Stephen Hunt 2009/10
Ahead of our second season in the top flight, Hull City spent a reported undisclosed fee of £3.5m for the services of winger Stephen Hunt. An exciting winger that represented Crystal Palace, Brentford and Reading prior to his switch to East Yorkshire, the Republic of Ireland international was thankful to Brendan Rodgers for giving him the opportunity to return to the Premier League.
“I remember having a small hernia operation in the summer to fix a quick problem and it was just the case of being fit for the start of the season. Brendan Rodgers had taken over at Reading and made a plan for me that he wanted me to leave and go back to the Premier League and that I deserved to go back,” said Hunt.
“He was excellent in how he had put me at ease that they were going to listen to offers from the Premier League. Hull agreed a deal and I was happy to go to Hull. I didn’t know much about the area or the team itself to be honest with you apart from watching them in the Premier League the year before.”
The now 42-year-old had a fast start to life in Hull. After representing his nation, the winger returned to net the first Premier League goal of the 2009/10 season against Chelsea. This was then followed by a goalscoring home debut against fellow London side Tottenham Hotspur.
“I remember my debut like it was yesterday. Phil Brown put me straight in against a team that was probably going to boo me for obvious reasons. When I managed to score, my natural movement was towards the Chelsea fans, but after three seconds I headed towards the Hull fans to celebrate. They were loud and packed in the corner so I will always remember it and I always had that piece of history in terms of scoring the first Premier League goal of the season.
“I just got off to a flyer,” added Hunt. “I was really excited to play in the Premier League and fair play to the manager as he knew what I was really about and that made it very natural for me. I also had players like Paul McShane and Kevin Kilbane that I knew previously and I found there were a lot of good characters around the place.”
The Tigers went on an unbeaten run in November, which included a memorable 3-2 win at the KC Stadium over Everton. Hunt netted his third Hull goal after just nine minutes in the fixture as further finishes from Andy Dawson and Dean Marney secured all three points.
“Every team and every game had a bit of motivation. I remember the Everton goalkeeper saying something and I don’t know how it got back to me, but I remember that I said to their manager ‘have that’ and then running down the tunnel, because it was probably the best goal I scored for Hull on the volley. It was another game under the lights with a great atmosphere; the place was rocking and it was just nice to be a part of.”
Netting a seven-minute brace against Bolton Wanderers, Hunt was influential in the first half of City’s season. When the January transfer window came around, there were multiple reported bids from Wolves wanting the winger’s signature. However, the 42-year-old was very happy to remain in East Yorkshire.
“I was playing well and when you play well, you are really happy to be there. I didn’t want to leave. The more I played well, the more interest I had from other clubs. Wolves came to me and Hull said they wanted to keep me and give me a new deal and I said no problem, but then I had my foot injury.”
Hunt’s final game for Hull City came against West Ham United in February 2010 as the injury to his foot was more serious then first diagnosed. Playing through the injury barrier in his final few games for the club, the Portlaoise-born midfielder was disappointed as he could not help the club stay up in the Premier League.
“I will tell you how much I loved playing for Hull. For five or six games, I couldn’t walk Monday to Friday. On the Friday, I would try and run in training and I couldn’t run so I had to come out of training early as I couldn’t jog so for five or six games; I had an injection to numb my foot to play,” explained Hunt.
“There was nothing showing up on a X-Ray to say that my foot was broken, but it was actually worse than a broken foot so it needed an operation, but for five or six games I played them games with just a numb foot. I could feel my foot but I couldn’t feel the ball when I kicked it.
“I don’t want to sound big headed, but if I stayed fit we would have stayed in the league,” added Hunt. “I know it sounds really hard saying that but generally I think if I stayed fit, we would stayed in the league because I was on top form, my body was in a good place until I got lumped by someone.”
Hunt moved to Wolves at the end of the season, ending his one season stay at Hull City. In his time at Hull, the 42-year-old scored six goals in 27 appearances as he won the club’s Player of the Year award for the 2009/10 campaign.
Having further playing spells at Ipswich Town and Coventry City, Hunt is now a football agent and concluded the interview by summarising his time with the Tigers.
“It was short and sweet if I’m honest with you but the season overall looking back, I think we played Sunderland on the last game of the season and we were relegated and I was sitting in the stands having to watch our Premier League status deteriorate and they sang their hearts out. To this day, I will never forget this.
“The club deserves everything. Some people will think I say this in every interview about every club, I don’t. I generally had a great affection for the fans for how they behaved, how they went with their journey and they didn’t deserve relegation. They deserved to be on a rollercoaster of fun all the time and to get relegated was a real shame.”
