The Tigers first ever season in the top league of English football could hardly have begun better. Within weeks, Phil Brown was leading his men out at the Emirates Stadium and 90 minutes later they left the field with all three points. It was a historic victory for club that in it’s first adventure with the big boys managed to spend the first couple of months not only in the top half of the table but in, at one point, a Champions League spot. The 5-0 home defeat by Wigan served as a reality check after only three games and it was this that possibly gave City the ability to perform the way they did.

Despite such a positive first half of the year, results started to falter and by March the Tigers were almost in free-fall. April saw them well and truly dragged into the relegation fight and going into the final day of the season, they were fourth bottom and facing Champions and Champions League finalists Manchester United with the chance, if results went against them, of facing life in the Championship once again. However, the 1-0 defeat was irrelevant as their rivals faltered and Hull survived.

Next season may be a different matter and Brown will know that the squad needs to be ready for a much tougher battle if the KC Stadium is to see a third season of Premier League football.