Regular visitors will know that I am a Hull City (The Tigers) fan and have been all of my life. Last season, Hull gained promotion to the EPL for the first time in their 104 year history and so all of us Hullonians were to say the least excited. Funnily enough, no one else was.

In pre-season - no - as soon as our promotion was secured, out came all the experts and pundits to declare that Hull City would be immediately relegated and would do a 'Derby' - a reference to last seasons disasterous EPL campaign by Derby County. Hull's pre-season schedule results only seemed to confirm to everyone that this was a self fulfilling prophecy.

Funny.... people like me were quietly confident that they would all EAT their words. I didn't expect that to happen quite so soon however.....

What folks miss is that Hull is a major city with huge potential for a soccer club. You'd have to cross the Pennines to see a Premier league soccer game before this season. Not only that but the club has an astute management team committed to making it a profitable and successful venture.

And so the campaign began with a 2-1 win over Fulham and then a 1-1 tie at Blackburn.... just a flukey start by a crap team they said.... and then, as if to confirm it, a 5-0 hammering by Wigan at home.... But no one was really looking at the story behind those results. The Wigan game was played by a team of largely Championship players due to injury etc.

Then - Hull 2 Newcastle 1.... away. Oh well, Keegan had just left and Newcastle was in disarray. Hull got lucky. Next Hull 2 - Everton 2... yeah, just luck.

Then, Arsenal 1 - Hull 2. Hull became only the second team in several seasons to win on the Arsenal ground and the only team to score there yet this season.....

Well, that's done it. All of a sudden the pundits are sitting up and taking note. Wow - maybe Hull can be a good side after all..... of the snobbery in soccer, the arrogance of folks who write teams off before a game is played. Hell - 4-5 of Hull's current players including the Captain came up with Hull from the old 4th Division and yet they can muck it with the best in the EPL. So is the EPL over rated? or just fat and over paid?

Frankly, I feel better with the pundits trashing us. That way, anything good is a surprise. Now all eyes on Hull - the slightest waver in results and we will be condemned again....

For now though, it feels good to read stories like these....

Indian newspaper

The Daily Mirror

US Blog

In fact, Hull City made the news all over the world this last weekend even the might CNN! Wow... am I dreaming? Might I now look forward to saying 'I'm from Hull' with some pride?