City continue to celebrate their promotion to the Premier League
Hull City’s players and Acun Ilicali celebrate promotion at City Hall(Image: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Acun Ilicali expects Hull City to be written off when the new Premier League season kicks off in mid-August, but believes the heart of the players will be key.
City were predicted to be relegated to League One before a ball was kicked last summer, after surviving on goal difference last term.
Under Sergej Jakirovic’s guidance, the Tigers have created one of the great football stories to secure promotion to the Premier League, via Saturday’s play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
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The Tigers will be one of the favourites for relegation back to the Championship, but Ilicali says the spirit and strength of heart in the Tigers’ squad will be their biggest asset.
“This coach, with these players, plus these fans, I think we have a chance, of course,” he said on Sky Sports. “I mean, it’s not easy, but imagine like this we were considered to be the bottom two, right?
“Consider next year, it will be the bottom one or two again, it’s the same. They always thought that we were the weakest ones, but in reality, we were the strongest ones.
“I don’t think that only ability is enough, I don’t think that only speed is enough in football. You have to have heart, and these boys, they have the biggest hearts. These are our heroes.”
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