Hull City have been praised for achieving promotion by Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney with his verdict including a reference to Spygate
Rob McElhenney, co-owner of Wrexham, had a clear verdict for Hull City after their promotion to the Premier League(Image: (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images))
Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney has extended his congratulations to Hull City following their promotion to the Premier League. Oli McBurnie’s 95th-minute strike at Wembley Stadium secured victory over Middlesbrough, the same side that had denied Wrexham a play-off place on the final day of the season.
The Spygate controversy involving the latter and Southampton dominated the pre-match coverage, with the Tigers largely flying under the radar. Nevertheless, they triumphed against the odds, with McElhenney acknowledging just how remarkable their feat was, given the surrounding turmoil.
He wrote on X: “Wow @HullCity An amazing achievement. With all the controversy and noise, you still got it done. Congrats to you and your town.”
Hull City owner Acun Ilicali was visibly emotional at the final whistle, having made his feelings about Wrexham’s situation abundantly clear in the build-up to the match.
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“If this action was so big that a team is out of the play-offs, why didn’t they let them not play the semi-final, investigate and take Southampton out and put Wrexham in?
“Why is Wrexham out now? Put Wrexham in and continue the competition.
“For me, an eliminated team being put back – also our lawyers say this, and that’s their opinion too – is an incredibly wrong decision.”
Having finished seventh and missing out on a play-off place by just two points, Wrexham appeared to have grounds for a complaint and were reportedly weighing up legal action ahead of the written findings of the independent disciplinary panel being published
A club spokesperson said: “We look forward to receiving the full details of the decision in due course.”
Those were made public earlier this week, revealing that Southampton had also spied on Ipswich and Oxford United training sessions ahead of matches against them.
They have since been issued with a four-point deduction which will take effect at the beginning of next season, with head coach Tonda Eckert also facing a hugely uncertain future.
Following the landmark triumph, Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic said: “When Oli scored the goal I was thinking ‘I am dreaming and this is a movie’.
“I’m very emotional. A lot of players were crying from happiness. “It’s an unbelievable journey. I think we are not aware of everything we have achieved today. We had so many problems.
“I’m very proud of everyone, especially the players; they are the main actors. “The emotions are very high, there was a lot of players crying. This is unbelievable. I don’t think we are aware yet of what we have achieved today or this season, it has been an unbelievable journey.”