than scoring many. Mclean is still making a tangible contribution on the ball even if he isn’t converting a stack of chances.

5. Doncaster Rovers simply must be beaten tomorrow. Not just because of the long-term prospects for the season, not just because it’s nice to put smaller clubs near our backyard in their place, but also because thedefeat there last seasonwas one of the most abject and grotesque experiences of recent times and needs remedying.

6. Nigel Pearson was absent at Doncaster last season. It’s remarkable to remember that our seemingly indestructible manager spent time in hospital just thirteen months ago after feeling unwell – thankfully he’ll be at the Keepmoat this time, and afterhis quietly seething reaction to the draw at Bristol Citywe wonder whether the staff at BBC Radio Humberside will be drawing short straws to see who has to interview him

7. Some City fans on Twitter propose that Tiger Nationals boycott the Barnsley away game to protest the steep £30 ticket price. Noble intentions, and the comparable“Kein Zwanni”boycott by Borussia Dortmund fans last seasoncertainly had an impact. Football clubs not only take the loyalty of supporters for granted, they seek to brazenly abuse that loyalty, the soulless arseholes.

8. However – boycotting the Barnsley game will punish the City team by reducing the Tiger Nation’s presence at a Yorkshire derby, presenting an unpleasant dilemma if you CAN afford the disgraceful entry fee. We’re not sure it’s fair to take it out on Nigel Pearson and his team and would find it difficult to advocate boycotting any City game, but can definitely understand anyone who finds a different use for thirty quid than handing it to sodding Barnsley.

9. CEO Mark Maguire’s centre page diatribe in the latest 1904 magazine is breathtakingly patronising. He seesfans as children who don’t know what’s best forthem andhimself asa father figure doing the right thing. That wasn’t a mischievously approximate summary, he actually says that.

9a. While we’re on the subject,1904 magazine is utter turd and it needs putting out of our misery.

10. Given kitman John Eyre’s penchant for mixing and matching elements of home and away kits last season, we feared the worst when City took to the field wearingnavy shorts with the light blue away shirtsat Ashton Gate, suspecting we’d had to borrow them from Bristol City to avoid a white v. white clash.

Not so, the navy shorts had our crest on them. Presumably adidas have supplied the alternates in the hope Eyre won’t foolishly pair light blue shirts with black and amber shorts. The light blue-navy blue-light blue scheme looked reasonably good, but we could have just worn our home kit given that it clashes with red and white not one bit.

Adriano Basso looked quite smooth in all white, not seen on a City keeper since 1997 when Willo tried to keep out Newcastle at St. James Park. #KitGeekery

#16 September 19, 2011

1. At first glance theBrighton game being put back 2½ hoursmay seem a consequence-free extra two hours in bed – except that you can’t get back from Brighton on the train with this later kick-off. Given that Brighton’s excuse for the rearrangement is staggeringly weak (“university open day” – for crying out loud…) and the lack of warning is completely inadequate given that they knew this was happening, they should be compelled by the FA/FL to reimburse City fans for rail tickets they now have no use for, and told not to be so bloody stupid in the future.

2. We e-mailed Brighton & Hove Albion FC on Thursday about this. We’re yet to receive a reply.

3. Okay, so the Allams have garnered a bit of self-perpetuated publicity for buying the medal won by Dean Windass at Wembley, so any scorning of those City fans who offered a ‘well done’ is understandable. Still, you’d rather they’d bought it than not. If anyone deserves praise, it’s Deano for wanting to raise money for his chosen cancer charity. Oh,and us for suggesting the club bought it in the first place.

4. Three 1-0 wins in a row doesn’t sound inspiring, but City are generally playing well. It’s lack of finishing, not lack of chances, that’s kept those score-lines down.

5. City are 13/2 to win 1-0 on Saturday. Just saying.

6. Where on earth does Aaron Mclean get that “hang” of his from? For a chap not blessed with height, his timing and effectiveness in the air is terrific, not to mention remarkable to watch on a scientific level. It’s reminiscent of Stuart Elliott’s extraordinary aerial prowess – and we can think of no greater compliment.

7. One would like to think that the reason Joe Dudgeon had easily the best game of his brief City spell so far against Portsmouth was because he’d been instructed by Nigel Pearson et al during his time on the bench to watch exactly how Andy Dawson did it.

8. One of the pleasures of being a football fan is watching young players realise their potential. James Chester has vast potential, and is realising an awful lot of it.

9. Another good thing about being a football fan is that it means you’re (probably) not a rugby fan. TheHull Daily Mailhas at least acknowledgedHull FC fans fighting among themselvesduring their defeat at Leeds last night, and we look forward to them running a full name and shame campaign. These losers have an apparently inexhaustible capacity to bring embarrassment upon the city of Hull – what a shame they didn’t go bust in the 1990s.

10. Craig fa*gan may divide opinion between those members of the Tiger Nation that thought he was great and those who thought he was very frustrating, but anyone who uses their disapproval of his spell at City to justify a claim that he’ll be no good in League Two for Bradford is a prize berk. fa*gan, if he stays fit, will be the best player in that division by a mile.

