Five lessons Hull City can learn from Premier League relegation

[Oregon Tiger]

We didn't concede more then 3 goals in a game which is also rare for a relegated team.

2-4 vs Man City.

What is true is that we didn't get beaten by more than 3 goals. 0-3 was the first.

 

[Chilton's Hundreds]

2-4 vs Man City.

What is true is that we didn't get beaten by more than 3 goals. 0-3 was the first.

I stand corrected. Forgot about that game !

 

[GLP]

Don't sell proven Premier League strikers for £12m to then sign unproven utter ****ing ****e for £10m. The £2m 'Profit' we have left from the Long deal will soon be eroded when we shift in that Uruguayan ****ing donkey for his true market value - probably £3m. Which would give us a 'loss' of £5m on the deal.

We have a truly horrific track record of signing strikers. We MUST get it right this season with whoever comes in. You need a good striker in this division to get promoted.

 

[bum_chinned_crab]

1) dont change the clubs name
2) dont put prices up
3) respect your fans
4) dont expect a ground for nil pounds
5) repeat 1-4

5 should be) Don't alienate the entire community by making amateur sports teams - some of whom are for young people - homeless with barely a few week's notice from a facility that isn't yours, all when claiming that improving community sport is your motive behind getting involved in the first place.

6) repeat 1-5

 

[bum_chinned_crab]

Don't sell proven Premier League strikers for £12m to then sign unproven utter ****ing ****e for £10m. The £2m 'Profit' we have left from the Long deal will soon be eroded when we shift in that Uruguayan ****ing donkey for his true market value - probably £3m. Which would give us a 'loss' of £5m on the deal.

We have a truly horrific track record of signing strikers. We MUST get it right this season with whoever comes in. You need a good striker in this division to get promoted.

Is it time to give Adam le Fondre another crack? He turned us down once but surely now he'll be cheap and eager to prove that this last season was a blip.

Edit - didnt know he'd been on loan at Bolton scoring a respectable 5 in 10 in a **** team battling relegation. Get on him, Cardiff will be eager to sell.

 

[over18and legal]

Is it time to give Adam le Fondre another crack? He turned us down once but surely now he'll be cheap and eager to prove that this last season was a blip.

Edit - didnt know he'd been on loan at Bolton scoring a respectable 5 in 10 in a **** team battling relegation. Get on him, Cardiff will be eager to sell.

Good shout.

 

[GLP]

Is it time to give Adam le Fondre another crack? He turned us down once but surely now he'll be cheap and eager to prove that this last season was a blip.

We certainly need someone - probably at least 3 strikers that know this division well. Cameron Jerome was a steal for Norwich. Campbell at Palace maybe - he's a twat - but he'd score at this level.

 

[Trumpton Tiger.]

From Europe to the Championship, Philip Buckingham asks how Hull City surrendered to relegation.

RELEGATION might have been a train chugging down the tracks these past few weeks but its inevitable arrival at the KC Stadium was no easier to take on Sunday evening.

As the last of the Premier League's glamour rolled out of town on board the Manchester United team coach, the sense of deflation was palpable at every turn.

Glum supporters milled around the ground, unwilling to leave the scene of City's last stand, while inside Steve Bruce cut an exhausted and defeated figure as he began the post-mortem he had hoped to avoid.

Players were hurting, too. James Chester spoke of being "haunted" by the day for the remainder of his career.

Even Ahmed Elmohamady, the most upbeat figure in the City dressing room, struggled to muster a smile as he waded through well-wishers outside.

The pain will soon subside as plans are made to start afresh in the Championship but the stain of regret will not be shifted easily.

Twelve months after reaching the FA Cup final and European football, the Tigers somehow find themselves contemplating trips to Rotherham and MK Dons all over again next season.

A place in the Premier League has been squandered for the second time in five years but, unlike 2009-10 and the empire built on wet sand, this has felt so much more avoidable.

