Another season has drawn to a close, with Hull City finishing 15th in the Sky Bet Championship after a typically eventful campaign…
After a summer of much change, Jean Michaël Seri lifted the roof off the MKM Stadium with a last-gasp winner against Bristol City on opening day. We briefly topped the Championship tree and won our first three at home, with Óscar Estupiñán’s seven-goal salvo earning him August’s Player of the Month.
But the Tigers started to slide as form faltered and Shota Arveladze departed with City dangling dangerously above the drop. Andy Dawson was parachuted in to steady the ship, overseeing uplifting wins and gorgeous goals in successive away games at Blackpool and Rotherham.
Our position, though, remained precarious and by the time of Liam Rosenior’s homecoming, we were one point outside the relegation zone. Liam’s dugout debut could hardly have been tougher as the Tigers were thrown into the Lions’ Den but a battling draw with 10 men underlined our new-found resolve. Regan Slater’s double downed Cardiff before City jetted off to Türkiye for a mid-season winter break, joined by 320 lucky fans on a free all-inclusive holiday, courtesy of owner Acun Ilıcalı.
The Tigers returned a different beast: organised and cohesive with a clear identity, Liam’s resurgent team were intent on looking up rather than down. Four wins in six at the turn of the year dispelled any relegation fears – a dogged defence laying the foundations for an upturn in form and consolidation in mid-table. The MKM has become a fortress again, while eight goals were shared on a very Good Friday in Sunderland – Ozan Tufan showing nerves of steel in arguably the game of the season.
Free coach travel and reduced tickets have seen attendances soar home and away, welcoming our biggest league crowd in six years and ending the season with four consecutive gates of over 20,000.
One defeat in nine brought the curtain down on 2022/23 and optimism is building already ahead of next season!
