Author: Admin

Hello everyone. I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the international break (lol). Sorry about the somewhat lack of production in recent times. It ‘s for a couple of reasons. One, there’s so much content to cover that by the time you’ve began to write something it’s almost out of date immediately, and two I’ve been up to my neck in work, coaching, life and all that other malarkey, so soz.

I did however recently have thoughts on writing something about the last few weeks, that covers the slightly surreal standing that Hull City currently occupy in the eyes of the world. Which clearly comes with both plusses and minuses. Thus the title, first world problems. I’ll go for a plus point and minus point in each topic, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Up the Premier League Tigers, and all that jazz.

Plus point-Everyone knows who we are.

Geoff Thornes in 1980. “One day this club will be in the first division and pulling in big crowds every week”.

When my Dad would say this sort of thing, he was usually greeted with derision, confusion or indifference. City we in the midst of falling to the lowest league in professional football, in a stadium that was falling apart, in an era where Rugby league was dominant and there was little evidence that any of the above was likely.

He’s now been proved right, no less than four times. And he’s right again, we’re on the telly, we’re all over socials, Mick the Postman can name our players. We’re money. We really have to throw away our imposter sydrome now, we’re a bigger club than we’ve ever been, with a rich history and we’re something to be proud of. So there.

Minus point- Everyone knows who we are.

There’s something very soothing about being in the second level of football. You can get a ticket to any game you want. Jason Cundy on Talksport doesn’t have an opinion on you, and Mick the Postman doesn’t care that we just beat Preston 3-1.

Popularity isn’t everything, and whilst we’re not necessarily a big dog in the Champ, we’re not a small dog either and attempts to look down their nose at us may well be quite dangerous for fans of so called “big clubs”.

Joe Cole doesn’t have to pretend to have avoided covering our game to make a predictable and sterile joke on a podcast that nobody listens to. At this level Joe Cole can’t name 5 of our players. Which isn’t such a bad thing in a way.

Yep, first world problems, one minute you’re being derided by Reading fans, the next you’ve got professional mega-tit Mark Goldbridge calling us “Bumble Bee FC”. Showbiz eh?

Plus point, we’ve had the football geeks on strings

There’s only potentially one worse thing than ex-pro players, lazy and half arsing their way across the internet to deride our football club. And it’s people who were not ex-pro players, lazy and half arsing their way across the internet to deride our football club.

As bad as Joe Cole’s verbal backtrack was, at least he was a very good player. Tim from his Mum’s spare room, trying to do the same thing and deciding that sight unseen we’re going to get less points than Derby County did, is potentially even more pathetic. Tim actually could spend half an hour looking at the career of Sergej Jakirovic, Acun Ilicali, or Konstantinos Tzolakis, and the chances are, judging by the look of him and his pale, greasy complexion, he probably didn’t have a great deal else to do, but he just lazily copies and pastes the same tired tropes and is surprised when he attracts half of East Yorkshire onto his timeline to call him a whopper.

Whether it’s the mauled song, the determind and shithouse counter attack plan we’ve had, or the fact that we’ve stuck every early prediction up a small and painful orafice, it’s been wonderful to see these no mark, no mate, dangleberries have their arses handed to them on a plate.

Minus point, we’ll inevitably get such a tidal wave of told you so at some point.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, said a wise man once. And so it proved last week when the Talksport resident Geordie (let’s call him Michael from I’m Alan Partridge) went full Goldbridge and predicted we’d get hammered by the topless, bin dippers in the upcoming game and all our success was basically nonsense.

Now, by the end of said game, the perpetual Match of Day criers were hanging on for grim death, as City chased what would have been a deserved equaliser. But it didn’t stop our friend Michael from saying things like “Aye man canny prediction from me like, I told you Hull were bunch of doyles and nay body believed me like. Kodacolour gold, Kawasaki, I love Gazza me” (I’m pretty sure if you say this in a North East accent it’ll work perfectly.)

We will have a struggle at some point and all of those nitwits that we’ve had on toast will inevitably pipe back up. Hopefully not for too long.

Plus point, we’re seeing some incredibly talented players on the pitch.

Honestly, we’re spoilt. We already had multiple players worth the entrance money before the window, with Mo Belloumi, Oli McBurnie, Ryan Giles and Charlie Hughes, just four examples of fantastic City players. But some of these lads brought in are something else. Lucas Herrington is a joke, what a player for his age, he’s going to be top top class and we’re going to remember the year or two we got to watch him, Nobel Mendy is another fabulous talent, we’ve had some great keepers and Konstantinos Tzolakis is up there with any of them, whilst Lucas Gourna-Douath looks a snip at what we paid for him. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s others we’ve barely seen and could be right up there. This is a great time to be alive for a City fan, just soak it in and enjoy it.

Minus point, it’s hard to see them in the flesh.

I get it, tickets have to be done on a system, and I think the club’s system is largely very fair. We know that it’s going to be a battle to get into some games unless you’ve been a season ticket holder and that’s ok. It should be. Perhaps this is a sign that longer term, if we were to survive this year and prosper, a bigger home stadium or extension would be something to seriously consider.

I’m one that can’t moan, as my coaching life has meant I don’t go anywhere near as much as I like. I think that’s absolutely fine and if you’re going to games home and away, I salute you, as you’ve done the hard graft in the first place and deserve to go and see the team on the road. Enjoy it, and back the boys.

Plus point, we’re on Match of the Day.

I don’t care if it’s not what it once was. It’s still iconic, the music, the timings on a Saturday night, the build up to the game. It’s an English institution and City are back in the big time. I just wish Tony Gubba and John Motson were there to describe it. (ask your Dad)

Minus point, we’re on Match of the Day.

Two words. Alan Shearer. The planetoid headed uber Geordie who had to watch and enjoy as he took his black and white darlings to their promised land as a manager, by relegating them to the Championship whilst City survived and Phil Brown sang.

I genuinely don’t think Shezza ever got over it and so his bitter little thin lips crack a little when he has to usher in good news about the Tigers. He throws in a little patronising comment when he can. But he knows. And he knows we did it without oil money funding it. So it’s all the more bitter.

It’s not what it was lets be honest. Bring back Des Lynam, that’s what I say.

Ok gang, it’s been nice talking. I hope everyone is well. I hope Lewie Coyle is triggering half of you by drinking a can of strong lager outside your window and I hope you’re doing the “Mauled by the Tigers” hands whenever you can, to your Leeds mate, who needs to get out more and has a bit of a whiff about him.

UTFT.

Hello everyone I hope you’re all well and as the reality of what we’ve just achieved is setting in, enjoying the madness that waits for us in the next few months. It’s lovely and heartwarming to see that a bunch of friendless, internet dwelling, cellar renting dweebs are already deciding they know all about our chances next season. Let’s hope, just like their dress sense and haircuts, that they’ve got it all wrong and it’s going to make them look silly. Either way, first world problems are ahead, so just have that cold beer, enjoy this and we’ll see what happens.

Every year for the last four or five I’ve done grades. It usually gets a bit of discussion going. Definitely some “AcTuAlLy” merchants won’t be able to help themselves, but please remember, it’s just my opinion. You’re more than welcome to yours too, and let’s be honest, everyone associated with the mind bogglingly brilliant and impossible journey we went on at the end, probably got their grade higher for it, so sorry. I’m not sorry.

