Hull City

Oh, that it should come to this for the once mighty Hull City Hero, Dean Windass. After firing the Tigers into the top flight less than nine months ago for the first time in the clubs history, he is found surplus to requirement in the fast paced Premiership world that the Tigers now inhabit.

Dean Windass has been a fantastic servant to the club that is Hull City. Without him, it is arguable that the Tigers wouldn't even exist. When he was sold to Aberdeen in 1995 for £700,000, the funds generated by his sale helped to stave off bankruptcy for the Tigers. His goals in the relegation campaign of two years ago saved us from the drop to the Coca Cola League one.

However, the fairytale had to come to an end. Instead of being the focal point of the Tigers' attack, the highlight of his season was a booking for warming up next to Rory Delap at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke City.

If this was a Hollywood movie, Dean Windass would probably look more like George Clooney than Shrek and would be scoring the winning goal in the Champions League rather than setting sail for lower league player management, which is where he will probably end up going.

So, where did it all go wrong for Hull City's favourite son? For a player that has been a central figure and a fans favourite at almost every club, he has played to see his house of cards come crashing down after such a great day in May '08. It must be so disappointing.

The crux of the problem for Windass was his lack of playing time since promotion. From being the central figure in Hull's promotion attack to being on the edge of the fringe was too much for Windass. He started to vent his frustrations in an online blog for ITV. The blog was a tool that was surely aimed at raising his profile for future television and media work when his playing career was over.

Unfortunately, for him, it seems to have backfired. With an open arena for him to vent his frustrations at the lack of first team football, he has gradually gone from showing frustration to a lack of respect for his manager. Ultimately, his last blog was the straw that broke the camel's back for Phil Brown and Hull City, who have made it plain that he is no longer in the club's future plans.

As a Hull City fan, I dearly hope that this episode in the rags to riches tale of Dean Windass does not end on a sour note for all concerned. For the boy that used to stand on the terraces at Boothferry park and cheer on the Tigers to be let go for a third time may be too much for him to take.

The match between Hull City and Aston Villa has raised a startling problem for the Premier League. During the match the referee Steve Bennett awarded an injury time penalty to Hull City for a handball by Aston Villa’s Ashley Young.

The Aston Villa players, as most footballers do, crowded the officials pleading for them to rethink their decision. After consultation with his assistant, Mr. Bennett overturned his earlier decision and awarded a goal kick to Aston Villa.

The controversy arises because the referee’s assistant was witnessed in conversation with an outside source prior to his conversation with Steve Bennett. This conversation was even witnessed by the Aston Villa Captain Gareth Barry who said;

“So I went over and said, ‘Look, it’s hit the bar, it’s nowhere near his hands, what’s going on?’ They were making conversation but in the end, whoever he was listening to, they’ve made the right decision.”

Now, this is a real problem because under the rules of the Premier League the only person allowed to talk to the officials on the field is the fourth official and then only in issues arising from violent conducts. So, who was in conversation with the Referee’s Assistant? And what was said?

Hull City’s manager Phil Brown as gone on record stating that former referee Jeff Winter saw the Referee’s Assistant taking up a position that would indicate that the Referee’s Assistant initially agreed with the ruling on the field that it was indeed a penalty to Hull City.

The main issue involved in this is, who else has access to the intercom, and what sort of precedent does this set for football in general. Obviously, the right outcome was reached because on the video replay the ball clearly doesn’t hit Young’s hand but hits the cross bar. However, as there is not supposed to be any pitch side video replay evidence during the game who was giving the information to the officials on the field?

On the second to last day of 2008 the last game of Premier League football for the year was played at the Kingston Communication Stadium, the home of Hull City Football Club.

It has taken Hull City 104 years to reach the top flight of English football—the nearest they have come previously was before most of the current crop of fans were even a glint in a Tiger's eye—but for this particular match they witnessed a spectacle that wasn't overtly interesting in footballing terms, more like a game of chess for 88 minutes then "wham bang thank you ma'am", a flurry of incident.

The year 2008 will forever live long in the memories of Hull City fans. It started with the Phil Brown's Tigers riding high in 8th place in the Coca Cola Championship after fighting relegation the season before.

