The Tigers are preparing to launch their new season away at the CBS Arena on Saturday lunchtime
Barry is the Hull City correspondent, and previously covered Nottingham Forest for the Nottingham Post/Nottinghamshire Live. Barry has reported on Hull City’s League One title success and Championship campaigns
Hull City are one of the Championship great unknowns as we head into another nine months of unpredictability in what is one of the world’s most competitive leagues.
Many outsiders will predict City to finish in the bottom three, given the situation with the club’s transfer restrictions, which have plagued their summer, and the fact that they only survived on goal difference on the final day of last season.
Add to that, there’s a new manager managing for the first time in England, coming after a turbulent year of managerial changes and player arrivals and departures; you can understand why many pundits and observers are backing the Tigers for a season of struggle. But dig a little deeper and you can see why City fans are daring to emerge from behind the sofa with a little more optimism.
Despite the backdrop their summer has been played out against, Sergej Jakirovic has quietly been building and setting up a competitive squad, and one that looks to be well organised, disciplined and fit.
Those three factors are essential if you’re going to be a competitive Championship team. You might not pull up trees and have the ability to challenge for promotion, but you’ll be safely tucked into the middle of the table, and from there, you never know.
The signings of Semi Ajayi, Akin Famewo and John Lundstram are smart, sensible arrivals. Ryan Giles and Cody Drameh have enjoyed fine pre-season campaigns, so in may ways, feel like the proverbial new signings.
Charlie Hughes is a year old and wiser, and with John Egan, Ajayi, and Famewo there with him, will continue to develop into one of the best young defenders outside the Premier League.
Liam Millar and Mohamed Belloumi will return after the first international break, but the arrivals of Joel Ndala and David Akintola have added competition and depth out wide, something they naturally didn’t have once those two influential players suffered their respective ACL injuries.
The biggest question surrounding City this season will be the creativity and goals. Will they score enough to see them safely sail to 55 points? As the lowest scorers last season, adding goals to their squad was their biggest challenge. That challenge was made especially challenging when they were slapped with their transfer restrictions.
A summer spent chasing Oliver McBurnie has yielded a positive end. But with anything but a prolific goal record in recent seasons, they will hope the 29-year-old has the impact their determination (and significant financial outlay) to sign him deserves. Jakirovic wants him to score 15 goals, and if that happens, then great.
The chase for him had become something of a beacon of hope. His arrival against the backdrop of their significant transfer restrictions and other interest remains quite a coup. He adds valuable experience and bite to a side that were too nice last term. He can be a focal point for their attack but his output will be judged on what his goal tally turns out to be.
The spine of their side looks to be strong, solid and experienced with Ajayi, Egan, Lundstram, and McBurnie. Durability will also be key this season, with a hope they can keep key players fit enough to play 35-plus games.
On the pitch, it’s impossible to compare City with 12 months ago because the comparisons are so stark. The easiest way to sum things up are that the Tigers, under Jakirovic look like an organised, well-drilled team with players understanding their roles, being at ease with what they are being asked to do, and looking comfortable along the way.
Given all the struggles of last term, winning five of their seven games has lifted spirits no end. It’s created a little bit of momentum around the club, and certainly made supporters feel a little bit better about life.
What impact those wins will have had, only time will tell, because we know pre-season results can count for little. Twelve months ago, no wins and a bunch of defeats, coupled with injuries and muddled recruitment left City in a real mess going into the opening weeks.
The outcome of their appeal remains unknown at the time of writing, but whatever happens, few could argue that City have had a positive window thus far, given the conditions and there will be more new arrivals – and departures – before the window closes which only further adds to the air of mystery about City.
While things off the pitch have been anything but stable this time round, Jakirovic has certainly stabilised things on it, and you feel the Tigers will be competitive, while already a bond exists between the manager and supporters.
Quite how that looks, well, we’ll know that as the weeks go by. Whether this team can create and score the goals required remains to be seen, and that remains the biggest question mark about City’s season ahead. It doesn’t feel like they will be embroiled in a relegation scrap, nor do they feel like one capable of challenging for the play-offs at this juncture, though perhaps a season of relative calm would not be a bad thing.
A top 10 finish is viewed as possible from those in power at the MKM Stadium, with a belief that if they’re in that position come Christmas, there could be a hope of kicking on in the second half of the campaign.
Time will tell whether that is realistic. City fans will just hope things are a little more enjoyable than last term and that they have some luck on the injury front.
Making predictions is a fool’s game, and yet we all make them. That’s why trying to predict what City will do this season is almost impossible, but as with everything with this club, it won’t be dull and the ride will be fascinating.
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