I’ve tried to cover most players who played significant time this season, where it was a crazily small sample size, I’ve erred on the side of caution and left them off (Ndala, Koumas, Dowell, Palmer, Sonic Akintola etc) Anywho… here we go…

Ivo Pandur B

He wasn’t quite as good as last year in reality, but then thank god he didn’t have to be in most games. I felt some of his criticism was a bit harsh, he’s not a natural from his feet and his confidence dipped a little mid-season. Here’s the thing though, he responded. His best games were his last games and even though the Boro lad was offside eventually, his save in the final could have won us the game. He’s one I go with again next season. He’s only going to get better.

Lewie Coyle B

Let’s get two out the way for the fanboys early. Again it was up and down at times for Lewie this season. He’s not always comfortable on the ball, although his outswinging cross is underrated. Again he saved his best for last, and it’s sometimes more than just being a player in a team. He’s a leader, he’s the ultimate trier and he will lay his body on the line time and again. He wasn’t going to lose last Saturday, and I think that mindset was bottled and drank collectively by the rest of the team. I’ve no idea about next season. But for now, start to build the statue of him.

Ryan Giles A

In a normal season he’s player of the year. His distribution is Premier League. He’s a perfect modern full back. Yes he’s better on his front foot than he is on his back foot but so what? This is football in 2026. His evolution under Sergej was stunning. He became everything we hoped he’d be and maybe more. Keep. Keep. Keep.

John Egan A

The only thing that upsets me is that he’s 32. I’m upset we don’t have a time machine so we could sign him ten years ago. He’s a mountain of a man and over and over again he was immaculate. Another huge character in this squad, he galvanised everybody around him. I don’t think I saw less than 7/10 from him all season. If this is it for him with City, it is some way to go out. Again, build the statue. The man is a legend.

Charlie Hughes B

A little like Pandur, he didn’t quite recreate the highs of the season before, a bit like Pandur, he didn’t always have to and finally a little like Pandur he saved the best for last. Despite the double hernia, when he returned, we looked a different team at the back. It was 2024 Charlie Hughes on display again. He’s another one who has a higher ceiling. He’s another one who stepped up when we needed him most.

Semi Ajayi B

Could be great one week and stuggle another, and was in and out with injury niggles. I think he suits a back three the most and the Sergej move to put him in for the second leg at Millwall was a master stroke. He ate the direct Millwall play up and dominated Middlesborough in the final. The right experience for the job and a steady shift from a canny player.

Cody Drameh B-

I feel harsh giving him lower than the others, but again he struggled with injuries and opportunities. I think to be fair, he showed the most I’ve seen from him this year and when he did get chances later in the year he flashed some real talent. Better again on the front foot, he’s right to consider himself unlucky this season. We’ll see what comes next.

Akin Famewo B-

Again was an important piece in place in terms of depth and the squad. I thought he was largely very solid when he came in and injuries challenged us. Couldn’t be Giles going forward but gave us what we lacked so much the year before, stability.

Paddy McNair B

Perfect cover for later in the season. Could play CDM or in defence. Didn’t do anything he wasn’t capable of. Solid and exactly what we needed. Another one that was important in and about the club, in the changing room too.

Amir Hadžiahmetović B

Underated. Came in and was so calm on the ball. Kept it better than almost anyone. Enabled us build play patiently and get control over games we’d couldn’t the year before. Christ knows what all the memes meant about him (I’m too old), but he was a real bonus this season

John Lundstrum B-

It didn’t quite work. He’s clearly still a talented lad. He’s great passer but did he clash with out style a little? Maybe? Did it slow us down? He can’t get about the pitch as he once could. Still, scored one of the best goals of the season against Southampton and was definitely a culture changer in the dressing room. Stopped us from being soft without a doubt.

Regan Slater A

You just can’t give him less. God loves a trier. He wasn’t supposed to make the squad really, but he did, then he wasn’t meant to play much, but he did, and he definitely wasn’t supposed to be the tone setting heartbeat of the side and he was. In reality he’s the modern Ian Ashbee. There’s no fight he doesn’t want, and he simply rises to every challenge that’s set. He’s Hull City royalty now whatever happens.

Matt Crooks B+

You could argue he deserves and A too, and I did play around with the idea. Does everything he does well. Can hold, can play the pivot, can play box to box, can play higher up and score. Did all of the above a different times. Kept us up last year and now took us up this year. Another culture changer. It’s hard to remember a player that’s so damned likeable. Brilliant.

Darko Gyabi B-

Again unlucky with a couple of injuries and this midfield was hard to get into if you weren’t at it. I really like Darko as a player, he plays off the edge, he’s physical and again I think the management improved him. Scored a priceless goal to beat Middlesborough. Could still be one to feature down the line.

Liam Miller B-

Coming back from long term injury isn’t easy, but largely he did just ok. Flatters to decieve a little and can be frustrating. No lack of effort, but you could tell he was a little frustrated at himself at points. Injuries are funny things, so I hope with a full pre-season and with the knee problems in the rear view we see the player we know he can be.

Mo Belloumi B+

Like LM, he came back in and had to be eased back because of the issues of long term injury. Unlike LM he shook of the shackles quicker and began to look the player we’d seen flashes of last season. He’s direct, he’s confident, he’s a modern day inside forward. He’s score and he’ll run like a lunatic. He along with a handful of others will form the core of next years team you’d expect.

Joe Geldhardt B+

Perhaps Joe did the reverse of some others, in that his strongest part of the season was the middle and perhaps he looked a little tired towards the end. However when he was good, he was very good. Lovely vision, calm in front of goal, top end class. Again like I’ve said with others, in a normal season he’d be a POTS contender. It wasn’t a normal season but that shouldn’t diminish his importance.

Enis Destin B

Came in when he needed a physical presence and OMB was out. Thought he did really well. Good touch, strong boy and some class about him too. Could consider himself to be unlucky to be the odd man out later on and sent out on loan.

Kyle Joseph B+

The boo boys were after him last year and they wound their necks in this season. He reminded me from day one of a young Jon Walter, and this time we had the opportunity to nurture him and bring him in at the right points. Endless running and effort, and increasingly a really good sense of where and when to pop up in the box. His injury against Millwall was incredibly unlucky. He was a huge asset this season.

Yu Hirakawa B+

A really good technical player that enabled us to cover the returning Millar and Belloumi and also keep them fit. Great on the ball, excellent delivery and the provider of the season’s biggest moment. If the gaffer pays the million quid to Bristol, I’m not arguing with him.

Oli Mc Burnie A+

The most transformative forward we’ve seen in over a decade. Both in the sense of how he played and how that enabled us to set up, but also the attitude and mindset he drove forward. He was a troll, and I mean that as a compliment, he fed off every mistake, he arrived in the box at the right time over and over again. He could outmuscle you, he could out think you, and if you gave him a crack of light, he punished you. Which he not only did in the biggest game of our season, but deep down, you knew he would. He was inevitable. And he made us inevitable too.

Sergej Jakirović A+

Not only is the Bosnian Brian Clough the biggest breath of fresh air we’ve seen in this city in twenty years, he’s the architect of one of the most transformatively stunning turnarounds in the history of the Championship. We grumble and mumble about predictions (well I do anyway) but it was probably right to say we wouldn’t challenge, because we probably shouldn’t have. Ok, nailing us for relegation despite some of the clearly clever signings was a bit harsh and snobby, but make no mistake, he’s done something almost unique here. His bringing in of Dean Holden was another stroke of genius. Dean knew this league and knew what it took, he had a caddy to help him navigate an unforgiving league.

