Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 1 HULL CITY [Geovanni 9'], EPL G7

[mcgillianaire]

A special mention to Premier League debutantes, Hull City AFC. Five years ago, the Yorkshire-based club were competing with the likes of Kidderminster Harriers (to a pick a random club! :P) and Scunthorpe United in English football's fourth-tier league. However, heavy investment in players just after the turn-of-the-century saw them gain promotion to the third-tier league at the end of the 2003/04 season, a rise that continued in subsequent seasons and culminated in their first-ever visit to Wembley in their 104-year-history earlier this May. By defeating Bristol City in front of a crowd of nearly 87,000 in the play-off final, Hull achieved the impossible by securing promotion into the world's most competitive and greatest club football league. Their rise has been nothing short of magical, inspirational and meteoric. Having made it to the Premier League, nobody, not even their own fans gave them a chance to survive relegation at the first-instance. It seems everybody except the club itself. The season might only be seven games old but already Hull have overcome what many expected to be their primary objective: getting more points than the record-breaking nadir of eleven points set by last season's whipping boys, Derby County. Not only do they already have fourteen points, but they find themselves in third position in the table, ahead of giants such as Manchester United and Arsenal, and behind no less than Chelsea and Liverpool. Noscitur a sociis? (A thing is known by the company it keeps?) Perhaps not, and it is quite possible the early successes will have now gone to every player's head and usher in a period of decline that extends itself to the end of the season and demotion back into the poorly-named second-tier, The Championship. Many of their own fans who cannot believe the dream start this season are prepared for the worst. They know the good times will probably not last. But given how well they've done so far, they deserve every positive accolade.

Defeating Fulham on their Premier League debut might've seemed lucky, and the shock defeat of Arsenal at The Emirates nothing short of a fluke, but what happens when you win your third match on the road and the opposition are some clubs called Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspurs? Granted, the two conquered clubs are in 18th and 20th place respectively this season but they're not small clubs either and Hull's achievement is truly remarkable. Four away games and three victories. Unbelievable. And to think they probably spent the least money this summer of all the Premier League clubs. There were even third-tier clubs who spent more than twice of what Hull spent this summer. But it appears manager Phil Brown is having the last laugh (for now). Perhaps he is the right Brown to be leading the country at the moment. It is great to see a manager investing in talent rather than procuring the best that money can buy (hello Spurs?). His acquisitions this summer include several players on free-transfers, including Brazilian Geovanni who scored a scorcher (YTube) against Arsenal last weekend, and followed it up with a similarly unstoppable thirty-yard thunderbolt (YTube) against Spurs yesterday. Many commentators initially criticised Phil Brown for securing the services of several supposed 'has-beens' and unpredictable players such as Nick Barmby and Geovanni. Again, Phil Brown is having the last laugh. What these commentators seem to have ignored is the fact that many of these players have arrived at Kingston-upon-Hull with a lot to prove. The criticism has inspired them to reach new heights with a team that is under no pressure to achieve big things. Even if Hull City don't manage to survive their first season in the Premier League, they've outdone initial expectations and added to the colourful history of the world's greatest football league. GO ON YOU TIGERS!!!

Comments

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

Kidderminster Harriers (to a pick a random club! :P)

Yeah, I bet. =:P I'll let you off, since I like Hull, though remember that it wasn't that long ago that Ipswich finished fifth. They didn't last long after that season...

the world's most competitive and greatest club football league

"Greatest" is one thing, but no way is the Premier League the most competitive. The Championship, for one, beats it on that score.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

>it wasn't that long ago that Ipswich finished fifth
True, but that was still in the days before the Big Four really forged ahead of the rest of the crowd (not just at home!) and significant divides between the top Premier League clubs and everybody else was formed.

>The Championship, for one, beats it on that score.
Agreed! The Championship is great to follow because you'll always have different teams winning, getting promoted and relegated every season. The quality of football is also very good given the amount of money piling into it now. In India (and by extension some of the Gulf countries which capture some of the same satellite feed) it's possible to watch live Championship action every weekend on one of the local sports channels. I don't think you can even do that here, let alone listen to radio commentary for many of the matches! (Not unless it's a region-specific radio station or you subscribe to the club's official website etc).

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

Ah... my point about Ipswich wasn't primarily that they finished high up the league, but that they couldn't consolidate that in the following seasons. So Hull shouldn't think that a top-ten finish this year will mean they're necessarily "established".

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeh, definitely. I still think they will get relegated. All it needs are a couple of injuries to their main players, which I sincerely hope doesn't happen.