There is always heartache associated with a game between Portsmouth and Hull City. One, or possibly both, of the two teams are embroiled in some kind of strife when either Fratton Park or the KC Stadium plays host to them. (more…)

You’ve just been embarrassed in the Cup by a club brand new to the Football League – what do you want next? A week off to recover and lick some wounds, perhaps. Tough. This is the Championship, which uniquely in England combines a 46-game campaign with international breaks, meaning quick Saturday-Tuesday turnarounds litter the season. However, if you must play, you couldn’t wish for much more than a home game against a side in the bottom three.

Ah, dear Doncaster. This isn’t a fixture for away wins. We haven’t won there since 1985, a run so enduring it even permitted defeat during Doncaster’s infamous relegation season of 1997/8. However, they’re a considerate bunch in that corner of South Yorkshire, and have themselves built themselves a run without victory in Hull since 1950, with City winning the last eight at home. This really ought to be a game that at least extends that sequence into a 63rd year, though given the side’s respective positions, you’d hope for a ninth successive win as well.

Doncaster are on the verge of losing Billy Sharp to Southampton, which would helpfully remove their major goalscoring threat. Fellow forward James Coppinger is out with a fractured cheekbone suffered at the weekend, while porcine ex-Tiger Jon Parkin is both shit and on loan at Huddersfield. They’re also missing one-time transfer target Habib Beye, not the ideal preparation when you’ve lost your last six away games and are preparing to face a side that has shown impressive consistency in putting away clubs towards the bottom.

City made seven changes for Saturday’s embarrassment, and are likely to reverse most of them for tonight’s game. Liam Rosenior is fit after his ankle injury sustained at Reading, and we can expect an XI very similar to the one that won impressively in Berkshire. This is the first of three games against sides currently in the bottom nine, and with an ugly 17-day break disfiguring the second half of February ahead of a hectic March, City really need to capitalise on this run of fixtures. The Tigers are no longer than 8/13 to rack up a fourth successive League win, Doncaster are 6/1 to end their decades-long misfortune in East Yorkshire, while City’s first home draw of the season is 3/1.

On the 18th of February 1989, arguably Hull City’s most famous post-war FA Cup tie occurred. The memories and anecdotes from the 3-2 defeat to reigning champions Liverpool in the fifth round are still fresh in the memory and quick to be recalled. Though it ended in defeat, it gave the Tigers what was then a spot of rare national exposure and, given that we led 2-1 at the break, for just a brief period we looked close to one of the biggest shocks the competition had seen.

On the 18th of February 2012, the FA Cup fifth round (or, at least, most of it) will occur once again. It would be very, very nice to be there, be it for another occasion against one of the mightiest names in global club football or a team of clogging nonentities. Since that day at the Ark 23 years ago, we have only been to the fifth round once more and, although that tie ended in victory, the manner of defeat in the consequent quarter final against Arsenal and the general spite and controversy that surrounded our whole FA Cup run (arguments on the touchline at Newcastle; violence from Millwall supporters; a goal that shouldn’t have been given against Sheffield United; the awful display by Mike Riley and conduct of Cesc Fabregas at the Emirates) means that 1989 remains the FA Cup benchmark year of many of the more aged City fans.

To get to the last 16 again, we need to beat Crawley Town. They are led by a total oaf in Steve Evans and have managed to emerge from the non-league pyramid while making absolutely no friends whatsoever, which is some feat, and they make a first ever visit to the KC Stadium as, quite rightly, considerable long shots. City will be runaway favourites to win when one considers status, form and venue, but nevertheless we’ve struggled in cup ties against glorified pub sides in the past – hello Hednesford, hello just about any Carling Cup opponent in the last decade – and their playing staff, if not their existence, should be respected.

Nick Barmby has an opportunity to select a few fringe players but he needs to strike a balance between giving stiffs their chance to impress and not rocking the boat too much. He achieved this in the third round tie against Ipswich Town, which allowed a handful of players usually in the dugout the chance to stretch their legs while still keeping the likes of Jack Hobbs, Cameron Stewart and Aaron Mclean in the team. A similar policy would appear to be the best approach for Barmby, with the likes of Richard Garcia, Tom Cairney, Liam Cooper, Joe Dudgeon and others all having a right to hope for a place.

Crawley, for their part, have much to crow about. They are second in League Two and are aiming for a second successive appearance in the fifth round of the FA Cup, having famously pushed Manchester United at Old Trafford last season, eventually losing just 1-0. However, they should be beaten well tomorrow. Defeat is unthinkable while a draw will provide just one mild consolation (for those fools who place importance on such things); that of a first-ever visit to the Broadfield Stadium for the replay, and a tick of the box.