I hate to tell you I told you so.. (well I don’t) but I told you so about big Sergej. https://newblogs.thelikesofhull.co.uk/2025/11/20/sergej-jakirovic-for-erm-city/

Keep this up and we’ll struggle to keep him, I hope that doesn’t happen, but let’s be honest if he keeps us up next season, that’s a hell of silver lining on the cloud. Incidently the “In the end we break them” quote should become a t-shirt.

Final word on the big man… I spoke to Boro fans the day before as they told me all about how great Hackney was and when they asked me for our danger I said “Jakirovic” and when they asked why I said “Because he’s had a good look at you, and he’ll have a plan to take that away”. I don’t think they believed me. I don’t think Premier League fans will believe me either. Their loss.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your ongoing support of the blog over the season. I hope you all have a lovely summer, get some sun on you, have a few refreshing drinks and up them Premier League Tigers.

Hello everyone, I trust that you’re either still drinking, drunk or hung over. Okay, so I’m gonna tell you a story, mainly about the last couple of weeks of my life, ascertaining to my Hull City supporting “sickness“. I fully realise that this story lays me wide open to a potential troll, I’m cool with that, it’s just literally the way it happened, and I don’t really need to play my “I was at Runcorn away in the FA Cup in 1993” card just yet. So bear with me.

As many of you will know, I’ve been coaching and non league football for the past four years, it’s been a fantastic ride in terms of experience for me, three promotions and a play-off run this year, and although challenging in terms of time and energy, it’s 100% worth it. One of the forms of collateral damage, however is not really being able to see a great deal of city play live as not only do we largely play on the same day, if we don’t, we’ll train. So after averaging probably 10 to 15 games a season my whole life despite being exiled in the south this number has visibly shrank. I’ve managed to see us a few times this year in a mix of TV (live) and a couple of games too in person.

So back to the present day, thanks to my good friend from podcast days Rich Walker, @bigbadwalks on Twitter. I managed to blag a ticket for Millwall away which was as you know an absolutely incredible night. The home leg however was my clubs presentation so I checked my phone about 2000 times, which was probably more tension filled then the actual game itself. Millwall away is so underrated, a few beers by Borough market, where the atmosphere was fantastic and then the old six minute train ride to hell into Bermondsey. Contrary to popular belief the Millwall fans we met that night were sound, funny and dry and good humoured , even those I spoke to after the game.

Anyway back to the matter at hand. About a month ago, Mrs the likes of Hull asked me if I wanted it for my birthday. Now I’m not an easy person to buy for as most things that I like, I tend to get, and I’m a fussy old sod. So with the coaching off-season upcoming, I just said let’s just go away somewhere. I left it at that. Now small point of order, I think at that stage we were either sixth or seventh in the league,  and on the whole playing like a bag of shit. The bookies had us at 25 to one which to be honest could’ve been more generous. So (and this is entirely on me) I really hadn’t paid much attention to playoff dates, etc.

I think we all know where this is going, in the most untypical of untypical city history we win last day at home to Norwich (we had just finished our debrief for our non-league playoff final and the other coaches were highly amused at me watching avidly on my phone) , got some help from Middlesbrough (lol) then dispatched Millwall and the inevitable happened. 

The Mrs who is often a football widow had booked a flight for me at 7 pm on the day of the play-off final. Now I know a lot of you were going to say “ just cancel it or move it” but this is somebody who works around me constantly and asked me what I wanted and I told her. In retrospect of course I should’ve told her can we please fly somewhere on the Sunday, but somewhere between being overloaded with work and coaching that didn’t happen therefore when I had a very mild go that suggesting a change,  my incredibly understanding and kind other half just said.” you’re bad.”  which is her wonderfully understated way of saying.” fuck off you massive idiot under absolutely no circumstances this is happening unless you want to jump off a cliff.”

My fault, my lack of foresight, my idiocy, my penance to pay. I mean, I went to see the two previous play-off finals and the FA Cup so it’s not like I’ve never experienced this. Unfortunate? Yes, stupid on my own behalf? Yes, definitely. worse things happen to sea? For sure. The next part of my story would be how to make sure I watch the game in any circumstances.

So dear reader, I needed a plan. I was flying at seven and as you know we were kicking off at 4:30pm versus Southampton, then 3:30 pm versus Middlesbrough, nice and simple eh? Either way, watching a game of this magnitude whilst “travelling“ takes a military level of organisation. First of all I got there early to the airport through security and into the waiting area before three, second of all you get rid of all notifications from your phone and I mean all of them no messages no updates from apps nothing, as a stream is always going to be slightly behind and you can’t take that risk, thirdly you have to make sure you have fully charged phone, access to good internet and a mobile battery too.

I did harbour some hope that a bar at the airport might show the game and if I was in a foreign airport that might be the case, but in reality and English airport would be a bloodbath if they showed club football. So after a quick recky to reveal this fact I settled in at the aptly named Black Sheep Café. Headphones on with a coffee in hand and there I stayed largely for the next 2 1/2 hours, occasionally wincing or twitching as a few and far between chances went begging.

As we all know when you watch city play in such a game of such importance you are hugely unaware of anything else that’s around you and besides a small seating change at halftime there frankly could’ve been a mass hostage situation in the airport and I wouldn’t have noticed. The first half was a hard watch as the two teams felt their way around a game, but the way that we set up under Sergej was close to perfect for the circumstances. I would say though the second half began to open up more and I don’t think it was as bad as “experts” said. However mentally I was preparing for extra time as I’m sure you were too, and then it happened…

Yu gets on the outside of the vastly overrated, Callum Britain, the keeper fluffs his lines and you know who is Jonny on the spot as ever, as he has been all season in every moment that really mattered. Oli McBurnie, I’ve never known someone else with timing like it. Like a bad guy in wrestling hitting the ref with a chair.

At this point, I literally jumped up punched the air (I think my headphones dislodged) and shouted something along the lines of “GET FUCKING IN!!!”  at the top of my voice. 

Let me remind you of where I was… I’d guess that about one hundred people in the waiting area of the airport, many in families, many with kidse, all stopped dead and looked quite rightly in disbelief and possibly disgust my general direction. For the first time in two hours, I was aware that other people actually existed. 

“ sorry everybody, sorry, erm… my football team errrr just scored…  sorry, carry on”

Was probably the most accurate description of what I said. To be fair, most of the people just turned back around and carried on with what they were already doing. Maybe a few muttering about the strange autistic man in the corner of the coffee shop.

There was one person, however an old boy to the left of me who started to smile and gave me the old football fan’s nod. He mouthed the words.” is it one nil” to me and I nodded. Then he mouthed.” to hull?” and I nodded again. He could see what it meant, even though he sat with his kids and grandkids. I’ll get back to that in a minute.

After another seemingly endless 10 minutes or so, it ended. And this time I’m not punching in the air, or swearing at the top of my voice. The reality just set in that we’ve done it, and sat by myself in a coffee shop in an airport waiting lounge I have to be honest I just cried, I put my head down on the table and cried tears of pure relief. I had no idea that was about to happen as emotions can go but as you all know, being a Hull city fan is never easy. There’s an always hope, there’s often disappointment, there can be moments of pure brilliance, but my god they can be a long time in between them actually occurring.

You all know the people, the people who come from Hull, but support Leeds or Liverpool. The people that you work with who look down their nose that you. The jokes you’ve had to listen to when somebody asks who you support…

“Oh you’re the one are you?”

