Some players in our clubs history just seem to resonate with the fanbase, so when I offered up a poll for my latest “The boy was a larker” series, deep down I knew who was going to win. Stephen Quinn was a cracking footballer, Mo Diame delivered for us in one of the biggest games we’ve ever played in, Jay Jay’s cameo for us was wonderful, but it was never really in doubt. There’s simply an X factor that Abel had that is even greater than his contributions were for the club.
That did make me think of other cases. Billy Whitehurst for example, only ever really had one prolific season for us in 1984-85, where he scored 20 league goals, double his previous best and by the time he returned to the club three years after leaving, he was very much there to hold the ball up for others, whilst Geovanni might have had an even shorter streak, really in the first half of the 2008-9 season, although he’d still flash talent in the following games, Harry Maguire was another player that frankly didn’t really fit in until Marco Silva made him the pivotal part of a back 3 and again his excellent run was in reality… months.
Just like Billy, Geo and Harry though, what made Abel iconic and stand out from the crowd is personality and his relationship with the crowd. Geo recently said he preferred playing for City than Barcelona, in what might have been the least expected quote of all time about this club, but when it came down to the nitty gritty, he nailed it in this quote “The club really got under my skin. It was a dream for me. Those may have been the best days of my life as a footballer.” Love Hull City and it loves you back, all of the above players have played for other clubs but whilst they were here they loved it and so we loved them back even more.
Abel didn’t have the most auspicious start to his time at the club and in his first season he found the adjustment from Serie A to the English game hard, maybe dare I say a bit too physical? He was in and out of the team, a team that as we know is the greatest and most talented we’ve ever had, but still went down anyway (please note this current fanbase moaning about last season 2014-15 WAS THE underachieving team of all time in this City)
There were flashes in that season, for example the goal that I still think is perhaps our greatest team goal ever scored at Arsenal that season as the wet lettuce, excuse making, also ran, runners up weren’t allowed to touch the ball from the kick off to the second half as City carved them open and Abel towered above Monreal to bury a header into the attention seeking babies goal. I’m sure somebody far more tech savvy can find a link, to just that goal that does it justice. In the meantime here’s all 39 of his goals for us in one link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Y5nISf3QE
That season slipped away from us and Abel uncharacteristically twatted perma-injured wage stealer Phil Jones in the last game of the season as a 0-0 draw with Manyoo wasn’t enough to save us from the drop. This meant he wouldn’t play in the opening three games of next season. However in retrospect it might have actually been a silver lining around our cloud, as when fully hitting the ground running that season, he may have been more difficult to keep and by the time he was back Jelavic and N’doiye had departed.
In 2015-16 he was often unplayable, from the moment he equalised at Charlton in his first game after his ban (more on that later) until the play off run he was too quick, too savvy, too clever and just too damned good to cope with for opposition players. 22 goals in all competitions and countless highlights, perhaps my favourite amongst these is when he essentially retires Burnley’s Michael Duff who is turned inside out by the Uruguayan who then whips a ball around him into the the corner before you can say “I’ll take my PFA retirement please”.
For me he was the best striker in the division that year…. he always did score a wide variety of types of goal too, he could beat a high line and slot in, he could cut in from wide, he had a header in his locker and he didn’t care one bit if it was a tap in from 2 yards out. Abel was mustard, all season and after a nervy and back foot start in the play off semi final at Derby, he was the one that lit the touch paper. As the ball broke to him in the midfield and after a good touch he took out the paintbrush and just passed it past Scott Carson for the opener.
In forty five years of being a city fan the scenes in the away end that day were right up there, and Abel was in the thick of it. Like a few South American lads, Abel liked a celebration and after scoring that opener he sprints at the delirious City contingent, jumps in the air and military salutes us, I’d still have that in a top five of most iconic celebrations I’ve witnessed following this club. Flares go off, the noise was deafening. What. A. Day. Abel loved it and we loved him all the more for it. His delight at scoring was simply infectious, going back to the Charlton goal, he simply dives into the away end and goes mental with the fans, he was one of us and that connection was always there.
In truth his 8 goals in around 50 appearances in the Premier League was a little disappointing, he suffered with injuries in his second go at the top league and you felt that if he’d have got a run after Silva came in during the spring run in, it might have just kept up out of the bottom three. However again he did like a big moment, none better than the double bicycle kick with Adama Diomande as City beat the defending premier league champions with the squad depth of a netball team. He also returned to his ankle breaking habits, turning Tyrone Mings inside out for Bournemouth before slotting in a glorious goal.
The year after, in what would be his last with the Tigers, Abel was once again struck down by a series of injuries, again I think it’s fair to say that if he played 30 games, we might have been a different proposition, despite the creaky defence that we had most of the year. He scored eight goals in his ten appearances that season and when fit, still looked like he could be as special as we knew he was. At the end of the season the club said they’d made a bid to keep him, but in truth it was never going to happen, he walked away for no fee to play in Russia and we were all a lot poorer for it.
He’s continued to score goals since 2018, whether in South America or further afield and at 34 he’s still banging them in for the marvelously named Liverpool Montevideo back in his home country. I’m not sure if he’s ever been back to Hull or England since he left, but like Geo, if and when he does, a warm reception awaits him. From his blistering pace, to his wonderful first touch, his Latin passion and his sense of timing on the big occasion, Abel won the hearts of our fans, and then there was that smile… what a guy, what a player and what an absolute larker. Viva Abel Hernandez. Thanks for reading. UTT.