HULL SUCCESS ALL THE SWEETER

Hull celebrate at White Hart Lane.

As Hull supporters continue to revel in the club's outstanding start to life in the Premier League, their success will be made all the sweeter by memories of where they were a decade ago.

After attacking the top flight with a refreshing vigour since winning promotion, the Tigers head into this weekend's international break lying third, looking down on all sides bar Chelsea and Liverpool.

They may not be expected to maintain their form over the course of the season, but given it is just 10 years since they propped up the entire Football League, it is a remarkable achievement.

On October 9, 1998, Hull were beaten 2-1 at home by Cardiff, a loss which left them a point adrift at the bottom of the old Third Division.

Within weeks they had fallen nine points behind and the prospects of the Tigers avoiding relegation to the Conference looked bleak.

"It was pretty grim most of the time," said former defender Ben Morley. "I think we were getting 4,000 at Boothferry Park.

"To have said we would be third in the Premier League 10 years from now would have been ludicrous. I don't think you could ever have imagined that to be honest."

Then manager Mark Hateley, the former England striker who had succeeded Terry Dolan just a year earlier, paid the price for the club's poor start to the season in November that year and was replaced by journeyman midfielder Warren Joyce.

With the club having spent most of the 1990s battling financial problems there were fears they would go out of business had they lost their League place.

They survived as Joyce engineered a remarkable turnaround in the second half of the season but the club were still far from stable.

They went close to folding in 2001 when they were locked out of Boothferry Park by former owner David Lloyd - who still owned the ground and was owed rent - and served with a winding-up order.

A boardroom takeover headed by Adam Pearson eventually eased their financial plight and the kickstart the club needed was delivered with the move to the council-owned KC Stadium in December 2002.

The rest is history with three promotions having followed and, with 25,000 sell-outs, the future is certainly looking bright.

"It is absolutely fantastic and they way things are going at the moment, they should make the most of it!" said Dolan, who managed the club from 1991-97.

"Ten years ago you wouldn't have thought it. One of the main differences is the new stadium, when they moved there things changed.

"I was there for six-and-a-half years. In a strange way I did enjoy it but unfortunately we didn't have much success on the field.

"That was mainly because of the financial problems the club were in. That changed when they moved to the new stadium.

"We managed to keep the club going by selling players. We avoided three winding-up orders purely by selling - Roy Carroll was one, Dean Windass and Alan Fettis others.

"The club is having the success now, and at least we kept the club going in those days.

"When I went there in 1991, I left Rochdale to go to Hull because I thought it was a much bigger club and had a lot of potential. It is only now that potential is being fulfilled."

Yet for all the doom and gloom of Hull's plight a decade ago, it does not necessarily conjure up bad memories for everyone.

Morley was just trying to make his way in the game and now, as he plies his trade with UniBond League side North Ferriby after spells with Boston and Telford, he looks back with some fondness.

"It was mixed emotions for me," said Morley, 27. "We were rock bottom but I was in the team at 17-18 years old.

"A lot of people will have bad words to say about Mark Hateley but he gave me my chance and I could say only good things.

"I never remember morale in the dressing room being that bad, although I think that the worst time there was a period of two weeks when we didn't get paid.

"And there was always that collection of die-hards that would have come whatever and the away support was brilliant, they would often out-sing the home fans."