Sliding Doors: Hull City's 2016/17 Season

(Andy Robertson, Robert Snodgrass, Tom Huddlestone, Sam Clucas, Adama Diomande, David Meyler, Jake Livermore, Curtis Davies, Ahmed Elmohamady)

Hull City’s 2016/17 season is one of the most pivotal in the club’s history. With three major “sliding doors” moments, two during a catastrophic summer, a moment of Instagram infamy, an incredible start, the bleakest of mid-winters, a career-ending injury to the club’s record signing, their best ever League Cup run and victories over the biggest clubs in the country. There’s a book in this story but I haven’t got long enough to write it.

The Tigers went into the Championship Play-off Final at the end of May 2016 after three of the most successful and tumultuous years it had ever known. On the field, gaffer Steve Bruce had assembled an expensive and talented squad who had won promotion from the Championship in 2013, reached the FA Cup Final in 2014, played European football for the first time as a result, suffered relegation after two seasons in the top flight and then battled their way to Wembley to face Sheffield Wednesday for promotion back to the “promised land”.

Off it had come a battle to retain the club’s identity after the owners, the Allam family, attempted to change the club’s playing name to Hull Tigers and a supporter campaign, City Till We Die, was launched to call on the Football Association to reject any such notion. The change was rejected but the price of that victory for supporters was a spiteful response from the owners, who promised an end to any investment, put the club up for sale, removed the name “Hull City” from the badge, took concession prices away for children and seniors and saw further protests launched and attendances dwindle at a time as successful as any in the club’s then 112 year history.

City beat Wednesday 1-0 thanks to Mo Diame’s wonder-goal and it was widely believed that the outcome would lead to the sale of the club to consortium led by US-based businessman Peter Grieve for £100m. Sliding door number one closed when the sale never happened. The Allams greed post-play-off win put paid to any deal. In 2020, former City MD Nick Thompson told Hull Live that Peter Grieve’s words to him after he walked away were “They think I’m a chump.”

Steve Bruce’s relationship with Ehab Allam had been strained for a long time with the lack of investment in the squad in the summer of 2015, after the club had raised £25m in sales and lost a huge chunk off the wage bill, and again in January 2016 with the team primed for automatic promotion back to the Premier League causing huge division. In 2018 interviews, Bruce told media that the “trust” had gone from the relationship and that Ehab Allam wanted to do things “his way”. There’ll be some sympathy for the Allams over some of their decisions, given they’d invested hugely in the playing squad previously, but Bruce was caught in the crossfire of the promised lack of investment following the name-change debacle. On 22 July 2016, Bruce, comfortably the most successful manager in their history, stepped down as manager of Hull City. Sliding door number two slammed shut.

(Steve Bruce – interviewed by James Clark at Church Road – 16^th July 2016)

In late July, City were a shambles. Rarely has a newly promoted Premier League team been in such a state. Play-off final hero Mo Diame had left for Championship side Newcastle United, contracts had ended and there were injuries to key players, such as the dreadful knee injury that derailed Moses Odubajo’s promising career. With Mike Phelan in temporary charge and no new signings made, even the players left were taking the piss out of the situation. David Meyler posted a “squad photo” on Instagram of just nine senior players in front of the Alps on the club’s pre-season training camp.

The depleted Hull City squad would play the opening game of the Premier League season against reigning Champions Leicester City. Such was the state of the squad, Phelan didn’t make a substitution in the game. Such was the state of the place off the field, there were 4,500 empty seats in the KCOM Stadium. Remarkably, The Tigers beat the Champions 2-1 with an incredible double-bicycle kick from Abel Hernandez and Adama Diomande (who was the official scorer) and a Robert Snodgrass strike. A week later, they won again, 2-0 at Swansea with goals from Shaun Maloney and Hernandez in a “smash and grab” raid. Maloney was the only substitute used in either of the first two games. The win left City top of the Premier League and despite an injury-time defeat to Manchester United, Phelan was named the Premier League Manager of the Month for August.

Before the transfer deadline, Phelan’s squad was finally reinforced with the signings of goalkeeper David Marshall, midfielders Ryan Mason, James Weir and Markus Henriksen, strikers Will Keane and Dieumerci Mbokani at a cost of £18m, with Henriksen’s loan due to become permanent for £4.5m in January. Mason was the pick of the signings, having played 53 PL games for Spurs in the previous two seasons, picked up and England cap and costing a club record £13m, which still stands, while Scotland number one Marshall, who had top flight experience with Cardiff City, looked an astute buy.

A draw at Burnley, courtesy of a magnificent last gasp Robert Snodgrass free kick kept up The Tigers strong start before the realities of the Premier League, an inexperienced manager, a poorly prepared squad and dreadful transfer business would come to bite. City won only one more game in 2016 and suffered heavy defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool and an embarrassing 6-1 drubbing at Bournemouth wearing a lilac third kit. I had the misfortune of being at Dean Court that day, got to get that ground tick. And a good hiding. “Astute” signing David Marshall conceded 13 times in his first 3 league games. It wasn’t all his fault, the team was lacking quality and set up poorly but it was a disaster he’d never recover from.

