The Tigers now know what they’ve got in their dressing room between now and January at least
Kyle Joseph believes the closure of the transfer window will have drawn a collective sigh of relief amongst the Hull City dressing room, especially one that sees Ivor Pandur and Charlie Hughes still part of it.
Joseph himself went through a big transfer in January when he joined City from Blackpool in a £2.5m deal after a period of speculation and rejected bids from the Tigers, so he has first-hand experience of how his colleagues will have been feeling in recent weeks.
City had to fend off interest in their number one goalkeeper throughout the summer, while Coventry City saw a flurry of bids turned down by owner Acun Ilicali, the last of which was £10m.
Despite working under transfer restrictions, the Tigers were still able to add 12 new faces including Darko Gyabi and Amir Hadziahmetovic on deadline day last Monday, whilst keeping Pandur and Hughes.
Joseph, who bagged his first competitive City goal in the 4-2 defeat at Bristol City before the international break, has praised the duo for their professionalism throughout a period that became increasingly uncertain.
“For me personally, being in that situation, you always say you don’t want to think about it (but you can’t help it),” the 23-year-old told Hull Live. “Those two are so professional. You look at them and they’re probably the two players that you think are really professional, really get on with it.
“It’s just natural. The transfer windows open, there’s noise, and it’s about dealing with it, and they’ve dealt with it incredibly well. They’ve trained really hard, they’ve never let their standards slip, they’ve been the same around the place, being bubbly.
“Once the window is closed, it’ll be a good sigh of relief for everyone to know they’ve got clarity of where they are, cos football can change literally within minutes. You never know where you’re gonna be, and it’s one of those jobs where you’ve got to accept that. We’ve all said as a group that it’ll be good when it closes, cos then we’ll know what we’ve got.
“This is the group of lads that we can all bounce off and all have till January with each other. Personally, I’ve had it in the past where there has been that uncertainty, but it’s about taking it one day at a time, one game at a time, and not letting the noise in.”
Joseph, Hughes and Joe Gelhardt have struck up a close bond at City, having been together previously at Wigan Athletic, and the striker says the subject of the defender’s future was something they spoke about during the summer.
“We’re all really close, me, Charlie and Joff (Joe Gelhardt) are close, especially. We’ve all talked about it, and we’ve all said our opinions on it and what we think about it, and Charlie is what he is.
“He’s an unbelievable player, unbelievable human being. He’s even said himself how much he loves the club, how much he wants to stay, even for his development, and he knows himself what he wants to do, and he’ll always act in the appropriate manner.
“We’ve given him our thoughts on it, and we’ve all talked about it and joked about it. It’s about being there for him if he needs us, if he needs advice or anything. He’s a good, level-headed lad, Charlie. He wants to stay, he wants to be here, to be with us, be with the group and keep improving, which is what we want at the club.”
Joseph also praised Gelhardt, whom he and Hughes worked hard on over the summer to help smooth his return to the MKM Stadium. The on-loan Leeds United frontman bagged his second goal of the season at Ashton Gate amid a form which has impressed his old Latics colleague.
“Keep getting Joff back, that’s the main thing,” he joked. “And yeah, again, I’m made up for him scoring as well. I think he’s had a really good start to the season, building that consistency and showing what I’ve seen for the past 10 years with him, so I’m made up for him.”
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