#15 September 12, 2011

1. TheHull Daily Mail‘s sad little piece on Joe Corrigan’s departure on Saturday answered few questions and dropped some interesting little hints about the Tigers’ hierarchy. Resolute in his admiration for Pearson (N) but enigmatically unsure about those above him – should we be at all worried? Hopefully not…

2. We got more footage on theFootball League Showyesterday of the teams exiting the bus at London Road than we did of the actual game at Peterborough United. What is it about teams getting off the bus that’s so capturable?

3. That’s made even less understandable by the fact it was a good game – a cracking goal, woodwork being struck, great goalkeeping made it a better 90 minutes than a 1-0 away win may ordinarily appear.

4. Doesn’t it seem a long time ago that City were booed off in each of their first three home games? Ninth in the nascent League table, two points from the play-offs, soon we’ll need to categorise this as a “good start”.

5. That makes the upcoming Portsmouth game a useful test: if we’re to aspire to more than being just a decent side, we need consistency, and that means having the ability to put a series of results together. Two wins in a row is good, three wins is the sort of thing top-six candidates can do.

6. Nigel Pearson spoke of how pleased he was for Aaron Mclean, and that’s an fine sentiment to express – since his first action of the season as a sub at Leeds he’s looked sharp and hungry.

7. The City manager also deserves praise for daring to drop Matt Fryatt – that wasn’t a decision many saw coming, but the result and performances by Waghorn and Mclean justified it.

8. Liam Lawrence is suspended for next week’s game against the Tigers after getting sent off for two quite evil tackles at West Ham United. This is good because a) he’s an odious piece of faecal matter; and b) he always seems to put together some act of brilliance to beat us.

9. Pity the poor person responsible for maintainingthe club’s official Twitter feed. Last week’s multi-tweet transcription of the pre-match press conference could not have been more banal if it had tried.

10.Justin Whittle is the new (caretaker) manager of North Ferriby United. It’s hard to imagine any other ex-Tiger receiving equivalent goodwill from City fans upon taking up this role. He obviously will get the job full-time and have them in League Two in three years. He is Justin Whittle, after all.

#14 September 5, 2011

1. Sir Adam’s decision torestore Sunday egg-chasingfor Mr Allam’s rugby tenants is probably good news for City – wherever you stand on who causes most damage to the pitch, having first dibs on the Circle turf during a weekend when both City and the egg franchise are at home will suit the Tigers.

2. Anyone who chooses to spend their time pretending to be Matt Fryatt on Twitter is a complete bellend.

3. Ontransfer deadline day, City had just one target: to bring Martyn Waghorn on loan. They did. Does that not make it a successful day for the Tigers?

4. We’d probably answer our own question with a resounding “yes”, but there appears a sizeable minority who were dismayed at not seeing City’s name not mentioned on Sky Sports News’ f*ckwitted programme last Wednesday. If this is because of a genuine belief that Nigel Pearson’s squad needs a bit of bolstering, fair enough, there’s an strong argument to be made for that – though we can make loans again in just three days. If it’s simply due to feeling left out of Sky’s hysterical circus, then having a grown-up in charge of the Tigers is probably not for you.

5. The signing of Waghorn is a good one, it should be remembered. A friend of Amber Nectar has seen a lot of him, and has nothing but praise. His 30-yarder in midweek for England U21s may be qualified by observing that Azerbaijan isn’t a footballing powerhouse, but it was an outstanding strike and he’s a very good addition to the squad.

6. Peterborough, then. A terrace awaits. It’s slightly sad that this is something to genuinely look forward to…but it is.

7. Tucked away at the end of arecent report on Cameron Stewart’s improving fitnesswas an interesting titbit in the HDM about Richard Garcia, suggesting that he “has been assured talks will take place over his future once he nears fitness”. We like Richard Garcia, and hope to see him again in black and amber.

8. It’s been a slow start for the Ulltras – this was probably to be expected given inflexibility inherent in all-seater grounds with a high percentage of season ticket holders unable to easily move about, but they should keep it up, and look to target away games to spread word of their intentions. One thing we sincerely hope is nothing to do with any of them is this maddening tendency of a tiny minority to berate fellow supporters who don’t join in with everything on the road. That is only ever counter-productive.

9. We’ve been sceptical about the Allams’ plans to build a sports village for some time.Councillor Pete Allen’s open letter in the Hull Daily Mail deepens our scepticism somewhat.

10. It’s not something that needs considering just yet – but when the aforementioned Stewart does return to fitness, can he and Robbie Brady be accommodated in the same side?

#13 August 29, 2011

1: Nigel Pearson deserves a spot of praise for acknowledging that his methods weren’t working and having a rethink ahead of the Reading game. So many managers bury their heads in the sand and insist that only they can see any flaws, but Pearson took the criticism – which he deserved – on his shoulders and, in the short term at least, sorted out the problem.

2: Boy, is it good to see Andy Dawson not just playing, but playing like he did at his Premier League peak. Yes it was just one game, and Jimmy Kebe is hardly Theo Walcott, but a fit, focussed and firing Dawson, with his decency, leadership quality, gravitas and experience, is one hell of an asset still to have in the Tigers squad, especially given the abundance of youth surrounding him right now.

