2017–18 Hull City A.F.C. season
The 2017–18 season is Hull City's first season back in the Championship following their relegation the last season in their 114th year in existence. Along with the Championship, the club are competing in the FA Cup and EFL Cup. The season covers the period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018. Pre-season. As of 6 July, Hull City have announced five pre-season friendlies against Oxford United, Bristol Rovers, both in Portugal, Nantes, Benfica and Ajax. The players returned to pre-season training on 3 July 2017. On 11 July 2017 the  team travelled to Portugal for a 12-day training camp. Competitions. Championship. Matches. The fixtures for the season were announced on 21 June 2017. Hull start the season with a trip to Aston Villa, run by former manager Steve Bruce, on 5 August 2017. The season will close on 6 May 2018 with an away match at Brentford. EFL Cup. Hull City enter the competition in the second-round. The draw for the second-round took place on 10 August 2017, and Hull were drawn away to Doncaster Rovers. The match was played on 22 August 2017 at the Keepmoat  Stadium and Hull fielded a mainly Academy side for the match. The first half produced no goals and it was Alfie May who broke the deadlock just after the restart for Doncaster. Tommy Rowe doubled Doncaster's lead 6-minutes later with Hull failing to make any reply. Hull City were knocked out at the Second round stage losing 2–0 on the night. FA Cup. Hull City entered the competition in the third-round, the draw for which took place on 4 December 2017. Hull were drawn away to either Blackburn Rovers or Crewe Alexandra, who drew their second-round  match 3–3. The replay was scheduled for 12 December 2017 but was put back 24-hours because of adverse weather conditions. Blackburn Rovers beat Crewe Alexandra by a single goal, by former City player Danny Graham, to progress to play Hull City. The match against Blackburn Rovers, took place on 6 January 2018 at Ewood Park, in what the BBC described as an "uneventful" match. The only goal coming in the 58th minute when Ola Aina headed in a Jon Toral corner to take Hull through to the next round. The draw for the fourth-round took place on 8  January 2018, and Hull were drawn at home to fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest, with the match taking place on 27 January 2018. Jarrod Bowen hit the post for Hull after 17-minutes, but was on the scoreboard a minute later when his shot hit the top corner of the goal. Nouha Dicko double the score when he headed in from close range after 40-minutes. With a couple of minutes of normal-time remaining Apostolos Vellios pegged one back for Forest, but they could not find another goal. Hull progressed to the Fifth round with a 2–1 victory. The  draw for the fifth-round took place on 29 January 2018, and Hull were drawn away to Chelsea. The match was later set for 16 February 2018, and would be using the Video Assistant Referee system. Hull wore shirts sporting a logo remembering the 50th anniversary of the Hull triple trawler tragedy, these were presented to charities involved with creating a memorial to the tragedy before the Millwall match on 6 March 2018. Willian got the game off to a good start for Chelsea by scoring after 2-minutes. Pedro doubled the score after 27-minutes. Willian was in the  action again 5-minutes later with his second goal and Olivier Giroud got Chelsea's fourth just before the break. In the second half Harry Wilson was fouled in the penalty area by Cesc Fàbregas. David Meyler took the spot-kick for Hull, but this was saved by Willy Caballero. Both teams had chances to score in the second-half but the score remained 4–0 to Chelsea. Statistics. Appearances. Note: Appearances shown after a "+" indicate player came on during course of match. Kits. The home kit for the 2017–18 season was unveiled on 6 July 2017 at the Streetlife  Museum of Transport. Manufactured by Umbro, the shirt is a traditional black and amber vertical stripped design, complemented by black shorts and amber socks with a black band. Details of the away kit were announced on 31 July 2017, which is mainly white with an amber stripe down the shirt sleeve and an amber band round the socks. The third kit was revealed on 11 September 2017, which is described as navy peony with amber details. The third kit was used for the first time on 21 October 2017 for the match away to Barnsley. Awards. The annual awards for  the club took place on 8 May 2018 and saw Jarrod Bowen pick-up the Players' Player of the Year and Supporters' Player of the Year awards. Kamil Grosicki was presented with the Goal of the Season award for his goal against Sheffield United on 4 November 2017. Allan McGregor was chosen by Nigel Adkins as Player of the Year and Charlie Andrew took the award for Academy Player of the Year. At a later date Jarrod Bowen also picked up the Hull City Official Supporters Club's Player of the Season award. Post-season. In April the club announced  that the team would be travelling to Kenya to play a match on 13 May 2018 at the Kasarani Stadium. This would be part of a 5-day tour to promote football and Shining Hope for Communities projects in the country. The friendly match against Gor Mahia ended in a 0–0 draw, and was decided on penalties with Hull winning 4–3.