Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. In 2007–08 they achieved promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history, by winning the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium. They finished the 2008–09 season 17th in the Premier League table, successfully avoiding relegation by one point. The previous highest position Hull City had finished in the Football League was third in the old Second Division in 1909–10, which they matched in 2007–08 when they gained promotion. Their greatest achievement in cup competitions came in 1930, when the team reached the semi-final of the FA Cup.

Hull play their home games at the KC Stadium. They previously played at Boothferry Park, but moved to their current home in 2002, with Boothferry Park set for demolition. They traditionally play in black and amber, often with a striped shirt design, hence their nickname The Tigers. The club's mascot is Roary the Tiger.

Stephen Roger "Steve" Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising schoolboy footballer but was rejected by a number of professional clubs. He was on the verge of quitting the game altogether when he was offered a trial with Gillingham. Bruce was offered an apprenticeship and went on to play more than 200 games for the club before joining Norwich City in 1984.

In 1987, he moved to Manchester United, with whom he achieved great success, winning the Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup and European Cup Winner's Cup. He also became the first English player of the twentieth century to captain a team to The Double. Despite his success on the field, he was never selected to play for the England national team. Commentators and contemporaries have described him as one of the best English players of the 1980s and 1990s never to play for his country at full international level.

Bruce began his managerial career with Sheffield United, and spent short periods of time managing Huddersfield Town, Wigan Athletic and Crystal Palace before joining Birmingham City in 2001. He twice led Birmingham to promotion to the Premier League during his tenure of nearly six years, but resigned in 2007 to begin a second spell as manager of Wigan. At the end of the 2008–09 season he resigned to take over as manager of Sunderland, a post he held until he was dismissed in November 2011.

Aaron McLean (born 25 May 1983) is an English footballer who plays for Hull City as a striker.

Born in Hammersmith, London, McLean attended Robert Clack School in Dagenham. He started his career with the Leyton Orient youth system in 1998. He then played for Aldershot Town.

He then played for Grays Athletic before joining League Two side, Peterborough on loan, on 31 October 2006. McLean then joined Peterborough permanently, for £150,000, when the transfer window opened on 1 January 2007.

McLean was initially signed by Peterborough on loan from Grays Athletic, however was then signed permanently for £150,000 in the following January transfer window. During this period he made 20 appearances and scored 10 times in both the FA Cup and League Two.

McLean had his best statistical year in Peterborough's 2007–08 campaign,^{[citation needed]} which resulted in promotion to League One. McLean scored 29 goals in the league in 45 appearances that season, which made him the League's leading scorer and earned him the League Two Golden Boot. He also scored three goals in four FA Cup appearances that year.

"I hadn't played for a while ... you're walking along shaking hands and you're thinking 'That's Pavel Nedvěd and that's Del Piero' and there's the Champions League music blaring."

Stephen Alan "Steve" Harper (born 14 March 1975) is an English footballer. He plays for Premier League club Newcastle United as a goalkeeper.

After nineteen years at Newcastle, Harper is the club's current longest serving player.

Harper grew up in the mining village of Easington, County Durham and studied Sport at the East Durham College. He was interested in football from a young age and was a supporter of Newcastle United although was an admirer of Liverpool, with goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar being his idol.Anfield was the first football ground he went to, where he watched Liverpool win a match 2–0 in the 1982–83 season. Harper attended Easington Comprehensive School. He was offered a place at Liverpool John Moores University.

In 1993 he was signed by Newcastle United from his local club Seaham Red Star, for a nominal fee.

Dr.Assem Allam is an East Riding of Yorkshire-based, Egyptian-born businessman, owner of Allam Marine, an industrial generator manufacturer, and owner of Football League Championship side, Hull City.

Born in Egypt in 1940, Allam fled to the UK from Gamel Abdel Nasser's regime in Egypt in 1968. He studied economics at the University of Hull before working as an accountant at Tempest Diesel. In 1981 he used a loan to begin a buy-out of the company, ultimately renaming the company Allam Marine, and leading the company to international success. Assem Allam and his son gained a place on the Sunday Times Rich List 2010. In 2006, he was named the Ernst & Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year.

Allam has frequently made reference to his gratitude for his adoptive home in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and has made several philanthropic gestures to the area including providing support to several local grassroots sports clubs, making donations to the Hull Truck Theatre, as well as becoming a trustee of the Daisy Appeal, a medical research fund at the local Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham. He has stated he feels an obligation to pay back the region for his success. In September 2010, it was speculated that he was interested in investing in Hull City A.F.C., the local football team, which had been relegated from the Premier League earlier in 2010 with extensive financial problems.