3: City do seem to have a habit of changing their form just before a two-week break, thereby risking a loss of momentum. The game at Peterborough United will be as much about the players’ attitude as it is about their form and confidence.

4: That game will be our only chance to stand on a terrace this season, barring an interesting FA Cup draw. Which is unlikely, as we’ll probably lose to Wigan in Round 3 again. It’ll be nice to have the facility, which they are inexplicably eradicating from London Road shortly – our first time since the League Cup game atBrentfordover a year ago, and the first time for a League match sinceColchester away in 2008. It’ll be a rare treat.

5a: With malingering crockJimmy Bullard now mercifully in their sideand not ours, it’s fascinating to note that of the four ex-Tigers in Ipswich Town’s squad, three are a f*ckless, gluttonous waster (Bullard, obviously); an underwhelming square ball merchant with peculiar thumbs (Keith Andrews – notwithstanding his sudden capability as a goalscorer, and there’s no harm in scoring a freakish injury time winner to defeat Leeds United, in truth) and a player forever to be remembered as one neither Phil Brown nor Paul Duffen actually wanted, but recruited in a blind panic (Ibrahima Sonko) whenflogging our most glorious centre back ever for peanuts. The exception is Damien Delaney, who is a) good; b) not a Jewell recruit; c) less liked than the others by buffoonish Suffolk types; and d) a Tigers hero of yore, as opposed to someone who will be roundly booed and vilified upon future visits to the Circle. So expect Delaney to be sold soon.

5b: If Bullard really has insisted upon Joe Corrigan’s dismissal as Hull City’s goalkeeping coach as part of the terms of his final departure from the KC, it represents an act so despicable as to be not matched by any past Tigers villain. Dave Bamber buying a house in Blackpool with club money has nothing on this.

6a: Mark Maguire’s intentions were good with the balloons, but he should have learned when taking his seat for the Reading game at 2.55pm that the Tiger Nation has no time for such superficial gimmickry. A boy of no more than four years old was sitting in front of Amber Nectar, with his mum, for the match and proceeded to stamp on as many balloons as he could. Still, with a home goal at last, we can be grateful not to have Pigbag or the Piranhas inflicted upon our eardrums. Had that happened, then it would have been the shortest goal celebration ever, and possibly the first known example of a set of supporters using a crucial goal as an excuse to boo the club hierarchy. Robbie Brady could have been scarred for life by that.

6b: However, a ticket deal is always understandable when attendances are dwindling, and so Mr Maguire should be commended for trying. We should wait until we have a home game against a side with a more plentiful away following before concluding for certain that local interest is truly declining, though. BothCrystal PalaceandReadingbrought far fewer fans than either did last season, which distorts the figures a bit. And though the club will disagree for obvious revenue-related reasons, slightly smaller gates may mean fewer moaning, negative gobsh*tes and a more positive atmosphere at the Circle. If so, we’re all for sub-20,000 attendances.

7: Is it wrong to be frustrated with the Allams for talking about funding squash tournaments and rugby games nobody is clamouring to see, but not about their ambitions for Hull City? This isn’t motivated by a lack of gratitude; we’re very much indebted to them for paying off/underwriting the club’s debts, but we’ve missed out on several good players (Danns, Howard, Ayala) that could have really helped a promotion push, and it seems our owners think they’ve invested enough in the Tigers already, and have moved on to other things. This may be an irrational mindset but it is there nonetheless.

8: Good to see Robbie Brady reveal, viaPhil Buckingham’s candid and informative Twitter feed, that he didn’t intend to shoot when scoring the winner against Reading. As amazing as it was, an intentional effort from that bit of the field is going to fail 999 times out of 1,000 and in the 75th minute of a 0-0 draw when the team is playing disappointingly at home and urgently needs a win, such showboating, were it to be admitted, will only prompt criticism. This isn’t to take away the brilliance, or importance, of the goal at all – the team and the supporters may prove to be forever grateful for it should it spark the beginning of a decent run. But as he’s succeeded once, maybe he should quit while he’s ahead.

9: Hopefully, we saw the real Paul McKenna in the Reading game. He’d been, at best, a passenger and, at worst, a gaffe-prone liability in previous outings, but this time he ran the show, both driving us forwards and destroying opposition attacks in the middle. He, as much as the switch to 4-4-2, made the difference.

10: The “how sh*t must you be…” chant has, occasionally, been amusing. Sometimes. It wasn’t amusing on Saturday, and we’d be better off with its permanent exclusion from our repertoire.

#12 August 22, 2011

1. When we were last so downcast about a season just five games into it? The mood of dismay is palpable, and we’re still one game away from August being over – that’s pretty remarkable.

2. The reason is arguably not just the results, it’s the lack of goals – to go without scoring in all three games this season means we’ve almost literally had nothing to cheer at the Circle.

3. That said, the booing of the side is becoming ridiculous. Doing it at the end of a particularly deplorable performance is one thing; doing so after theBlackpoolmatch was hyper-meffery, and doing it DURING a game is the act of someone who does not have City’s best interests at heart.

