I think they will lose McCarthy either way If they come down McArthur and Maloney will probably go Kone and Di Santo will go abroad
They certainly can play - makes the Premier League a rather frightening option when you think Wigan are one of the worst teams in it.
Imagine if Villa or Newcastle came down, Sky would be creaming about them 24/7, mind you at least we'd get to play our games on a Saturday at 3pm, until we'd play them!
Did we overachieve ? Or did we do we do brilliantly,when you take the injuries to players like,Aluko,Hobbs,Gedo,Fryatt ect,into account ? We even missed a decent keeper,which imo is the most important player on the pitch. We didn't overachieve at all. Were simply unfashionable.People don't have Hull City ingrained in their memories,as a football hotbed.Were new,if you like. No silverware ? Leicester fans on this forum,will know a bit more of our history,than most. Weve come a long long way,and we are now the club we always should have been. History doesn't count for ****,on a football pitch.
I dont get all the hype over Wigan. There getting relegated because they one of the worst teams in the league On their day they play some fantastic football and can beat anyone but other weeks their appalling
I like them- small teams should aspire to be like Wigan. They're managed well financially, loyal to managers and players, and with an FA Cup they've got their rewards. People always complain about small support, their average attendance is around 19,000 which is about a quarter of the entire town! We'd have to cram in 75,000 for that.
Yeah but how many top sides did we play in those runs? Our poor run was interspersed with good away draws at Cardiff, Brighton, Palace, as well as the wins against Bolton and Forest. There's no question that we did have a stretch of bad results, but really it was more like eleven games (which also included the 3-0 win over Blackburn and decent draws at Cardiff and Blackpool). The two good runs and the one bad run really cancelled each other out. We've improved gradually since the Birmingham game. The last six performances were particularly good. It's just a shame that we had to play an equally good Watford side three times in our last four games.
Hull have done a chuffing brilliant job, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if you went on and lifted the league cup or finished in the top half, good luck to you I say and yes I am jealous but hey, not bitter, much
Leicester 2-1 Burnley Leicester 3-1 Hull Middlesbrough 1-2 Leicester Huddersfield 0-2 Leicester Leicester 2-0 Bristol City Burnley 0-1 Leicester Leicester 6-1 Huddersfield Bristol City 0-4 Leicester Leicester 1-0 Middlesbrough Wolves 2-0 Leicester Interesting that both runs started with wins against Burnley.
Both involved Middlesbrough and Huddersfield too. The home win against Hull was the best "result" among those (although the 6-1 will probably live longer in the memory).
We have a better squad than some of our/other fans realize. It is up-front we are short, very short! For the season past however, if a fully "fit and firing" Fryatt had got his pro-rata Hull City average in front of a much more creative midfield and had Aluko been fit, and able to replicate his first-half-of-the-season form beyond Christmas, that would have been somewhere near 30 goals between them and a shedload of attacking pace, guile and technique in the side to boot! We successfully resisted 4-5m offers for Aluko from the premiership ahead of the January window - largely thanks to the manager. Not bad for a freebie the previous summer though eh....? Similarly, if Gedo had stayed fit and kept his form going beyond January, we could almost certainly have challenged for the top spot People in Hull always look on the downside - it's a cultural thing, but the fact is we had probably the best and most consistent midfield and defence in the league this year, despite a few nervy performances at the end of the season. But for those 3 performances, still fresh in the memory, then Hull City fans would undoubtedly be much more positive in relation to the current squad going into the premiership. If the abiding memory was Leeds, Blackburn, Birmingham and Ipswich at home; Leeds, Watford, Ipswich, Bristol and the plenitude of "ground-out-one-nil's" away throughout the season, they'd be ****ing eulogistic about their team - all of those performances with weakened squad availability, but crucially with key players fit in key areas. We missed Koren, Aluko, Gedo, Evans and Bruce in the run in, hence rushing back an out of sorts Fryatt, and playing Meyler as a holder in midfield. Our defence has been one of the best consistently under Pearson and then Barmby for the previous 2 years. There's been very little personnel change there except for a bit of experience (Faye) and a change in system - which was more to do with attacking midfield balance than defensive solidity anyway. Pearson initially brought in Brady on loan (Watford wanted to sign him in Jan as well as us) but he's really come on this year. Then you have Quinn who'll run forever and a steal at 300k including add-ons. Meyler and Elmo who were players in a Premiership squad finishing 11th and 13th for two years respectively. No surprise really that with a bit of confidence and a good run of games they have looked a class above.... Just the final third has been poor, nay awful when either Aluko or Gedo haven't played. We've effectively had a bottom 3 strike-force playing ahead of a top 3 midfield at key times this season - hence no scorers in double figures. Factor out the injuries Hull have suffered to key players and the potential possibilities based on this and previous seasons are quite frightening. Really! I could see 8-10 of the current squad being good enough to do a job in a survival-achieving side next season, but 6-7 additions will be crucial. We probably need a new first-choice spine (GK,CB - with pace, DM, 2 x CF) and luck with key (Aluko, Elmo, Brady, Boyd, Koren, Chester, Hobbs) players not getting injured also. A centre-half with pace to compliment the back three will be crucial -and all new signings will need to be of sufficient quality and reliability as to allow our peripheral players to come to the fore. A tall order for the management in the coming transfer window. To suggest this has fallen into our lap is a joke. It's been 3 years and £66M in the making! The core of our squad was a relatively young, hungry and talented top 10 team under Pearson for the previous 2 years. We just added a bit of quality, experience and a manager with a proven championship pedigree and footballing credibility as the icing on the cake this last year. I can sort of understand your bitterness however that your management has proved more successful for us than for you so far.... and that your owners probable much larger investment has thus far only resulted in failure!!!!! Bruce came in and added to the foundation left by Walsh, Pearson, Shakespeare, and to a lesser extent Steve Wigley and Nick Barmby. If this Hull City season was a film or piece of music, the Leicester manager and coaching staff would feature on the credits, albiet in a secondary role - which makes it all the sweeter for us and probably all the more sickening for you lot! Good luck to leicester - I think Pearson's saving grace is that he is best placed to trim the squad to FFP criteria with the least possible impact on end-of-season points tally. You will be lucky to retain some of your big, perhaps more luxurious players, but then everyone else will be in the same boat. You'll be a favourite regardless for 2013/14. Now, can we have Kasper, Morgan and Knockeart please? 7m plus Cam Stewart,Jay Simpson, Eldin Jakupovic, Aaron Mclean and Matty Fryatt ????!!!!
It's not just Hull or Leicester fans that are surprised by your success this season though. I've spoke to Forest fans, Wednesday fans, Newcastle fans etc... They're all equally amazed. Not saying your squad isn't good, just when you compare it to the other teams that finished in the top six, most people would have had you down in sixth place. But that's football for you. If it was predictable, who'd watch it?
@talkSPORTgeoff: Cardiff won just 6 of their last 21 matches in 2011/12 inc a 5-0 agg play off defeat. Kept their manager, strengthened the squad = champions
They've grown their attendance from an average of 8,000 not that long ago to 19,000 - I have lots of admiration for the way in which they run their club - they try and play the game in the 'right' way - and given that they are not mega-rich, their story is one of pure footballing genius on many different fronts...
We all love stats - Cardiff also replaced a previous manager who had taken them to the play-offs and failed in his last two attempts ... This is now a time for reflection for our owners - no point us trying to second guess what they are going to do - if anything.
