Hull was the only club we wanted to take on... we knew its huge potential

WHEN Adam Pearson walked back into Hull City a little over 16 months ago after answering an SOS from then owner Russell Bartlett, he did so certain that it was the right move.

Family and friends, however, were not so sure with some openly voicing fears that a return to a club in such dire financial straits could lead to all the good work that had been done during his stint as joint-owner with Peter Wilkinson being left tainted.

That those closest to Pearson held such concerns underlined just how good a recovery job the one-time Leeds United commercial director had performed on the banks of the Humber during six years at the helm.

Taking City from a decrepit and dilapidated Boothferry Park to the state-of-the-art KC Stadium was just one of the many achievements that also included back-to-back promotions and consolidation in the Championship.

All served as justification for the decision, taken 10 years ago this week, to buy the Tigers out of administration and swap the Champions League – Pearson’s last game on the Leeds board was a visit to Real Madrid – for life in the basement division.

“I had wanted to strike out on my own for some time when the chance came to get involved at Hull,” says the 46-year-old when talking to the Yorkshire Post about the £360,000 deal that was sealed at a creditors’ meeting on March 8, 2001.

“The club going into administration had been the moment when all their troubles had been highlighted and it was only at that stage that we first got involved. It looked as if Hull City was going under.

“Peter (Wilkinson, the Harrogate-based internet entrepreneur who bankrolled the purchase of Hull) was also keen to get involved.

“We approached the administrator and made our interest known. From that moment, things started to happen very quickly. The process of buying the club was relatively straight-forward, mainly because there was no one else around.

“The hardest part of all was keeping it under wraps. Obviously, I was still (on the board) at Leeds so it was a very sensitive issue and one I was desperate not to become public.

“Thankfully, that proved to be the case and a few days after the sale had been completed I was able to announce the news.”

Pearson was unveiled as the new owner of City on March 12. At that first press conference, he also revealed that the club’s debts of £1.5m had been cleared, the players’ outstanding wages paid and that a new company, Hull City AFC (Tigers) Ltd had been set up. With Wilkinson preferring to remain in the background, Pearson became chairman and the public face of the Tigers. Straight away, it was clear the club was going to be run on sound business lines.

Pearson, who during his final year as Leeds’s commercial director had boosted the Elland Road club’s turnover to a record £80m to help generate a £10m profit, says: “The numbers involved may have been very different at Hull and Leeds but the principles of business are the same no matter who the club are.

“Happily for us, the local business community were very receptive, as basically they wanted an ethically run football club in the city.

“I have to say Peter (Wilkinson) and I formed a really good partnership, based on his money and the working practices I was able to bring to the club. The dynamics worked well. He was a fantastic benefactor and totally supportive.

“I was also in the fortunate position of there already being a great nucleus of people at the club. They had all worked so hard to keep the club alive and that proved to me their devotion. Many of those people are still at the club today.

“A few new key individuals were brought in to supplement the existing staff and that put the club in a very strong position. It created a real team ethic and with the lessons I had learned from my time at Leeds, the club was able to grow.”

As impressive, however, as City’s balance sheet was starting to look in the months that followed the takeover, success on the field was not immediately forthcoming.

During the club’s stint in administration, manager Brian Little had performed admirably and was even named February’s Manager of the Month for steering his side to five straight wins.

The momentum built during that period was then maintained following the arrival of the new owners as the Tigers embarked on an 11-game unbeaten run to book a place in the Third Division play-offs.

A 1-0 win in the first leg at home to Leyton Orient then put Hull to within touching distance of the Millennium Stadium only for a 2-0 reverse in the return at Brisbane Road – when midfielder Gary Brabin admits “we were dead on our feet after everything that had gone on that season” – to dash any hopes of reaching the final.

Despite the setback, confidence was high ahead of the following season that City could win promotion – but results proved to be disappointing and Little was sacked in the February. Jan Molby then came in but lasted just a few months before Pearson turned to Peter Taylor, a masterstroke of an opponent with the former England Under-21s manager going on to lead the Tigers out of the basement division in his first full season.

Promotion from League One followed a year later to further unlock the tremendous potential that had first attracted the attention of Pearson and Wilkinson.

“Hull was the only club we considered,” says Pearson. “Basically, we saw it as the right club. It had huge potential, a large catchment area and I knew the area from my time working in Hull (for Marks & Spencer) when I had watched a few games.

“I wasn’t a devout fan or anything like that but it had given me an insight into just how important football and sport was to the city.

“There was also the possibility of the new stadium being built. A lot of people were shocked by my decision to leave Leeds when the club was flying, but I just felt the time was right to go to Hull.

“It was a risk but the potential I could see made it a risk worth taking in my eyes.”

As important as the results on the field and the implementing of sound business practices were to Hull’s revival, Pearson is in no doubt as to what was the true catalyst for the club’s subsequent progress – the opening of the KC Stadium in December, 2002.

He says: “Suddenly, we had not only impressive (corporate) facilities for local businesses but also the fans benefited by being able to watch Hull City in a safe and welcoming environment.

“Attendances doubled almost overnight and thanks to that we were really able to invest in the squad. It took us a while to get it right on the pitch and the 18 months that followed the takeover felt incredibly long.

“But once we got the momentum underway and Peter Taylor got the players he wanted, the club went from strength to strength.

“There had been a lot of false dawns for supporters in the past but I think any cynicism was swept away once Peter got the team how he wanted it to be.”

City’s back-to-back promotions meant the club was competing in the second tier of English football for the first time in 14 years. Soon, however, it became clear to Pearson that outside investment would be needed if the Tigers were to remain upwardly mobile.

Feelers were put out to interested parties and, in June 2007, it was announced that the club had been sold to Essex-based property magnate Russell Bartlett in a £10m deal that would rise by a further £2m should promotion to the Premier League be secured.

Within 12 months, that clause had been activated courtesy of Dean Windass netting the winner at Wembley in the Championship play-off final.

Hull had, after 104 years of trying, finally arrived at the top table of English football and the city understandably rejoiced. Just 18 months later, however, the dream had turned sour as debts soared past £30m – leading to the departure of chairman Paul Duffen and owner Bartlett sending an SOS for Pearson to come and sort out the financial mess.

That was duly achieved last December when Assem and Ehab Allam completed a £40m takeover that saved the club.

Pearson, who remained as City’s head of football operations following the arrival of the Allams, says: “It was a wrench to leave (in 2007) and, with hindsight, the wrong decision.

“In terms of selling the club, it was the right thing to do as we had just escaped relegation and to push on, the club needed investment we could not provide. But maybe I should have stuck around afterwards (he left Hull early in the 2007-08 season).

“Initially, there had been talk of me working with Russell but it didn’t happen. And I have always believed there is only room for one boss so I took the decision to get out of people’s way. Coming back and seeing what had gone on in the 18 months from January, 2009, was very sad. The club was facing much bigger problems compared to even when I had first come to Hull in 2001 and the few months up to the Allam family taking over were a very trying time.

“It was a big relief when the deal went through and the Allams solved all those unnecessary problems because this is a fantastic club and one I feel very passionately about.”