4. Something else to worry about:Saturday’s gate of 17,797is the lowest for a League game at home since March 2008. With the current dearth of entertainment, it’s hard to imagine a lower not arriving fairly soon.

5. Should City ultimately be successful interminating Jimmy Bullard’s contract, that’d be a little something to cheer. Whether the savings made on firing the f*ckless southern waster will ever be redirected in Nigel Pearson’s direction is another matter, but we take a malicious glee in seeing him denied millions he’s done nothing to deserve.

6. Anyone expecting Robbie Brady to be the finished article is missing the point. Of course his decision-making is suspect – he’s a 19 year old winger with four first team games under his belt. That’ll come, but only with experience. In the meantime, we must accept that he won’t always get things right, but be thankful that he possesses skill and pace in a side that all too often attacks with easily-neutralised sloth.

7. What price some of Brady’s colleagues in the Manchester United youth setup being the subject of discussions between the Circle and Old Trafford this week?

8. Aaron Mclean, very simply, deserves to start against Reading. Let’s not forget that he has yet to open his account at the Circle and he’s more likely to do that while enjoying a bit of confidence, even if his impressive displays against Leeds and Crystal Palace have been partially negated by a Red Adair element to them.

9. So far, neither Joe Dudgeon as a left back nor Jack Hobbs as skipper have shown why they are respectively a better option than Andy Dawson.

10. Dean Windass wants £1,500 for his play-off medal to give to a cancer charity. Over to you then, Mr Maguire. Get the club’s chequebook out and get it bought. If it can’t stay in our finest modern day hero’s private collection of mementoes, it belongs only in a display cabinet in Hull City’s reception.

#11 August 15, 2011

1. Tom Cairney was outstanding atIpswichon Saturday, and must be very hard to drop on current form – he doesn’t do the ugly stuff too well, but he looks stronger than he used to and ran the game at Portman Road with finesse and style

2. Is Andy Dawson’s long career at City coming to an end? Only Nigel Pearson knows that, but the current signs aren’t good for someone who’ll rightly be remembered as a City great.

3. 4-5-1 at Ipswich made us look a better attacking threat than either of the two home games that preceded it – but is it a viable option at home? We fear not, which leaves the City manager needing a plan fairly soon to improve things at the Circle.

4. It’s difficult to imagine that anyone associated with City is going to keep regular tabs on how Kamel Ghilas is getting on at his Ligue 2 club, despite the heroic “loan watch” updates from whoever is charged with runningthe club’s Twitter account.

5. The BBC One highlights programme,The Football League Show, is fantastically tedious, not to mention horrendously late. Fair play to Sky Sports News, therefore, for noticing these anomalies and pledging to show every goal from the three sub-Premier League divisions by 8pm on Saturdays. The format is typically vulgar but it does the job of getting action on televisions quickly and neatly.

6. So then, Leeds. Victory at Portman Road two days ago was the first in 21 years; it’s been 24 since a win at Elland Road…

7. Hopefully, opinion posted on the internet isn’t truly indicative of what fans think, because if it is, rational thought has become extinct leaving only knee-jerk idiocy. Last week we had no decent strikers, Fryatt was rubbish, uff uff uff. This week, Fryatt is ace! Fryatt for England etc. Basing opinions solely on what has immediately occurred rather than on a body of work is the act of a fool.

8. Liam Rosenior is though, the greatest City right back ever! Heh.

9. A few months ago,former City defender Jon Whitneyexpressed thanks for putting old highlight clips on our YouTube channel, as he’d finally been able to convince his sons that he’d scored with a ludicrously long range shot against Peterborough in 1999. On Friday, YouTube terminated our popular TigerTube channel after Hull City complained about our use of some 12 year old footage of a Division Three game. Presumably City want to charge people to see this stuff on their Tigers Player thingy and don’t want such content freely available; still, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. City made no attempt to communicate with us, we could have taken off club-produced footage and let the oldCalendar,Look North,Match of the Dayand Anglia TV stuff remain.

10. We can’t help but feel that this was a little personal, given that we’ve been critical of the club’s CEO and staff changes of late. Many other City clips remain, including some taken straight from Tigers Player! If stopping copyright violation is the main motive for complaint, surely you’d look at current highlights with genuine commercial value rather than grainy footage of City playing, in some cases, 30-40 years ago. If that isn’t the case, then the club has the right to reply.

10a. We’ve received many missives from fans mourning the loss of TigerTube, and we’re glad so many people found it a useful and entertainingresource.

#10 August 8, 2011

1. Booing a narrow, opening day defeat really is the act of a treacherous div. Sure, losing to Blackpool was frustrating, but to boo the team you claim to support after the first of 46 games indicates you have a tenuous view of the bigger picture. An inauspicious beginning for the ‘Ulltras movement.

2. Though if we lose to Macclesfield, anything goes.

3. We weren’t outplayed or outfought against Blackpool, we just needed to finish some of the many chances we created. Matt Fryatt showed us last season that he’s a damn fine striker, he looked out of sorts on Friday, but he hasn’t become crap overnight.

