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Admin History:

It had been difficult to gain interest in a football club in a City so dominated by rugby, but on 28 June 1904, Hull City Football Club was founded and began playing friendlies at The Boulevard, home of Hull FC. They would also play matches at Anlaby Road Cricket Ground and Dairycoates. Elected to the Second Division in 1905, Hull City continued to play at Anlaby Road until 1941 when they were foced back to the Boulevard for their games during war time.

In 1946 the club was fortunate to find a sponsor in Harold Needler who oversaw the building of a new ground at Boothferry Park. Hull AFC's first match at the Park was against Lincoln City on the 31 Aug 1946 and ended in a goaless draw. The programme for this match can be found within this collection at L DSHC/5/1.

The club continued to play at Boothferry Park and suffered mixed fortunes both on and off the pitch. They moved down to the old Third Division in 1991 and narrowly avoided further relegation during the 1991/92 season, whilst financial difficulties forced them to sell their leading players in order to fend off winding up orders. In 1995/96 the club was relegated to the Third Division of the rebranded league and narrowly avoided dropping to the Football Conference League in 1997. Briefly locked out of Boothferry Park by bailiffs in 2000/2001, a takeover by Adam Pearson finally alleviated the financial pressure on the club. Pearson ploughed funds into the club and in December 2002 it was relocated to the new 25,400 seater KC Stadium after 56 years at Boothferry Park. This hailed a new era for Hull AFC and the club began to climb back up to the top leagues.

In 2007 Adam Pearson sold the club to a consortium led by Paul Duffen and in May 2008 they gained promotion to the Premier League. Fortunes were again mixed and in May 2010 they were relegated once more. The Club once again gained new investment in December 2010 when it was announced that Assem Allan had purchased the club for a nominal fee of £1 but was looking to invest £30 million in the club.

At the end of the 2012/13 season the club regained promotion to the Premier League under Steve Bruce. The following season was memorable for the best F.A.Cup run in the club's history, and although they lost to Arsenal 3-2 after extra time, the run did see them eligible to play European football for the first time. the 2014/15 season was bittersweet as although the club played in the UEFA Europa LeagueEurope at the start of the season, they failed to reach the group stages, and the same season saw them relegated once again.

However, under Steve Bruce's guidance the club bounced straight back into the Premier League at the end of the 2015/16 season.

A full history of the club can be found on the Hull City Tigers website at: http://www.hullcitytigers.com/club/since_1904/

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