Owner Assem Allam Manager Steve Bruce FA Cup 5th round | Chairman Assem Allam Stadium KC Stadium | |
2015–16 Football League Championship 4th (promoted via play-offs) | ||
The 2015–16 season was Hull City's first season back in the Football League Championship following their relegation from the Premier League last season in their 112th year in existence. Along with the Championship, the club competed in the FA Cup and Football League Cup. The season covers the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.
Contents
Events
Players
As of 16 April 2016.First team squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Transfers in
Total spending: £4,800,000
Transfers out
Total income: £24,950,000
Pre-season
On 9 June 2015, Hull City announced three pre-season friendlies against North Ferriby United, Chesterfield and Sheffield United. On 18 June 2015, the club announced their confirmed fixtures for the pre-season trip to Austria.
The Tigers had a pre-season training camp in Portugal from 6 July 2015.
Overall
Last updated: 5 June 2016
Source: Competitions
Results summary
Last updated: 7 May 2016.
Source: Football League Championship
Result by matchday
Last updated: 7 May 2016.
Source: Statto.com
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.
Matches
On 17 June 2015, the fixtures for the season were announced.
Win Draw Loss
Football League play-offs
As a result of Hull finishing in fourth place in the Championship they qualified for the Football League play-offs. In the play-off semi finals Hull played against fifth placed team Derby County over two legs. The first leg was held on 14 May 2016 at Derby's Pride Park. Hull's top scorer Abel Hernández was the first to score with a strike from 25 yards after half an hour. This was followed 10 minutes later with a shot by Moses Odubajo deflected in by defender Jason Shackell. Andrew Robertson completed the scoring with a late stoppage time goal to give Hull a 3–0 advantage going in to the second leg at the KC Stadium on 17 May 2016. Derby got off to a great start with a goal from close range by Johnny Russell after 7 minutes. Their lead was doubled when a sliced ball by Andrew Robertson went in to his own net 30 minutes later. Derby continued to press but Hull hung on to deny them any further scores. The match ended 2–0 to Derby, but Hull progressed 3–2 on aggregate, much to the relief of manager Steve Bruce who was in charge for the 200th time. The final, on 28 May 2016 at Wembley Stadium, was a local derby against Sheffield Wednesday who beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3–1 on aggregate in the other semi-final. Hull beat Sheffield Wednesday 1–0 in the final with the only goal coming from a 25-yard wonder strike by Mohamed Diamé in the 72nd minute. The Tigers made an immediate return to the top flight and it was Bruce's fourth promotion to the Premier League as manager.
League Cup
On 16 June 2015, the first round draw was made, Hull City were drawn away against Accrington Stanley. The match took place on 11 August 2015 at the Crown Ground with neither team managing to score during normal time. In extra time both teams scored twice leaving the game to be determined by penalties which Hull won 4–3. In the second round, Hull City were handed a home tie against Rochdale. The match was played on 25 August 2015 and Greg Luer put Hull in front after 9 minutes with the only goal of the game. The third round draw was made on 25 August 2015 live on Sky Sports by Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson. Hull City were drawn at home to Swansea City. The match took place on 22 September 2015 with the first-half seeing several attempts by both teams it was not until the 41st-minute that David Meyler broke the deadlock by scoring what turned out to be the only goal of the match. The draw for the fourth round took place on 23 September 2015 and Hull were again drawn at home this time to Leicester City. The match took place on 27 October 2015 at the KC Stadium and the game remained goalless at full-time. Ten-minutes into extra-time Riyad Mahrez put Leicester in front, but they were pegged back five-minutes later through substitute Abel Hernández, to take the match into a penalty-shootout. City scored all of their shots while Leicester only scored four as Riyad Mahrez attempt was saved by Eldin Jakupovic. This took Hull through to their first ever quarter-final appearance in the League Cup. The quarter-final draw took place the following day and Hull were drawn away to Manchester City. The match took place on 1 December 2015 at the City of Manchester Stadium. Manchester opened the scoring 12-minutes into the game when Wilfried Bony scored from a rebound off the post. That remained the only goal until 10-minutes from the end when Kelechi Iheanacho put Manchester two up. Minutes later Kevin De Bruyne capitalised on a poor back header from Andrew Robertson to put the home team 3–0 up. De Bruyne scored again, minutes later, from an edge of the area free-kick leaving Hull to get a consolation goal through Robertson in extra-time. The result was a 4–1 defeat or City in their first ever quarter-final appearance. On a bright note for Hull, the match saw the return from injury of Robert Snodgrass when he came on as a replacement for Sone Aluko in the 73rd-minute.