4. Some fans just have to have a scapegoat. With no Harper or McLean to criticise, McKenna and Adebola became the phantom menace for some. The knaves.

5. Tom Cairney split opinions on Friday, some thought he was excellent, others thought he was idle. He was a bit of both.

6. Richard Garcia coped admirably and professionally this week with the barrage of meffelated questions that some seriously cretinous City fans asked him on Twitter. Fair play to him.

7. There are already quadrillions of reasons to dislike The Sun newspaper, but we now have another. On the front of its npower Championship supplement on Saturday, which featured a collage of all the division’s managers, it used a photo of Nigel Pearson in a Leicester City training top. We know the dispute between the media coalition and the Premier/Football Leagues meant games weren’t covered as normal, but even using stock images, couldn’t the morons find a more up-to-date photo of our manager?

8. If the Met want to put a stop to a relentless, ruthless swathe of attacks in Tottenham, then it should send for Boaz Myhill.

9. If Jimmy Bullard’s squad number is really an indication of a truce between player and club, then tell us. And get him on to the pitch. We could just about cope with the leech if he was actually kicking a ball in anger.

9b. Not all of ‘we’ agree that last statement. Some would rather he be sealed in an iron ball and fired into the Sun.

10. The decision to replace the massive black sponsor patch on the away shirt after it drew ire from supporters was a wonderfully magnanimous, highly commendable one. Kudos.

#9 August 1, 2011

1. Tom Cairney’s return to prominence is a welcome one – his talent is unquestioned and it was a shame to see him go backwards last season, however he has the potential to be one of the division’s best players

2.With two goalkeepers on the booksat last, it’s notablethat one is a bright young thing with massive potential and the other is an experienced old head who knows this division well. Most useful.

3. That said, having Boaz Myhill playing in the Championship this season for a club other than the Tigers will be a very odd sight, especially when the greatest City custodian for a generation visits the KC with his new (temporary) club Birmingham City in October. We’d still have him back like a shot.

4.Some clarification onRichard Garcia’s situation would be appreciated.

5. We were really positive about the new season until we went and won all five pre-season games, because that rarely bodes well.

6. Seeing Stoke City – promoted from the Championship with us, lest we ever forget –playing a European match this week(and winning it 1-0) is a worthy, discomfiting reminder of what we could have achieved as a top-flight club in the absence of morons and shysters making the decisions.

7. And Jonathan Walters scored their goal. It’s almost on the verge of the inexplicable, really.

8. ESPN are again badgering managers for comments while the game is actually being played this season – it’s fortunate for their reporters that City are unlikely to feature on that channel, as we suspect it’s an innovation Nigel Pearson would have little patience for.

9.Amber socks work much better than black hose with the new home kit.Black and amber stripesis our favoured style of City shirt, but it makes for a very dark kit if paired with black shorts and black socks. Amber socks brighten up the whole outfit, so we were pleased when they were usedin theBradfordfriendly(the Bantams tipped up wearing pink, and some say our sky blue away kit is effeminate!) but oddly notat Chesterfield.

Amber socks were part of the original design from adidas, use them whenever we wear the home kit please John Eyre. Ideally, City would use hooped socks, but in their prolonged absence (we last wore hooped socks in 1987) amberhose with striped shirts will do nicely.

9a. Anyone thinking a sky blue football shirt is effeminate or gay has some serious egodystonic issues and should seek therapy.

10. Many folk have howled this is the worst home shirt ever, but it really isn’t,it’s better than last season’s for a start. What people object to is that hideous sponsor patch, and they have a point, but remove that and it’s a fairly nice kit.The shirtsare delivered to the club plain, and they send them off to have the patchesheat bonded on. Tiger Leisure could sell them sans sponsor if they wanted to y’know.

#8 July 25, 2011

1. Now that the only man at the club with experience of properly running one also owns Hull FC, things could become very int-er-es-ting at Hull City, and not in a good way. The Allams have said in their own words that football isn’t their game, their knowledge of how the football side of the business should be run is almost non-existent, so the appointment of whoever fills the Pearson void when he inevitably severs ties will be a pivotal moment.

2. When Adam Pearson sold the club to Messrs Bartlett and Duffen, it was reported he’d stay around for six months to advise – he was gone in under half that time. Now that he’s bought Hull FC, we don’t believe he’ll be around much longer, despite assurances to the contrary in the media.

3. Would Adam Pearson really have bought a rugby league club, which can only ever be a lesser outfit than a Championship football club, if all was well at City?

4. That said, would YOU want to work under Mark Maguire, who thinks Cash Converters is an acceptable sponsor?

5. Mark Maguire’s most notable contribution to the running of Hull City, beyond signing that nauseating sponsorship deal,has beentoprovide ‘jobs for the boys’. Backroom staff, local and loyal servants of the club, have been let go in a publicised,ostensibly cost-cutting move, but the arrival ofseveral ofMaguire’s matesfromStockporthas notbeen publicised.That’s because their sizeable wages, company cars and company housesproves the ‘cost cutting’ exercise to be a lie. The Allams have stated they wish to give something back to the people of Hull, Maguireseems more concerned with diverting monies to Greater Manchester.

