Jay-Jay Okocha drops "never seen before" claim involving Hull City | OneFootball

The Nigerian was part of City's first-ever promotion to the top flight

Former Nigerian and world-renowned playmaker, Jay-Jay Okocha has admitted that the celebrations which followed Hull City's promotion to the Premier League in 2008 were on a scale which he'd never experienced previously in his esteemed career.

Okocha had previously featured for some of European football's biggest clubs, most notably the likes of PSG and Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1990s, before etching his name into Premier League fame for his dazzling technical ability and memorable strikes whilst on the books of Bolton Wanderers.

At the time of Okocha's arrival at the MKM Stadium in September 2007, new Tigers chairman, Paul Duffen, had set out a three-year plan for Hull to end their lengthy wait for top flight football, just over three years since the club achieved it's first promotion in 19 years, rising from the depths of League Two back into the Championship.

And, whilst the 75-time Super Eagles international wasn't a prominent feature in Phil Brown's side throughout the campaign, the 51-year-old clearly still has a place in his heart for the East Yorkshire side.

Jay-Jay Okocha makes 'never seen before' claim on Hull City's 2008 promotion celebrations

Speaking to Ellis Platten/Away Days as part of the YouTuber's latest 'Shirt Shopping' episode in partnership with Classic Football Shirts, the midfielder was taken on a trip down memory lane, speaking about some of his fondest memories from an 18-year career which began with Borussia Neunkirchen and ended in HU3.

When presented with the iconic Black and Amber strip of 2007/08, which Okocha donned 19 times, the Enugu-born man spoke about how his move to City came about, his 19 appearances and the bus parade in the City Centre after Brown's side defeated Bristol City on their first visit to Wembley Stadium.

"I remember Phil Brown calling me, because he was Sam (Allardyce's) assistant at Bolton," Okocha began.

"(He) said to me that he's got a project here, they gave him a mandate to get Hull into the Premier League, and that he would like to have me.

"I said OK, that sounds good, you know what I mean. I always like to challenge myself, it doesn't matter where or how," he explained.

"So I signed for Hull City," Okocha added. "But, I didn't really play as much as I would've loved to with injuries kicking in.

"I went there when they just had the floods, so I got stuck in one room in a hotel. I wasn't feeling it," Okocha stated.

"But, of course, we managed to get promotion. And for me, I saw what I'd never seen in my life before, you know, with the bus tour (around the city).

"I said it would be a perfect memory to retire with," he concluded.

Hull City will hope to recreate similar scenes in the near future

The achievements of May 2008 meant that the club's trajectory would never be the same, with Brown giving Okocha plenty of credit in aiding the successful promotion bid by putting Hull on the map.

Since then, City supporters have endured a rollercoaster of emotions, which included three more trips to the National Stadium - including a first FA Cup Final and second play-off final victory, three relegations from the Premier League, a first stint in League One since 2005 and plenty more on and off-pitch changes.

Those changes have continued into the current season as Ruben Selles is still tasked with preserving the club's Championship status following Tim Walter's ill-fated reign.

A seventh-placed finish last term was as close as City have come to ending their exile from the top division, with Acun Ilicali never too shy to voice his ambitions of doing just that, with the club now three years into his tenure as chairman after a £30m takeover in January 2022.