A squad assembled at a rough cost of £60m, containing no fewer than 23 full internationals, should have had enough to avoid the ignominy of relegation. Surely.

And therein lies the frustration. There have been injuries and late goals to create a catalogue of misfortune but only the misguided would pretend City did enough to warrant a third straight season in the Premier League. This season will be best remembered as the story of a team that fatally lost its identity.

The blood, sweat and defiance that carried the club out of the Championship and twice down Wembley Way in last year's historic FA Cup adventure was lost beneath the emperor's new clothes.

Not only did last summer's recruitment drive bring more failures than successes, but also it began dismantling a tight band of brothers inside the City dressing room.

No one complained when Hatem Ben Arfa replaced George Boyd or when Gaston Ramirez filled the hole left by Robert Koren.

And why would they? The ambition shown last summer could only be applauded.

But all that glitters, we have been reminded, is not always gold.

Ben Arfa was an unmitigated disaster, Ramirez marginally better. The £10m spend on Abel Hernandez has also turned out to be rotten business.

Mohamed Diame, through no fault of his own, has been another big earner that has failed to take City to the next level.

Perhaps only Michael Dawson and Andy Robertson have genuinely come good of the dozen players signed in the last 12 months.

Robert Snodgrass, Tom Ince and Harry Maguire may all prove to be wise acquisitions in time, while a move for Dame N'Doye can still be justified, but that is a conversion rate Bruce knows has cost him dearly.

It showed in the final months of the campaign. As if to accept the failings of his ambition, Bruce ended the season with a starting XI that included six of his promotion-winning side.

The City boss returned to what he knew and trusted but by then it was too late. The hole dug was too deep.

City aimed for the stars last summer but never truly created a team as impressive as what they already had. The injury problems suffered by Snodgrass, Diame and Nikica Jelavic were an awful hindrance, that cannot be denied, but there has always been a spark missing this season. The character and hunger has never felt the same.

Neither have some of Bruce's old favourites. Allan McGregor, Curtis Davies, Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore all formed the spine of City's successes in 2013-14 but never came close to hitting those standards again.

McGregor and Davies were both axed for their loss of form, while Huddlestone and Livermore were a shadow of the midfielders that played with such a point to prove in their debut seasons.

Livermore, currently suspended for a failed drugs test, has been Bruce's biggest disappointment of all.

Those underachieving stars, dipping far below their performances of last season, capture a sense of complacency that has run through City's season.

Call it a second-season syndrome if you wish, but too many have suffered from its ills.

City, you can't help but conclude, thought they had cracked it when beginning this season with a Europa League tie away to AS Trencin in Slovakia.

Back in November when the rot first began to set in, Dawson suggested relegation had not even been considered within a City dressing room thinking big.

Bullish talk it might have been, but that summed up an imprudent belief that a top-half finish felt just as likely as a spot in the bottom three.

Only when things really took a turn for the worse in late January did it begin to sink in that City were in the mire. By that point, escaping the scrap is far harder than joining it, and so it proved.

The 10th relegation in the club's history must surely rank as the most wasteful and raises all manner of questions for what comes next.

Some will inevitably suggest Bruce has run his race at the KC but the backing he received late in the 0-0 draw with Manchester United, with relegation confirmed by Newcastle's win, would suggest the vast majority do not want a summer change.

And with good reason. The last three times Bruce was a manager in the Championship, he ended those seasons with promotion. He knows the best routes out of that demanding division and still has enough credit banked up to deserve a fourth campaign in charge.

Bruce began this season by suggesting it would be his most difficult yet and so it has proved. Reshaped expectations brought fresh demands but this remains a squad that has never really conquered its limitations. The failure to score in 17 of the last 30 Premier League games is a damning statistic.

Now comes the rebuilding to go again. Plenty won't be salivating about playing in the Championship. Others will be sold to balance the books no longer propped up by the Premier League riches.

City can yet respond in 2015-16 with a promotion challenge but you suspect it will need every inch of that old identity back.

