For all the good things going on around Hull City at the
moment – there is a potentially ugly situation lurking in the background.
Since the Allams purchased the club in 2010 their
footballing decisions have been immeasurably better than those made in the
boardroom. However one area they have struggled with – or simply do not place
importance on – is the renewal of contracts. Only a handful of players
including James Chester, Liam Rosenior and Alex Bruce have had their deals
renewed since the Allams arrived.
Matt Fryatt and Stephen Quinn have walked away in the
past two summers and others such as James Chester and Robbie Brady have had to
be sold because the single year remaining on their contracts has left the club
unprotected.
The situation looks set to be worse than ever this summer
with ten senior players out of contract. Given the individual circumstances
surrounding each player, the reduced wages currently being paid and the
uncertainty over the level of income the club will receive next season – there
isn’t a simple answer.
Here’s a look at the ten players in question:
Ahmed Elmohamady
It’s hard to imagine a City team without “Elmo”. He’s become
a fixture of the team for the better part of three years and his energy,
athleticism and versatility make him a vital part of the team. The word is that
he changed his agent in the summer and, despite him making signs of his
happiness in Hull, his manager felt his “head had been turned” by transfer
speculation.
Securing Elmo should be number one on the club’s priority
list. He’s often the best attacking weapon in the team and it would be a major
blow to lose a player of his quality. Either for nothing at the end of the
season or more worryingly – for a relatively small fee in January. Elmo’s low
risk and large reward.
David Meyler
His contribution has often been under-valued since he
joined City from Sunderland along with Elmo in the autumn of 2012. It seems
some feel that City have achieved promotion, survival, a Wembley final and
European football in spite of a player who has clocked up a hundred appearances
in black and amber without ever letting anyone down. Hopefully the team’s
resurgence in the past few weeks since Meyler and the returning Jake Livermore
revitalised our midfield has made admirers out of some doubters.
Meyler is settled at City and always committed. He’s nowhere
near the highest earner and, most importantly, he’s worth having whether City
stay in the Championship or get promoted again. There’s no excuse for not
sorting this one out ASAP.
Curtis Davies
Davies’ return to the kind of form he showed during his
brilliant first season in Hull has put the club in a position no-one expected
last summer. After that superb debut season, the big central half quickly fell
from grace. Some pointed to his disappointment at not being offered a new
contract in the summer of 2014 while I always felt the arrival of Michael Dawson
on the sort of money Davies was hankering for pushed his nose out of joint.
Whatever the reason, he disappointed massively last
season and spent half of it as a mere spectator. He’s turned that around since
the departure of James Chester opened up a major role for him again and has
reminded everyone of just how good he is. Whether he’ll now stay beyond the
summer is doubtful though. He’s commented openly about the lack of a contract
offer from the club and doesn’t appear to feel particularly wanted. He has
elements of his life down South and in the Midlands and I think he’ll move on.
Tom Huddlestone
The enigma. How on earth a player with the natural
ability Huddlestone possesses has ended up in the Championship is a quandary.
That he’s currently struggling to get a game at this level, albeit in what is
currently the best team, is mystifying. However that is the situation he finds
himself in and no-one who has watched him regularly for the last twenty-two months
would offer any sort of argument against it being completely just.
His contractual situation isn’t a simple one for either
party. City wouldn’t want Huddlestone’s wage on the books if they remain in the
Championship and it’s debatable whether they’d see him as a worthwhile
investment in the Premier League these days. Tom isn’t going to sign a deal on
the reduced wages he and his team mates currently find themselves. Sadly it
seems inevitable that they’ll part ways in June. Tom should have been the most talented
player any of us had ever seen represent The Tigers. Shoulda. Coulda. Wouldn’t.
Allan McGregor
Another whose City career has been revitalised after a
poor season last time and an appalling start to the current one. He tested
Steve Bruce’s management and the gaffer showed faith in him when he needed it
and has been rewarded. In August, McGregor’s standing amongst City fans ranged
somewhere between Paul Duffen and Mark Hateley. However since he re-found the
form that had fans purring two years ago – we’ve formed a case of mass amnesia.
Even a month ago I doubted whether anyone, fans or
management, cared whether he left in the summer. There’ll be very few now who
feel that way. He’s another for whom the situation isn’t simple. He’s on
reduced money and probably has one decent move in him before he spends a decade
wandering the six yard boxes of the Outer Hebrides or wherever it is that
Rangers are playing that week. I think he’ll only stay if City are promoted.
Eldin Jakupovic
This season’s penalty hero has never made a big
impression on Steve Bruce and never got a sniff of the first team in the league
even with Allan McGregor’s troubles this season. He is a cheap and cheerful
back-up goalie though and there’s a good chance he’ll be offered something.
Especially if City are promoted and look to carry three ‘keepers again. He may
fancy going somewhere he might actually play though.
Sone Aluko
Once the most exciting member of The Tigers’ forward
line, Aluko has struggled for form and fitness for the better part of three
seasons. Having made such an explosive start to his career here, it will be a
shame to see it go out with a whimper but his bit-part role doesn’t do much to
suggest that keeping him beyond the end of the season is on anyone’s agenda.
He had a chance to make an impact after relegation with
the club playing at a level at which we’ve all seen him excel. He’s not grasped
the mettle and it’s hard to make a case for him doing so at this point.
Ryan Taylor
When he joined in the summer everyone was worried about
his fitness coming off two serious knee injuries. That hasn’t been a problem so
far. He’s just struggled to get into the team. Taylor is known for his
versatility but at the moment, he’s just not as good as someone else in several
positions. He’s the wrong side of thirty and, in truth, has been one of the
poorest signings Steve Bruce has made here.
Calaum
Jahraldo-Martin & Conor Townsend
The summer could be the end of the line for exciting
winger CJM and athletic left-back Townsend. Both turn 23 before the end of the
season and despite strong performances for the club’s U21 side and never
letting anyone down during fleeting first team appearances both are as far from
a senior breakthrough as ever.
Sadly we’re at the stage where both need to move on and
find regular first-team action if they aren’t going to get it at City. Townsend
has been unlucky not to have had an opportunity before now and you certainly
feel like if it was going to happen for him then it would have been earlier
this season when The Tigers’ squad was paper-thin.
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