The people who never even ask about your team because in their world, we don’t matter. 

Well, I hope they like apples. Because for the fourth time in in our history, we are back in the top league of this country against all odds and all predictions. So how do you like those apples?

Back to the Black Sheep Café. And my new friend, the old boy in the corner was trying desperately to catch my eye to ask if it was over. I composed myself as best as I could and walked over to him and his family to confirm that we had won. All the family shook my hand and seemed really pleased for me. The old boy himself was an Ipswich town fan who told me that he had been to the KCom in the late 2010s and genuinely seemed really made up that we had gone up.

Obviously, at this point, I checked my phone and my notifications had gone absolutely bat shit. So I made a few calls and messaged a few people including some I hadn’t heard from in sometime. I checked in with my old man. I walked around grinning like a mental patient for an amount of time and that was about it. 

Oh, one more little bit that I forgot, I changed my top to put on my city shirt in true shit house behaviour. I got a few looks and a Polish guy in the Ryanair holding pen of doom gave me a smile and nod. I boarded the plane to Krakow with mainly Polish nationals on board. However, I was next to a northern couple on the flight and they were perfectly pleasant but somewhere at the back of my head. I did wonder if football wasn’t their interest, and it’s not for everyone. I’d be remiss, however, to not finish the story on this. They watched a cooking show on the iPad during the flight, and after it had finished and they were shutting down their device. I saw the background image. The Sheffield Wednesday badge. How’s their luck? Playing Bromley next season and now having to fly to Poland next to a Hull fan that’s just won the play off final. And just like that day at Wembley, they outsold our row two to one. Unlucky.

And there it is. My silly story of last week. I hope it gave you a smile and I hope this finds you well. 

Thanks for reading, up the Embargo tigers and I’ll pop up with my end of season grades in a few days.

Pete

Hello dear readers, I hope this finds you well. The current product is still all up in the air, and time will tell if Sergej’s Tigers pull of a minor miracle by making the playoffs, it’s certainly first world problems and I’m pretty happy either way. We’ve made big strides this season and I hope if we don’t go up (and let’s be honest at 10-1 with the bookies as I write it’s not that likely) that the owner stays patient with a manager that’s done an absolutely brilliant job, but more on that in the next few weeks…

So I was sitting watching Newcastle vs Sunderland on the telly on Sunday, or the “missing teeth” derby as I like to call it and the camera panned onto a former Newcastle player as they’d won a dangerous free kick. That player was Ryan Taylor, and even though it’s only ten years since he played for City, I had to google him to make sure. Indeed he did, playing a grand total of 4 appearances in the promotion season of 2015-16 (including one league game) and I honestly don’t know if I saw him play. Moses Odubajo probably saw off the need to play Mr Taylor as he was really never better that year for City, being truly outstanding in our promotion push.

So that got me thinking of players you could barely recall played for us and I’ve put together five for discussion. As ever I’d love your input and if you can add to the thread under this I’d be happy to have you. I’ve done one from the eighties, one nineties, one two thousands, one twenty tens and one twenty twenties… a bit like a pub music quiz… so sit back, relax and prepare to say… “Who?” quite a bit…

1980s

Malcolm Murray

Eddie Gray brought the young Scotsman in from Hearts around the transfer deadline in March of 1989.

That was a strange season indeed as we’d been really poor and down the bottom of Division Two, only to go on a good FA Cup run that saw us eventually knocked out in a valiant attempt against Liverpool, the run also coincided with a great league run with the combination of Keith Edwards and Billy Whitehurst causing opposition defences massive problems. Then after we’d been knocked out, we went back to looking terrible and barely escaped the drop. Eddie was sacked and in came Colin Appleton for the second time.

Malcolm had the double whammy of playing for a team on the comedown from the FA Cup and then the calamitous start to the next year under and outdated and out of his depth former manager. My main memory was he looked like the whitest kid I’ve ever seen, skinny and too easily pushed around. Charlie Palmer or Richard Jobson he wasn’t, and by December of 89 he was jettisoned to Mansfield where he’d stay for a couple of years before returning to Scotland. Blink and you’d miss him, soz Malcolm…

1990s

Paul Wharton

If we throught the end to the decade was bad, then the nineties stood in the shadows saying “Hold my beer”. In truth I could easily refer to fifty city players from this decade as obscure, as even if we could remember them, we probably didn’t want to.

Terry “on the” Dolan brought him in from some sort of bargain bucket after he’d been released by Leeds in the astonishingly bad 1995-96 season. Even by Terry’s standards in that era (Andy Brown, Jamie Marks, Christian Sansom anyone?) Paul was underwhelming. I mainly remember him being tiny and running around the midfield like a mascot and being vaguely aware that in a team or nobodies, Paul might have actually been below average.

Over two and a half seasons he played a grand total of eight times, (I think he was injured in his first full year) and even Mark Hateley (and this is some statement) didn’t want to play him, so off he popped at the end of 1998 to a career in non league. Cheers Whazza.

2000s

Richard Appleby

Ah, younger fans who thought Dougie Sinik was a sicknote… how little ye know… Ritchie Appleby was the Ferris Bueller of injuries and I’m not sure I’ve even seen anything like him. 6 appearances in nearly two years whilst Peter Taylor regularly told anyone that would listen that there was nothing wrong with him. Happy days.

Chubby Kebab-faced Molby brought him in, during his short and unimpressive stint at the club in the summer of 2002 to great acclaim and he was supposed to be the playmaking dynamo we lacked, but like most things the Danish Pastry said during his time at Boothferry Park, he was wrong on a grand scale. Soon Tubs McGee was out and that, was pretty much that for Ritchie, only he was on a handsome wage so wasn’t that keen to

A. Leave or seemingly B. Play.

After lots of internal discussion, Adam Pearson finally paid him off in the winter of 2003. I wouldn’t recognise Richard in a line up and if he was in one, he’d probably have been limping. Good riddance.

2010s

Ondřej Mazuch

So, I can’t really cover Ryan Taylor. Mmmmm… who is else was pretty irrelevant? How about Ondrej? Unlike some others on this list, I actually think there was a player in Ondrej, when he occasionally played, (a whopping twenty games in two years) he wasn’t the worst I’ve seen and you could tell he had something. I mean he played three times for the Czech national team, you don’t do that if you’re Paul Wharton.

Unfortunately that “something” was more often than not “injured”. He seemed to be able to strain his calf by looking at the telly too quickly and was forever in some stage of recovery. It always seem soft tissue based and it was a surprise to nobody when he was released in 2019. That era was such a set of lost opportunities. We had the riches of selling off the Maguires, Robertsons and Clucases (plural of Sam Clucas? Clukai?) and essentially blew it on the likes of Kevin Stewart, Stephen Kingsley, Jackson Irvine and Noaha Dicko. I’m no fan of the Allam’s legacy obviously, but you have to say we spent quite a bit, it just wasn’t well done.

Anywho Ondrej went on to play back at home in Czechia and is probably having a Staropramen and smoking a cigar as I write.

2020s

Fin Burns

Again, with out schizophrenic transfer dealings in the last few years we’re pretty spoilt for choice, but I’ve gone for young Finlay, mainly because as a bag of goods, he simply wasn’t to me as advertised.