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/#SBetIQJhqchrm5vZ.99

Not a mention of the off field distractions.

 

[miff33]

6. Why get promoted anyway ?

I will probably get crucified now for lack of ambition but really, do we need to be in a league where success is judged by not getting relegated, or if your really good you might finish somewhere between 8th and 14th. Call me mad but i would be quite happy playing chamionship football and perhaps the odd season in the Money Grabbers league to boost the coffers occasionally.

 

[Jeff Lynnes PBCW™]

Hull City dropped out of the Premier League yesterday ending our second two season spell in the top flight. This relegation doesn’t feel as devastating as the first one did. The club isn’t in the same catastrophic financial position – as far as I know – and the squad is a blend of players who are more than worth keeping and some who have sell-on value and potential suitors.

While relegation wasn’t heart-breaking, it was utterly needless and was caused by under-achievement on the playing and management side. I’ve picked out the five lessons I think the club must learn in order to bounce back from the Championship and to make a better fist of the Premier League if we are lucky enough to do so.

I am happy to see Steve Bruce remain as manager despite the mistakes that have been made. He is a thoroughly decent man who is honest enough to know that he’s made errors and is determined to make up for them. Without sweeping changes throughout the football side and a whole new approach – we are not going to find a better manager in the Championship than Steve Bruce. For that reason, he should get the first shot at turning things around but he needs to address the problems that have contributed to relegation.

1. Protect the team ethic

Steve Bruce’s promotion winning side was built on togetherness in the dressing room - excellent professionals who worked hard for each other. While our football was neat, it wasn’t a team blessed with flair but one that won games the hard way.

On winning promotion, Bruce set out to bring in players who had Premier League experience but were solid professionals. Even in the January transfer window when he splashed out on two strikers in Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic – he signed players who fit the team ethic he’d instigated.

Unfortunately the care taken to foster a fine team spirit was abandoned in the summer of 2014. Each big money signing on huge wages pushed out of joint the nose of Bruce’s established workhorses. Meanwhile an excellent professional in George Boyd was allowed to leave. The carelessness became recklessness on September 1st when Bruce went out and panic bought Abel Hernadez for almost £10m, Mo Diame, Gaston Ramirez and the poisonous Hatem Ben Arfa.

I admit that last opinion is spouted with the benefit of hindsight. Back in September, I was wetting my knickers with everyone else at the prospect of Steve Bruce dragging the best out of these lost souls. The players signed to help take the club two steps forward instead dragged it back several. Bruce is fortunate that it hasn’t cost him his job.

2. Avoid training ground woes

I have no idea what we do in training. That isn’t ignorance or flippancy. It’s the result of watching the team make the same mistakes time after time while failing to address issues like poor set piece delivery and an inability to create and take chances. Bruce has had two assistant managers, Steve Agnew and Mike Phelan, and nothing has changed under either.

Can you name a player who has progressed since joining the club? Bruce has a knack for getting performances out of players who are under-achieving but his staff does not improve players. Players with promise like Jake Livermore, Tom Ince and Andy Robertson have regressed since we signed them.

Another serious issue is the amount of injuries we’ve suffered. It’s hard to think of a player who hasn’t had a spell on the sidelines in the past three seasons while some have suffered time and again. We are riddled with muscular injuries and we rush players back into the fold before they are ready.

The club is hampered by the facilities available at the training ground, which you have to make allowances for - it’s a long standing problem, but must strive to improve the personnel on the coaching and physiotherapy side.

3. Scouting - Be prepared!

There are many areas in which Hull City is well short of being a Premier League club. That is understandable given that we have only been one for four of our one hundred and eleven year existence and that only ten years ago we were just getting out of League One for the first time in almost fifteen years. One important area is scouting.

The scouting setup at the club is rudimentary. There have been steps taken to improve it but it is still way behind most others. Many signings in the past three years have been players known to the manager (or well known to everyone) who have often been acquired for excessive transfer fees because our options are limited.

