Fans are counting down to the start of pre-season training with Hull City‘s players due back in the next few days, meaning the new campaign is edging ever closer.
Just 45 days stand between today and the first Saturday of the EFL season, but before then, City will play seven friendlies as Sergej Jakirovic looks to get his ideas across to the Tigers’ squad.
Things are hotting up elsewhere across the EFL and beyond as clubs prepare to begin the hugely significant pre-season campaign, and it’s no different at the MKM Stadium.
Here’s a look at what’s happening at the MKM Stadium and beyond….
Two days to go
City’s players will have been jetting off all over the world in recent weeks after the season finished, but they’ll be back at Cottingham on Thursday and Friday to get ready for the start of pre-season.
Just like they did 12 months ago, many of City’s players will return to the training ground, preparing for a life under a new head coach, with Jakirovic preparing to get to grips with life in English football.
The Tigers’ players will go through testing on Thursday and Friday before pre-season training starts properly on Monday morning, ahead of Jakirovic and Acun Ilicali meeting the media for the first time.
Andrews in the frame
Former City loanee Keith Andrews is in line to become Brentford head coach with talks continuing at the Gtech Community Stadium in West London.
Andrews, who played for the Tigers across 29 games in the 2005/06 campaign, has been the set-piece coach with the Bees since last July, having worked as part of Thomas Frank’s coaching staff.
Frank has since departed for Tottenham Hotspur, and now, it looks like the Irishman will replace the Dane in a move that will surprise plenty across football.
Ingram’s new deal
Despite only playing four times last season, goalkeeper Matt Ingram has agreed a new contract for at least the next two seasons at the Kassam Stadium.
Ingram left City’s training camp in Istanbul 12 months ago to join the Us, but found himself behind number one Jamie Cumming and was restricted to just Carabao and FA Cup games last season.
“We have a very strong group of goalkeepers here, and I have loved coming in every day trying to push myself and the rest of the team,” the former City promotion winner explained. “I said on day one that I wanted to come in and drive the standards each day and bring experience to help us in the league.
“We achieved everything we set out at the start of the season, and I now want to continue to push us further forward. The strength of the team is in the unit and togetherness, particularly in our department, and it’s for this reason that I want to stay and continue to give my all.”
A Tigers reunion by the sea
Two former Hull City favourites are set to link up on the Fylde Coast on Tuesday. George Honeyman, who guided the Tigers to the League One title before moving on to Millwall, looks set to join Steve Bruce at Blackpool.
The playmaker is a free agent after the Lions were unable to agree terms with him to stay at The Den, and Bruce, the legendary ex-City boss, has swooped to land Honeyman.
The 30-year-old played 45 times last season, bagging two goals and notching six assists as the South London outfit came close to snatching a play-off place.
Get ready to plan
It might not seem like five minutes since those post-match celebrations at Fratton Park early last month, but all of a sudden, the fixtures for the new season are out this week.
For the first time since February 2005, the Tigers will battle Wrexham while they’ll renew rivalries with the likes of Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City, Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton when the new campaign gets underway in early August.
The makeup of their schedule will be released on Thursday, at the later-than-usual time of 12pm, while they’ll also find out their opponents in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
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