july01news

7/7/01 - Little To Sign Extension?
Reports indicate that Brian Little is on the verge of following in the steps of Justin Whittle and signing a new contract at the club. Adam Pearson would like to see Little sign for a further 5 years, as he believes he is the man to guide the Tigers' charge up the Football League. More on this story on Monday.

7/7/01 - Harris Leaves
Free Transfer listed attacker Jason Harris has joined Southend United on a 1 year deal. The frontman has never really done anything of any rememberance at City, apart from his 2 goal brace at home to Brighton in the 1999/2000 campaign. He scored few other goals and spent most time in the Reserves. David Webb took him on trial last season and held further talks during the last month. the two sides have reached an agreement and Harris is no longer a City player.

7/7/01 - Whittle Signs New Deal
Justin Whittle has signed a new 3 year contract with the club. The defender had another year left on his current deal but Brian Little has moved to ensure he stays at Boothferry park for longer, due in no uncertain terms to his outstanding form ever since he joined the club. Whittle was pleased to stay at City for longer and revealed he hoped to be part of one if not more promotion winning teams during the next 3 years. The General said, "You only have to look at what has happened at Rotherham to see what happens if a team can get in to such a habit of winning." We sincerely hope this is the case Justin! As Andy Dalton of Amber Nectar said, this is our best signing of the season.

4/7/01 - Sponsor Delay
Adam Pearson has reported on the official site that the delay in naming the club's new sponsor is due to legal reasons. He said a 3 year deal had been signed with a "reputable publicly quoted company" and that the latest date pencilled in for an announcement is July 18. The delay will not affect the sale of new shirts on the August 5th open day.

4/7/01 - Season Ticket Delay
Season Tickets will now not be available over the next 2 weeks. They will instead (as in the last 2 seasons) go on sale at the first home friendly against Scarborough on July 20th. Passes are still available to buy, but no longer at a discounted rate. Over 3,000 have already been sold, a club record.

9/7/01 - Brown Shown The Door
David Brown has been given a free transfer by the club. Mark Hateley brought the former Manchester United striker to City and he made a great impact, first on loan and then after being signed permanently, was the top scorer in the Great Escape season. However, a disappointing 99/00 campaign led to few first team opportunities last season, and Brown is now obviously surplus to requirements. Darlington are rumoured to be after him, as they chased his signature last season unsuccessfully.

10/7/01 - Two More Signings
Ben Petty and Nicky Mohan have today signed for City on free transfers, arriving from Brian Little's former club Stoke City. Petty, 24, is an ex-Aston Villa defender who can play in the centre or as right full back - Little infact brought him to Stoke from Villa. He made over 30 appearances for the Potters last season. Mohan, 30, is a centre back, and chalked up over 40 appearances as skipper for Stoke in their last campaign. It will be interesting to see how the two fit in due to the large amount of defenders already at Boothferry Park, but competition is healthy.

10/7/01 - Little Signs New Contract
Boss Brian Little has put pen to paper on a new contract which will keep him at the club until 2006. He has earned tremendous respect and admiration from all Tigers followers due to his marvels in guiding City to the play offs last season, despite the club going through all of the well chronicled troubles off the pitch. He was presented with an award by the Tigers Co-Op at the last home game of the season for his efforts, and his extended stay is brilliant news.

13/7/01 - Transfer Update (Releases)
John Eyre is extremely close to signing for Oldham Athletic, where he began his professional career. The two parties have been in talks since the start of the week and an announcement is expected shortly. Meanwhile, there are no offers on the table for Theodore Whitmore. Adam Pearson has dismissed reports of himsigning for Miami Fusion where some of his Jamican team-mates currently play. Jason Harris and Mark Atkins have joined Southend and Shrewsbury respectively but Lee Bracey, Whitmore, Gary Brabin and David Brown remain on free transfers.

17/7/01 - Bracey Leaves
Keeper Lee Bracey has left the club after accepting a cerian pay out of his remaining contract. The sum is not the whole money owed, but enough for Bracey to find another club and still be able to take a pay cut. He has had a conspicuous career at City; Warren Joyce signed him from Ipswich before the start of the 1999/2000 season. However, a terrible first couple of months ensued for the 33 year old, as he gave away penalties in 3 consecutive matches and was sent off twice. Steve Wilson replaced Bracey for the latter part of the campaign. Come next season he was back as number 1, but was replaced by Paul Musselwhite in October and never regained his place. Although a year remained on his contract, Bracey is now looking for a new club. Good luck for the future Lee!