6. It was only a friendly, but it was still nice to beat the Scousers, just to stick it to the Hull born arseholes who parade around the city in Liverpool shirts. Imagine how smug the plaggy-Scouser at work (and there is one in every workplace, as if filling an EU quota) would have been today had they won?

7. Funny how those who were bemoaning a lack of decent signings and slagging Nigel Pearson off as negative a day or two ago now think City will win the Championship, FA Cup,Strictly Come DancingandThe X-Factor.

8. On Saturday, North Ferriby United held a kit launch at Princes Quay. They didn’t ask fans to search the city centre for the new kit and take low-res photos in the rain, they just showed it off, took orders and sold merchandise. An amateur club can organise a kit launch better than Hull City at present.

9. What’s happening in the boardroom and club offices is a little unsettling, but what’s happening on the pitch is a source of real hope and belief. Nigel Pearson is an excellent manager, he and his staff are doing a fine job transforming the club, moving on overpaid underachievers and fashioning a side that is hardworking and hungry and evidently has team spirit in abundance. Nigel Pearson has methodically made City better, piece by piece, and has our total confidence. Adam Pearson buying FC rather than Barnsley or Sheffield United removes the worry of him taking our boss with him at least.

10. If you think a player’s talent entitles him to repeatedly flout the club’s conduct policy and set a poor example to young professionals, and that he should be foremost in the manager’s plans for the team, you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.

PS

10a. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Hull FC’s crowd of 9,496 for a Challenge Cup quarter final on the same weekend City drew over 20,000 for a friendly (albeit against reasonably glamorous opposition). Yet we continually hear how Hull is and will always be ‘a rugby town’. If it is, it’s to the city’s shame, given the Hurley Berds’ feeble crowd and Hull KR fans kicking off in St. Helens.

#7 July 18, 2011

1. The club have taken a ‘novel’ approach to marketing the new away shirt, asking fans to hunt around the city centre for someone wearing it in order to post blurry phone camera pictures on Facebook. We don’t appear to be using adidas to market this shirt, which is an odd decision given that they know a thing or two about promoting sportswear. Oh and that sponsor patch is not the work of adidas if you’re looking to blame someone.

2. Speaking of sponsors, isthis the most dismal, soul-destroyingly corporate-speak-bollocks-riddled assembling of wordsin the history of language?

3. Having a picture of the longest ‘serving’ supporter on the season passes is, however, a really nice touch.

4. The club should not, even idly, consider changing the crest.

5. Home friendlies are largely rubbish anyway, but replacing a game against former European Cup and UEFA Cup winners Feyenoord with one against a Fourth Division side? Pfffffffft.

6. It is going to cost £31 to watch Ipswich v City. Thirty-one pounds. Further comment seems entirely superfluous. Except…

7. … the person writing entry #7 is now not going to Ipswich.

8. Liam Cooper will be one of the best defenders in League One next season.

9. We’ve sent a Freedom of Information request to Humberside Police asking exactly why the Feyenoord friendly was cancelled. Legally they must reply by August 8th; it may be interesting to see what they come up with.

10. Jozy Altidore’s nomadic existence hasnow taken him to Holland. Can’t help but think that he’d be magnificent in the Championship though…

#6 July 11, 2011

1. With a company that exchanges stolen goods for smack-money and East Yorkshire’s foremost ambulance-chaser on board, when can we expect Mark Maguire to announce that News International are to sponsor the manager’s programme notes?

2. City fans had better bloody not“do the Poznan”next season – not because it’s not a decent spectacle, but because when you see even Castleford eggchasing fans doing it, you realise it’s become the Soccer AM “easy easy” for 2011

3. Paul Duffen plans to release an autobiography, supposedly warts and all. The ‘warts’ of his tenure as chairman are surely his, but given the man’s shameless attempts to pass the buck since his departure, we can expect so many pages of revisionist drivel that it should appear in the fiction section of any stockist that would sell it.

4. We haven’t had any ludicrous transfer rumours doing the rounds in a while, and that’s a good thing. You know the sort, “My mate has just fitted a Sky dish for Paul Scholes in Brough.” Yes, because he’d have bought a house and moved in already before any deal has been announced, obviously. “Someone said Michael Owen’s helicopter has landed at St. Stephens, he’s in TK Maxx right now.” Riiiiiiiiight.

5. The news offinancial trouble at North Ferribymakes for some sad reading. They’re a wonderful little club and the annual trip to Church Road is one of the best away games of any year. City’s recent ‘success’ may have been to Ferriby’s detriment, as those Tiger Nationals who’d go to Ferriby when the Tigers were away had the option of watching the City game on an internet feed or on Albanian TV in a pub instead. Ferriby are charging £9 for a home game this coming season, a move designed to reduce the shortfall but one that may backfire and deter floating fans. City should fine Jimmy Bullard a weeks wages for having crap hair and channel it to Ferriby.

6. Allegedlandlord on landlord violencecould reduce the option of pre/post home match drinking hostelries by two. Both The George and Halfway House are currently boarded up.