FA Cup
Hull entered the FA Cup competition in the Third round the draw for which the took place on 7 December 2015 and Hull were drawn at home to follow Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion. The match took place on 9 January 2016. In the 40th-minute of the match Lewis Dunk fouled Harry Maguire in the box to give Hull a penalty. Robert Snodgrass took the penalty to score his first goal for the club. Brighton's Andrew Crofts shot in extra-time rebounded off the cross-bar to give Hull the victory 1–0. The draw for the fourth round took place on 11 January 2015 and Hull were drawn away to the winner of the Bury and Bradford City third round match. The replay took place on 19 January 2016 and the match remained goalless after extra-time, but Bury took the match 4–2 on penalties. Thus Hull played Bury on 30 January 2016 at Gigg Lane, Bury. The match was played in difficult weather conditions, with Steve Bruce making 11 changes to the squad that played at Fulham in the league, including a first senior start for youngster Josh Tymon. Bury started the best, but after 14-minutes David Meyler broke through only to see his shot blocked by Ian Lawlor, Chuba Akpom was on-hand to net the rebound. After the break, there was chances for both sides before Sone Aluko was brought down in the box, and Akpom was given the opportunity to take the spot-kick to score his second of the match. Ten-minutes later Akpom netted his hat-trick leaving Craig Jones to score a late consolation goal for Bury. The draw for the fifth round took place on 31 January 2016 and Hull were drawn away to Arsenal, the third year in a row the clubs had faced each other in the competition. The match took place on 20 February 2016 at the Emirates Stadium. City made ten changes from the previous league game but failed to make any inroads into the Arsenal defence. Arsenal had a number of chances but could not make a breakthrough, as Eldin Jakupović pulled off some spectacular saves to maintain a clean-sheet. The game finished 0–0 and a replay at the KC Stadium was to be arranged. The draw for the quarter-final took place the following day and the winner was drawn at home to Watford. The date for the Arsenal replay was later confirmed as 8 March 2016 with live coverage on BT Sport. The match kicked off at 7.00 p.m. and City matched Arsenal until just before the break when Olivier Giroud ceased on a mistake by David Meyler to open the scoring. He went on to double Arsenal's lead halfway through the second-half before Theo Walcott got a brace of goals late in the game. Hull lost the match 4–0 giving Arsenal the victory for the third season in a row.
Captains
Last updated: 5 June 2016
Source: Competitive match reports.
Competitive matches only
Matches started as captain only
Country: FIFA nationality; No.: Squad number; P: Position; Name: Player name; No. Games: Number of games started as captain.
Appearances
As of 5 June 2016Note: Appearances shown after a "+" indicate player came on during course of match.
Kits
On 10 July 2015 it was announced that Flamingo Land would be the shirt sponsor for the season. The new home kit was revealed on 13 July 2015. The back of shirt sponsor was announced on 28 July 2015 as the local firm Hudgell Solicitors. The away kit was shown by boxer Luke Campbell before and after his fight in Hull against Tommy Coyle.
Awards
The annual awards was held on 3 May 2016. Abel Hernández was named Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year. Robert Snodgrass was awarded Goal of the Season for his last minute strike against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 15 April 2016. Josh Tymon was named the Academy Player of the Season.