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To Hull and Back

The KC Stadium
By TheLongside.co.uk April 13 2006
This Saturday sees us travel to another new stadium for Burnley fans, Hull's impressive KC Stadium. The Longside looks at the new stadium and Hull's form since the move from Boothferry Park.

  To Hull and Back

 

This weekend see the Clarets travel to Hull City for our first visit to the KC Stadium. It will be another visit to a new stadium, and the ground is a far cry from their former ground, Boothferry Park.

 

Built at a cost of £43.5m, the KC opened its doors in December 2002 after taking just 14 months to construct. It has a capacity of 25,404, and has been designed so that the capacity can be increased to 30,000, based on demand and/or if Hull were to reach the Premiership.

 

The Tigers former home - Boothferry Park

 

Boothferry Park on the other hand had become unsafe in sections, forcing the club to look elsewhere. In 1996, the East Stand at Boothferry Park closed completely due to its state of disrepair. It opened again briefly, but with a limited capacity, before closing again in 1999 after failing to meet the requirements of the Taylor report.

 

The Longside's very own 'Claret Andy' visited the new KC Stadium in February for an English League versus Italian League game, and he had this to say about the stadium:

 

An easy ground to get to, straight off the motorway and onto park and ride which takes you to the ground. It's a very nice ground although a little smaller than I expected. A great atmosphere and thats just with 6,500. The downside though was that it is extremely cramped with no room between the seats for your legs.


The move though has certainly helped the club progress on the pitch. In their first full season at the KC, Hull were promoted to what is now League One, finishing second in the third division behind Doncaster Rovers.

 

 

 

 Hull City's impressive new home - the KC Stadium

 

Last season, the Tigers achieved a second successive promotion at their new home, again finishing second, this time behind runaway champions Luton Town. They currently occupy 19th place in the Championship this season, but that is an unbelievable achievement considering the successive promotions.

 

With relegation from the Championship seemingly a fourway battle between Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall, Crewe and Brighton, the Tigers look to have secured their Championship status for this season at least.

 

Games between the Clarets and Hull City are very few and far between. In fact the last time the two clubs met before this season was in the 1995/96 season. The first game in particular was a significant one, it was the last game in front of our beloved Longside terrace.

 

The Clarets won 2-1 that day in what was a far from happy season to be a Claret. We  saw Jimmy Mullen sacked, a 17th place finish after being relegated the season before, the infamous 3:33 protest against the board... and the signing of Ian Helliwell. Unsurprisingly, we lost 3-0 at Boothferry Park later on that season.

 

This season we met the Tigers in October, with Ade Akinbiyi scoring the winner in front of the Sky cameras. Ade scored a fantastic goal that night, turning on a sixpence to fire home in front of the visiting fans. We were thankful though to Brian Jensen who pulled off some fine saves including one at the death to ensure we took all three points.

 

 The KC Stadium

 

So, another new ground for the travelling Clarets to visit, and one that wouldn't look out of place in the Premiership. For now though, both clubs will continue to battle on in the Championship with the gravy train of the Premiership a distant dream.

 

On Saturday we'll slog out an end of season, nothing to play for game, but we are on a good run, so who is to say that we won't pick up our first away win since Luton in November at the new KC?

 

 

Many thanks as always to Tim Rigby for the images.

 

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