Hull City fan view: City’s ‘Band of Brothers’ attitude is a breath of fresh air in the modern game

Hull City’s remarkable unbeaten run came to an end yesterday, with Jose Mourinho’ Manchester United performing an Alex Ferguson-esque last minute smash and grab at the KCOM. However, despite a feeling of frustration that we weren’t able to hold on for just a few minutes more, I, and I would imagine thousands of other Hull City fans, left the KCOM yesterday evening feeling a hell of a lot more positive about the season ahead than I did just three weeks ago, thanks the to the depleted squad’s extraordinary desire to carry on fighting for the club.

First and foremost I have to talk about the match. What a defensive performance from the men in black and amber. As a well-known Hull City fan and blogger commented on Twitter last night, “[I’ve] often though ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ at #hcafc down the years. [I’ve] rarely held the opposing view so strongly as the last 3 weeks.” I could not agree more. City’s siege mentality in defence yesterday evening was a pleasure to watch. Led by the quite remarkable performance of captain Curtis Davies, to a man, every player on the pitch gave absolutely everything they had for the shirt and for the fans, and as a Hull City fan, I can tell you now, that’s all we ask for in the stands.

Since Alex Ferguson left Manchester United three years ago, the club have spent just short of £450m on strengthening their squad. Their starting XI yesterday contained the World’s most expensive footballer, England’s record-breaking goal scorer, and an international striker that has scored 231 goals in just 303 matches in the space of ten years for some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Yet it took them until the 92^nd minute of the game to beat a Hull City side who currently have only 14 fit first team players, and no permanent manager. This is why the Hull City faithful are so proud of their team.

Curtis Davies’ performance was one of the finest individual performances I have seen in recent years. The 31-year-old was handed the task of keeping Zlatan Ibrahimovic quiet, a task which has not been successfully achieved by many of Europe’s best defenders over the last decade, however, the former Villa and West Brom man had, to use a bit of cliché, Zlatan in his back pocket from the first to the last whistle. Davies’ defensive partner Jake Livermore, who it is worth noting is still adapting to his new defensive position, also had a fine game, and with the new England assistant-manger, Sammy Lee, sat in the stands last night, could we soon be seeing both Davies and Livermore receiving a call-up as part of Sam Allardyce’s ‘fresh-look’ England squad? I certainly hope so.

Individual praise must also go to City’s goalkeeper, Eldin Jakupovic. Despite being with the Tigers’ since 2012, the Bosnian-born Swiss ‘keeper has only played 13 games for the club, and was relatively unfancied by former City manager, Steve Bruce, especially after a memorably bad performance against Sheffield Wednesday during his debut season. However, after last season’s first team ‘keeper Allan McGregor was ruled out for at least two months with a back injury last month, and with no new signings at the KCOM, Jakupovic was given his chance by Mike Phelan, and he has grabbed it with both hands. It seems quite ironic then that it is now looking increasingly likely that City’s first signing of the summer will be that of a new Goalkeeper, in the form of Cardiff City’s David Marshall. Whether this happens or not, ‘the Jak’, who has become somewhat of a cult hero in recent weeks, would be very unlucky to find himself dropping out of the first team after his blistering start to the season.

News off the pitch was equally as pleasing for Hull City fans on Saturday, as in the macthday programme hated current chairman Ehab Allam, son of owner Assam, admitted that it appeared the match would be the family’s last in charge of the club. With speculation that the deal to sell the club to Chinese-based brother and sister business partners, the Dai family, is set to be completed on Tuesday, it could be a whirlwind 24 hours for the club ahead of the British transfer window closing at 11.30 on Wednesday night.

Transfer rumours continue to do the rounds on social media, however, moves for Cardiff’s David Marshall and Tottenham’s Ryan Mason do appear to have legs, with deals for both apparently agreed ahead of contract discussions this week. While Marshall and Mason would undoubtedly strengthen the squad, even just in terms of bulking up the smallest squad in the Premier League, City fans are praying more will follow. A striker and centre-half must surly also be on caretaker-manager, Mike Phelan’s wish-list, as he also looks to secure a permanent contract with the club himself.

New-owners, new players, and hopefully a permanent manager in Mike Phelan, the week ahead looks as though it’s going to be a busy one for the club. Matches are easily forgotten in football, especially when your side has lost. However, if, against all odds, Hull City manage to stay in the Premier League this season, I for one will certainly be looking back at our opening three games where the hunger, desire, passion, and general togetherness shown by my side’s horribly depleted squad, which was written-off by everyone before the season started, showed that a ‘band of brothers’ mentality can take you a long way. This is a mentality that is rarely seen in the mercenary-driven, money-orientated world of modern football. For this, Mike Phelan, his staff, and the whole senior squad (all 14 of them), deserve a hell of a lot of credit. Y)XE��M