Hull City 2016/17 Review - Part 1: Summertime Blues

Hull City were relegated from the Premier League in 2016/17 before a ball was kicked in anger. That was a prediction in July 2016 and became a reality in May 2017. It was a season of twists and turns and more downs than ups but despite the best efforts of many people – it ended where it started.

Steve Bruce answering questions about Hull City's "quiet" summer.

Promotion was sealed on May 28 with the 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley.  June was a write off. A month of rumour and growing discontent at the lack of words or action coming out of the club. That wouldn’t change until pre-season training resumed in July and manager Steve Bruce broke the silence in several interviews with both the local media and the club’s in-house “press”. Bruce coined the phrase “Ask Ehab” to explain the lack of action – the phrase was ‘hashtagged’ and shared delightfully around City fans. That the highlight of the summer was embarrassing the odious Vice Chairman of Hull City did nothing to lift the low mood around the club.

In the wake of promotion, several out of contract players were released, loan players returned to their parent clubs and a couple of injuries hungover from the previous season. That left the manager well short of the 22 players he’d have liked to start the early pre-season games – meaning youngsters filled the gaps. When Moses Odubajo and Michael Dawson suffered injuries in friendlies against Grimsby and Mansfield respectively that would keep them out for at least a couple of months – it left 13 senior professionals available for outfield selection. I was at both of those friendly games and the sense of deflation was palpable.

Could things get any worse? You bet your life they could. On July 22^nd – Steve Bruce walked. His working relationship with Allam Junior made his position untenable and he either walked or was pushed out. Regardless, our club had lost the best manager we’d ever had 22 days before the start of the season. It was a situation the owners had neglectfully allowed to happen. They were already widely and deservedly loathed for the failed attempt to change the club’s name and their new pricing structure which decreed children and OAPs would not be entitled to concessions, amongst other hideous actions. Now their footballing decisions were making a mockery of the club too.

And still, they weren’t finished. At the start of August Mo Diame, scorer of the winning goal at Wembley 2 months’ prior, was sold to Newcastle United. Diame had a release clause in his contract from the relegation a year earlier – the Allams didn’t think to offer him a new contract until the bid from Newcastle came in and good old #AskEhab didn’t even break from his holiday to meet and persuade Diame to stay. If you’ve not been counting – that left 12 fit senior pros to take on the Premier League.

Mike Phelan, who’d been Steve Bruce’s assistant manager, took over in a caretaker capacity and steadied things with his calm personality. He kept everyone’s focus on the upcoming matches while making it clear that he, or whomever would be the next manager, needed help from above and needed it quickly.

Amongst the doom, the drama and the desperation, Phelan’s band of 12 players and 2 goalkeepers turned over reigning Premier League Champions Leicester City on a glorious day at the KC Stadium. It was one of the best games and outcomes in City’s time at The Circle but the signs of toll the summer had taken on the fans were obvious – there were less than 18,000 home fans there to witness a magnificent victory.

Adama Diomande gave The Tigers the lead against the Champs with an audacious overhead kick, performed in unison with Abel Hernandez, just before half time. Leicester equalised from the penalty spot even though the foul by Tom Huddlestone had been committed outside the area (being on the wrong end of decisions would become a feature of the campaign) but Robert Snodgrass swept City into the lead again in the second half and we held on. 

Smoky celebrations at the Liberty Stadium as City upset the odds!

That unlikely victory was followed by another. A 2-0 win at Swansea with late goals from sub Shaun Maloney and Abel Hernandez. Such was the lack of depth in the squad, Maloney’s introduction was the only substitution made by Mike Phelan in the opening two league games. It was a tremendous, dogged performance by a group of players bound together by adversity. It was well worth the 500 mile round trip – much of it in torrential rain.

City sat top of the Premier League table after two games much to my enjoyment but general astonishment. But all was not suddenly rosy in the garden. Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer ripped the Allams a new arsehole for allowing the club to try and compete at the top level in such a hideous state.

The squad was still tiny and the fixture list looked cruel. But for a few days, at least, I walked around town with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. As did my fellow Tigers the world over.

What's next for Hull City after the sale of Jake Livermore?

The Hull City Jake Livermore joined in 2013 was a different club to the one he’s left this week. A club full of joy and optimism enjoying its second sojourn into the top flight of English football but the mention of an attempt to change the clubs name was like the puncture wound from a venomous snake that would spread poison through the place.

Livermore was long touted as a promising midfield prospect at Spurs and had briefly broken through at White Hart Lane leading to him receiving a single England Cap in 2012. He’d already enjoyed/endured loans with half the football league when he turned up at City on the eve of the 2013/14 season in a buy one, get one free deal with Tom Huddlestone who’d become the club’s record signing.

The pair anchored the City midfield, with Livermore near ever-present, as the club finished in its highest ever league position (16^th – one above Jake’s new club) and lost out in the FA Cup Final to Arsenal. The sight of Livermore and Huddlestone squat, broken, on the Wembley turf will stay with me forever. Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs attempted to console them in vain. It had been a tremendous spell for Livermore. Highlighted by an opening goal in a 3-1 win over Liverpool at the KC, a fantastice strike against his former club in a game Gaston Ramirez ruined and his infamous “smash up an expensive camera” goal celebration at the Hawthorns.

