It marks the end of a succesful first season return to top flight football for Hull City after a couple of seasons in the very competitive and close Championship. The visitors today are Everton, until the last 10 days or so amongst the main contenders for fourth spot and the prize of a lucrative Champions League participation but following a drop in form and the surge of other teams they finish without a prize but still in a commendable position in what has been a transition period with a new manager.
Hull City have in contrast under-acheived but their mere survival amongst larger, better funded and match attendance figures has been remarkable. The squad has worked well together and a fighting spirit has brought about some notable results including a rare defeat of Liverpool and a critical rescue of a 2-0 deficit recently at the hands of relegation bound Fulham to grab a valuable point.
Granted Hull City can expect to finish perilously close to the points total of the third from bottom side but survival is survival in this league. The principal bonus for the season is of course the FA Cup Final in 6 days time at Wembley and a second bonus by default with Arsenal taking a European Place from fourth spot what will be a welcome but potentially brief venture into that protracted competition of the Europa League.
The day is bright and breezy with wave upon wave of squally showers punctuating almost pleasantly hot intermissions. The weather is of assistance to me in my commentary of the match in that from my seat in my own dining room I can clearly hear the reaction of the capacity crowd over the distance of about 1 mile to the south-west.
The fact that I can catch the emotions of the captive audience from my house was a pleasant surprise after moving in just a couple of days before the very first home game of the current campaign.
The season, a marathon of 38 games, concludes today from 3pm.
I have been a bit confused by the sunday kick off . The absence of my usual saturday routine of build up, following the scores and analysing the outcome has left me feeling empty and unfulfilled.
The first big noise in the air was at 14.58pm. I listened attentively but realised that this was the announcer coaxing the crowd to react to the team news followed by his characteristic introduction of the respective stands to those followers of the away team who had found their way to the end of the M62 Motorway from Merseyside.
Everton must have started well because the swell and murmur of the City fans was a bit muted to my distant earshot. I could clearly make out a few "C'mon you 'Ull" chants" and with a couple of crescendos usually reserved for an enthusiastic but unsuccessful attack on the opponents goalmouth.
After 9 minutes there was a roar but representative of about 2000 voices. I suspect that Everton have opened the scoring.
There is the impression of a bit more effort from The Tigers, my team with a few sustained bouts of song and old standards. I can make out tunes with lyrics about the forthcoming Wembley and Euro adventures but after no wins in the 8 or so matches this month I am more concerned about a good and confident performance to give us a lift before the season closer of the FA Cup Final.
The silence, even being overtalked by the bird population and intermittent sirens from emergency vehicles is ominous again suggesting that Everton are by far the more determined team. They do have players on the shortlist for the England Team in the summer world cup tournament wanting to impress prior to the announcement of the final squad. This can sometimes mean a reluctance to go into full bloodied tackles and challenges in case picking up an injury denies them of international honours.
It must be close to half time. The crowd will be thinning out as they make their way to get a meat or balti pie, foot long hotdog, pint of beer but with the more likely beverage being a hot chocolate given the inclement weather. If Everton are leading on the basis of my analysis of the crowd noise or lack of it then they would be on target to acheiving an away win at Hull for the first time since the old Division Two in 1953.
The ironic cheers sound like it is half time.
There is still a lot to play for even apart from players own pride and to ackowledge the dedication and outlay in financial terms of the fans- even those like me who just sit at home and earwig out of the window. For finishing in their current league position , implying a defeat at the hands of Everton, Hull City will get about six million pounds as part of the share out of the mega-wealth of the Premier Corporation. If however the afternoon is a cacophony of sound and City pechance manufacture a win, the elevation of three to four places up the table and prizelist will be be reflected in a 9 million pound cheque.
It promises to be a good week of potential earnings for the club as on a worst case basis of being Cup runners up there is another 1 million pounds on offer. That income could finance the much talked about enlargement of the stadium by another 15000 paying seats. The increase in audible volume from full attendance of 40,000 may allow me to sit in more comfort in my living room rather than by the window in the dining room.
I have now lost interest in this distant form of commentating and will just switch on the radio in the kitchen for the second half. It was an interesting experiment. I may learn from the actual match reporting that Hull City are actually winning 10-0 and that the quietness of the crowd is from a collective saving of voices for the big day out in London this coming saturday or faces full of warm, succulent Pukka Pies.
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