Why is McCann still here

McCann's clearly not up to the job, but if you've been taking it out on his fifteen year old son, you need a good slap...

Grant McCann has revealed his children have been receiving abusive messages on social media, as the pressure builds on the Hull City manager, but has vowed to keep fighting to lift his struggling side out of the mire.

Wednesday night’s home defeat to Peterborough United was City’s eighth of the Championship season so far, and saw fans call for his head and the return of sacked Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce.

Late in the second half with City trailing 2-1 against the team they finished above on the way to winning the League One title last term, home fans were chanting ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ before the defeat which saw the Tigers return to the bottom three.

McCann says the stinging criticism from supporters does have an impact on him, as well as his players as they look to avoid three straight defeats for the third time this season at Luton Town this weekend.

“No it's not (nice). It does affect you and it affects the players as well, it is what it is, its football,” he told BBC Radio Humberside ahead of Saturday’s trip to Bedfordshire.

“The fans are allowed to vent their frustrations and opinions at football games, that’s what it’s about.”

While McCann accepts that criticism is part and parcel of being involved in football, he says fans contacting his children on Instagram is wholly unacceptable.

“It’s disappointing for me – as I’ve said before, I don’t see social media because I’ve deleted it off my phone – it probably keeps me a wee bit more sane.

“What is disappointing is when my kids are getting messages on Instagram -a 15-year-old kid - about me, it’s just ridiculous.”

Abuse is nothing new to McCann at City, particularly after the club’s embarrassing relegation from the Championship to League One in July 2020.

That was a period which saw fans - unable to watch games live due to coronavirus – voice their displeasure on the internet, demanding the Northern Irishman be sacked.

That sacking which many expected never came and City roared back to the Championship in style last term, winning their first league title for 55 years.

Thirteen games into the new season, however, and fans have returned to see their side largely pick up where they left off in the second tier, losing with an all too familiar regularity.

McCann, though, although sounding jaded and frustrated, says he retains the belief that things will turn in their favour, if his hard-working side continue to believe in their principles.

“We’ve been here before, I’ve been here before and I’ll continue to work hard with this football club until I’m told otherwise, my staff and players will,” he explained.

“It’s the territory isn’t it, it’s what we’re in for, it’s what football’s about.

“We’re bigger than that, as a family we’ve come through bad times before, obviously at this football club in the first season.

“We’ve seen the dark times there and the good times of the promotion.

“At the minute it can seem we’re so far away, people can look and go ‘Hull City, they’ve got no chance’.

“If anyone has come to see us this season, they can see what we’re trying to do, they can see the performance levels are there, we’re just not getting results and the breaks at the minute.

“It will come, I’m a firm believer in that.

“I’m a firm believer that if you continue to stick to what you know and how we know we can play like we’ve shown in nearly every game this season, it will change.”

For 18 months, City fans have called for McCann to leave, but he says there has never been and will be no intention to walk away from the club he’s been at for almost three seasons.

“No. For me, it’s easy for people to criticise you, isn’t it? People don’t see the hard work that’s gone in to where myself, my staff and players are today.

“People think it happens overnight, people think that they can just do that.

“It’s hard work, its grit, determination to try and be the best you can be in your profession.

“You can relate it to anyone’s job, the hard work you have to do to get there is phenomenal.

“We’re no different, we’re in a job – yes it can be scrutinised, people are there to shoot you down like no other industry, but we’re doing everything we can.

“We’re working very hard with what we have here, we have a group of players that are giving everything for the football club, the results aren’t going their way at this present time and they deserve a break.

“We deserve a break, and I’m a firm believer that if we keep producing the performances we’re showing (it will turn).

“We’ve come off on Wednesday night thinking that’s enough to win two or three games at this level, but it wasn’t to be, so we’ll keep going.”

The City chief says he remains in constant dialogue with City’s vice-chairman Ehab Allam, who was again at the MKM Stadium on Wednesday night, along with his father and owner of the club, Assem.

McCann retains the support of the Allams, who remain in talks over a potential takeover with Turkish media tycoon Acun Ilicali, with Hull Live understanding a change in manager is not on the agenda at this stage.

“I speak to Ehab all the time,” McCann continued.

“Ehab’s very much performance-based like myself, we believe that if we keep performing then results will come.

“We don’t want to be one of these teams who sit behind the ball and hope for a 1-0 win or something, I’ll never be about that as a manager, I never will.

“Yes we want to win football games, 100 percent we want to win football games but we want to do it the right way, it’s really important to understand that.”

 

He really doesn't help himself...

https://the72.co.uk/253782/lost-the...qZBaYnks0d7yc2cmGa9zBrURaj7Nom3vkmHUd8f1LFZQg

 

I saw someone on Twitter after the game, saying that most of our previous managers had an element of the support on their backs at some point, but like you, I don't remember us ever chanting 'sacked in the morning' at any of our previous managers.