Hull
City Saga: The Seesaw Tale of the Tigers, by David Bond (1999)
GOOD historical books on Hull City don't exactly clutter the High Street bookshelves, but David Bond's book fills the gap perfectly.
Various statistical books on the Tigers are valuable resources, but hardly your idea of an absorbing read. This, however, is just that. Unlike previous books on City, Bond does not just start in 1904 and trudge on, season by season, year by year, through to the present day. He takes themes (such as giant-killing feats, cup controversies, promotion and relegation) and uses them to seamlessly draw together the past and the present.
Every new chapter tells a different story from a different angle, and therefore, you don't pick up the book to start from where you left off in, say, September 1936. The Tigers' exploits of 100 years ago do not seem as dim and distant any more, making the book live up to its title: every chapter is a mini-saga of its own.
Former Hull Daily Mail journalist Bond has gone to great lengths in his research, quoting old newspaper reports and including excerpts from interviews with surviving ex-Tigers. And the Mail's rich mine of archive photographs has been put to excellent use, as the large pictures on almost every page really offset the images the words themselves create.
This is a very well-written book - it is clear and concise, and some of the accounts of matches from long ago are so fresh that they would not look out of place in today's papers. But the book is certainly not without forthright opinion (especially on the Lloyd era). It ends just it begins - with a sobering but hopeful outlook on City's constant underachievement throughout their history, and this is an enduring thread, though the balance between opinion, fact and anecdote isperfect.
Occasionally a little bit of subtle humour creeps in - for example, Bond writes that, in the FA Cup second round match against Luton in 1998, Steve Davis equalised "right on cue".
The only quibbles with this book are that it is a shame the story of City's more recent years was not accompanied by any colour photographs; Hull City play in black and amber - what a shame the amber wasn't on the pictures, from the 1960s onwards. The book also lacks an index - it would have been nice to be able to flick through it and see at a glance just how many Tigers are featured, and to turn to the relevant page instantly.
But the large size of the book, and its front cover, are eye-catching. This readable, informative and entertaining volume is recommended for all Tigers fans.
Review by Martyn Hainstock and Sam Hawcroft
This book is currently not in stock at Amazon, but you may try to order it used. Alternatively, www.tigerleisure.com may have some copies left.