Saturday, October 19, 2013

19 October 2008 - Life Imitates Art

On 19 October 2008, Hull City lived up to a famous album title when the Premier League debutants beat their fourth straight London team.

The Tigers were playing in their first top flight season in club history. After opening their league campaign with a 2-1 win over Fulham, they surprised a lot of observers by sitting third in the table eight weeks in. The run that took them there included away wins over Arsenal and Tottenham in the sixth and seventh weeks, respectively, taking their overall record against London clubs to 3-0 on the season.

The eighth week saw them back at home, where they hosted yet another team from the capital--West Ham. Fuelded by the enthusiasm of their recent results, a record crowd of 24,896 turned up at the KC Stadium for the match and witnessed a 1-0 victory courtesy of Michael Turner's header in the 51st minute.

The result drew comparisons to the Housemartins' 1986 album "London 0 Hull 4," which included the top-3 hit "Happy Hour."

Unfortunately for Hull City, their winning form didn't last and they slumped into 17th by the end of the season. Although they avoided relegation by a single point, they were not as lucky the following year and returned to the second tier for the 2010-11 season. They returned to the Premier League in 2013 and currently sit eighth in the table.

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