The Tigers’ long-awaited comeback to the elite division begins this weekend
Hull City’s supporters have been rejoicing ever since Wembley ninety days ago
The heatwave has gone, the World Cup wallchart has long since been binned, and this morning I received an invitation to join a ‘queue’ for a £275 advent calendar.
Summer is fading, but the conclusion of one campaign signals the beginning of another. The Premier League returns. And Hull City return to it.
So, after a decade absent from the top tier, what will it be like? The inaugural home match of any fresh season is always a special occasion. The concourse and stands take on the ambience of a cheerful celebration as you meet fellow fans not encountered since May. There’s conversation to be had, forecasts to share, and concerns to voice before a single ball is struck.
It’s also the sole match of the season where the outcome truly doesn’t count. Obviously, victory is what everybody hopes for. But on the opening day, it’s simply premature to be particularly concerned by defeat or a stalemate.
There’s far too much else to savour before we begin fretting about that. The capacity crowd to begin with. Fresh faces on the field. That sensation of being back somewhere entirely known that somehow feels novel once more.
I’ll be listening for fresh anthems from the stands too, given our previous Premier League campaign of 2016/17 introduced a variety of songs tied to our UK City of Culture designation of that period. I still regard ‘You’re only here for the culture’ as the absolute pinnacle of our collection, though I’m open to being proven incorrect.
‘You’re only here for the recently reopened £20m renovated Hull Maritime Museum’, anyone? Or, in tribute to the Arctic Corsair finding its permanent berth, ‘We move what we want, we move what we want, we adore our trawler, we’ll move what we want’, perhaps?
As for our inaugural adversaries, do I even need to identify them? Does it matter that they’re Man Utd? It’s a wonderful way to commence, as I discussed when the schedule was announced, but the opening day atmosphere is such that if this genuinely were a celebration, they would very much be evening guests only. Tomorrow is about us, in our stadium, commemorating our elevation, and we’ll maintain the festivities at least until the closing whistle.