If #TypicalCity is still a thing, then Cardiff City took one for the Tigers on Saturday, as Hull City performed superbly, both on and off the pitch, as a team and as a club for their designated 120th Anniversary Match.

From start to finish, the fixture was a celebration of the shared community enterprise that is Hull City Association Football Club, and there was so much going on it will take time to mentally and emotionally process it all, but here’s the things that were most notable in my personal experience…

I didn’t get time to visit the Tigers Trust Arena at any point on Saturday, but Auction Action scribe Mike Carter messaged to say how much he liked the new shirt display set up, with three new busts showing off the three Cardiff fixture themed match-worn shirts from the HCK collection. Three shirts rotate every home fixture, and we try to make them relevant to the opposition, then there’s three shirts hung high on the wall with a different theme that stick around a bit longer. The current theme is ‘Goalkeepers Union’.

Let’s get all the disgusting self-indulgence out of the way early on… I was very proud to have been asked to have written some words about the club’s kit history in the bumper sized matchday programme. I’m keen to keep attacking the pervasive myth that the Tigers first primary kit was white and black, we wouldn’t have been called ‘The Tigers’ so early on if that was the case, and this was not an opportunity to be missed.

The retro programme covers have rightly been praised this season, but the insides of the matchday programmes are laudable too. I suspect Joe Brown is too modest to draw attention to his work, but in an age when many clubs aren’t even bothering with physical programmes anymore, it’s right that he and those who contribute are lauded for a beautifully put together, entertaining and informative publication, and Saturday’s edition was a real collector’s item.

“I’m not crying, you’re crying”. People make a football club, and a myriad of owners, board members, club staff and fans have added to the rich tapestry of Hull City AFC. It is of course the players we pay to watch, and before kick-off an array of club legends took to the field to rapturous applause.

There was representation for every generation alive to appreciate… Kappa’s top model Waggy, Frank Banks, Tom Wilson, Jon Hawley, John Kaye, Steve Deere, Stan McEwan, Stuart Blampey, Dennis Booth, John Davies, Steve Wilson, Justin Whittle, Peter Taylor, Jason Price, Bryan Hughes, David Meyler, Brian Horton and Dean Windass.

Even after watching City play in a cup final and in European competition, I found seeing Steve Wilson again, and John Davies who did such incredible work with the Football In The Community initiative for so many years, to be the ones who gave me the most feels.

Speaking of high emotion… I took along a few match-worn shirts in the off chance I could get a picture with the players who wore them, and thanks to Andrew Waller for asking Dennis Booth to pose with the 1980-82 adidas home shirt he wore back then. Dennis spoke about his fondness for the city of Hull and about how he defends it to those who turn up their nose to a place they’ve never visited, and he repeated something he’d said before about how he suggested adding red to the kit when Don Robinson was looking to “brighten up the kit” somehow. Booth had been at Watford when they’d added red to their palette and it coincided with an upturn in fortunes, though Elton John’s money might have also played a part.

After the legends it was the current side’s time to emerge from the tunnel into the late September sunshine. They did so wearing the stunningly beautiful Kappa anthem jackets featuring an oversized tiger-head embroidered in gold, and a ‘banda’ of repeating golden ‘Omini’ down the shoulders and upper sleeves.

Captain Lewie Coyle carried (along with his child) a specially made wooden plaque made by the estimable folk at GK Beulah on Park Street. Beaulah’s made plaques for the England team for many years, and though we love a well-crafted pennant, we’re a sucker for these hand-made wooden plaques. Perfection.

Under the jackets, the players had on the black with metallic gold trim Anniversary kit that had Tiger Nationals queueing at both club shops and breaking the internet (well, the Tiger Leisure shaped bit of it) on Friday.

Before the game wall graphics displaying the ‘Heritage number’ of every player to make an appearance for the Tigers was unveiled, and the player shirts featured heritage numbers applied below the golden tiger-head crest. Building on the admirable work of Matt Wales of Tigerbase and Mike Scott from On Cloud Seven, players are assigned a number based on when they made their City debut.

Debutant Steven Alzate didn’t have a number when he came on as sub, which makes sense, as it’s making your first appearance that gets you a heritage number.

The match shirts worn in the 4-1 win over Cardiff are to be auctioned at some point soon, so I might just buy a lottery ticket tonight because my credit score is dropping like Cardiff’s Championship survival chances.

Lastly, by blessed happenstance, as I was leaving the ground I saw the utter legend that is former City physiotherapist Jeff Radcliffe heading to his car. Jeff noted that he’s recently suffered a stroke but was “plodding on”. He also confirmed that he still has his trademark tam o’ shanter hat, even if he doesn’t know where he’s stored it right now!

Those who attended the last game at Boothferry Park will know full well that such events don’t always go to plan, but the anniversary fixture went perfectly from my limited perspective. Played City.

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Many thanks to: Joe Clutterbrook, Joe Brown, Lee Dearing, Richard Mathers, Brendan Smurthwaite, Tasha Chapman, Leanne Jensen, Richard Dexter, Andrew Waller, Mike Carter, James Richardson and Nick Turner for support/tolerance of my kit-geeking endeavours.