7. City going off to Slovenia to train is all well and good, but it’s a shame there isn’t a friendly there.

8. Thanks forcancelling our only decent home friendly, Humberside Police.

9. Lazy news editors, randomly pick one of these Jimmy Bullard quotes for an easy news piece, there’s one for every weekday: “I’ll take a pay cut to play for Ipswich”, “I’ve no problem with playing for Nigel Pearson”, “I respect the contract Hull City were stupid enough to give me”, “I just want to play football”, “Ouch, my knee!”

10. Why on earth didTommy Docherty wear a Porto away shirtin our 1971-1972 team photo? Yes, yes, he’d managed the Portuguese club for four months prior to becoming assistant manager to Terry Neill, but it’s still an odd choice of garb given the circ*mstance.

#5 July 4, 2011

1. Once upon a time, playing Liverpool in a friendly would have been something to genuinely look forward to; this time it feels a bit “meh”.

2. Dele Adebola won’t score many but his potential to assist others in doing so could prove invaluable.

3. City should clarify the Richard Garcia situation immediately now that the player’s deal has officially ended.

4. If Tomasz Kuszczak does go back to West Brom, as has been heavily reported, then it’s even more of an opportunity for City to try to organise Boaz Myhill’s rightful return home to the Circle.

5.The FSF’s campaign for the return of standing at footballis a highly commendable one.

6. While looking for their take on why the proposed friendly at Grimsby was cancelled, it was quite something to read that they’ve so far sold 550 season tickets – and are quite pleased by this.

7. It seems unfathomable now that we spent so many seasons below Grimsby, one Fishpackers fan once emailed us offering to send pictures of Wembley so we knew what it looked like. Heh.

8. Championship promotion campaigns are largely built on loans from high ranking Premier League clubs these days. Given our financial status, taking young talented players on loan, something we did very effectively last year, is probably the way we’ll go again. Given that most loans are concluded near the end of the transfer window, when it’s clear no club wants to permanently sign the player, we shouldn’t expect to have all of our signings in place now. The unending refrains of “when are we going to sign someone good?” from fans who should know better are the most tedious aspect of the close season.

9. It would be great if the club sold some sans-sponsor replica shirts for those who are Cash Converters conscientious objectors. It won’t happen, but it should, and would net the club money from those who like the shirt but loathe advertising a hock-shop.

10. That sponsor is going to tarnish a really lovely away shirt. Bah.

#4 June 27, 2011

1. A re-acquisition of Boaz Myhill would genuinely be more about being sensible than sentimental, and his return would be a no-lose situation for absolutely everybody involved with the club. Club legend adored by supporters – tick. Not needed where he is – tick. Never wanted to leave in the first place – tick. Club can afford him – tick. Club urgently need quality goalkeepers – tick.

2. This is perhaps the dullest pre-season in recent memory – it’s possible to completely forget the existence of City for days at a time.

3. Why can’t the North Ferriby United friendly be on a Saturday? Sometimes it’s the most enjoyable fixture of the year, but isn’t as much fun on a school-night. Hostelries in the village, and presumably their own clubhouse, would probably prefer 2,000 City fans rocking up for a Saturday 3pm kick-off.

4. Similarly, having the first game of the season on a Friday evening promises to be a disconcerting experience, and probably a disappointing one given that night matches at the Circle are often quiet, dull affairs and making a full day of the opening day is part of the fun of football.

5. With Messrs Kilkenny and Danns apparently going elsewhere, Nigel Pearson needs to stop chasing midfielders called Neil.

6. Have City really let physio Simon Maltby go for “financial reasons” – and if so, is that wise? It doesn’t sound it.

7. Any idea why City weren’t involved in the Masters this year? It isn’t something to lose sleep over, but seeing Justin Whittle kick people up the arse while Leigh Jenkinson skewed shots against the Sheffield Arena’s ceiling was a great wiling away of a summer’s afternoon.

8. The reaction from the Scottish and Welsh FAs to the possibility of their players competing for a mooted Team GB at the Olympics is hysterical and narrow-minded, and goes a long way towards explaining why the only two halfway decent teams in Scotland are mired in sectarian bigotry in a fast-declining league, and why Wales’ only two decent sides would rather play in England.

9. Did you know that it’s Hull City’s 107th birthday tomorrow?

10….is the maximum number of pounds that can justifiably be charged for City v Macclesfield

#3 June 20,2011

1. We note with no real surprise the lack of coverage and condemnation of rugby hooligans causing trouble in Leeds eight days ago.

2. It’s sad to see the club making long term backroom staff redundant. In terms of cost savings, the effect of this measure is surely minimal, as those going are on £12,000-15,000 a year, whereas there areunwanted playerspicking up £28,000-45,000 a week. If the clubneed to be ruthless in driving down spending, that’s understandable given the profligacy of former owners, but they appear to be killing the mosquito while leaving the bear to roam free.

3. It would be good to know the respective stadium valuations ofboth the Council and Club owners. Rumours persist that there is a vast chasm between the figures, and until one or both sides publicly state what theythink is a fair price, rumoursare all there is to go on.