The rest of the regular season would see the Tigers winning 11 of the next 24 regular season games and drawing five, which would be enough to see them through to the Championship play-offs in third place behind West Brom and Stoke City.

The Play-off Semi-Final was against pre-season favourites for automatic promotion Watford. The Tigers provided a 6-1(on agg) demolition of the Hornets, which saw Hull City head for Wembley Stadium for the 1st time in their history to play against a Bristol City side that were hoping to get back into the top flight for the first time in over 25 years.

The stage was set for a nail-biting match but for fans that weren't involved it was pretty much a dire affair that will be remembered for one of the best goals to have ever been scored at either the new or the old Wembley stadiums.

On 38 minutes Fraizer Campbell received a threaded pass through the Bristol City midfield and weaved his way through the Bristol defence, taking the ball to the edge of the six yards box. But instead of taking a shot on goal, the on-loan Manchester United striker saw the old war horse Dean Windass running to the edge of the box, and cleverly chipped the ball to the free Windass—who hit the ball sweetly on the volley into the top corner of the net, despite the despairing dive of the the Bristol City goalkeeper.

1-0 to the Tigers, and that is how the team got to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history, with a goal from a local lad who had saved us from bankruptcy by being sold many years ago in his prime, only to come back and save the club from relegation the year before and to be the oldest player to score at Wembley Stadium.

Conventional wisdom has it that the team winning promotion from the play-offs is at a disadvantage by being three weeks behind everyone else in preparing for the new season.

Phil Brown and Paul Duffen the Hull City Chairman didn't agree with this, they held the belief that we were ahead of the rest of the Premiership teams as we were fitter than the rest because we hadn't had the lay off that other clubs had had.

The battle plans were drawn up and new recruits were brought in. Geovanni from Manchester City on a free transfer, Anthony Gardner from Tottenham Hotspur, Marlon King on loan from Wigan, Kamil Zayette from Young Boys of Zurich on loan, Bernard Mendy from Paris St Germain, Peter Halmosi from Plymouth Argyle, and George Boateng from Middlesbrough. 

After an indifferent pre-season, the opener against Fulham would be at at the KC stadium in front of a sell out crowd or Tiger's fans, and they wouldn't be disappointed.

As Ian Ashbee lead out the Tigers on that warm August day with fellow Hull City players Boaz Myhill and Andy Dawson it is worth remembering that these three special players have been with the Tigers all the way from the Coca Cola League Two through to the Premiership.

Indeed Ian Ashbee has the distinction of being the only player to have captained his club through all four professional English divisions.

After going behind to an early goal from Fulham's Seol Ki-Hyeon in the 8th minute, a sublime strike from Geovanni on 22 minutes saw the Tigers go in at half-time all square.

In a game were the established Premiership side were supposed to be in control it was hardly the case and on 81 minutes Hull City sub Caleb Folan popped up and grabbed a late winner after some tenacious play from Craig Fagan, who stole the ball off of a Fulham defender on the edge of their box.

The season would carry on in this vein with Phil Brown's Tigers gaining confidence with every match. Even after the 0-5 thrashing to Wigan the Tigers resolutely stuck to their principles and played fast paced counter attacking football built on a solid hard working team performances.

The highlight of the season so far has been the four game winning streak which included wins against Arsenal (this at the Emirates on the second time they had lost there since moving to the Emirates), Tottenham, and West Ham.

There have also been some other notable games so far this season, against Everton we out played them for 75 minutes only to let them back into it in the last 15 minutes. After losing easily to Chelsea the Tigers traveled to Manchester United at Old Trafford and gave them the scare of their life in a gritty 4-3 loss.

Liverpool were lucky to scrap a 2-2 draw with the help of some dubious refereeing. The 2-1 victory against Newcastle United when they were in turmoil helped to give the Tigers belief that they could compete in the Premiership.

The season has had it's ups and downs, more ups to be sure but the season has ended on a low for the Tigers. Only seven points from the last 11 games and three losses on the bounce isn't mid-table form but relegation form.

However, there is some hope to come out of this run, with a few exceptions we have proven we are a very difficult team to beat.

Yes, we have been beaten heavily in two of the last three games but the loss to Sunderland was a game ruined by a poor sending off and a deflected goal and the first half against Manchester City was one of the best displays of attacking football I have seen for some time—and added to the fact that Hull City had one of their most lacklustre performances for that first half display added to our misery.