Was he terrible? No, I mean not really. But for a 6ft 5 centre back he wasn’t even slightly commanding, he was often quite anonymous and never ever looked like a product of Manchester City, not unless they’ve dramatically dropped their standards. He was just “meh”. Made little impact and was part of a City squad that jumped from one disaster to another under the bonkers German Tim Walter and barely stayed up by the skin of their teeth. Luckily we did, Fin went back home and then on loan to Reading (where I see he hasn’t played much more) and I haven’t given him a single thought again until this very moment.

So long Finley and thanks for the (lack of memories)

Ok, so over to you Tiger fans. Tell me some bizarre and obscure City players over the years, I’ve obviously missed a ton and it’s easy as frankly there’s just so many of them. Have fun with it, up them XG Tigers and I’m off to google where Thomas Mayer is now playing…

Thanks for reading…

Hello everyone I hope this finds you well.

As I watched last night’s match vs Watford, it felt like one game too many at the moment, we rotated, and probably had to, but for one reason or another it seemed (to me) to leave us very vulnerable between the lines and every time Watford picked up the ball in the midfield, it appeared that they quickly got behind us and the defence had multiple runners coming at them, both with and without the ball. Our defence actually seemed to cope with this pretty well, with a series of blocks, runs to slow down and engage danger and tackles (or fouls). I think it’s fair to say Watford probably deserved to win it more than us and most of us will take a point.

So that started me thinking. We’ve all had this XG/XP discussion recently, and whilst it’s clear that data alone is slightly flawed, it’s also not completely irrelevant. One way or another, this season, the opposition creates more clear chances than us on a regular basis, whilst we win the game. Now, some of that is simple in my opinion. In Pandur, we have one of the best five keepers in the league, we have a mix of outstanding and very good defenders in Hughes, Egan, Ajayi, Coyle, Famewo etc, then we have both very creative and clever players on the ball like Miller, Crooks, Hirakawa, Giles and three players who have finished chances clinically in McBurnie, Joseph and Geldhardt.

Put simply we defend our box very well, and are better than the opposition in the attacking areas. Football can be a remarkably straightforward game when those things happen. On top of that we have a manager whose in game decisions are largely very good, and if something is going wrong, he tends to quickly remedy them. I think all of these factors come together to make a potent cocktail that nerds and data geeks don’t want to down in one. And don’t get me wrong, nobody in black and amber is complaining about this.

I guess my secondary question is, is this sustainable? Are you able to replicate it long term? The answer to that is clearly, I don’t know. I have Forest mates who basically said this was last season for them, they kept winning and ended up towards the top of the Premier League, despite the data saying they were no better than this season. Are we this seasons Forest? Maybe, but a word of warning would be that they did eventually fade and ended up missing out on the elite European places they chased (even if they still made the Europa league). Our owner is a damned sight slimmer than the big top wearing Greek lad in Nottingham, but I’d say if there’s one club in the country who are being ran a little like us, it’s them.

Nothing surprises me about Sergej now, when I said at the start of December he was our best manager since Silva, I did get a few doubters, and if I’m truly honest, one of them was me. We all saw the potential to fall off slightly, but rather than do that he’s gone the opposite way and we’ve just continued to roll with aplomb. Within that run we’ve seen games where (shock horror) we’ve won and been much the better team. The wins against Preston, Wrexham and Southampton weren’t lucky and we were clearly deserving, so it’s not like we’re just pulling every game out of our arse with barefaced luck.

Maybe as City fans for many years, this is a strange feeling for us, we’re used to playing well and losing, not being just ok and winning or actually playing badly and getting points. We’ve certainly picked up a new generation of trolls from the opposing fans whose online tears could fill a small brewery, that’s always fun because Hull City AFC will always be seen as “less than” to some clubs who seem to live their lives like a gigantic time capsule, refusing to acknowledge that we’ve now spent 95% of the last twenty years in the top two flights. It’s never not going to be fun watching this happen, and as a club we’ve not really had a reputation for good luck, so perhaps we should just enjoy the ride.

More than ever, I’ll be interested in what you all think dear readers. Clearly it’s more than luck, it’s good management and players who are elite in both boxes, but will it last? And is the Bosnian genius the architect that can keep the hot streak going? These are the answers that will define our season, and the words “Dare to dream” have never seemed more poignant.

Up the lucky, shithouse, worst team you’ve ever played Tigers folks. Take care.

Like most of us, my main emotion on May 3rd 2025 was relief. What had been a torrid and hugely stressful experience was over and somehow, against most logic and sense, it hadn’t led to us slipping through the trap door to league one. I was jubilant, kind of, but I was also exhausted and genuinely looked forward to an off season where we weren’t going to frequently ruin every Saturday for us. One of the nicest things that day was walking into my local for a beer only to find five depressed Luton Town Fans drowning their sorrows whilst wearing my Hull City shirt, I offered to buy them a drink to be fair, and we all ended up getting on. The south isn’t all bad.

The summer as you all know was tumultuous and it seemed we’d simply exited the frying pan to dive straight into the fire. It’s all well and good coming for these nerdy types who do Championship podcasts and websites and battering them for saying we’d come 23rd this year, but what were they (from their mum’s spare room on their sixth form lap top) supposed to predict in reality? You can’t really blame them, not for that bit anyway.

Sure we did manage to make a fair few really impressive signings considering the chaos, that wasn’t entirely the clubs making, and with the key one being the Bosnian Simeone himself, Sergej Jakorovic, I must admit I thought the mid-table would beckon. But as every week has gone on and despite an injury list that’s longer than Brian Law’s excuses for losing volume one, we just keep going. And here we are as I write at the end of January in 4th and just three points from automatic promotion.

Now, with Ipswich Town’s super deep pockets and considerable depth, I can’t see us finishing above them, or Coventry who have a large gap, but these are definitely first world problems to have and I dare say none of us imagined we’d be wrestling with these sorts of possibilities. It could still end up that we come up short, we all know that and there’s probably more reasons to point to a dip than this continued rise that we’ve seen. I know this will trigger the odd reader (let’s not forget someone called me “The dislikes of Hull” just a few weeks ago) but I wouldn’t see 8th or 9th as failure even now, I’d see at as proof we’re on the right path to building a promotion season next year.

Either way, happy days, but all of this led me to think about why this has happened, why have we bucked the trend, why do we continue to trigger the likes of PotterDave2002 and Blade4eva1234? Because even the data (which isn’t the be all and end all) suggests that this shouldn’t be happening and it won’t continue. Well in the words of the great Mick McCarthy “It can”, and here’s the reasons in my mind it’s happened this season.

1. A determined push on British style players and high character people.

I listened to Curtis Davies on “Undr the cosh” a while back. He put the success of the City squad under Bruce firmly down to having the right people and togetherness as well as the talent. Quinn, Brady, Chester, McShane, Huddlestone, Rosenior etc etc all lived in the same area, they socialised, they played golf and they were high character players. The rest took care of itself essentially.

I think we had some real talent last season but they were rudderless at times. They also had some good characters (Coyle, Slater, Hughes, Egan) but not quite enough. So add Lundstrum, McBurnie, Ajayi, Geldhardt etc to that bunch and it’s tipped the balance. They have lads who have experience and leadership and aren’t afraid of anything. Yes they are better players than last year but they also know the level, and look after the younger ones, or ones that are new to the country and create a positive but resilient atmosphere, where put frankly people can succeed.

