Well it’s that time of the year where it is time to stop pretending to be an England fan, and start pretending to be a Hull City fan.
Hell, I might even try to attend more than 2 games this season.
It’s not exactly clear cut how this season will go. Last season I expected to be a relegation struggle, though I thought we’d survive. Anything else would have been a surprise. The season before I was so in the hole of Allam doom that I thought we’d go down to League 2…thankfully I couldn’t have been more wrong.
But this season is a bit more difficult to analyse.
Let’s start positively.
We have new owners – our first full season under Acun Ilicali. There is no Allam reasoning as to why a chunk of our fanbase will stay away – though inflation and the cost-of-living crisis may limit some fans from attending at times.
New signings
We actually have money to spend and have actually spent money. Though the two players who seem like they will be more influential are the free-signing of Seri, and the loan signing of Baxter – the latter we saw how good he was last season, in my view he helped to transform our very shaky defence when McCann surprisingly played him.
Seri is a proven winner who, from my fairly limited understanding, could totally transform our midfield, and potentially help us dominate the midfield in games.
We had glimpses of Sayyadmanesh’s quality last season – and most admirably, his work-rate, and his pressing of defences. He’s very capable of a mis-hit or three but he will also create chances – and score goals. Let’s hope we can develop and improve him further.
But then we have a few negatives.
Without doubt, selling Keane Lewis-Potter will hurt. I don’t blame him for wanting to go, I don’t blame Ilicali for selling him with a year of his contract left.
However, those 12 goals from the Championship last season will be hard to replace. It does hurt a bit. A lot, actually.
Were it not for the signing of Seri, losing Honeyman would concern me a lot too. Not technically the best player ever, but a source of goals, assists and a combative nature – we need those players who can galvanise…as he could.
Finally for negatives, I do worry that expectations are too high amongst the fanbase, and I’d really hate to see negatively flowing onto the pitch, or towards the owner, if we have a difficult start. This is a project, Ilicali is, hopefully, building something. We shouldn’t expect immediate glories.
The Unknowns
As I mentioned earlier, there are way too many unknowns this season.
I’ll start with Arveladze, who is yet to convince me. Sometimes towards the end of last season I thought we played some good football, then we’d get tonked. I’m yet to be convinced that he is the manager that will lead us into play-off contention, but neither do I think him incapable. More time is needed for me to judge.
A few of our pre-season signings are clearly going to be good players. But some are total unknowns – they may be the next Manucho, or the next Hernandez.
Some will criticise signing players from the Turkish league, and I kind of get it – we will need Championship experience to get promoted. However, my limited understanding of the Turkish league is that it is quite physical – so is the Championship. Plus Ilicali’s area of expertise is naturally Turkey. So I’m tentatively cool with signing players from the Turkish league.
But what will the likes of Estupiñán, Sinik, Tufan and Tetteh bring to Hull City this season? I have zero idea. If they are a bunch of mercenaries, then could even a relegation battle ensue? But if they are all class players, then could a push for the play-offs be possible?
Who knows. I don’t.
Patience
What gave me most hope recently was a quote from Ilicali in the press conference yesterday, “The team is not ready, but that’s not us being pessimistic. We are sure they will show their quality on the pitch, but I say to the fans, this is a long journey and we need time.“.
What I most feared was that Ilicali had too much hope, and gives up on us easily. Now we seem to have a fantastic owner – I want him to stay, I want him to understand that the Championship is actually really bloody difficult. I think he does.
I think we have enough to avoid relegation – there’s a few teams that should do worse than us, even if our known unknowns flop, such as Rotherham, Reading, Wigan.
I don’t think we have enough to get into the play-offs this season – unless our known unknowns are out of this world.
There’s still time for signings, I’d be heartened if we maybe signed a couple of promising Premier League youngsters on loan, for example – fond memories of the likes of Frazier Campbell.
I hope and expect a season where we build on last season. Perhaps more likely there are some disappointing results to start the season, as the team gels together – especially in midfield – and we do have some bloody difficult fixtures to start. We also have the money, and the owner, to fix things in January if they are going wrong.
My prediction is for a 15th place finish, though perhaps flirting with the bottom 3, for a while.