Steve Bruce signed Jake up permanently for around £8m that summer but the following season was a constant struggle for the club. While the attempt to rebrand us to “Hull Tigers” had failed, the application and the spiteful words of Assem Allam had split the fanbase. The club’s first ever European campaign ended before the season was a month old and we surrendered our Premier League place without so much as a whimper. Unbeknown to most, Jake Livermore had suffered a personal tragedy following the FA Cup Final and in trying to deal with it fell into a state of depression and self-destructive behaviour that led to a failed drug test after the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in April 2015.

Livermore was subsequently suspended by the club and to those on the outside – it looked like his career was in serious jeopardy. Eventually though, the whole sad story came to light and the Football Association accepted Livermore’s mitigating circumstances and allowed him to return to playing. He resumed his career at Hull City and despite a trying year in the Championship, helped the club to promotion via the play-off final. On the final day of the regular season, he bagged a brace in a demolition of Rotherham at the KC before he proudly carried his new baby around the ground afterwards. I don’t think anyone has ever been more pleased for a footballer than the hull City fans in attendance were that day.

After another tumultuous half a season in the Premier League, Livermore has been allowed to leave City for West Brom for a fee of around £10m so we’re told. It’s a strange decision – to let your midfield anchor (who has also been a god send at centre half this season) leave when the threat of relegation hangs over the club. However, it’s clear from the months activity, replacing Mike Phelan with Marco Silva, that the Allams are having a go at keeping City up and are doing so on a limited budget. If the only way for Marco Silva to be able to bring in the 3/4/5/6 players the club clearly needs is to sacrifice a saleable asset then it’s probably a risk worth taking.

Ehab Allam has invited ridicule with the sale having told the Yorkshire Post exclusively only this week that we are not a “selling club”. And generally, Ehab Allam deserves any ridicule that comes his way because he is a first rate moron with an ego he never earned but his father paid for. But assuming Livermore is the only player to leave in the January transfer window and the club fight off interest in the likes of Robert Snodgrass, Andy Robertson and Harry Maguire – then Ehab Allam is right.

For their many, many faults, the Allams have generally done right by Hull City in the transfer market. They backed Steve Bruce to the hilt, many times. After selling Livermore, the club’s net spend under Allam ownership is £53m. Take away the sale of guys the manager didn’t want and the need to sell wantaway players following relegation and there are three sales. Shane Long, who was sold for “crazy” money and to be replaced immediately by Abel Hernandez. Mo Diame whose contractual situation was the result of utter buffoonery from Allam Junior. And then Livermore.

It is absolutely vital that Ehab Allam’s words are proven true now. The club needs to invest the money received for Livermore in new players for Marco Silva and they need to keep hold of everyone else in the squad (unless they explicitly ask to leave).

In amongst the poisonous atmosphere at the club caused most particularly by the aforementioned name change application and subsequent removal of the clubs name from its communication and most spitefully by the removal of disabled, child and OAP concessions and the forcing out of Steve Bruce as manager – there has been a moment of optimism following Marco Silva’s arrival. It seems the best way out of the current situation is for the club to stay in the Premier League to allow the Allams to sell it. If that is to happen then Ehab Allam needs to be as good as his word.

Bristol City 1 Hull City 2: The view from the worst stand

City progressed to the quarter finals of the League Cup for the second consecutive season – and second time ever – in an and to end tussle with Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

The ground has undergone a remarkable transformation since I visited last in 2008 and boasts three linked stands, the main one housing an extra tier, giving it a similar look to Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium. Like a lot of modern stadiums its handsome but lacking character. That’s beside the point though. It gives a club like Bristol City a capacity upward of 27,000, attracts families, corporates and sponsors and sits proudly in its surroundings playing “now you see me, now you don’t” as you approach up and down Bristol’s rollercoaster-roads.

The hosts made nine changes to their team that beat Blackburn in the Championship on Saturday – clearly seeing an outside shot at the play-offs as a priority – while, thankfully, Mike Phelan picked a strong City team in his desperation to reverse our fortunes after a month of progressively terrible results and pathetic performances. He also reverted to the 3-5-2 formation that we mastered at times under Steve Bruce which sensibly made use of the players we have fit at the moment.

Hull City 3-5-2

Jakupovic

Maguire –Dawson –Davies

Elmohamady – Henriksen – Livermore – Mason – Tymon

Diomande – Hernandez

The first half was quiet for the most part with just a couple of moments of real quality in either penalty area. City controlled the ball but rarely looked like breaking through despite much probing. Perhaps we were even one dimensional at times. Like the times when it appears only Elmo is allowed to put a cross in and the others steadfastly refuse to disobey orders.

We were improved infinitely by having two strikers. Diomande put in the harder yards, stuck his arse into defenders, pulled them into wide areas and took some knocks. That allowed Hernandez to work around the penalty area and his quality showed throughout as he probably had more touches than he has in the Premier League all season. The two linked up early on for Hernandez to drag a shot just wide from the edge of the box and the favour was returned several times.