2. The right manager

I’ve already written a piece on him so I’ll keep it brief. But Sergej has taken this improved recruitment and has put it on the pitch in an ordered, logical and balanced way. That’s harder than anyone could imagine and how he’s papered over the cracks at times has been little short of magical. I know David Akintola gets some stick but his pace in the counter that leads to this week’s opener is frightening. He’s put him in for small bursts in specific situations and has got a tune out of him, I honestly can’t think of another manager we’ve known who could have done that. The man is a diamond, and our next battle will be how to keep him.

3. Being class in both boxes.

Like I said earlier, data isn’t everything. It’s also not irrelevant either. We are quite literally second to bottom on expected points. Now, whilst I’ll agree that is clearly a broken stat, it does show we’re overachieving and beyond the good recruitment and tactical know how, this is the next biggest factor for me. We’ve not wasted many chances when they’ve come and jesus christ, we’ve laid it on the line to stop the opposition when they’ve been in our box. I’ve lost count of the blocks, stops, tackles and clearances that we’ve made this season when it mattered. This (and that’s the key part here) isn’t luck, it’s good play, good coaching and good preparation. We’ve been great in both the final third and defensively in ours.

4. Playing without fear.

I don’t know who was more scared last season, the players or the fans, you could see the stress on the pitch, and the tension in so many games. That eats at you, it leads to mistakes and it leads to misses, and it did. This year there’s a swashbuckling attitude to us. If we go 1-0 up, we push on to make it 2. If we go 1-0 down, you can see the players egging each other on, calming themselves and motivating themselves to get back up off the canvas. Whoever is doing the sports psychology part of the club is doing great perhaps? Maybe it’s more senior player or coach led? I’m not sure but I do know that it’s clear as day. This team plays with no fear.

5. Houdini ownership

I thought about this one. I think this is the right balance to put it in. Clearly things didn’t go as planned this summer, however somehow the owner finds a way to make it work, and has done. Will he always? I’m not sure. Was the FA just in what they did, considering they essentially banned two players from playing that were signed whilst we weren’t actually in an embargo? I’m going to say no. Did they deserve Dave Fergus phoning up twice a day? I’m going to say yes.

Look Acun isn’t perfect. No owner is, and no owner is just here for the love of the club, however he’s made more comebacks than Tom Jones and just seems to be somebody that makes it work, I’m sometimes a little perplexed how. But that’s probably another one hundred owners across Europe.

You don’t have to be an expert on football finance to see the game is rigged. Man City have had more charges than the average i-phone hanging over their head for the last three years, but nothing ever seems to happen to them. The FA pick and choose who can and who can’t. Should Mason Greenwood just be able to travel a couple of thousand miles to be able to play every week? Probably not. Should Man United’s owners have been able to buy them and plunge the whole club into hundreds of millions of debt? Nope. Should we the taxpayer have paid for the changes to West Ham’s stadium. Again I’m going to say no. But these things all happened.

Let’s give the FA the amount of respect the owner does, not very much. They’re a cartel, as are FIFA and UEFA, corrupt to the core and self serving. If like me you wanted to pop your own eyeballs out and cook them in oil to avoid watching any more of the World Cup draw last month you’ll get my point and if Acun knows the special sauce that gets us out of trouble, I say good luck to him, for as long as it works, because Hull City AFC have never had the recipe until now.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the read and this finds you well. Happy 2026, and fingers crossed we keep being the worst team Potter Dave has ever seen and keep winning. Up the tigers and keep the faith.

As the famous John Lydgate quote that is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln goes…

“You can please some of the people all of the time and you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

Well… so it came to pass this week for this City blogger as I incurred the wrath of City X, with lots of Callum underscore lots of numbers and Craig hashtag HCAFC couple of flags coming for me. The reason why? Well, not that it’s terribly important but I was a bit puzzled by the metaphorical tartan bunting some parts of our fanbase were laying out, and desperately wishing for our half fit striker to be elevated to play for the Auld Enemy (C) in next summer’s world cup. I mean, whatever floats your boat, but I support City and occasionally I’m tortured by England, I just can’t gather the energy to be buzzed up by other countries, even if City players might play for them.

Anywho… somebody called me the “Dislikes of Hull” and a geezer that does pub music around told me it was the “dumbest thing on the internet today”, quite the complement really, considering what he ranked above my post. I guess the bad news for my detractors was at least 44 people broadly agreed with me, and I figure this is just a 2025 thing, some people like what you say, some people don’t and some want a plaque of locusts to descend on you and your known relatives for the foreseeable future. It’s just the way of the world these days I’m afraid…

In my slight defense I try to do for City what the national medias have given up, see both sides, not necessarily get too positive or negative about owners, managers, players, eras etc. There’s a real lack of balance to outputs these days, in and out of the city stratosphere. Sure, what I said was meant as a bit dry and darkly humorous, but at the same time it was just what I thought. None of us are getting out of this life alive and perhaps it’s all a little too serious on socials these days. Ho hum.

So with my new darker, less positive persona revealed, I thought I’d have a go at redemption. Write something on the current product that was positive (please note, it was just two blogs ago I did exactly that with a blog about the aforementioned “Scottish” striker) but here we are.

Waaaaay back in one of my earlier blogs in June I said of our manager…

“I can’t be the only person impressed by Sergej Jakirovic. The way he conducts himself, his calmness, the professional manner in which he displays. His experience is wide, he’s a winner and you get the impression he’s the calmest man in the room”

He’s proved that so far and then some. He’s positive without being deluded, he’s liked by the players without being taken for granted, he’s savvy and his in game decisions have got more and more impressive over the opening months to the season. Game after game (Swansea away, Norwich away, Preston home) if things don’t start the way he wants, he doesn’t panic, but he begins to put them right. That to me is where a manager really earns his money and it’s where some (and some that are very well liked historically at City) came up short on occasions.

Then there’s the other ace up his sleeve. Lots of managers are great with THEIR players, the ones they bring in, the ones they’ve worked with before, that’s pretty standard. But the really good ones get a tune out of players that were already here. Look at what Phil Brown did for Michael Turner, what Brian Horton did for Billy Whitehurst, what Marco Silva did for Harry Maguire or Sam Clucas.

So who is Sergej’s successes? Several you could argue, this is far and away the best we’ve seen from Ryan Giles for starters, yes perhaps that’s an easy one but there’s others. I think John Egan has gone up a gear, Kyle Joseph looks like a player reborn and speaking of negative fanbases, Regan Slater has pulled down their pants for the umpteenth time, because he’s been a crucial part of what’s gone right. There are others too, and it’s interesting to see when Sergej has taken players out of the limelight for a while, in my view protecting them, then easing them back at the right time, that’s a good manager ladies and gentlemen. That’s really not easy.

Everyone can’t succeed though, and we’ve loaned out or moved on players too, and will again in January. Kasey Palmer will be fancied to be out the door at some point but I can see nothing to suggest that the big Bosnian hasn’t given him every chance to succeed. You could also argue that Mason Burstow is now an asset to the club to be used at some point for either money or to bring back, and again that was a decision that time has shown to be wise, even if the timing was in a vacuum a little worrying.

His calmness is shown in the performances and he has an aura. Where can we go with this? I think we’re all at that junction philosophically? Play offs, really would be insanely good, considering the restrictions on the club and where we came from last year. It would vindicate the ownership and be frankly an amazing story. But in reality, if we don’t quite make it, top ten or thereabouts, I still think it represents big big strides forward, and the big man is a huge factor in the improved results, style and success we’ve seen.

