May 2026 will forever go down as a special month of games and celebrations
Hull City celebrate winning the Championship play-offs with a Victory Parade(Image: Donna Clifford/Hull Live)
The Bank Holiday weekend might be over, but for Hull City and their supporters, the party is likely to go on for a little while yet, and well it might.
That’s assuming the reality of what this club has achieved in the past few days actually starts to sink in, because for many fans and players alike, reality hasn’t yet hit.
It might be a week, a couple of weeks, or it might be when the Premier League fixtures are revealed on June 19, or it may even be when the Tigers line-up in the Premier League come August. Arsenal on the opening weekend, anyone?
Over the course of the weekend, City have won promotion to the Premier League at Wembley, and celebrated in front of a proud city on Monday, ending with the mayor throwing open the doors of the City Hall for 40,000 people to celebrate in Queen Victoria Square.
These moments don’t come around too often. Some of those in the crowd on what turned out to be the hottest May day on record would never have seen anything like this before.
It’s been a decade since Steve Bruce’s side won promotion, and a further eight years back to when Phil Brown’s heroes took City up to the Premier League for the very first time in 2008. This promotion will capture the imagination of the next generation, and given the last parade happened in 2008, it’s an extra special occasion.
Fans of all ages were there, young, old, and everything in between. This is a city united, and at a time when the world feels more fractured and disenchanted than ever, Sergej Jakirovic and his heroes have united this small corner of Yorkshire. Since Norwich, the smiles on faces have been a delight to see. That’s the power of football, to give people memories they’ll never, ever forget.
Everyone has their own story of hardship and heartache. We’ve all had that moment where emotion has taken over us, especially since full-time at Wembley, but we feel pride and happiness. Smiles are stretched across faces, and they’ll remain for some time to come.
This is seismic for the city, to be dining at the top table of English football again is a huge, huge step forward for the club, and the city at large. Those Liverpool shirts that came out to watch City’s open top bus parade on Monday afternoon will hopefully be replaced by black and amber ones, as support grows for a club that has never had it easy, one that has to earn everything through hard work, graft and determination.
Hull, a city often maligned, scoffed at and ridiculed, is a force again, is back on the world map, and respect is again being placed on its name.
Just as we said after the win over Norwich City, which kick-started the greatest month City has experienced for some time, football is about making memories, sharing those special times with those close to you, and this must surely go down as one of the greatest months in Hull City Association Football Club’s history.