A well-known bookmaker offers 5/6 on a City win, with Crawley’s prospects of victory measured at 16/5. The draw – an occurrence not yet seen at the KC – is 13/5. Please gamble responsibly and all that, and hope for no dramas and a place in the last 16. A City victory will mean that the Championship game against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Circle will have to be re-arranged; that said, an unthinkable result for the Tigers may still result in that re-arrangement, as Brighton are also partaking in this weekend’s FA Cup ties.

This, frankly, is the game of the weekend in the npower Championship. No doubt that dreadful programme with the black coffee mugs that follows Match Of The Day each week will see more in West Ham United v Nottingham Forest, with both being complete media darlings, but teams lying fifth and sixth respectively, equal on games played and points attained, have far more potential for excitement and intrigue. (more…)

And so we return to the Championship campaign for a game which will be Nick Barmby‘s official first as the Proper Manager of Hull City.

Not that it will make a difference. Barmby has played a subtle and astute game of talking down his role, saying that he just wants to make progress for his club and his team, and less for himself. He is unquestionably a man whose ambition as a manager matches that which he had all through his playing days, but while playing relies on visible natural gifts, management is a different story entirely.

He has made a good start, even though we welcome Peterborough United to the Circle this weekend with three rather debilitating defeats behind us, none of which came with the consolation of a goal. Fortunately, the Tigers are still in the top six and will be unquestioned favourites against Darren Ferguson’s men, whom we dispatched by a solitary goal from their former striker Aaron Mclean at London Road in the corresponding fixture back in September. The handy win over Ipswich Town in the FA Cup last week, featuring roughly half of Barmby’s settled XI and a fit goalkeeper, will also help.

Barmby, his squad fully fit, has trotted out the soundbite about selection headaches this week, now that he has some proper teambuilding to do. The likes of Joe Dudgeon, Robbie Brady and Richard Garcia especially will be genuinely hoping to keep the starting places they acquired in the Cup, though in all three cases they are likely to be disappointed. Even allowing for those three defeats over the holiday period, it is hard to imagine the likes of Andy Dawson, Robert Koren and Matt Fryatt not returning to the starting line-up. Vito Mannone will make his third Championship debut for City in nets, while Liam Rosenior, James Chester and Corry Evans should also be shooed in to return.

Perhaps the truly interesting insight into Barmby’s thinking right now will be visible via his choice of substitutes – assuming Trevor Carson, newly-signed as Mannone’s keeping back-up from Sunderland, takes one place, that leaves only four slots available for *counts carefully*  13 players. And ten of this baker’s dozen will hold genuine hopes of being a sub. Barmby’s diplomatic skills will be tested to their limit as he informs six optimistic players that they are not required.

This fixture is one day short of the seventh anniversary of the Posh’s last visit to the KC, when they left with a creditable 2-2 draw against Peter Taylor’s side in League One. Barmby himself scored that day, along with Stuart Green. City were promoted second from top, Peterborough went down second from bottom. They climbed back up quickly and have since zig-zagged between the second and third tiers, with Ferguson in charge for their better moments over the last few years. They last beat City in 1999/2000 – indeed, they did the double over the Tigers in the basement division that season.

For this game, they are without Tommy Rowe, who has an Achilles problem, but welcome back Mark Little after a groin injury. Their squad has been bolstered further by Nicky Ajose’s return to the club after a loan spell at Scunthorpe. As a team in a reasonably healthy mid-table position they will feel they have an opportunity. A leading bookmaker gives them odds of 4/1 to win, with City at 8/11 and the draw – something that has yet to occur at the Circle this season – priced at 12/5.

At least no-one pretends the FA Cup is magical any more. Years after its decline began, we’d still be force-fed clichés about its unmatched romance, which if anything would turn us away from it. Now everyone accepts that the competition is a shadow of its former great self. Perhaps a more realistic approach to the tournament will actually benefit it in the longer run.

Or maybe it won’t. Fixtures like City v Ipswich certainly won’t help to rekindle the love affair in East Yorkshire or Suffolk. There’s something desperately unsatisfying about drawing a side from your own division in a cup competition. Consequently, we can expect a gate in four figures and a slew of reserves contradicting the brave words about “playing strong teams” from the respective managers. At least it’s only a tenner for season ticket holders. And it’s a chance to win a Cup game for the first time in a little while. And it’s not bloody Wigan. So, er, we’ll stop complaining.

Sadly it seems that one of the few reasons to turn out will be missing: Jimmy Bullard is reporting the most convenient case of ‘flu in the history of epidemiology, and is unlikely to present himself to gain the benefit of our views on his human worth, or acute shortage thereof. He’s not the only one Paul Jewell will be without for their unwanted trek to God’s Country, as Lee Bowyer, Jason Scotland and Andy Drury will also be absent.