When we’ve strayed from that formula – the results have been poor. Nick Proschwitz and Abel Hernandez have been expensive failures. Yannick Sagbo and Fathi were cheap gambles but also struggled. Gedo was reasonably successful the first time and Dame N’Doye – who Bruce says he’s watched for several years – looked a good fit for the Premier League.

More responsibility has to be taken in the future to ensure that we get value for money in the market. Paying top dollar for established players isn’t sustainable as an only option.

4. Be positive

Both of City’s spells in the Premier League have started well and seen the club win friends playing attacking football. Both ended with managers setting up only to try desperately to avoid defeat.

Numerous times this season, fans left games away from wondering why they’d bothered turning up when the team hadn’t. Not just in the level of performance but the lack of intent. It’s an approach that is utterly senseless as well as negative.

We have struggled to score goals for five seasons. It’s been an Achilles heel for a long time under three managers. As a consequence, if we concede a goal, we very rarely get anything from the game. That makes going into games hoping for a nil-nil draw a ridiculous risk.

The league table mid-way through the season also showed the lack of value in picking up too many draws anyway. Going out to win games is the only way to approach the Premier League. You’ll lose more than you win but you’ll win more than three other teams.

5. Value the support

I’m not going to blame off the field dramas for our failure. We have been relegated because the manager and the players have not done their jobs to the best of their abilities.

However it hasn’t been as much fun as it should have been to follow a team hitting new heights in winning automatic promotion, reaching an FA Cup Final and qualifying for Europe because everything has been built on a backdrop of negativity.

I don’t want to rant about the specific issues. Maybe some other time! But the attempted name change, the raising of disabled concessionary prices (to raise an amount of money that wouldn’t pay our worst player for a week), the eviction of sports clubs from a community sports venue, refusing to spend the Premier League’s ASI (Away Supporters Initiative) fund on our own supporters and a number of minor misdemeanours has caused consternation amongst fans.

Some fans have felt alienated and left or reduced their input into the club while those left behind are divided. City fans booing City fans for singing a City song has to be one of the saddest things I’ve seen from our support.

Hull City is incredibly important to the City and the community. Not only is a successful Hull City a force for economic improvement but it puts the City on the map. That half of the column inches dedicated to the club on a national (and international) level in the past two years have been dedicated to a ridiculous idea born out of a disagreement between a spiteful multi-millionaire and a comatose local council has been a massive waste.

What should have been a golden period has and continues to be soured by off-field nonsense. While I won’t blame that for the club’s relegation – it has done us no good whatsoever.

When relegation was confirmed after a 0-0 draw with Manchester United, 23,000 Hull City fans stayed to the end and as one, rose to appreciate and console the players despite everything. It was a show of immense class that made be proud to be part of the club and for which Steve Bruce offered his heart felt gratitude to a “unique” set of supporters.

That support should be embraced and valued by the people in charge of the club regardless of how much of the revenue they make up. More than anything on this list – I hope that is a lesson that can be learned from our recent experiences.

http://boothferrytowembley.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/five-lessons-hull-city-can-learn-from.html

Any old excuse for the agenda monkeys to stir it up again.

And what expert punditry credentials does the blogger have other than having a blog page?

 

[Tigerglenn]

May 26, 2015 at 12:37
After the half hearted attempt at Europe and the distinct lack of effort in the cup competitions
,and the shockingly poor attitude to throwing away points late in league games .
I could see the writing on the wall in October I predicted a big capital R against our name at Tottenham away.the injuries did spoil the long term aims but Bruce should have had a contingency plan to cover all eventualities .I do feel snodgrass was a massive loss his enthusiasm to play was evident in the European games he rolled up his sleeves and looked as though he was really enjoying himself playing for city ,unfortunately he was one of few who we can say that about this season .i think some of the new signings attitude
this season was summed up on sunday when the only thing unable Hernandez could hit in the box was a sly cowardly punch into phil Jones
And that is certainly not what we pay our money to see.
Give me a team of honest grafters over a team of over paid primma donnas any day

 

[hcafc-anon]

I have said this before but here goes again. Our major problem is possession - or lack of it. Look at the stats throughout the season and we often have only a 30 or 40% share. Without possession the defence soaks up pressure and then there is the possibility of defensive errors occurring. You can't score without the ball. In fact, ou can't even play without the ball.

