I wish people like you would stop with the facts. Its much more fun having a fanny flap because we haven't signed 7 players already
I think the way we do things can, at least superficially, seem frustrating and slow, but our recruitment team does work non-stop. There were approaches and talks with players for the upcoming season as far back as Easter, it just doesn't come out in the media because it ultimately isn't newsworthy unless they can get their hands on names. And that's sort of a gripe for me with journalists, because they
know this, they know that stuff is going on and they
could do a piece about the work being done without going into specifics, they just don't because it costs them clicks and views.
Football, like a lot of things in 2024, is now seeded with the expectation of instant gratification. So we want all the transfers done now while simultaneously wanting another striker or creative player lined up for deadline day while also releasing all the deadwood before the new manager has identified who constitutes deadwood. We demand to know everything at all times and yet seem baffled when the club don't reveal the nature of an injury or why a player left the club, so many people just invent their own reason instead in order to self soothe. I suppose as fans we feel like we are owed it as ultra loyal, paying customers but there seems to have been a big shift in expectation from 20 years ago, where you didn't get wind of transfers before they happened.
I remember our first season in the PL, we were linked with a return for FC (remember that transfer saga? Makes the Seri U-turn feel almost insignificant!) and I think a double purchase of Aaron Ramsey and Ross McCormack from Cardiff. None of those happened and we then signed the likes of Zayatte, Gardener, King and Geovanni, signings that nobody saw coming.
I thought this was interesting too, it's from the HDM in the Summer of 2022, the one following Acun's takeover and when Shota was still in charge.
"Signing a striker remains a significant priority for the Tigers, particularly given their struggles in front of goal last season and Ilicali is determined to spend money on a player capable of firing the goals to help City challenge at the top end of the division.
Ghana international
Benjamin Tetteh is one player linked with a move to the MKM Stadium but
Hull Live understands there is nothing in that rumour, nor the ones linking Gavin Kilkenny and
Dimitrios Pelkas."
And yet, there were people - some of whom are members of this forum - that knew those players were in fact coming and that the statement above was incorrect. The club tells people like Baz or James Smailes as much as
they need to to keep the fans happy, but don't for a second think that they have a solid, reliable inside track. In fact the above is a very good example of the club feeding the press misinformation in order to prevent transfers from leaking out, which is what invariably happens when fans get wind of club business that hasn't been announced.
