Hull City Fan View: Allams must learn from past mistakes to rebuild Hull this summer

Despite Hull City’s somewhat inevitable relegation being comprehensively confirmed with a 4-0 defeat at Selhurst Park last weekend, Sunday’s embarrassing 7-1 defeat against Spurs officially closes the curtain on Hull’s fifth Premier League campaign with our largest ever top-flight defeat. However, with a second-string starting eleven playing against one of the Premier League’s strongest sides, with nothing but pride to play for, a match analysis would be a pointless exercise at this point. What is now important is that the unpopular Allam family learn from their past mistakes and get key decisions regarding the managerial position and the squad right this summer.

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As has been well documented in recent weeks, with Marco Silva free to leave the club this week due to a relegation clause in the Portuguese’s contract, it is unlikely the highly sought-after head coach will want to stick around for the prospect of away days at Burton and Brentford next season, especially considering the likes of Watford and Southampton appear to be sniffing around. This suggests Silva’s ‘crunch talks’ with the Allams this coming Wednesday could well be his last interaction with the club. And who can blame him? The former Sporting and Olympiacos boss must be one of the only Premier League managers in history to improve his reputation as a manager while also being relegated. What a damning indictment of the current state of Hull City as a club.

While there is still an outside chance Silva will choose to stay, fans can only hope the club have a contingency plan in the much more likely event of his departure. However, after last year’s embarrassing mismanagement in the wake of Steve Bruce’s resignation, I am not going to hold my breath.

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The Championship is arguably the most competitive and unforgiving league in Europe, and as such the Allam family cannot afford to dawdle in a similar manner to last year. To have any chance at all of rebuilding and having a good go at the Championship next season, the Allams must learn from their mistakes, appoint an experienced and competent manager as soon as possible, and provide that manager with an appropriate budget to form a squad capable of competing. However, once again, I for one will not be holding my breath.

Aside from making the correct managerial decision, building a squad capable of performing in the marathon that is the SkyBet Championship is set to be another key challenge for the club. As I have already touched upon, City’s relegation this season stemmed directly from last summer when the club had no manager and a squad of just 13 senior pros. It would not be an exaggeration to say another chaotic summer like this could very realistically see City struggling at the wrong end of the table again next year. After all, falling out of the Championship is easier that it looks – just ask Blackburn, Bolton, Coventry and Blackpool.

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With rumours already circulating that key players such as Andrew Robertson, Harry Maguire and Abel Hernandez are already ‘as good as sold’ as soon as the window opens, as well as loan signings Mbokani, Oumar Niasse, Lazar Markovic, Alfred N’Diaye, Andrea Ranocchia and Omar Elabdellaoui all likely to return to their parent clubs next week, the Tigers are expected to have a skeleton squad once again heading into pre-season. This is in sharp contrast to our last relegation in 2015 when only James Chester, Robbie Brady and Nikica Jelavic were sold – for good money may I add – while Steve Bruce managed to keep hold of the nucleus of his side that had reached an FA Cup final and played in Europe just over a year previously.

Recruitment will obviously come down to two factors – who the manager will be this time next month, and to what extent the owners decide to back that manager. With the volatile and unpredictable nature of our ownership, it is impossible to predict the answer to either of these key questions at this point. However, even with a half-decent managerial appointment and a sound financial backing, it does not guarantee success in the Championship. Just look at the contrasting fortunes of Newcastle United and Aston Villa this season following their Premier League exits this time last year. It is going to be a long, and potentially painful, summer for the Hull City faithful. All we can do is wait and pray that the Allam family have learnt from their past mistakes.