Phil Brown gave the Hull City players some home truths on the pitch at Eastlands at half time in that match and the players showed that they still had some steel in them as they matched the Manchester City attacking machine.

Which leads to Aston Villa's first appearance at the KC in a Premiership fixture and our last match of 2008.

The Villain's came to the KC after an impressive performance against Arsenal but their skilled front line never looked like denting the Tiger's defensive framework.

The highlights of the game came early with a disallowed goal for the home side when diminutive ex-England international and Hull native Nick Barmby being harshly adjudged to have fouled the massive Villa 'keeper Brad Friedel. The expression of relief on Freidel's face told a different story from the one the ref had witnessed.

The game was running out to a stalemate when Kamil Zayette put the ball in to his own net under pressure in the 88th minute. This was followed with a farcical penalty that the ref gave to the Tigers in injury time only to take it away after the ref's assistant had talked to the fourth official who had seen the incident on video.

The match ended in a flurry of incident but with yet another loss for the Tigers.

So the year 2008 draws to a close for the Tigers. Would I change any of it? Probably not. We have climbed to heights that I never thought the Tigers would climb. I have followed the Tigers too many years not to be thrilled beyond belief at our current position.

To be 8th in the hardest football league in the World ain't bad at all when you think that ten years ago we were on the brink of going out of professional football in England and less then ten years ago we were on the edge of a financial abyss that some clubs never come back from.

In football it is often overlooked how the morale of a side will affect it in terms of its fortune in a game of ninety minutes.

A team that has struggled for a few games against highly competent sides, who many would have given said side a chance against, could perhaps come up in their next outing against a team which is relatively unfancied in the tie, save for, by its own die-hard supporters.

In the ensuing match, you could see two scenarios potentially arise, which give a glimpse of the effect of good or bad morale.

The aforementioned scenario could be likened to a result that came out of a game played a number of weeks ago in arguably the most visible competition on the planet, the English Premier League.

When Hull City took on Arsenal at the Emirates stadium many were predicting that Hull City's bubble might finally burst and they would be really shown what it is to be playing in the top tier of the English game.

It was however a very different scenario which arose.

Though Arsenal did in fact take the lead in the tie it was Hull City who would eventually walk off as victors.

Now generally if a team goes a goal down to a side of the calibre of Arsenal they are going to be in for a torrid time in trying to restrict the team to just that goal.

However it was perhaps, in this case, the self-belief of one player that was transferred to the group of eleven after a moment of individual skill that ended up winning the game for Phil Brown's team.

When Geovanni decided to take a shot from where he did, he did something which not only drew his side level, but showed his team mates that they were not playing against Arsenal because of some fortunate fluke, but because they could very realistically compete with the top sides in Europe.

Geovanni proved they had the things, which at times elude many of the great sides in football—belief based on team unity and continuity.

I had read somewhere recently that Hull City's good form in the games so far had been down to the luck of the side having played against teams that were in disarray in the dressing room and not much good on the pitch either.

The theory here was that if Hull had met these teams in different circumstances that they would have lost the games that they won. Particular reference was made to the two wins they had over much more prestigious London opponents; Tottenham and Arsenal.

Now this may on some level be true.

The overriding factor in these wins was not the skill vs. skill aspect but the good morale vs. bad morale aspect.

This is where Phil Brown had really done his job well. He had to have buoyed the confidence of his team with more positive reinforcement whilst maintaining that they respect opponents while not being overwhelmed with this respect.

Hull City went into both matches with enough belief in their own ability to get the points. The two teams they faced in these matches were definitely the hands down, on paper, favourites.

But the games played out very differently.

While fortune played a large role in both of the matches and the respective results it was also the boldness of the Hull side that enabled them to be beneficent of this fortune.

In Niccolo Machiavelli's famous work "The Prince", the author explains that he sees fortune as having enormous powers over men. But along with the power of fortune it is stated by Machiavelli that, in general, the bold would succeed over the hesitant.

Hull City are a most obvious example of this boldness in action.

It could be said that they were fortunate that certain opponents were struggling with various difficulties at the time of their meetings. But the boldness they showed in putting the sword to the weaknesses of these teams cannot be underestimated in the power of its efficiency.