We’ll see I guess, someone has already popped up on Twitter to take down my pro-Sergej take, telling me it’s not Christmas yet. Maybe if I’m getting stick for being too positive and too negative now I’ve got something right. What I do know is that the Christmas period is going to be fun, watching this team is enjoyable again and Sergej and his coaching team as well as the ownership for bringing him in deserve the plaudits. Somebody told me this week I should be pleased for Oli McB, if he makes his dream of playing in the World Cup, well I’ll match that up it a little by saying that if Sergej dreams of managing Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup, I hope it doesn’t happen, because I hope he’s at Hull City, soz and that, but that’s who I love first, second and third and that’s never going to change.

Thanks for reading.

UTT. “The dislikes of Hull”

After I head into my third year in non league football now, I have an analogy I’ve grown to use to describe the stadiums we go to. (Now we’re at the third level of the pyramid they are a bit grander, for reference, one level above North Ferriby, same as say… Gainsborough Trinity) They fall into to just two categories, loved and unloved. Sure, some have some quirky stands, some interesting bars and dugouts, but it really doesn’t matter if you know the community love the ground, its had a lick of paint and it has heart.

My point extends to football ownership, you either love the club or you don’t. Sheffield Wednesday (cough cough) have just escaped one that didn’t, and we’ve had several as you all know and could name infinitely. One of which isn’t Don Robinson, because Don loved this club and everything that came with it. You don’t get perfect grounds, and you don’t get perfect owners, but you do get ones you love, and we loved Don.

I read yesterday a superb piece by the super talented Richard Gardham on Don, which I’ve linked here. https://www.hcss.org.uk/don-robinson-an-obituary/ like most things on writing about City, I’m in awe of how brilliantly he puts it, so subsequently, yesterday I did consider just bookmarking a piece on Don for another day, however I decided today, that as much as I don’t feel I can match something so well put, I owe it to my ten year old self to pay tribute to the great man.

When City had gone into administration in early 1982, we as family had just moved nearer Hull after many years away so my Dad, my cousin and I were able to attend more regularly. Don coming in almost magically, matched that period and City transformed from years in the shadows to a time of great hope and optimism almost instantaneously. We had the makings of a decent team, despite being in the lowest division (Norman, Marwood, Mutrie, Roberts, Whitehurst) and by the time our first full season under Chairman Robinson rolled around there was a fair buzz in the City. He brought in old friend and colleague Colin Appleton and City were on a pretty smooth path to promotion in 1982-83. But it was the other things that captured the imagination.

The launch of “Tiger cola”, the Florida trip, the record release, the pre-match entertainment that took as much from Don’s background in wrestling as it did football. City was an infinitely fun place to be in an era when there was a whole lot less entertainment to be accessed. I remember them throwing out sweets before the game, the Charlie Chaplin impersonator, and of course Don himself on horse… brilliant, delightfully crackers and utterly infectious.

It made a difference, despite a time when we really were in the shadow of that other sport, attendances began to rise, coming out of the doldrums of three and four thousand and more than doubling generally, with us even getting five figures for bigger matches, which in the old stadium was no mean feat. Don was the epicenter of everything, available to the press, to the fans and to his players, he was essentially the ringmaster at the circus, and everything that brought life into the club ran through him.

1983-84 would be so so close to back to back promotions, and the goals scored travesty that hurt the fans and players so much could have derailed the club but Don then hit upon possibly his best ever decision. With a disconsolate Colin Appleton leaving for Swansea, Don put his faith in the young player Brian Horton and gave him his first job as a manager in football. It was a marriage made in heaven. With Brian’s more positive style of play, and modern approach to the game, added to some clever signings, we were utterly irrepressible and the 1984-85 season was frankly a joy to watch.

We had style, we had goals, we had steel at the back and we were backed by a loyal and noisy fanbase that were united in their love of the club again. Don brought that back, when it had completely gone, and when Colin Appleton had left, he found someone who he knew matched the ambitions of the club. Lots of the pictures doing the rounds in the last few days were of Don celebrating with the fans on the last home game, after promotion to the second level was achieved, in many ways it was his finest hour.

By the late eighties Don had grown frustrated with the club, despite being a mainstay in the second level, in some ways this was a side-effect of his drive to do better. It’s a well known story that he sacked and then desperately tried to unsack Brian Horton following a 4-1 home loss to Swindon, but it was too late. Brian stood by his values and in truth it was never really the same again. After we’d had three more significantly less effective owners, it said a lot about Don, that he tried to return in the late nineties and save us from David Lloyd, it didn’t work out that time, but if it had, we’d have certainly moved forward more quickly than we did.

I think the overall message of this piece is, if you’re anywhere between your late forties onwards, you know what Don did for the club, and I keep getting the same thought in my mind since yesterday. If the promotion celebrations of 1985 was indeed his finest hour, then perhaps the play off final of 2008 was his utter validation. Because so many of the people in that sold out crowd that day, were there because Don Robinson invited them to dream the impossible and will it into being possible. Don was the godfather of the dream, the dream then came true.

He was a force of nature you don’t see in the modern day, a showman and a salesman, but ultimately a fan who just wanted to make those around him love life as much as he did. I love the quote about playing on the moon so much, it summed him up perfectly, anything was possible and indeed probable whilst Don Robinson ran this football club, and honestly? You did it Don, you really did it… City really did play on the moon, we went further than anyone could have dreamed before you dreamed it. Your will power, vision and character enabled it to happen…

Rest in peace my friend.

UTT.

Good mate of mine used to play with with Jon Parkin and I think he told me this story… The team are having a pre-match meal for an away fixture and just got a lad on loan from QPR. They’ve got chicken salad, and the new lad looks over at Parks. He’s got smiley faces, chips, beans with cheese on top. So the new lad asks, “Why’s he not eating the same as us?”. Without looking up Big Jon says, “How many league goals have you scored this season?” the loanee answers that he hasn’t. “Well then young man, I’ve scored 27, so when you’ve scored 27, you can have smiley faces, chips and beans with cheese on top, ok?” and continues to eat his dinner.

I’m re-telling (and probably butchering) this story for two reasons, one he’s ex-City and it’s funny and two, right now if Ollie McBurnie had smiley faces, chips and beans with cheese on top, I don’t think anyone would mind.

I was on the fence when he came in this season, partly because he’s not always been prolific and partly because he’s frankly trolled our club both on and off the pitch for years, however we’re far from the only one. I’m very glad to have been wrong and (try doing it a little more on X City yutes, it’s quite endearing) I’m not afraid to say so.

In my slight defence I think I was exhausted by FIFA playing lads called Jason_#hcafc lots of flags having told me in the past that Malcolm Ebiowei is “about to cook” and the “streets will never forget” Salah Oulad M’Hand. Buuuuut… then it’s my fault for reading this utter gubbins in the first place.

McBurnie is a really rare talent in the second level in that he can hold up the ball like a big man, but he doesn’t have the first touch of a dustbin like Lyndon Dykes or Keiffer Moore for example. His interplay, and two touch and one touch interactions with others are to be fair, pretty much Premier League level and within weeks he’s become our best striker at the club in a long, long time.

How long? Well, that got me thinking, when we brought back Frazier Campbell in 2017, he’d lost a bit, but could still do a lot of that dog work too, I think McBurnie is another level up from that, and don’t even form the word “Estupinan” because he’s waaaaay below OM. I guess in reality you’re saying he’s the best since Abel Hernandez if we’re talking about an out and out number nine, and I know, that’s a big statement, but I’m not sure we’ve had a better one in that time.

