The Tigers’ number one had endured a difficult start to the new campaign
Goalkeeper Ivor Pandur admits the final weeks of the summer transfer were tough amid a potential move away from Hull City in the closing hours.
Championship rivals Middlesbrough held a strong interest while there were admiring glances from elsewhere, but in the end, the Tigers were able to hold onto the Croatian.
Pandur says his desire was always to remain at the MKM Stadium, and believes now that a difficult period is behind him, he can focus on helping City move up the table and build on impressive recent home wins against Southampton and Sheffield United.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Pandur confessed in conversation with Hull Live. “I didn’t have that really in my career to that point because whenever I made a transfer or a loan, it was made much sooner than that.
“So for transfer speculation to come into the last days of the transfer window, it’s really tough because you don’t know where you are, where you’re standing. Are you staying, are you not, because there are also some other people deciding, it’s not only you.
“For me I’m, I’m really grateful because it gave me clarity on what to do if that happens in the future, how to act. It wasn’t easy, your mind can go to all these different places, but still we are professionals and we need to focus on the present and the football.”
Just hours before the window closed, City were beaten 4-2 in a chaotic game at Bristol City, and following that reverse, boss Sergej Jakirovic suggested players like Pandur and Charlie Hughes had possibly been affected by transfer talk.
The 25-year-old, who saved Harrison Burrows’ late penalty to preserve a first clean sheet since the opening day in the win over the Blades last time out, admits speculation can have an impact, despite a player’s best efforts to block it out.
“One hundred per cent (speculation can impact performance), subconsciously,” he continued. “I think we always prepare for the game. I go through some stuff to prepare myself for the game and to be in the best way possible, but sometimes it just comes from nowhere, and it distracts you, but I think that’s normal, really. Whoever went through it felt the same. I’m really grateful because now, I have this experience of how to deal with that situation.”
Amid talk throughout the summer, Pandur says he made it clear to owner Acun Ilicali, sporting director Jared Dublin and Jakirovic that he didn’t want to move on, but now attention is firmly on the job in hand of moving the Tigers up the table and towards the top six, starting with a first away win at Birmingham City this weekend.
“I didn’t want to leave, that’s the first thing. I made that clear, really, especially to change to a club in the Championship. It wasn’t my goal,” he admitted.
“I wanted to stay here, and I thought, and I still think we have a good team and we can compete with everybody. I didn’t really want to go, but there are some things that are outside of my control, and you cannot really influence them. You can only do what you can and see what happens, but my goal was always to stay here.
“Now we know we are here, and we want to help the club, all of us. We do everything we can to improve this team to get points, so now it’s clear what we need to do, and I think we are capable of it.”
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