When City lost at WBA in the first game of 2017, Phelan was done. His last victory had come against Southampton two months prior, and entertaining home draws against Palace (3-3) and Everton (2-2) in December were brief respite. Phelan was a good man who gave it his all but if City were to try to stay in the Premier League, they needed something completely different in terms of recruitment and management and they were about to get both.

Apparently, Ehab Allam had received the CV of Marco Silva in the summer after Steve Bruce left but felt he was too big a risk without prior experience in England. By January, he was desperate enough to take that risk and the former Estoril, Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos manager arrived with his own trusted backroom staff and, via his links to Jorge Mendes, an array of signings from all over Europe. Silva brought in Polish winger Kamil Grosicki from Rennes for £7m, Brazilian maverick Evandro from Porto for an Undisclosed fee and five expensive loans with Egyptian full back Omar Elabdellaoui (Olympiacos), Italian central defender Andrea Rannochia (Inter), Serbian winger Lazar Markovic (Liverpool) and big Senagalese midfielder Alfred N’Diaye (Villareal) and striker Oumar Niasse (Everton) all arriving temporarily. The signings were funded by the controversial sales of Robert Snodgrass (West Ham) and Jake Livermore (WBA) for £20m.

It was a sign of the times that Silva’s first game in charge was a home FA Cup tie with Swansea, which fans were boycotting in the latest protest against the Allam family’s ownership. Only 6,608 fans saw Silva’s reign get off to a winning start but a good deal more (though still well short of a full house) saw the 3-1 win over Bournemouth in his first league game through an Abel Hernadez brace and an own goal. The change in the style of play was immediately obvious and, impressively, the XI who beat Bournemouth were all Phelan’s squad, with only subs Evandro and Niasse new additions.

Before anyone could get carried away, the season hit another low when, during a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in January, record-signing Ryan Mason suffered a fractured skull in a sickening clash of heads. After a terrifying delay while he was treated on the pitch, he was eventually carried off on a stretcher and despite returning to training in late 2017, he’d never play again.

While Phelan’s side had struggled in the Premier League throughout Autumn, he had overseen wins over Exeter, Stoke and Bristol City to make the quarter-finals of the League Cup for the second successive season – equalling the club’s best ever performance in the competition. City beat Newcastle at home on penalties to set up a two-legged semi-final with his former-club Manchester United that Phelan would, sadly, not be around for. The 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford was to be expected for a team in the relegation zone but the second-leg was a different story with The Tigers winning 2-1 through Tom Huddlestone and Oumar Niasse but failing to overcome Paul Pogba’s goal for United. The game was remarkable. Silva’s side dominated United at times, playing a brand of possession football not previously seen in Hull, pinning United back in their half. That it was played before a crowd of just 16,831 due to ongoing off the field drama is a crying shame.

In the twelve games following the League Cup exit, Silva’s Hull City won five, drew two and lost five. The losses all came away, with only the capitulation at Everton a major disappointment, while the wins were all seen at the KCOM Stadium, suddenly a fortress. Showing home form the club would kill for these days, City edged past Swansea and West Ham, smashed Middlesbrough 4-2 in an attacking performance of flair and speed, turned over Watford 2-0 despite the sending off of Niasse – thanks to Sam Clucas’s world-class volley, and to kick it all off, beat the mighty Liverpool 2-0. The clinching goal against the Reds being scored by on-loan Everton striker Niasse meant the win was celebrated across the country.

With 4 games to go, Silva had City outside the relegation zone with a pivotal trip to Southampton and a home game with bottom side Sunderland to come. A brave performance at St Mary’s looked in vain when The Tigers conceded a last minute penalty but goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic dived to his left and saved Dusan Tadic’s kick to earn a vital point. I walked away from St. Mary’s convinced I’d just witnessed the biggest result in Silva’s great escape.

(Southampton away – 29^th April 2017)

“Sliding door” moment number three came on May 6^th. A win against already-relegated Sunderland and a result for Everton at Swansea would have seen City clear of the relegation zone. Instead, they lost at home for the first time under Silva with a meak performance that got what it deserved when Billy Jones and Jermaine Defore scored second half goals. Any chance of salvation disappeared a week later when Andrea Rannochia’s howler let in Crystal Palace to score after 2 minutes en route to a 4-0 humbling at Selhurst Park to condemn The Tigers.

Hull City’s last (to date) Premier League game would be the 1-7 home defeat to Spurs a week later. Already condemned to relegation and with Marco Silva set to leave having done his own reputation no harm despite ultimately failing, it was a suitably shambolic end to a shambolic 11 months in Hull City’s history.

The mistakes of the period between June 2016 and May 2017 would continue to be repeated. The lack of investment, despite selling £50m of talent the following summer alone, would cost any chance of bouncing back. Good managers left of their own accord rather than work under Ehab Allam. Recruitment continued to be scattergun, done too late and rarely produced players good enough. The years of aggravation between the owners and fans left a team playing in a half-empty KCOM Stadium and the result was the relegation to League One in 2020.

Despite the sale of the club since, the return of investment, improved attendances and renewed optimism, the club haven’t made the Championship play-offs in six attempts and won’t this season. Hull City are a long, long way from regaining a place in the Premier League that was surrendered before a ball was kicked in the summer of 2016.