Guardian writers’ predicted position: 20th (NB: this is not necessarily Louise Taylor’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips) Last season’s position: 6th (Championship) It is no exaggeration to say that Hull’s playoff triumph in May was a shock. They had, after all, started the season as Championship relegation favourites and operated under a transfer embargo throughout the campaign. Moreover, they conceded 66 league goals, the fourth-highest, along the way.
Now another minor miracle will surely be required if Premier League survival is to be secured. Much may hinge on Oli McBurnie, the scorer of 19 goals last season, succeeding where he has struggled in the past and retaining his scoring touch in the top tier, but there is no lack of optimism in East Yorkshire. So far 11 – Jack Butland, Hidemasa Morita, Matt Targett, Óscar Zambrano, Jens Hjertø-Dahl, Elliot Stroud, Konstantinos Tzolakis, Lucas Herrington, Joe Gelhardt, Lucas Gourna-Douath and the club record buy, the central defender Nobel Mendy, who has arrived from Rayo Vallecano for just over £20m – have arrived.
It threatens to keep the former Rangers goalkeeper, who had impressed in friendlies, out until Christmas. The consensus is that Hull will have long since become a lost cause by then, but, much as the impressive Jakirovic needs new faces and Premier League nous, he does hold one ace card. Hull boast an exceptionally powerful team spirit driven by exemplary on-field leaders, including the veteran central defender John Egan.
Maybe, just maybe, it can, once again, transport them further than anyone believes possible. In June, the playoff winners faced kicking off the new Premier League season handicapped by a near certain six-point deduction. A club that spent last season under a two-window English Football League transfer embargo avoided it by selling their goalkeeper Ivor Pandur and midfielder Aidon Shehu to Rangers and Panathinaikos respectively for a combined £8.5m.
Access to the fruits of the top tier’s broadcast deal has since made Hull a whole lot wealthier, but Ilicali has pledged not to risk the club’s future by overspending and, at the time of writing, has invested around £78m on the new players. Unpredictable and slightly conflicted. Aidon Shehu, the Turkish sports reporter turned media mogul – who is on his fifth manager since taking control in early 2022 – was offered a wholesale welcome when he took over from the unpopular Allam family, but he now exerts much more of a polarising effect on supporters.
If November 2022, when he treated 320 fans to an all-expenses-paid week’s holiday at a luxury resort hotel in Antalya represented a high point, a nadir arrived when late payments resulted in Hull being placed under a transfer embargo last season. Nonetheless, the playoff triumph ensures many are prepared to offer the 57-year-old the benefit of the doubt. The Mostar-born, 49-year-old Jakirovic has Bosnian and Croatian citizenship and says his life was shaped by the 1990s Balkan war that broke out when he was 14.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
