The £50k Aston Villa deal that saw Hull City make a sizeable profit: View | OneFootball

The 2003/04 season most definitely changed Hull City's fortunes for the years to come.

After spending eight years in Division Three - League Two as it's now known - from 1996 onwards, including multiple flirtations with liquidation and relegation from the Football League, Peter Taylor was able to mould a side that would change the direction of the Tigers in their first full season at the MKM Stadium.

Not only was the former Leicester City boss able to build a squad capable of promotion from the fourth tier, many of his signings would become part of the fabric of City's rapid rise to the Premier League.

Boaz Myhill's move to Hull City

Alongside Ian Ashbee, Andy Dawson and Ryan France, Boaz Myhill rounded off the quartet of players who would don the Black and Amber in every professional division in English football.

He was also the last of those to join the club, completing his transfer in December 2003 from Aston Villa, after failing to make a senior appearance at Villa Park under John Gregory and Graham Taylor - making just 21 prior to his East Yorkshire move in previous loan spells at Bradford City, Macclesfield Town and Stockport County.

Myhill would make the first of his 277 appearances for his club on December 20th 2003, in a 1-0 home defeat to Mansfield Town after signing for a bargain £50,000 fee. “If Carlsberg did transfers, that was it. The stars aligned for me," Myhill stated to Hull Live back in 2020.

He would then feature 23 times in the remainder of the season as City won promotion for the first time since 1985, coming second with 88 points.

The next season, the American-born shot stopper would tally 14 clean sheets in 45 League One appearances as the Tigers were promoted for a second successive season, and with that a first season at Championship level since 1990/91.

“This is true of all teams that achieve things but there was a core of players that bought into what the club was. We understood the area and what people wanted from their team,”he recalled of this period.

Myhill's strongest period as a Hull City goalkeeper

In Hull's first season back in the Championship, Myhill was named as the club's 'Player of the Year' after a multitude of consistent performances and 12 clean sheets overall. His season was typified by saving two penalties in a 3-0 away victory at Stoke City in January 2006.

Despite a change in manager as Taylor left for Crystal Palace, Myhill remained a mainstay in the side under Phil Parkinson and, latterly, Phil Brown.

He would play every single Championship game in the 2006/07 season as the Tigers staved off relegation with a game to spare, before playing his part in club folklore, as the 2007/08 squad would be the first in the club's history to play at Wembley and be promoted to the top flight of English football.

One flashpoint from this season which City fans have never forgotten is Myhill's remarkable reflex save from Mat Sadler in the second half of the first play-off semi-final with Watford, as he somehow tipped a first-time volley wide of the post, keeping a 2-0 lead intact, before going on to win 6-1 on aggregate ahead of the famous 1-0 victory over Bristol City at Wembley Stadium.

Although it was, and still remains the richest game in world football, Myhill stated it was the "most relaxed I’ve ever been in a football match in my entire career."

Despite being born in America, Myhill qualified to represent Wales through his mother, and he made his first of 19 appearances for the Dragons in March 2008 in a 2-0 success over Luxembourg.

He would then make history alongside the aforementioned Ashbee and Dawson in Hull's first ever Premier League game - a 2-1 win against Fulham on August 16th 2008 - before accumulating his first Premier League clean sheet in a 1-0 away victory at Tottenham Hotspur in the October of that season.

Hull were beyond a surprise package to the Premier League, as they found themselves sixth on Christmas Day 2008, before a major slump in form after Brown's infamous on-pitch teamtalk away to Manchester City. It was also a difficult period for their number one, who was rotated with Matt Duke for the remainder of the campaign.

After surviving on the final day of the season at Newcastle United's expense, the 2009/10 season was a disaster in the grand scheme of things, despite the keeper being rewarded with a new contract in September 2009.

However, one of Myhill's most inspired performances in net would come in January 2010 away to Tottenham once more, as Harry Redknapp's team found him in unbeatable form despite tallying 19 shots to Hull's five on the day.

Boaz Myhill made Hull City a sizeable profit amid financial problems

As well as relegation, Hull were in financial ruin throughout the 2009/10 campaign, and a number of high-profile names departed including Geovanni, George Boateng and Stephen Hunt.

Myhill was another among the list, having played his last game for the club on April 10th 2010, in a 4-1 home defeat by Burnley.

As Hull owed debts in the region of £25m, they were forced to sell, and Myhill departed for West Bromwich Albion in July 2010 for £1.5m, making a sizeable profit on the £50,000 transfer six-and-a-half years previous.

He would then make 85 appearances for the Baggies, as well as spending a season at Birmingham City on loan in 2011/12.