Exploiting the doubt and uncertainty in their opponents they showed a ruthless enough streak to make certain it was them who left the pitch with the points and the plaudits to go with it.

In its more recognisable form the saying goes, "Fortune favours the brave".

I would say fortune has favoured Hull City and they have showed themselves to be a very brave side indeed.

It may be from now that they have a horror run which sees them back in the Championship next season. Anything could happen.

But I daresay that the start they have had to this season in the English top flight will be remembered for many years to come, whatever happens to these players and their manager.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp wants to make Frazier Campbell's loan deal made permanent. As did Phil Brown at Hull City. Who can blame either of them either, Campbell is a definite star of the future. Campbell joined Spurs for a one season loan deal as part of the deal to bring Dimitar Berbatov to Old Trafford. Since he joined them he has done well I feel. In his last two games he has scored three times and to top that he also got his first international goal, scoring in Tuesdays U21 games against the Czech Republic which England won 2-0.

I remember Phil Brown making his initial offer of £500,000 for Campbell and raising it quite quickly to £7m. Harry will need to find a bit more than £7m to sign him now though I think. I just hope we don't do another Rossi here and sell him, only to see him blossom into a top class player.

Campbell enjoyed a very productive loan spell at Hull in 2007-08. He initially joined them in October 2007 on loan until mid-January 2008, and scored twice on his home debut in a 3-0 victory over Barnsley. Following his match-winning display against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Boxing Day 2007, in which he scored one goal and set up another, Hull expressed their interest in extending Campbell's loan until the end of the season. The loan extension was completed on 28 December 2007.

Campbell finished the season as Hull City's top scorer, with 15 goals. On 24 May 2008, he played in the Hull City team that achieved promotion to the top flight for the first time in their 104-year history, providing the assist for Dean Windass' goal in a 1–0 win over Bristol City in the Championship Playoff Final at Wembley Stadium. He described the loan move as "the best move of my career", saying "This is exactly why I came out on loan, it's like a fairytale really. You come away on loan and you never really know what to expect but we've done really well, both as a team and on a personal level".

Hull City were very keen to sign him. Hull chairman Paul Duffen had described Campbell as "too good for the Championship", but following their promotion, Hull were hoping to sign him permanently or get another season-long loan, depending on Manchester United's willingness to let him go. However, Campbell repeatedly expressed the desire to return to Old Trafford and try to break into the first team, despite Hull City bidding a club record fee of £7m.

In July 2008, Campbell was selected to tour South Africa with the Manchester United first team, and scored the team's fourth goal in a 4–0 win over Kaizer Chiefs in the final of the 2008 Vodacom Challenge. He also scored the winning goal in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's testimonial match against Espanyol on 2 August. After the game, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson indicated that Campbell would remain at the club for the duration of the season, stating "Fraizer's future is here". On 17 August 2008, Campbell started alongside Wayne Rooney for the opening game of the season in a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United. 14 days later he was whisked off to Spurs. I hope he returns to United. But if Fergie does choose to seel it should be for no less than £10m !!.....Back To Home Page.....

Hull City take on Man City at the KC Stadium today and this fixture has a very Brazilian feel to it.

Hull manager Phil Brown's preparations have been affected with the alleged spat between Marlon King and Dean Windass. The incident has been denied, but that's not the only problem for the Tigers as they will be without defender Andy Dawson for the game.

Man City have their own problems with Gelson Fernandes, and Richard Dunne both out with suspensions. Daniel Sturridge is a doubt with an ankle injury, but Vincent Kompany should return after a groin problem.

Hull's Assistant Manager Brian Horton said: "When we played Chelsea, even Luiz Felipe Scolari said that it's sometimes harder to play at home.

"At home is where you need your top players to perform and to get on the ball. It's about bravery and by that we don't just mean winning tackles and headers. It's about getting on the ball.

"People want you to take the game to the opposition when you're at home. We have to give the crowd something to shout about."

Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips was in a confident mood, he said: "Morale is high, everyone is raring to go in training and we cannot wait for the next games to come along.

"We have been playing some good football and we just need to put a run of results together."