It’s been an interesting week for City. Vito Mannone has returned to general happiness and Nick Barmby has retired from playing and stepped up to become our permanent manager (more on this tomorrow – it’ll be good). Mannone is likely to start with Gulácsi, Basso and Oxley all injured, while there could be rare starts for Richard Garcia, Seyi Olofinjana, Jay Simpson and Tom Cairney.

This is the first time we’ve ever played Ipswich in a cup competition, thrillingly enough. We’ve already beaten them once this season, 1-0 back in August. In the nine fixtures played since 2005 after a 14-year hiatus, Ipswich have won only two, including one here – a memorably dreadful 5-2 home defeat in 2007. It’s a brave soul who bets on FA Cup games before knowing the teams, but the courageous can currently obtain 4/5 on City winning, 4/1 on an away win, or 11/4 on a draw that literally not one person in the entire universe wants.

2012 commences with City in a very healthy state. We’re sixth in the Championship, a position more elevated than we’ve spent most of our 107 years of magnificent underachivement in. We have a gifted young squad bursting with skill and commitment, playing a captivating brand of clever, attacking football. We have One Of Our Own in charge, a few pounds to spend in the newly-opened transfer window and every reason to believe that the coming months and weeks will be successful ones.

It also commences with a minor blip in form to correct. City haven’t deserved zero points from visits to Middlesbrough and Burnley, but the bald facts cannot be disputed. Derby are our visitors tomorrow, a side solidly positioned in midtable. They were our opposition for Barmby’s debut as manager, as the Tigers recorded an impeccibly accomplished 2-0 victory at Pride Park in an afternoon of almost complete domination. No matter what occurs tomorrow, a similarly one-sided affair seems almost inconceivable. Days like that come around infrequently.

It’s been a frustrating season for Derby. They’re 11th after a promising start, and this is beginning to look like another season of disappointment for one of the division’s bigger clubs. Away form has undone them: six defeats in 11 games on the road has undermined their season. However, they have some better news ahead of their trip to the Circle with the fitness of Jake Buxton, Ben Davies and Nathan Tyson. They’ve also won their last two games; yet have taken two points from 21 on the road since mid-September. Very much the erratic form of a side in midtable.

For City, there’s one obvious change and one possible. Liam Rosenior is certain to reclaim his place at right-back after Paul McShane stepped in during his one-game suspension on Saturday, while Péter Gulácsi may be absent with a bruised knee/ego. Rumours about Leicester attempting to salvage their season by bidding for Cameron Stewart are unlikely to render him unavailable, though his own signs of tiredness are being reflected among many of his youthfu teammates. Nick Barmby will probably resist the temptation to make numerous changes however, opting to cajole one more effort from his charges with the promise of a lengthy rest with 12 days before our next League fixture.

Despite Derby occupying a loftier position in the footballing world for most of our respective histories, City actually have a better historical record against  the Rams, winning 19 of 51 games compared to their 16. This is largely due to recent form, with the Tigers having won the last three against Nigel Clough’s men. Since hostilities were renewed in 2005 after an 18 year break, Derby have won just one of seven meetings, though did win a League Cup game in 2001 when three divisions separated the clubs.

For reasons of form and history, City are universally odds-on with the bookmaking fraternity, with no-one willing to offer long than 5/6 on the Tigers kicking off the New Year with a win. An away win is rated as long as 4/1, while the first draw of Nick Barmby’s reign a 13/5 chance.

Burnley, then. While they have an impressive (though very distant) history in the game, they really shouldn’t be a team or club that administers fear and pessimism to the central nervous system of grown-up Hull City fans, but they do. They are the bogey team, the ones who always seem to get one over on us and whose record against us is pretty darned good, whether it is deserved or not. (more…)

And so a Boxing Day battle for third place in the npower Championship looms. Isn’t it great to be a City fan right now? That we find ourselves in this situation during the season of goodwill considering the financial strife and personnel alterations we’ve gone through in the last 18 months or so is a glowing tribute to all involved. But great testimonials aside, it’s a game on Teesside that we’d really like to win. (more…)

Hull City v Millwall … this fixture brings back an awful lot of memories, not many of them good. The Lions have an outstanding record against the Tigers – hello to all zoologists who’ve found us by accident – but tomorrow represents a genuine opportunity for City to take three points off them.

Given how football is, and how City can be, nothing should be taken for granted. We were runaway favourites, rightly, against Burnley three weeks ago and they beat us from a two-goal deficit. The current shower that represents Coventry are one of the worst teams in football’s second tier I’ve ever seen, and still we only won by a single goal, clinging on a bit at the end. (more…)