1) Farewell then, David Meyler. It’s been on the cards for a while, ever since the player himself disclosed that no new contract would be forthcoming. It’s still immensely sad to see him go. He was a mainstay of so many of the good things, and he leaves a sizeable hole not just in the midfield, but in the character of the City squad. An engaging personality on Twitter, a courageous player on the pitch and a (belated) cult hero in the stands, he’s left to join another former fans’ favourite at Reading. Best wishes, David. And thanks for everything. 2) Abel Hernández signing a new contract with City never felt remotely likely, and so it proved. An accomplished goalscorer in the Championship, Premier League and at international level, who cost £10m, leaves on a free transfer. Such colossal ineptitude is par for the course, and we’re largely immune to it now. Again, we must just offer best wishes to a player who often surprised us with his workrate even in unglamorous surroundings. Even if we were going to try to replace him, it’d be difficult and costly. However, we aren’t going to. 3) Also departing is our club captain Michael Dawson. We also won’t be trying to replace him, not when there are plenty of mediocre, parachute-payment-non-disrupting loanees out there. On the field, he might not actually be impossible to replace, for it’s impossible not to have seen his decline this season. If their scouts have seen what we’ve seen, Nottingham Forest cannot possibly hope to still be fielding him in their first team towards the end of his two year contract. Still, it’s a nice story for him to return to his boyhood club in the late-autumn of his career, and who could blame him for wanting to leave us anyway? He’s clearly a model professional, evidenced by the fact that his best football of a decidedly patchy season came after he was declined permission to leave in January. So many players would have sulked; he resolved to improve. We’ll miss his leadership, which was understated but effective, and he leaves us with thanks. 4) On and on the exodus goes. Allan McGregor has rejoined Rangers, where he started his career 20 years ago. A big earner who had a big season, the presumed negatives of the former were always going to outrank the latter with the price-of-everything-value-of-nothing cretins who are befouling our club. And he too leaves with nothing to prove, having amassed a fine body of work while at City. Pointing to his occasional errors is a fool’s errand; all keepers make them. A combative attitude coupled with a capacity for remarkable shot-stopping make him a legitmate contender for City’s finest post-war keeper. We’ll miss him. 4a) It leaves City in need of a keeper, too. At the end of 2016/17 we had three: McGregor, Marshall and Jakupović. The last of these opted to become Leicester’s third choice after an insulting contract offer, while it hasn’t remotely worked out for Marshall here. However, yachts aren’t cheap, so we’ll have to assume that we’re just going to have to make the best of it with Marshall, presumably with a yoof on the bench – and, in the event of injury/suspension, in the first team too. 5) Overall then, summer has gone largely as expected. No attempt has been made to retain senior players, and obviously replacements haven’t arrived. Not only do we presently have a squad a long way from being able to stay up next season, we’re not likely to either. Little wonder City’s odds of relegation have halved in the past few weeks. 6) It won’t get any better, obviously. Grosicki will probably be next, while anyone else with the acute misfortune to have Ehab Allam as their employer must be instructing their representatives to explore other options. It may be cricket and World Cup weather, but a chill wind assails the Tiger Nation. Already, the good times that were bookended by Peter Taylor and Steve Bruce are fading in the memory, like teenage romance a dozen summers ago. 7) Still, City have probably made football history this summer. With the announcement that prices for next season will not be confirmed until October, they have surely become the first club ever to wait until AFTER a season has begun before confirming the cost of going. We’re not laughing, and we’re not crying. We’re just numb. 8) Given the toxic miasma that envelops Hull City, it should come as no surprise when almost everything that is associated with the club is regarded with cynicism and disdain. However, the launch of the 2018/19 primary kit by Umbro was pleasingly free of negativity: it was executed well, the club’s name was used prominently in marketing (even if it is ludicrously absent from the kit itself) and as for the new shirt, shorts and socks, they appear to be widely admired. 9) No wonder. Umbro have delivered another doozy of a kit. Stripes have been retained, but given a modern and fresh look. There’s enough of a field of amber to prevent black raglan sleeves, used in concert with black stripes, from making the shirt and kit overall look dark. 9a) Consider us big fans. Sure, we don’t like what the 1 904 crest represents, and TIGERS on the back of the neck shows that the club are so inept at marketing that they break the branding guidelines they claim to work to. Neither of these things can be laid at the feet of Umbro though, the brand with the double-diamond are doing an exceptional job of making Hull City look good in an aesthetic sense, even if everything appears to be falling apart. 10) Amid the stark contrast of City plumbing sub-subterranean depths and the growing excitement of seeing whether our attempts to nagivate the World Cup betting odds were successful, there came an unexpected glimmer of good news. Sports Minister Tracey Crouch, widely criticised for ignoring the obvious appeal of safe standing earlier this year, now appears open to it. Well done to her for having the courage to admit her original stance may not have been wrong, which is probably not a common trait among politicians, and of course to the tireless campaigning of the FSF.
Millwall thrived on yoof, journeymen and free transfers to finish top 10. So did Preston. Almost willing us to be relegated this article. Why. We will get loans in, free transfers. Then again David Meyler and Hernandez are free transfers, doesn't mean they are ****. As fans shouldn't we come out fighting not give in?
You always say this but Millwall and Preston don't start completely afresh every year, letting all their stalwarts go and patching together a random squad of loans at the last minute. It's no comparison at all.
You always say this but Millwall and Preston don't start completely afresh every year, letting all their stalwarts go and patching together a random squad of loans at the last minute. It's no comparison at all.
6) I wish my memories of teenage romance were from a dozen summers ago. A to all my teenage girlfriends who obviously will not be reading this and will have forgotten about me a long time ago. Bollocks to football
As fans I think it’s understandable that we’re waiting to see who comes, and goes, before we decide whether we think the club has given in (I don’t think the article is giving in...I think it’s suggesting the owners have given in) Once in, then personally I will get behind the players, whoever they are That doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to criticise the club at this point, because at this point we don’t look good If Grosicki and Bowen leave, and no one else comes in, I’ll still support the team we do have...but that doesn’t mean I’d agree with the transfer ‘strategy’ TWT
If you’re saying that your memories are from much less than a dozen summers ago then this is a very odd and troubling post!!! (Unless you’re very young of course)
'Doozy' sounds very American. Hernandez has certainly proved himself at second tier level (here or in Italy).
I don't "always" say this as it's the last two seasons. And the first season we actually had the core there, Davies,Dawson hudd Livermore snodgrass Meyler etc. So last season we didn't get players in early enough, completely agree. The manager still had themin in enough time to do something with them. Trouble is he was clueless. Silva got in five new players in January in the PL and mounded themstraight away into a team. It's not ideal but FFS don't just give in before a ball is kicked.
