Hull aiming for fairytale finish

The gates were locked at Bootheferry Park

The BBC's Paul Stainton reports on a turn in fortunes for Hull City

The transformation is almost complete as far as Hull City are concerned.

The side from the Third Division of England's Nationwide league were locked out of their ground just a few months ago and placed into administration by their then owners.

But, since Adam Pearson took control, East Yorkshire's biggest club has been rejuvenated and now requires just one more point to guarantee their place in the Division Three play offs.

Much of the credit must also go to manager Brian Little, a man who has managed at every level from Conference to Premiership.

Despite all of the off-field problems at Boothferry Park, he has managed to keep his focus and guide his charges to the brink of promotion.

Brian Little can take much of the credit

Little says that if his side are promoted he will have to sit down at the end of the season and try and work out just how they have done it.

But he adds that after getting into this position he and the team would be disappointed if they didn't see it through.

He also paid tribute to the fans who, when the players were not being paid at one stage this season, organised collections and dug into their own pockets to help out.

At their lowest ebb, Hull's gates were down to just 5,000.

Now they can count on over double that figure.

Not bad in a city traditionally dominated by rugby league.

Premiership talk

However, with a catchment area that stretches from the north bank of the Humber estuary all the way to West Yorkshire and encompasses over 600,000 people, the UK's 15th biggest city should be able to support a Premiership club, never mind one that has spent most of its time in the lower reaches of the football league.

Whilst talk of Premiership football may seem slightly ridiculous considering the club's present position and its recent predicament, the City council does not think so.

The council has invested a considerable amount of the money, raised from the flotation of Kingston Communications, in a new multi-purpose stadium that will house both football and rugby league matches.

The 25,000-seater complex will cost £50m to build and will be completed by the end of 2002.

But it may be some time after that date before the Tigers of Hull are ready for the likes of Manchester United.