Sixteen months ago Hull City avoided relegation to League One on goal difference. Four months ago, they needed a last-minute goal from Oli McBurnie at Wembley to win the Championship playoff final. Three weeks ago, when the pre-season predictions were published, they were tipped to threaten Derby County’s record of the worst ever points tally in the Premier League.
On Saturday night, they left Stamford Bridge third in the Premier League with eight points. The 2-2 draw extended their unbeaten run to four games. They have beaten Manchester United and Coventry, and picked up draws against Aston Villa and Chelsea.
We are in September and there are 34 more games to come. Hull will not be competing with Arsenal and Manchester City come the end of May. But their start has been remarkable.
Almost everyone doubted whether the qualities that took them on an improbable run to the Premier League could keep them there. The scepticism was not entirely unfounded. To understand where they have come from, it is worth going back to the final day of the 2024-25 season in the Championship.
Hull were in the bottom three and their whole campaign would come down to 90 minutes against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Win and Hull were safe; draw and they needed other results to go their way; lose and it was League One. A 1-1 draw, and Luton’s defeat to West Brom, preserved their status in the Championship, but only on goal difference.
Most sides look to rebuild after a campaign threatened by relegation, but a transfer embargo – imposed after the club had failed to pay Aston Villa £1m for Louie Barry’s loan fee – meant that the side that had scored the fewest goals in the league (just 44 in 46 matches) could not strengthen. To make matters worse, manager Rubén Sellés, hired just five months earlier, would soon be shown the door. It was hardly the sort of springboard from which to launch a promotion campaign.
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