April – the month of fools, chocolate eggs, showers and… shirts? On the pitch April saw the Tigers pick up a valuable points against Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry and Preston North End as they sought to avoid the drop into League One. What was on offer during the last full month of 2024/25? Mike Carter takes us through what went under the virtual hammer in the fourth month…
 
Whereas March was a weak month for player shirts, April 2025 was full of options for collectors of match worn and issued shirts to consider purchasing.

We’ll start with this 2010/11 primary shirt by adidas at least issued to James Chester. The shirt features a ‘Marie Curie’ applique on the chest, which was added to match shirts for the March 2011 games against Burnley and Coventry. Chester started both games, meaning this shirt was likely worn in one of the two fixtures, which makes the £73.52 paid for it an absolute steal for its new owner.

We’re told that the seller of this 2011/12 home shirt by adidas featuring Robert Koren’s name and number had some reservations about whether it was player issue or a printed replica. We’ve given it the benefit of the doubt as most shirts in this era wouldn’t have had the ‘SLS’ back of shirt sponsor applied, unless there were player issue. We believe this shirt sold using the best offer feature after it was listed as a buy it now for £104.72.

Our third of five player issue shirts to cover takes us to 2014/15 and this Umbro home shirt issued to Alex Bruce. Now depending on your preference, a fully signed shirt can be perceived to remove, or add value. For us, it’s a dead set turn off, but for others a spin could be applied. This shirt is signed by the squad who represented Hull City in European competition for the first time in the clubs’ existence! This one was also listed as a buy it now and sold for £156.72 (or best offer).

All City fans should remember the wonder goal scored by Mo Diame at Wembley Stadium in May 2016… So, this 2015/16 regular season Diame home shirt by Umbro should appeal to many, I’m sure! The shirt was also listed at £156.72 and likely sold using the best offer option. Side note: If you’re wondering what is with all the random prices, this is due to eBay’s new fees in which buyers have to pay for their own order protection.

Our final player shirt brings us bang up to date with a 2024/25 third shirt by Kappa worn by loanee Joe Gelhardt against Cardiff on 25th February. As you can see, the shirt has a large rip from the neckline down to the front middle of the shirt! This is wonderful provenance for someone should they be able to locate an image of Joe with this shirt on at Cardiff. This shirt was listed by ‘cardiffclassicshirts’ on eBay and sold for £182.72.

Now we move into the replica market and there were some more good examples for us to cover here, too. This 1982/83 away shirt by Admiral in size small sold for £104.72. It has one or two small defects, but for a shirt over 40 years old it was in pretty good condition.

The 1990-92 away is the latest Hull City shirt to have a reissue from the current rights-holder of the Matchwinner brand. Naturally this causes people to consider the worth of the original shirts too. Two such original shirts sold in April, with a staggering 100% mark-up on one of the shirts compared with the other. The first to sell ended on 4th April after being listed at £208.72 (it is possible the best offer option was used here)

A second shirt sold on 6th April for £104.72 at auction. To make the comparison even sweeter, both shirts are the same size – medium!

Can the reissue shirts be easily distinguished from the originals? Yep, the polo collar on the reissue is much wider at the points, it resembled the collar of a dress shirt in that regard, and there isn’t as much structure, the wider collar flaps during wear, whereas the thicker, cut-away collars of the originals stays-put.  
 

A ‘Great Escape’ shirt, as it is often termed now, is perhaps better described as the 1998/99 home shirt by Olympic. One in size XL sold for £83.93 last month. Naturally, the collar has started to turn up, which was a common issue with these shirts, but other than that the condition looks excellent. Comparing this with the prices we have logged, it’s pretty much spot on in the middle of the average valuation. Winners all round!

Moving into the printed replica section of Auction Action leads us to four players with very contrasting stints with the Tigers. First up is this 2016/17 home shirt by Umbro in size medium with long-sleeves featuring the name of Everton loanee, Oumar Niasse. £19.99 for an almost 10-year-old shirt, with long sleeves and printed with a player’s name feels like a good price for the buyer, here.   

If we’re considering the Niasse shirt to be good value, then the next two are great value! This 2017/18 home shirt in size medium, printed with the surname and squad number of a returning Fraizer Campbell sold for just £14.99! A man who will living long in the memories of Hull City fans forever, if not just for the amount of occasions City were linked with signing him over and over again, but his stellar efforts during the 2007/08 promotion campaign.

Another bargain is this 2021/22 home shirt in size medium featuring the surname of academy product Keane Lewis-Potter also sold for just £14.99! This was the final season that KLP played for the Tigers before his big money move to Brentford, where he was awarded with the players’ player of the season, fans’ player of the season and the Clubs’ player of the season award.

Our final shirt will see us end in 2024/25 with this home shirt by Kappa in size medium featuring the surname and squad number of Dogukan Sinik. A man who has made just one substitute appearance for the first team in the last two seasons. Someone paid £26.99 for this shirt, maybe they’ll see a return on their investment in 2025/26…
 
That’s all for April’s bumper edition of Auction Action. We’ll be back in June with the month of May’s kit geekery.