After managerial stints spent working beside the Atlantic (Estoril and Sporting Lisbon) and then the Mediterranean (Olympiakos), Marco Silva is now set for a North Sea idyll. But might the Hull air prove a little too bracing for a coach poised to accept what many people regard as the Premier League’s impossible job? There are certainly pressing and wider issues at the division’s bottom club.
The manager is not the main problem
Given the bleak context, Mike Phelan did as well as could reasonably be expected. When Steve Bruce walked out in despair at the end of July, Phelan performed wonders to galvanise the dressing room and, despite having only 13 fit senior players, choreographed early wins against Leicester City and Swansea City. With his squad ravaged by injuries and having lost Mohamed Diamé to Newcastle United, he was further damaged when his board recruited too late, and too sparsely, at the end of August. The attacking department remains particularly under-staffed. Unfortunately Ryan Mason, his £13m record midfield signing from Tottenham, has disappointed and, although the dressing room remained largely united behind a popular manager until the bitter end, Phelan’s failure to bring the best out of the latterly under-achieving Tom Huddlestone proved detrimental. Despite presiding over one league win – at home against Southampton – since late summer, Phelan’s Hull often played attractive, passing football while also securing an EFL Cup semi-final against Manchester United.
Hull’s best players are not happy
Robert Snodgrass – or more specifically his richly gifted left foot – is the overrriding reason why Hull remain within touching distance of safety. After recovering from a career-threatening knee injury, the Scotland winger has been outstanding this season but knows he is coveted by a clutch of clubs, including Newcastle. Disillusioned by events on and off the field at Hull, he declined to sign a lengthy new contract and would have had only six months left on his remaining deal had the vice-chairman, Ehab Allam, not automatically triggered a clause facilitating a one-year extension. The same thing has happened to Abel Hernández, Jake Livermore, Michael Dawson, Harry Maguire and Andrew Robertson, none of whom had been enthusiastic about voluntarily extending their agreements. As Snodgrass recently reflected: “There have been no proper negotiations, it’s not been the best. I’ll have to ask the chairman what’s going on.” Those words rather beg the question as to how he, and his team-mates, might respond to a new coach with strictly limited English. A leader off, as well as on, the pitch, the Glaswegian possesses a certain edge and does not suffer fools.
A new buyer is desperately needed
As the weeks have turned into months and no takeover materialised, the sense of stasis has become increasingly destabilising. Far too much is on hold. A potential end to the limbo beckoned last spring when Peter Grieve, an American businessman, seemed close to buying the Allams out and then, in August, Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li, a Chinese brother and sister, made a bid which subsequently foundered when they apparently failed the Premier League’s fit and proper owners test. Meanwhile Chien Lee, the owner of Nice, expressed interest in Hull before Greater China Professional Services Limited, advised by former Hull chairman Adam Pearson, filed documents to the Hong Kong stock exchange stating a prospective £130m deal had been provisionally agreed subject to satisfactory due diligence. That, though, was in October and the fact no exclusivity deal has since been signed indicates stalled progress. Indeed, with the club’s Premier League status seriously at risk, any takeover seems unlikely until relegation is either avoided or confirmed. Meanwhile, some Hull fans question precisely how serious the Allams are about selling up.
The atmosphere at the KCom is toxic
Before Phelan’s sacking and the courting of Silva, fans had planned a boycott of Saturday’s FA Cup third-round tie against Swansea at the KCom Stadium. With every stay-away supporter urged to give £12 to charity instead, that initiative was gaining momentum but may now be scuppered by curiosity at the new manager’s expected presence in the home dugout. Despite the team’s dismal record, fans have generally stayed behind the players and resisted turning on Phelan, but there have been increasing “Allams out” choruses. Such toxicity is exacerbated by a controversial new membership scheme abolishing concessions for children and pensioners. Resultant supporter anger was manifested when John Oxley, a local businessman, paid £2,500 to be a matchday sponsor for the 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace last month. Oxley used his on-pitch access before kick-off to unfurl a banner declaring: “Bring back concessions. Allams out” before being ejected by stewards.