20/7/01 - Whitney And Eyre Leave
Jon Whitney has followed Lee Bracey in accepting a settlement on the remainder of his contract, of which one year remained, and has left the club. There was lots of confusion about the ex Lincoln defender, as in some reports he was listed as one of the players given a free transfer by City and in others was not. Whatever was the case, Whitney is no longer a Tigers player.
Meanwhile, John Eyre has signed for Oldham Athletic, where he started his professional career. He yesterday passed a Medical and agreed personal terms with the Latics, and will be unveiled today. No doubt he will be a revelation there, as all our strikers seem to be at other clubs after leaving City! Joining Eyre, at least for the moment, is Jamie Wood who has secured a trial at Boundary Park.

18/7/01 - New Sponsors Announced
Smart Cards have today been announced as the new sponsors of Hull City AFC in a three year deal worth £100,000 per annum. Holders of a Hull City "Sportscard" will be able to make savings on their season tickets, as well as earning "Sports Points" which can be used for discounts on Tigers merchandise or to obtain "hard to get" tickets for sporting events. Apparently a second scheme for Local Integration is also to be put in place, which will encourage people to use their Sportscard in various commercial outlets such as Restaurants, found in Hull. An article on this deal will be available soon, with more details on exactly what this deal will mean to Tigers fans who wish to take up the company's offer of discounts and such.

20/7/01 - Hull City 4 Scarborough 0
The Tiger started their pre-season schedule with a comprehensive victory over Scarborough infront of a near 4000 crowd at Boothferry Park. Brian Little fielded a different team in each half as expected - to be fair to Boro they could not do this. Gary Alexander opened the scoring in the first half with a well placed shot from David Lee's flick-on, and Mark Greaves made it 2 shortly after the break with a diving header. Theodore Whitmore also notched a goal as he finished from a 1-on-1 by rounding the keeper. Finally, as the visitors tired, Rodney Rowe headed home to complete the scoring.
Next up for City are Sheffield Wednesday at home on Wednesday night.
You can read a full match report here.

29/7/01 - Tickets On Sale
Tickets go on sale this week for the first game of City's league campaign at Exeter. There are staggered dates for Season Ticket holders, Tigers Weekly Draw Members and General Sale. You can find full details on the tickets page, which can be found here.

28/7/01 - North Ferriby 0 Hull City 3
City retained the Billy Bly Memorial Trophy with a comfortable victory against North Ferriby infront of a healthy crowd at Church Road. Ryan Williams, Gary Alexander and a Lawrie Dudfield penalty capped a strong performance from a full strength Tigers side. Alexander and Scott Kerr both went off with niggling injuries but should be ok for Tuesday, while Andy Holt did not feature in either City line-up today. He has injured his toe, reportedly at home, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Meanwhile, a Rodney Rowe goal in the last minute of injury time earned the other Tigers side a 1-0 win at Goole.

A full match report for the Ferriby game can be found here.

28/7/01 - Friendly Changed
Preston North End are no longer the opposition for City on Tuesday night. The Lancashire side wanted 50% of the gate receipts despite only intending to send a mixture of youth and reserve players to Boothferry Park and Adam Pearson was not happy. So instead, Kilmarnock will travel down to good old Hull. Their season proper has already started (they drew 2-2 with Hibs in their opening League fixture today) but they have promised to bring a full strength team.

27/7/01 - Philpott, Mussy Sign Extensions
Lee Philpott and Paul Musselwhite have signed new contracts with the club. They both played a major part in last season's success, and chairman Adam Pearson was delighted with the deals being done. He stated, "I'm glad that we've come to an agreement with Lee and Paul. They were the only two who still had contract issues hanging over their heads, but now they're happy the whole squad are settled and can focus on football." Philpott meanwhile remarked, "I'm delighted to be staying and really looking forward to the season. With 13 new faces in the squad the competition for places is going to be tough and the gaffer will have plenty of options to play with."

31/7/01 - Hull City 3 Kilmarnock 1
The Tigers remained unbeaten in their pre-season fixtures thanks to a terriffic win, with a marvellous performance in the second half. The second half 11 lined up with the score at 0-0, but 2 goals from Theodore Whitmore and 1 from Gary Alexander (He also missed a penalty) were wnough for a very pleasing victory. Whitmore was very impressive, as were Beresford, Williams, Alexander, Petty, Whittle, Johnsson and Goodison. It is an exciting time to be a City fan, and Brian Little is going to have a real headache when it comes to selecting his starting line-up to face Exeter, which can only be a good thing.

You can read a full Match Report here.