Team News looks like this:

Hull (from): Myhill, McShane, Turner, Zayatte, Dawson, Marney, Hughes, Boateng, Geovanni, King, Cousin, Barmby, Garcia, Windass, Mendy, Halmosi, Folan, Ricketts, Giannakopoulos, Duke, Ashbee.

Man City (from): Hart, Schmeichel, Zabaleta, Onouha, Richards, Ben Haim, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Kompany, Elano, Robinho, Jo, Hamann, Evans, Benjani, Vassell, Caicedo, Berti.


Not many results for Head to Head

Home and away
League (inc PL): Hull 3 wins, Man City 5, Draws 4
Prem: Hull 0 wins, Man City 0, Draws 0

at Hull only
League (inc PL): Hull 3 wins, Man City 1, Draws 2
Prem: Hull 0 wins, Man City 0, Draws 0

The Referee is Phil Dowd from Stoke on Trent.


Prediction 1-1: Hull due a result and Manchester city are hopeless away from home.

Hull City, the clear underdogs of the English Barclays premier league season 2008/2009. The team, just promoted, having fought vigorously in the championship play-offs, desperate for their chance in the top-flight, now with a challenge of much greater difficulty and importance, surviving in this so called top-flight, the Barclays premier division, where the big boys play; the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Looking at the majority of predictions, these new boys wouldn't stand a chance having a minimal time in comparison with the teams who finished in the automatic promotion slots, Stoke City and West Brom, to work on their squad and prepare for their next season in the premier division.

Also, from finishing in a lower position than both Stoke and West Brom statistically, they are a weaker side, let alone any of the top clubs in English football who statistically compared to them, are a lot weaker.

So from looking at Hulls' chances, any football fan with half a brain would predict that Hull's chances were very limited, with a team weaker than the regular premier division sides and the two teams going up with them. Plus, little if no money to boost their squad and obtain some new signings with the quality to keep them up. A blunt way to put this; these lads, as it seems, had no chance!

So, Hull City the new boys in the top-flight, as I keep saying, of English football, with a slightly more impressive squad despite their lack of funds, including the likes of Daniel Cousin from Rangers, George Boateng from Middlesbrough and Geovanni, the Brazilian with heaps of talent, from billionaires Manchester City, now ready to meet a simply immense challenge.

A team, who less than five years ago played league one football, competing with sides much smaller than the teams they would face in their current season, must try to avoid the drop. What then, appeared to be an impossible challenge.

However, a win against Fulham and a draw against Blackburn were quite impressive results leaving manager Phil Brown feeling more relaxed with the obvious words, "we can do this," running through his head.

The end of August though, reminded Hull City and their fans alike that this really was the toughest league in the world to play in as they were reminded that nothing came easy in this division in a 5-0 thrashing from Wigan came their way. Wigan, not even one of the top teams, easily defeating them, putting five goals past their keeper. Surely now, Phil Brown was thinking, "Ok, maybe we can't do this."

Luckily for him, things looked up as they once again managed a win and then a draw, the win against a disappointing Newcastle side and the draw against Everton, who were playing equally as bad. Then, their luck went from sky high to the stars as they managed four wins on the trot.

The first, against Arsenal, from 1-0 down coming back to 1-1, indefinitely because of the sheer quality of their new number one signing Geovanni as he hit a beautiful curling shot from the edge of the area that whistled past Arsenal's outstretched goal keeper's arms and nestled neatly in the top corner, rippling the net sending the Hull city fans into raptures. This, then followed by a Daniel Cousin header, also ending up in the top corner.

Hull City, the team with "no chance," the team "definitely relegated," had triumphed over Arsenal, shocking the press, shocking every football fan across the globe. That wasn't the end of it, the next three wins coming against Tottenham, West Brom and West ham United.

Third in the table, Hull City, surely now title contenders, only goal difference separating them from the two top teams Chelsea and Liverpool. Nothing could go wrong now, they had done it, they were up there with the best, winning games and losing none. Hull City, the greatest team on Earth.

However, Hull fans, what the heck, football fans, were living in a dreamland, every one wanting Hull to win, every one expecting Hull to win but surely, no one expected this to continue and life is cruel so this magnificent winning streak, did not continue.

Confidence levels rocketed as high as they could go, Hull faced Chelsea, possibly the best team in England at this current time and as some expected, there was no upset.

