Hull City. Those two four letter words can bring a tear to the eye, a lump in the throat and can overwhelm me with a sense of pride. How unfortunate all other teams supporters are and how lucky I am to follow the Tigers!
City are with me every minute of every day, no matter where I am or what I am doing. They have provided a few highs but mainly they have provided me with lows. This is why, with promotion there for the taking, and after three successive defeats, (and what seems like, sorry is, a lifetime of underachievement), the sense of foreboding is beginning to overwhelm the City faithful.
However, what we need is a reality check. Let's have no more thoughts of failure and let's turn our thoughts to the positive!
Let us consider the season so far. After 34 games City are in second position (that's second position) and have been in the top three virtually all season. In the preceding 7 seasons the highest finishing position was 6th and after that it was 11th. So this means that we are enjoying our best season for a very very long time. Forget all that nonsense about the fact that because we have a fantastic stadium and huge support we should be winning every game. The KC does not score goals. These expectations create pressure and they do not win football matches.
City currently have 63 points. Peter Taylor believes we need another 8 wins to guarantee promotion. Looking again at the last 7 seasons promotion has been achieved by the 3rd placed club with a points tally as low as 75 (Lincoln 1998) and the highest was 84 (Wrexham 2003). So the history books would suggest that 8 wins would indeed guarantee promotion. However, in reality a further 21 points should secure that third place. Surely, a tally of 21 points from 12 games is well within reach?
Another positive is that the average attendance this season currently stands at 16,044. With home games against Scunthorpe and Huddersfield to come it is possible that we will maintain an average of well over 16,000 for this season. For the season 1996/1997 the average attendance was 3,413. Some would have you believe that this new level of support would disappear if we didn't achieve promotion this year. I would dispute this. If we don't get promoted this year the crowds will only fall if we don't win games at the beginning of next season. The hard core of City's supporter base may well be 5,000 to 6,000 who will always turn up. The rest will watch winning football as that is their criteria for following City. But City are winning more than they lose so why do we assume the crowds will vanish?
We have to remember how far our club has come in a relatively short time. We were anchored at the foot of the division facing oblivion. Now we have a great chance to move onto a higher level. But more importantly than which division we are in is this: Hull City has rediscovered its self esteem. We are now a progressive club, one that is definitely moving forward and one that will deserve the sense of pride I feel for my club.
What we have to do is focus on the next 12 games. Forget what has gone before. The season now comes down to a dozen matches. That we can do it is not in question. Let's enjoy it. Let's get behind the team and shout them into Division 2. C'MON CITY!!!!!!
See you all on Saturday.