He’s not perfect, and there’s a couple of bits I think he can do better. He and the whole team pretty much hit a wall on the hour at Watford and when he’s shattered, you can see it very clearly, but he didn’t have much of an off season, so that will continue to improve. People have mentioned him getting in the Scotland squad, but personally I’d rather see him on the training pitch here and recuperating at 29, than going off to Middleofnowherevenia to lose 2-0 with his national team.

And there’s something else at play with him. Something we’ve addressed before with other players (see Honeyman G), we were soft last year, we lacked personality and fight last year. Crooks helped with that, Egan does, Lundstrum certainly makes a difference… but Oli turbo charges that. He does not back down, does not allow us to be bullied and won’t let others around him do it either. This is the championship, the league of fine margins, we need what he has in bottles being given out to the whole squad. If there’s one thing we can all agree on (and there’s probably only one thing City fans can ever agree on) it’s that the fans love a fighter, love passion and love someone who loves them back. Oli is all of the above.

So… we have the new cult hero, we have a proper nine and in his small cameos so far, we might even have an ok back up in Destin. With OM’s discipline, age and style, we will need it at some point, but it’s also worth noting that the much maligned Kyle Joseph (steady on there Jason_#hcafc lots of flags) has looked a better player already alongside Oli and I think it’s the best thing to have happened to him, if he can learn from the man himself.

We do need more, our midfield still isn’t quite right and defensively we are currently Shakin’ Stevens shaking a packet of shaky steaks reading Shakespeare, we’ve got to get some stuff sorted out if we are to get the thoroughly dull mid-table existence lots of us crave, however Oli McBurnie is far and away the shining light so far and long may it continue. Thanks for reading and UTFT.

So I was coaching in the morning Saturday, so getting to Swansea wasn’t realistically an option. I’d popped out after training and done a few bits and was doing the Sky Sports watch of doom about 4.50pm before getting ready to go out to eat. Hope springs eternal and all that but it felt like another defeat was imminent. From the highlights and listening to fans it felt like we’d maybe not started great and perhaps the side was a little unbalanced? But credit Sergej and we changed bits second half that allowed us a foothold in the game and it looked deserved, albeit pretty late. All 5 subs (Gyabi, Ndala, Destin, Slater and Belloumi) play parts in the goal and it means we continue to have a solid feel in these early days.

Little did I know as the full times were all ticking across that my day was about to infinitely improve with “Swansea City 2 Hull City 2 John Egan 90 + 7” popping up… I nearly jump out of my skin and proceeded to do a kind of old man pogo of doom across the bedroom, which woke the cat up and the Mrs who had been having a pre-meal nap. She’s from Denmark so in her discombobulated state, spoke fluent Danish, at which point I cheerily pointed out 1. Sorry and 2. I had no idea what that all meant (she later told me she was explaining her dream to me). You just can’t beat a last minute goal can you? It’s a specific feeling that it’s so hard to rival in life, and it doesn’t have to necessarily be a winner. A 98th minute equaliser sometimes feels like a winner, such is the relief and emotion.

So this got me thinking of my five favourite last minute City goals. And in a moment I’ll tell you them. I have however done games I was at. So by definition some good ones don’t make the cut, namely…

Charlie Hughes last year at Sheffield Wednesday away. (2025)

Robert Snodgrass’s incredible free kick at Burnley to get us a draw. (2016)

Jacob Greaves mental header moments after Huddersfield equalise. (2024)

All would be worthy to make the list, the Greaves one especially I’d say would be high on many of the younger fans lists but rules is rules.. (and by that I’m clearly making these rules up)

Have a look, I’ve tried to include some video links and I hope you enjoy it. As ever thanks for the comments and retweets, so send your hate tweets to @thelikesofhull and cheers for popping in.

5. Lewie Coyle vs Nottingham Forest home May 2022.

I still don’t know if I’ve ever seen that many people laugh at a football game. But this is a sneaky favourite as an injury time goal. Forest were trying to get the best draw for the play offs and City were just happy to finish the season under the new owners and in mid table safety. The game jumps to life in injury time as first Forest score a penalty and (considering the at best not that important significance) over celebrated like no tomorrow. Brennan Johnson throwing his shirt off and smoke bombs going off.. only for 15 seconds later Jacob Greaves to find Lewie Coyle who crosses to the back post, KLP swipes at it, misses it and it goes in. It’s pure comedy and it’s still the quickest I’ve ever seen an away end silenced.

Fast forward to seven minutes in this clip to relive the brilliance. Lol.

4. Jimmy Bullard vs Sheffield United away December 2010.

Now, as good as a job that he did, exciting Nige “Mr Happy” Pearson’s back catalogue of City games aren’t exactly an entertainment fest. But this game really was very good. On Boxing day in the freezing cold, City jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to increasingly in form Jay Simpson’s double. (nice to know even 15 years back City fans were writing off strikers too soon), only to be pegged back by a Ched Evans double.

Then with the Sean Bean Army pushing on in the very last minute, Vito Mannone, the beautiful man, picks off a Sheff U header and releases whippet like Cameron Stewart who flies into the counter attack and when known wig wearer Steve Simonsen can only parry his shot, old glass knees himself puts in the rebound. City’s away end goes potty and the red half of Sheffield are left crying into their really poor beer whilst listening to an obscure Pulp album… probably…

Here it is in all it’s analogue beauty… enjoy

3. Andy Robertson vs Derby County away, play off semi final first leg, May 2016

Keeping up a theme, this goal also sprang from an opposition corner, where Derby were hoping to give themselves a late foothold in the play off semi final after City had held off a strong start and stuck twice via Abel Hernandez and Moses Odubajo’s twice deflected shot.

I think a combination of Elmo, Abel, Sam Clucas and Jake Livermore win us consecutive lose balls and Moses then steps into the counter attack and plays it to Robbo who drives it home. Absolute scenes in the away end and the 98th minute goal would prove eventually decisive to take us back to Wembley again. One my favourite ever City goals and one that belongs in the injury time hall of fame. Fast forward to about 3 minutes 25 to enjoy this beauty…

2. Keane Lewis Potter at Charlton December 2019

Driving, freezing rain at the Valley, 97th minute, 2-1 down to Charlton on a Friday night on live TV. City have one last go and biscuit wristed George Long pumps a free kick into the area, it gets recycled to Kamil Grosicki who curls a beautiful deep cross into the area and KLP flicks a header onto the post and keeper Dillon Phillips (cheers Dillon) and in. Shammy leather faced Lee Bowyer cries and absolute bedlam ensues in the away end. Some lad breaks his finger after going sailing over the top of me, and he still didn’t care. In a terrible, horrendous season this was one of the good days. Incredible.

1. Manucho vs Fulham away March 2009

Lets be honest Manucho was crap. He did almost nothing for City, and yet here we are. We’d been paggered by Fulham for most of the game. Matt Duke had been an absolute wall and then we went and nicked it.

In truth we don’t talk enough here about Richard Garcia, he survives several bobbles and challenges and then delivers an absolute peach of a cross that the big Angolan simply couldn’t miss.

Daylight robbery can be viewed from about the 4 minute fifty mark. We didn’t care one bit and it was almost certainly the goal that kept us up that year. Happy days.

Thanks for reading. Up the last minute tigers. Hope you’re all well.