Hull City were brushed aside, leaving their home ground with not a win over Chelsea, begged for, prayed for, by every football fan alive, even some Chelsea fans I'd expect, but a 3-0 thrashing. There run, was over, and as they met Manchester United and Bolton in their next two games a new run formed. Not a run of wins but a run of losses.

Now, Hull City, expected to be crushed, ripped apart, by the mighty force of the premier division had fought well and were beginning to look like a top English club, but as most predicted, this good fortune could not last forever and as it seems now, Hull City's luck as most definitely run out.

Hull City, the clear underdogs of the Premier League season 2008-09. The team, just promoted having fought vigorously in the championship play-offs, desperate for their chance in the top-flight, now with a challenge of much greater difficulty and importance, surviving where the big boys play—the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Looking at the majority of predictions, these new boys wouldn't stand a chance, having a minimal time in comparison with the teams who finished in the automatic promotion slots—Stoke City and West Brom—to work on their squad and prepare for the step up.

Also, from finishing in a lower position than both the other promoted sides, they were considered a weaker side, let alone when compared to any of the top clubs in English football.

So from looking at Hulls' chances, any football fan with half a brain would have predicted that Hull's chances were very limited, with a team weaker than the regular Premier Division sides and the two teams going up with them.

Plus, little if no money to boost their squad and obtain some new signings with the quality to keep them up. A blunt way to put this—these lads, as it seemed, had no chance!

So, Hull City were the new boys in the top-flight, with a slightly more impressive squad despite their lack of funds—including the likes of Daniel Cousin from Rangers, George Boateng from Middlesbrough and Geovanni, the Brazilian with heaps of talent, from billionaires Manchester City.

They now looked ready to meet a simply immense challenge. A team who less than five years ago played League One football were competing with sides much larger and richer than them, had to try to avoid the drop.

The challenge looked impossible.

However, a win against Fulham and a draw against Blackburn were quite impressive initial results, leaving manager Phil Brown feeling more relaxed with the obvious words, "we can do this", running through his head.

The end of August though, reminded Hull City and their fans alike that this really was the toughest league in the world to play, as a 5-0 thrashing from Wigan came their way. Wigan, not even one of the top teams, easily defeating them, putting five goals past their 'keeper.

Surely now Phil Brown was thinking, "Okay, maybe we can't do this".

Luckily for him, things looked up as they once again managed a win and then a draw—the win against a disappointing Newcastle side and the draw against Everton, who were playing equally as bad.

Then, their luck went from sky high to the stars as they managed four wins on the trot.

The first, against Arsenal, were they came from 1-0 down coming back to 1-1, indefinitely because of the sheer quality of their new number one signing Geovanni as he hit a beautiful curling shot from the edge of the area that whistled past Arsenal's outstretched goal keeper's arms. 

The bullet nestled neatly in the top corner, rippling the net and sending the Hull City fans into raptures. This, then followed by a Daniel Cousin header, also ending up in the top corner.

Hull City, the team with "no chance", the team "definitely relegated", had triumphed over Arsenal, shocking the press, shocking every football fan across the globe. That wasn't the end of it, as the next three wins came against Tottenham, West Brom, and West Ham United.

Third in the table, Hull City, surely now title contenders, only goal difference separating them from the two top teams Chelsea and Liverpool. Nothing could go wrong now, they had done it, they were up there with the best, winning games and losing none.

Hull City, the greatest team on Earth.

However, Hull fans—what the heck, football fans—were living in a dreamland, everyone wanting Hull to win, everyone expecting Hull to win but surely, no one expected this to continue?

Life is cruel, and this magnificent winning streak did not continue.

Confidence levels rocketed as high as they could go, Hull faced Chelsea, possibly the best team in England at this current time and as some expected, there was no upset.

Hull City were brushed aside, leaving their home ground with not a win over Chelsea, begged for, prayed for, by every football fan alive, even some Chelsea fans I'd expect, but a 3-0 thrashing.

There run was over, and as they met Manchester United and Bolton in their next two games a new run formed. Not a run of wins—but a run of losses.

Now, Hull City, expected to be crushed, ripped apart, by the mighty force of the Premier Division had fought well and were beginning to look like a top English club, but as most predicted, this good fortune could not last forever and as it seems now, Hull City's luck has most definitely run out.