page_title: History of Hull City A.F.C.
section_title: Championship struggles
hierarchical_section_title: History of Hull City A.F.C. / 2006 and onwards / Championship struggles
caption_attribution_description: Hull City Football Club Celebrations
context_page_description: Hull City A.F.C. were founded on 28 June 1904. For some years before these attempts were made to found a football club, but in a city dominated initially by rugby league with the likes of Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers this proved difficult.
  The first season for Hull City consisted of friendly matches; because of the time of founding, City were unable to apply for membership to The Football League for the 1904–05 season. The early matches were played at The Boulevard, home of rugby league side Hull FC. On 1 September 1904, City's debut match took place against Notts County; with 6000 in attendance at the Boulevard, City notched up an impressive start holding the more experienced County to a 2–2 draw.
  Hull's first taste of competitive football came in the FA Cup, but they were eliminated, after a replay, in the preliminary round against Stockton, the score was 7–4 on aggregate. After uneasy relationships with landlords, Hull City moved to Anlaby Road Cricket Ground.
context_section_description: The successful stint at Hull City saw Peter Taylor's name linked with the Charlton Athletic manager's job before it was given to Iain Dowie. On 13 June 2006, Peter Taylor left Hull to take up the job vacated by Dowie at Crystal Palace, a club at which he had enjoyed considerable success as a player. Phil Parkinson was confirmed as his replacement on 29 June 2006, with Hull paying Colchester (with whom Parkinson was still under contract) £400,000 compensation. Phil Brown, who had recently departed his job as manager of Derby County, joined the club as Parkinson's assistant.
  Defender Leon Cort became Hull's first million-pound player when he followed Peter Taylor to Crystal Palace for a fee of £1,250,000. Parkinson wasted no time in spending the majority of this money on strengthening the City squad in readiness for the 2006–07 season.
  Chairman Adam Pearson has stated his ambition to take Hull into the top flight for the first time in their history – and he believed Phil Parkinson was the manager to do it. However, their dismal start to the 2006–07 season was hardly the form of a team attempting to gain promotion, and on 4 December 2006 Parkinson was sacked as manager with Hull in the relegation zone, despite having spent over £2 million on players. Parkinson had achieved two notable firsts, under his management Hull City won for the first time ever on live television and also won a penalty shoot-out for the first time.
  Phil Brown was appointed as caretaker manager, and by 4 January 2007 Hull had moved out of the relegation zone and Brown was rewarded with a contract as their new manager until at least the end of the season.
  Hull's Championship game against Sunderland AFC on 17 March 2007 at the Stadium of light saw an attendance of 38,448, a record to a Hull City game since they visited Stamford Bridge on 14 May 1977.
  Hull City all but secured their place in the Championship next season with a 1–0 victory away at Cardiff City, on 28 April 2007.  This left them 3 points clear of Leeds United, the only side with a chance of overtaking them, but with a vastly superior goal difference this was only a mathematical possibility. This crucial goal was scored by Dean Windass, who had rejoined his hometown club on loan from Bradford City.
  By 4 May, due to a lack of any realistic chance of them remaining in the Championship, Leeds went into administration and in doing so received the 10 point penalty such a move incurs. This deduction left Leeds at the bottom of the championship on 36 points, securing Hull's place in the Championship for the 2007–08 season.
caption: Phil Brown and players celebrate on promotion to the Premier League in 2008
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