Hull City A.F.C.

Hull City
Full name	Hull City Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Tigers
Founded	1904
Ground	Kingston Communications; Stadium, Hull
Capacity	25,400
Chairman	Adam Pearson
Manager	Peter Taylor
League	The Championsip
2004-05	League One, 2nd
Home colours	Away colours

Hull City Association Football Club are an English football team based at the KC Stadium (Kingston Communications Stadium) in Kingston upon Hull. They play in black and amber stripes, hence their nickname: "The Tigers". Having achieved promotion two seasons in a row, Hull City will be playing in the Football League Championship in the 2005-06 season.

Hull City's highest ever finish came in 1910, when they came very close to winning promotion to the top flight, finishing third in the old Second Division. Level on points with second placed Oldham, Hull missed promotion on goal average by the slim margin of 0.29 of a goal. Hull have never finished as high since, and as a result, Hull is the largest city in Europe never to have had a club play in the top division.

In cup competitions, the club's greatest achievement was in 1930, when they reached the FA Cup semi-final.

Modern Times

Hull City suffered relegation from the old Second Division in 1990-91, and five years later suffered relegation from the new Division Two. They were to stay in Division Three for the next eight seasons, undergoing severe financial difficulties - at one point even being locked out of their ground, Boothferry Park, due to non-payment of rent. The club were on the brink of bankruptcy when they were purchased by the former Commercial Director of Leeds United, Adam Pearson.

Halfway through the 2002-03 season, the club relocated to the impressive new 25,400-seat Kingston Communications Stadium which was built at a cost of £43 million by the local council (although much of this cost continues to be recouperated through holding international matches events and concerts). This move was made just weeks after the appointment of ambitious new manager Peter Taylor (Also England under 21 coach), who had tasted promotion success with Gillingham in 1999-2000 and Brighton in 2001-02. In 2003-04, Taylor's first full season as manager, Hull finished Division Three runners-up and were promoted to the newly-named Coca-Cola League One. Hull achieved a second successive promotion in 2004-05 as League One runners-up, and next season they will be playing the Coca-Cola Championship - their highest position in the league for some 15 years.