 

[originallambrettaman]

Any old excuse for the agenda monkeys to stir it up again.

And what expert punditry credentials does the blogger have other than having a blog page?

None, he doesn't claim to.

But I bet you wish you were that articulate.

 

[DMD]

We shou

I have said this before but here goes again. Our major problem is possession - or lack of it. Look at the stats throughout the season and we often have only a 30 or 40% share. Without possession the defence soaks up pressure and then there is the possibility of defensive errors occurring. You can't score without the ball. In fact, ou can't even play without the ball.

I think you can add to that, that we're quite static. At times we look like one of those table football games. We tend to pass to feet rather than gaps, so there's little movement off the ball.

 

[Polly13]

6. Why get promoted anyway ?

I will probably get crucified now for lack of ambition but really, do we need to be in a league where success is judged by not getting relegated, or if your really good you might finish somewhere between 8th and 14th. Call me mad but i would be quite happy playing chamionship football and perhaps the odd season in the Money Grabbers league to boost the coffers occasionally.

Well, isn't that what we actually do?

 

[spesupersydera]

6. Why get promoted anyway ?

I will probably get crucified now for lack of ambition but really, do we need to be in a league where success is judged by not getting relegated, or if your really good you might finish somewhere between 8th and 14th. Call me mad but i would be quite happy playing chamionship football and perhaps the odd season in the Money Grabbers league to boost the coffers occasionally.

Your post doesn't show a lack of ambition, just a heavy dose of reality. After years of stagnation and false dawns Hull City AFC has grown into a mid-sized football league club, we are where a club of our (present) size is meant to be i.e. lower end of the PL, comfortable Championship side ............. where we're heading in the future? God only knows .........................

 

[cheshireles]

May 26, 2015 at 12:37
After the half hearted attempt at Europe and the distinct lack of effort in the cup competitions
,and the shockingly poor attitude to throwing away points late in league games .
I could see the writing on the wall in October I predicted a big capital R against our name at Tottenham away.the injuries did spoil the long term aims but Bruce should have had a contingency plan to cover all eventualities .I do feel snodgrass was a massive loss his enthusiasm to play was evident in the European games he rolled up his sleeves and looked as though he was really enjoying himself playing for city ,unfortunately he was one of few who we can say that about this season .i think some of the new signings attitude
this season was summed up on sunday when the only thing unable Hernandez could hit in the box was a sly cowardly punch into phil Jones
And that is certainly not what we pay our money to see.
Give me a team of honest grafters over a team of over paid primma donnas any day

writing was on the wall in August, awful performances against Trencin and Lokeren

 

[bum_chinned_crab]

writing was on the wall in August, awful performances against Trencin and Lokeren

I agree. The Europa campaign set the tone for the season. Something looked very off right from the start.

 

[The B&S Fanclub]

How about try defending to the end, or bringing on personal to help in that quest..or tactics to help
12 pts dropped from winning positions deep into the 2nd half....Stoke, WHU, Newcastle,Arsenal, Man C, Sunderland, dropping 12 points because we couldn't defend...Those 12 points would have had us halfway.....

 

[pudseytiger]

How about try defending to the end, or bringing on personal to help in that quest..or tactics to help
12 pts dropped from winning positions deep into the 2nd half....Stoke, WHU, Newcastle,Arsenal, Man C, Sunderland, dropping 12 points because we couldn't defend...Those 12 points would have had us halfway.....

Don't let SB sign our new strikers leave it to Phelan or the tea lady anybody but SB.