No.65 - Sat. 24th May 2008; Football League Championship Play-Off Final 2008         3.00pm at Wembley Stadium, Wembley, Middx. (Att: 86703; Admn: Expensive! & Prog: £5)

View matchday images  01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Bristol City (0) 0  Hull City (1) 1  Dare to dream!  Tuesday 18th March 2008. The Tigers had just beaten Colchester United. As I drove away from Layer Road I wiped a tear from my eye. The Radio 5 Live sports presenter Vassos Alexander announced to the nation that Hull had just climbed into the play-off places. I could feel goosebumps on my skin as the news broke. I couldn't quite believe it - my team were possibly on the brink of something rather special. Eight weeks and five victories later City moved up to third place in the table. The club had quite simply exceeded beyond all expectations. All that remained was a Semi-Final against Watford. The fans were in ecstasy as the Londoners were easily brushed aside by an impressive display which saw Hull win by a 6 - 1 aggregate victory. Surreal, quite surreal !! Surely this was a position other teams found themselves in and not mine! We dared to dream. It was quite amazing to think that a team which nearly went out of business a few years ago could soon be in the Premier League. It didn't seem long ago that the gates of Boothferry Park were locked and the players couldn't get into the ground. Thankfully new Chairman Adam Pearson was appointed to get the club back on its feet again. The club moved to the superb KC Stadium and with the help of manager Peter Taylor the Tigers steadily climbed up the League. Ironically after two successive promotions both left to pastures new. Paul Duffen took over at the helm as the club struggled in its first season in the Championship. The Chairman pulled off a master stroke when he brought in Phil Brown (formerly assistant to big Sam Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers). After a brush with relegation a three-year Development Plan was drawn up. This pro-active schedule raised expectations and predicted a mid-table position by the end of the first year; success through the Play-offs in the second year followed by automatic promotion after that. These certainly were big plans for a big city club. There was real ambition. No sooner had the Tigers beaten Watford thoughts quickly turned to a lucrative Play-off Final at Wembley. It would be a stern test against an outstanding Bristol City side who had beaten Crystal Palace in the other Semi-Final. Bit of a coincidence this as my old 'hopping mate Sloppy is a devout Robins' fan and manager Gary Johnson used to live just up the road from us in Newmarket. Within hours the Tigers Official Website posted a message confirming that the Club had gained an allocation of 36,000 which would go on sale at the weekend. Priority was given understandably to current season ticket holders and those subscribing for 2008-09 (before going on general sale). Not being a season ticket holder meant that I had to wait until Monday before applying. I didn't see this as a problem really as there would surely be sufficient tickets left over. Or so I thought. By Sunday night another message appeared on the latest Headlines Page which brought the worrying news that only 3800 tickets were left over to go on general sale. Demand over the weekend had been so great that the remaining tickets were in short supply. It was now 7am on Monday morning. Wife Fran (on the phone) and daughter Steph (online) were ready to grab the few remaining tickets. However it was not good news. Despite their efforts all the tickets had been sold within 15 minutes. I couldn't believe it! It looked as though we were going to miss out on the biggest day in the Tigers history. In desperation Fran went online again and found a couple of sites which had somehow managed to get hold of some spare tickets. Sadly the asking prices ranged from £250 up to £1000. Obviously, with the prices being so high, we were in two minds whether to make a bid for them. Whilst dithering these were quickly snapped up by unscrupulous touts no doubt wanting to sell on and make an investment. Over the next three days we found it increasingly difficult to track down any news about tickets and so resigned ourselves to watching the big game on Sky TV. Not ideal and not something I had planned to do. It was now Friday lunchtime. Being a persistant and awkward individual I decided to phone the club once more on the off-chance that they could help me find some tickets. Thinking that my request would draw a blank I pleaded with the office assistant, Joanne, sayig that I desperately wanted to go to the game and asked if she could help me. Realising my predicament she went to ask the manager what the Club could do for me. Unbelievably it was the news we had been waiting for! Amazingly the Club had managed to find a handful of Club Wembley Tickets (the most expensive) which could be picked up at the ground on a first-come first-served basis. Time was of the essence. I continued to explain that I had been a life-long supporter and was really desperate to go to Wembley and cheer on The Tigers. I also offered to drive up to Hull and pick up the tickets from the Ground if that was possible. Could the club hold four tickets back for us? The sales girl said that she would have to ask her boss first. My heartbeat raced. I felt like a young kid on Christmas morning waiting to open his presents. After a few seconds a voice at the other end of the phone said in a familiar dialect: "Yes, noh problem love". This was great news. The boss would hang on to the tickets for us until 5 o'clock (when the office closed) and then pass them on to the Security Office for us to collect if we arrived any later. What a roller-coaster of emotion. Our hopes of getting tickets had finally come true.  By two o' clock we were heading north on the A1. Despite heavy showers and slow-moving Bank Holiday traffic we had crossed the Humber Bridge and turned down Clive Sullivan Way within three hours. With the KC in sight we soon arrived at the ground and made our way across the car park to the Ticket Office where a small white envelope was waiting for us. Phew! Our journey was not quite over. On the way back we made a slight detour down the M1 and called in to Loughborough to bring daughter Jo home with us. The newest recruit to the Tigers Fan Club was just as excited to be going to Wembley. By the time we arrived back in Newmarket the milometer on the dashboard had clocked just over 325 miles. It had all been worth it though and we really couldn't wait to watch the Play-off Final.  The anticipation was just as good as the real thing. In all my years of watching Football this was without doubt one of the best experiences ever. I love 'hopping but you can't beat watching your own team play, especially when there is so much at stake. This was the biggest prize in Football with £60m and a place in the Premier League awaiting the winner. The atmosphere leading up to the kick-off was absolutely breathtaking. I don't think that we have seen so many fans dressed in black and amber wearing replica shirts; jesters hats; make-up; balloons; Tiger costumes etc. Unbelievable. Much has been written about the magnificent new venue already so I'll pass over this. The game itself was a tense affair with very little to choose between the two sides but today was all about the result. The defining moment came in the 39th minute when Dean Windass latched on to a Frazier Campbell cross to volley the ball into the net. It couldn't have been more perfect. The Hull-born striker became a true living legend after his goal won the game to send the Tigers into the Premier League for the first time ever. As the tears welled up in my eyes during the post match celebrations I spared a thought for my Dad. It was with him that I attended my first ever game at Boothfery Park against Crystal Palace back in 1968. A day that changed my life. Who would have thought that almost forty years later his beloved Tigers would reach the Big Time? How proud he would have been to see it. It had certainly been another day to remember for supporters of a truly great club and city. 'Come on You Hull'...The joys of hopping finish on a high!! FGIF Match Rating: 5+*

edited on 27/05/08