4. At this time of year, every year, there is wailing and gnashing of teeth from some fans who imply City are doing nothing to bring in new players while claiming rival clubs are behaving like a hungry man at a buffet,snapping up prizedsignings left, right and centre. Neither statement is true.

5. If Allardyce whips the defence into shape…if they start well…if their new signings gel quickly…West Ham could be just about unstoppable next season

6. TheLeague Cup drawis so unspeakably vile it makes you want to punch kittens.

7. Drawing 3,000 at home against Macclesfield is so 1997.

8. Nice to see Steve McClaren in a proper job again. He was a fine footballer for City, still talks the club up and maybe he ought to receive awarm reception when Forest visit the KC in the new season.

9. Yes, it’s not ideal playing Leeds home and away on Tuesday nights. But it’s still better than 12 noon on a Saturday or Sunday, which the gendarmes on both sides of the East-West divide would probably prefer.

10. If we’re lucky, one of the highlights of the new season’s opening weeks will be the Rotherhams and Swindons of the world trying to play Barcelona-esque Tiki-Taka, until a string of defeats brings them to their senses some time around late September

#2 June 13, 2011

1. Assem Allam said last week that the reason he wants to own the KC is so he can use the freehold to get a mortgage and build the planned sports village. If he does that he’s risking Hull City’s home in the hope that a sports village brings in enough money to pay back the mortgage, and later make him/the club profit. Is it worth the risk? The reason swimming pools and squash courts tend to be run by local authorities is because they don’t bring in that much money. Why would Allam’s complex be different? Allam describes the proposed sports village as a gift, but if he plans to pay for it with a mortgage taken out on the stadium it’s not a gift at all, it’s a leveraged purchase.

2. Allam also said he thinks football clubs should be owned by their communities. The stadium is already publicly owned, but he wants to change that.

3. When asked what value he puts on Adam Pearson’s continued involvement, Allam said Pearson was a good man but the club would go on without him. Of course it would, but it would leave a dearth of experience in running a football club.

4. Thisis an excellent piece on great Tigers teams down the years, but if we have to have a ‘winner’, then the 2008 team of bonafide achievers, that made our dreams come true, must be it.

5. Discussing who we’d like to get on the opening day of the season is futile and pointless. The only sure-fire thing about next season’s fixtures is that both games against Leeds will be deliberately planned to inconvenience the many.

6. He wasn’t universally popular despite successive promotions, but seeing Peter Taylor on Sky’s coverage of the U21 tournament prompted warm memories of the happy days during his reign.

7. Those club emails, full of “OMG! LOL! Look at this funny YouTube video” stuff are pretty cringeworthy. Communicate better please.

8. Whoever digitally alteredthe picture of Liam Rosenior modelling the new kitwent a bit overboard on the colour saturation, to the point where Liam looks to have changed race. Also, the socks are the same as last seasons, odd given that they’re being sold at a knock-down price of £2 in Tiger Leisure. Maybe they aren’t the socks to be used, amber hose would look better with that kit.

9. City should offer Richard Garcia a one-year deal with incentives while he recovers from abad injury. He deserves it and they can afford it.

10.Nottingham Foresthave joinedCardiffin rewarding their managers for a play-off finish by sacking them – would we show similar ingratitude to Nigel Pearson next summer if we lose in the play-offs?

#1 June 7, 2011

1. Adam Pearson’s lack of a stake in the club makes us worry he’ll want total control of someone else. It can’t be fulfilling to ask permission to do things thatpreviously he’d sign off as owner/chairman, or to merely be a salaried employee when you have the talent/know how to be in charge. He was rumoured to be interested in Barnsley in the national media, is it just a matter of time before he goes or could the Allams sell a small stake to Pearson to hold on to such a valuable asset?

2. Neil Danns would be an excellent signing.

3. Cash Converters isn’t the mostprestigious sponsor for a football club, but City fans going apoplectic, writing to the club to complain abouta deal not yetannounced,really need to get a grip. Football club’s sponsors do not reflect on thecity the team play in one little bit, if you think Geordies are ardent savers because their jersey has Northern Rock’s logo on it, or that the burghers of Blackburn all have immaculately painted walls because of Rover’s association with Crown Paints, you’re a foolish knave.

4. Sponsor aside, that adidas shirt alleged to be our new strip was quite nice. Yes, it’s the same template as Stoke once more, but bold stripes (and on both sides) and more amber than black is our preferred style of City shirt..

5. Argentina blue is a nice colour for an away shirt.

6. Paul Duffen’sTwitter account,if it’s real, highlights afamiliarself awareness deficit.

7. For an end of season showpiece event with real drama, the Championship Play-off final sh*ts all over the FA Cup final.

8. The League Cup draw is next week. Unless this produces a tick ground for the nerd community, the competition should be scrapped.

9. Some egg-chasing fans have complained that Sky Sports didn’t televise thederby this weekend. Theydon’t seem to realise that what they see as ‘Rugbygeddon’ and the most important sporting event in history is of little interest to people outside of East Yorkshire, and not that much within.

10. The Hull Daily Mail’snew websiteis really, really, REALLY sh*t.

The idea for this feature is shamelessly stolen from Peter King of Sports Illustrated.