HDM Sport on FacebookKids are being priced out of football, but not at Hull City. THE price of football is the bane of many a supporter who find it increasingly difficult to follow their team. What is most galling, though, is the high cost for children and young people to follow their local team.Long gone are the days where you could lift your 10-year-old over the turnstiles and an investigation in The Guardian proves just how far away those halcyon days are. The paper looked at the prices of seasons tickets and football strips for juniors in the Premier League as they warned the rite of passage of following your club was being swept away by rising prices– however, the results shone a positive light on Hull City. While not surprising, their is a clear divide schism between costs in the south and the north for top flight football. Chelsea fans have to fork out £77 for a full kit for their kid, while at £55.97, Hull's strip is the third cheapest in the League. And at£156, only West Brom and Sunderland offer lower priced season tickets to under-16s than City, a world away from the £550 parents have to stump up for the most expensive season pass at Crystal Palace. One black mark against the Tigers though may be their decision to charge for opportunity to be a mascot. Only half of the division's teams charge for children to enjoy the ultimate matchday experience, and while it's the cheapest price for paying parents at £150, it may be a policy the club look to revisit in the future.City chasing Cheltenham youngster Hanks FOLLOWING the signings of youngsters Andy Robertson, Harry Maguire and Brian Lenihan in the summer, Hull City could be set to look to youth in January too. According to the Daily Mirror, City are scouting Cheltenham's 19-year-old prodigy Joe Hanks. The midfielder made his debut for the Robins against Exeter at the age of 17 back in 2012. Loan spells at Bishop's Cleeve and Gloucester City followed, but Hanks has established himself as a key part of Paul Buckle's squad this year. The Tigers are believed to be scouting Hanks, and could attempt to prise the League Two youngster away from Cheltenham next month.Swansea boss Monk not worried by defensive frailties SUFFERING a mini crisis of their own, Swansea head to the KC Stadium tomorrow looking to avoid three defeats on the trot. It's something they have never experienced under boss Garry Monk, however Hull City are in a position to hand the former centre-back an unwanted first after defeats to West Ham and Swansea. But despite failing to win in any of their last six visits to Hull, Monk is not concerned about the rate at which his side are conceding goals. Speaking to Wales Online, the Swans boss said: "It does not concern me. You can only do what you are doing and work as hard as you can with the players to try to defend those situations. "Look at the statistics, we've not suffered heavily for it this season. In fact, I think we are ahead of where we were before. "Managers always target different things. We target different things in the opposition in different games. All managers will target different elements of the opposition. Whether they target that in us is up to them. We can only manage the situation and try to do better."Townsend proving perfect replacement for Robertson HULL City full-back Conor Townsend continues to receive rave reviews as he impresses at Dundee United. Moving to Tannadice on loan as part of the deal that brought Andy Robertson to the KC Stadium, first team coach and former Scotland and Celtic striker Darren Jackson has praised the 21-year-old's performances for the Tangerines. And Jackson has gone as far to say the SPFL outfit are hardly missing their protege Robertson as a result. Speaking to the Dundee Telegraph, he said: "It's a hard ask taking over from Andy. "However, Conor doesn't know a lot about Andy. He's not comparing himself to him, it's just everyone else is. "Of course in some ways you are going to miss the wee guy because of how he played last season. "However, I think Conor's been great and so do all the staff here."
