Today brings the first match for Newcastle United without Kevin Keegan in charge since he resigned about a week ago. How will this effect the Magpies players? Will Hull City fancy their chances to redeem themselves after the embarrassing 0-5 loss to Wigan Athletic at their own ground two weeks ago? It’s been an interesting and exhausting two weeks to have followed Newcastle United, and hopefully the players will prove professional enough to see off the threat of Hull City, because, after all, who the f*** are Hull City?

The city who before this season was most known for being the answer to a pop quiz question concerning which city was the biggest in Europe without ever having had a team in their nation’s highest division. They were founded in the month of June back in the year of 1904. They spent their early years playing nothing but friendlies as they were unable to apply for The Football League.

The greatest achievement for the club in cup competitions would be when they in 1939 reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, beating Newcastle United in the quarter finals on a 2-1 aggregate. The semi-final saw them getting a 2-2 draw in the first game. Though in the replay Arsenal proved superior and advanced to the final after a 1-0 win.

They would later go on to do some serious yo-yoing between the Third and Second division. And they would also be the very first team in the world to go out in a cup competition after losing on penalties, this was against Manchester United in the semi-final of the Watney Mann Invitation Cup in 1970. By the early 1980s, the club were down in the fourth division and financial collapse would see the club end up in receivership. This period would see the club getting saved by unlikely looking saviours in the form of chairman Don Robinson and manager Colin Appleton. Promotion to the Third Division followed in 1983, with a very young team featuring the likes of future England International Brian Marwood, the striker Billy Whitehurst and the to be Dutch-Wannabe Steve McClaren.

In 1985, Hull City reached the Second Division under their new player-manager Brian Horton. They would go on to defy the odds and stay there for the next five years before finally going down in 1991. They would then go on to finish 14th in the Third Division, meaning they would be permitted to compete in the new Football League Division Two the following season. The first year in the new division, they narrowly avoided relegation, and in the following two seasons they secured promising mid table finished. Though financial difficulties ended up hampering the progress made by Hull, and they would see key players such as Dean Windass, the man who would later return to fire Hull into the Premier League for the first time in history, leave the club to fend off windiwng-up orders. The following season they got relegation to the Division Three.

In 1998 the club was rooted in the bottom of the table, looking certain to relegate once more. Though the appointment of 34 year old veteran player Warren Joyce as their new manager saw the club steer to safety with a few games to spare, this is what the Hull City fans to this day still refer to as “The Great Escape”. Though Joyce would be shown the door just a few months later, being replaced by the more experienced Brian Little.

Little breathed new life into the club, and he managed to get great results out of his players and they would qualify for the Division Three playoffs in the 00-01 season, losing in the semi-finals. A boardroom takeover swiftly followed as former Leeds United commercial Director, Adam Pearson, had eased the club’s precarious financial situation and the fears of the club getting shut down were banished.

The new chairman would go on to give the club much needed funding, allowing Little to rebuild his team. And the following seasons would see the club sprint up the league ladder, until the day they, against all odds, were running out on the Wembley grass playing a game almost none had thought Hull would ever get to play. It was the play-off final against Bristol City, the match who would forever kill the pop quiz question, the match who would make Dean Windass an even bigger legend to the Hull City fans than he was before. It was the match that would bring Hull City to the Premier League for the first time in their history. And here they are today, having had a good start to their season, a much better start than everybody expected. Though can they get anything from Newcastle United at St. James’ Park? Only time remains to tell.

This article will sadly not feature the “opposition fans view” due to lack of time when writing the article time to ask the opposition fans about their view. The writer did not have time to do the research to write the “opposition most dangerous players”. So Nixon of the N-O forum offered to do that part, and here it is:

Star Players

Geovanni

The much travelled Brazilian has graced such stages as the Stadio De Luz in Lisbon, the Nou Camp in Barcelona, and more recently the City of Manchester Stadium, finding himself at his 3rd club in 3 years, very much one of the early millenium Barca generation that showed promise but never achieved it, (See Riquelme, Saviola, Rochemback). By far Hulls best attacking outlet he secured the clubs first points in the league with a beautiful curling shot. One to watch for sure as he has the power to pull strings in the midfield and will no doubt be an out let for the Hull attack.

Caleb Folan

Very much a rags to riches trip for the Irish striker, who shocked football by moving from lowley Chesterfield to Wigan in 2007, an average start with 2 in 15, saw him loaned to Hull, who after a slightly better season was snapped up by Phil Brown, scoring the winner on the opening day, the striker holds pace and power and does not mind using it to bully defenders, lacks a cool head and a good finish but the type of game he plays he doesn’t need it, very much the battering ram you expect from a Hull side who have options when it comes to attacking, expect him to come off the bench to try and bash the defence about.

George Boateng

A well known face amongst the Premiership new boys. Signed for £1m from “The Smoggies” to give the team some class in the middle of the park as well as an experienced head, can pass tackle but not as quick as he once was at 33. Expect him to do his best in stopping attacks and setting his team forward, may suffer from Geovannis inability to get back and defend and be over-ran but either way he won’t be wanting to be made to look a fool upon his return to the North east.

Paul McShane

Special mention go to returning Mag and Michael Owen fan Paul “Oh shit there goes me man” McShane, on loan from Sunderland and has returned from a Holiday Injury in time to play, the Strawberry Blonde Maldini will hope to have a better run out than last time where it took him 3 minutes to make his mark, by letting Owen slip in to head Newcastle 1-0 up.