‘The best trip we’ve never been on’ - Hull City promoted to Championship

Eye Of The Tigers, a column by Sam Hawcroft

A fan’s thoughts on Hull City

No away stand going bananas. No pitch invasion at the end. But beer gardens were bouncing across Hull as City’s promotion to the Championship was finally confirmed with two games to spare. 

It was a spirited match at Sincil Bank (sorry, the LNER Stadium), and I think even the most confident of fans would have expected a bit of a nailbiter after Josh Magennis’s 18th goal of the season put City ahead in just the fourth minute.

And what a nailbiter! Up until Lewis Montsma levelled for the Imps in the 65th minute, Lincoln had rarely troubled Matt Ingram, but we wouldn’t be #TypicalCity if we didn’t try to make it a bit hard on ourselves.

The last 10 minutes were pure edge-of-the-seat, hero-turns-villain stuff after Montsma rugby-tackled Eaves and gave away a penalty, which was coolly rolled in by Wilks.

Did I really fear that we’d cock up our last three matches? Was I hugely nervous before and after Magennis’s goal? Not really, if I’m honest – apart from that last few minutes, that is.

I’m not sure whether this is because of our fairly solid recent form, or whether I’ve just felt a bit less invested in this strange season as a whole.

History will likely look back on it almost as the season that never was, with just a handful of matches where a handful of fans were allowed in, before the pandemic raged once again.

City went in and out of League One while we were watching passively on iFollow, or just listening to the updates on Radio Humberside, in the absence of full commentary (not the fault of Burnsy and co, of course, as I wrote a few months ago).

The KCOM Stadium. Picture by Sam Hawcroft

Despite the Tigers’ promotion charge, I think many fans could be forgiven for losing interest and just glancing at the scores and the table now and then, because if this season has taught us anything it’s that, yes, football can be played without fans – but it’s a bit rubbish.

Even if you’re an armchair Sky Sports consumer who’s never been to a game, the roar of the crowd, those close-up shots of anguish and exhilaration, are as much part of the spectacle as what’s happening on the pitch. Whoever dreamed up the European Super League utterly failed to consider what football means to fans, and what fans mean to football.

(Props to City’s official Twitter feed, by the way, for its dig at the ESL by confirming that the club had “formally begun the procedures to withdraw from Sky Bet League One and join 23 clubs in a new competition, the Sky Bet Championship”.)

I look back to matches such as Sunderland last Tuesday and wonder whether the fans, as “12th man”, might have got behind them and helped City get the win.

Fans change games – I mean, to cite another sport entirely, would Gerwyn Price have won the PDC World Darts Championship if he’d had the crowd on his back, as they always used to be? Meaningless speculation, as we’ll never know, but, well, meaningless speculation is the very essence of sport punditry.

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The main thing was getting out of this division, which we’ve achieved in some style, but it’s still OK to feel a tinge of sadness at all those missed ground ticks (not going to Wimbledon is the one that hurts, for me).

There were parts of this season where we looked less than convincing but still remained in the top two, which is a bit of an indication of the quality of League One. The Championship is a whole ‘nother ball game, as McCann is all too aware.

And as I’ve said before, going up as champions would be nice, but I’m not really that bothered now. It might be some time before fans can pack into the stands as in days of old, but there’s much to look forward to now.

Personally, I’m eyeing the bottom of the Premier League table as relegation for Fulham would bring back one of my all-time favourite away days (sorry, Fulham fans).

So, I’m hugely pleased to say that my pre-season predictions were hopelessly wrong, but I can’t be the only person who feared that we’d be one of those teams who continued in a downward spiral and were relegated again, such was the negativity surrounding our relegation.

But McCann has proved the doubters (of which there were many, including me) wrong.

Right, I’m off to crack open a beer. Well done, City – this was the best trip we’ve never been on.