 He joined Hull City in May 2005 , the club he supported as a child , on a two @-@ year contract for a fee of £ 25 @,@ 000 , with the potential to rise to £ 150 @,@ 000 depending on appearances . His debut for Hull was as a late substitute in a 2 – 0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion on 20 August 2005 . Though he lacked fitness at the start of the season , injuries to Keith Andrews and Ian Ashbee gave him the chance of a regular starting place , and manager Taylor also handed him the team captaincy . Despite consistent performances , by December 2005 he had lost his place and there was speculation that he had fallen out with Taylor and wanted to leave ; this was strongly denied by the player : " I 'm shocked that people are saying I want to go . I 'm very happy here . ... It 's taken me long enough to get to Hull so I 'm not going to walk out after a few months , or whatever . " In the following six weeks he made only two brief substitute appearances – in five months with the club he played 18 games in the Championship without scoring – and the strength of Hull 's squad was such that he could not be guaranteed regular first @-@ team football . 