The three at the back for City defended bravely for the most part but Bristol City could exploit the space behind the wing backs at times. It’s fair to say young Josh Tymon got to grips with it quickly though and made some superb tackles in the second half. Aaron Wilbraham scuffed a shot when given a decent sight of goal and Bobby Reid fired a vicious shot too high on the volley after smashing a first effort into the gut of one of his mates. Those chances came either side of the moment of real quality in the half. Henriksen attempted to dink a ball over the top for Diomande. Moore headed it out but Hernandez was on to it in a flash, strode to his left and unleashed a superb strike from 25 yards that looped over the keeper but just didn’t dip enough and smashed the crossbar.

Their left back Joe Bryan looked dangerous throughout the half and produced some beautiful touches but he picked up the first booking for a bizarre challenge on Elmo on the half way line. Bryan appeared to have the ball at his feet but threw himself at Elmo anyway with a scissoring challenge that annoyed the home crowd and management but was a ludicrous thing to do. Ref Keith Stroud, given day release from The Borrowers, was sharp enough to read the situation.

The game was meandering to half time when City took the lead in unlikely fashion. Mason’s near post corner from the right was cleared by a Brizzle defender. Mason trotted over to the left to swing the second corner beyond the far post and Harry Maguire rose above everyone to nod in his first goal for The Tigers [0-1]. We don’t do tempting delivery from corners but Mason obviously hasn’t got the message yet. The hosts responded well in the few minutes before the break and Davies was booked for a daft challenge in our half as a little bit of pressure came our way.

Half Time: Bristol City 0 Hull City 1

The second half was barely underway when City doubled the lead. Hernandez forced a corner on the right and as Mason lined it up, the lights in the stands went out plunging the City fans into darkness. That just meant the penalty area lit up like a spotlight as Mason’s brilliant delivery was hammered home by the head of Michael Dawson [0-2].

Mason hasn’t found his feet at City yet. He still looks like he’s never met half his teammates before and plays passes to people who aren’t there at times but he can’t half whip a ball in from wide areas. O’Donnell even had to make a save to stop one corner going straight in.

The goal brought a strong response from Bristol City and they didn’t take long to introduce Tammy Abraham and Lee Tomlin off the bench to add to their threat. The game became stretched very quickly and it was end to end with City spurning several chances to seal it while keeping them out through various means.

Marlon Pack put a free kick just wide of Jak’s left hand post and then curled a shot just wide of the same post. Davies made two blocks in a row after Diomande had wasted possession on the edge of their box, Abraham dragged a shot wide, Jakupovic saved brilliantly from O’Dowda after a Dawson block fell straight to his feet and then got down brilliantly to save one on one from Tomlin after he’d danced through a couple of pathetic tackles on the edge of our box. Tomlin’s chunky but he can’t half play and his vision and dribbling ability improved their attack a hundred-fold. We’ve been linked with him a few times in recent years and he’d add something we don’t have behind our striker(s). Henriksen looks a tidy player but he didn’t show anything like the creativity of Tomlin opposite a packed defence.

City looked dangerous on the counter and should have wrapped the game up. Diomande, who put in a great shift but lets himself down often with poor (or no) decision making in the final third, shot wide after Hernandez had put the ball on a plate for him on the right-hand side of the area. Hernandez also slid in Mason down the same side but his wicked shot was blocked by Flint whose probably still stinging now, while Abel himself was denied by a goal-line clearance after rounding the keeper who he later hit with a wicked left footed effort after a driving run in behind Flint from wide on the left.

Just when it looked like we’d seen off their late charge and we’d subbed both excellent strikers to waste a bit of time, the fourth official stuck up five minutes on the board and Tomlin outran Huddlestone (Ha!) and the rest of our defence from deep and lashed in a shot at the near post [1-2]. Suddenly it was “Typical City” time as we conceded two corners, lost all ability to pass the ball to anyone in a black shirt and invited pressure. With just about the last kick Reid’s shot was turned goalwards by Abraham and Davies kicked it off the line. Hull City. Doing nowt easy since 1904.

Full Time: Bristol City 1 Hull City 2

We deserved the win overall and there was plenty of promise in the change of system and the dual threat up front. We probably shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that it was only against Bristol City’s second string and while they’re a neat side who play the way their manager demands – they’re no Watford.

Jake Livermore was the pick of our players. He won plenty of tackles and read their intentions often. At Watford, he’ll need far more help defensively than he got from Henriksen and Mason here or from Huddlestone last Saturday though. The answer might be to put Clucas back in midfield and let Josh Tymon continue at left wing-back. He won’t let anyone down.

Next best was Jakupovic. As he left the field he signalled to tell the City fans applauding him off that he’s number one. I think he’s right. This was another excellent showing from him. While I don’t think David Marshall has particularly been to blame for the goals we’ve conceded, I never really thought Jakupovic should have been dropped in the first place. When we wonder where our great team spirit has gone since August – moves like that contribute greatly.

Anyone but Arsenal.