City are one game away from a sensational Premier League return
Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic will lead his side into the Championship play-off final on Saturday(Image: Simon Dael/Shutterstock)
Hull City have a plan in place to roll out should the Tigers beat Southampton in Saturday’s Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium, to ensure they’re ready for the Premier League.
That’s according to sporting director Jared Dublin, who admits there will be a significant amount of work to do if Sergej Jakirovic’s men secure promotion back to the top-flight after a 10-year absence in a game dubbed the biggest in football, with the winner set to bank in excess of £200m.
City would have just 90 days from the first day after the final to the scheduled start date of the new Premier League season on August 22 to get themselves prepared on and off the pitch.
The Tigers have already been visited by Premier League officials, who have given the club a list of improvements that would need to be made to the MKM Stadium to ensure it can cope with the significant media demands placed on a club that will have the eyes of the world thrust upon it.
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Improvements are planned for the existing training ground in Cottingham, and of course, the biggest and most obvious changes would need to take place to ensure the playing squad is prepared for a 38-game campaign in the world’s biggest and most challenging league. The club would also look to press ahead with plans for a new training ground and academy, to ensure there would be a lasting legacy.
“Well, a lot of work needs to be done,” Dublin told Hull Live. “I think Sunderland was a good example of a club that’s been out of the Premier League for a while, didn’t benefit from parachute payments, but they have a cat one academy that has a long track record of producing top players, such as Chris Rigg and Tommy Watson, who went to Brighton.
“They didn’t produce Jobe Bellingham, but they bought him for a small fee from Birmingham and then sold him for 10 times that, so they had the added benefit of using that cash to reinvest into a very expensively assembled squad.
“To answer your question, we have work to do. We have some work to do at the training ground, work to do at the stadium, which is normal. It’s normal that the stadium needs some uplifting in terms of some improvements to make sure you’re aligned with the Premier League standards.
“There are media standards, stuff that’s not my side of the house that needs to be updated to fit what the Premier League require in terms of certain media suites and stuff like that, but in terms of the footballing side, we want to improve.
“We know that set pieces are a major part of the Premier League nowadays, and we obviously know that the set-piece table tells you that we can improve in this aspect.
“We’re very well aware of what needs to be done in terms of making us Premier League-ready. A lot of that has to do with players and staff and things of that nature that cost money, but there are things that we can do in terms of focus to help us improve as well.
“There are marginal gains, there are big gains, but no one’s Premier League-ready overnight. That’s an unrealistic expectation to say Saturday you have a great day at Wembley and Sunday you’re Premier League ready. That’s just not real. That’s fantasy land.
“The work has gone on behind the scenes to make sure that we are prepared to roll that out over time so that when match day one comes in the Premier League, we are ready, and that is our bar, you want to be ready for match day one.”
You can listen to the full interview with Jared Dublin right here
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