Hull City: Portrait of a club in meltdown

With no manager, no signings, and no plan, Hull City faithful look to the upcoming season with trepidation—and anger—at a team betrayed by its ownership.

For a newly promoted Premiership club, the summer run-up to the season should be a time of celebration, of preparation, and of just a bit of trepidation. You’ve made it, scaled the veritable Mount Everest that is the gap between Championship and Premier League, and now your goal is to survive.

The manager and board work overtime, evaluating the budget against the prospect of being able to say those magic words—Premiership football—that suddenly make players you’d like to purchase more amenable to what you have to say.

For the fans, it’s the excitement of having made it to the big leagues, anxiously waiting for the fixture list to be released, marking off the dates and working out how many away games you’ll be able to get to this year.

It’s the thought of following your team into the legendary parks of the English game—Old Trafford, Anfield, Stamford Bridge—and having the audacity to believe that in this era of hyper-inflated transfers and billionaire ownerships, your beloved underdogs might just be the ones singing in victory at the final whistle. The road to 40 points and survival is never an easy one, but the summer of a newly promoted club is one of boundless optimism.

No communication, no manager, no engagement, no signings, no identity, no concessions, no honesty

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be. Fans of the newly-promoted Hull City, though, have little to be optimistic about.

The Hull Daily Mail report today that first-team coach Keith Bertschin has been given the sack with 9 days to go before the season kicks off. According to initial reports, the club chose to deliver this news as the 59-year-old Bertschin was preparing to board the team coach en route to an Austrian friendly tour. This, of course, follows the abrupt exit of manager Steve Bruce two weeks ago, over an apparent frustration at Hull City’s flat-lined transfer season so far.

Yes, that’s right. Hull City, despite having four starters who will enter the year on extended injuries, have not purchased a single player this summer. With 9 days left til kickoff, and 27 til the summer window slams shut, Hull City look set to kick off with a thin and battered squad held together by interim caretaker Chris Phelan, who has never taken on a managerial role in his two decade long coaching career. Oh, and they play host to Leicester City, reigning Champions of England, to start off their season.

Nobody ever said the gods of football were just.

related story: Premier League Preview: Hull City

Still, one has to feel for the Hull City fans and players alike. After a year of grinding through the Championship, culminating in a breathtaking 1-0 win over a strong Sheffield Wednesday side, those close to the team should be focusing on the season to come, looking to cement their side as a permanent fixture in the Premier League.

Instead, they watch their club become a three-ring circus, buoyed by the apathy of a chairman who seemingly worries more about the club’s name than its long-term stability and future. The players, consummate professionals and highly paid ones at that, are likely to make no public comment. For them, the show goes on.

Fans, on the other hand, are under no such obligation. The paying public has every right to demand change, and the Hull City Supporters’ Trust released a lengthy statement Tuesday announcing plans to do just that.

“No communication, no manager, no engagement, no signings, no identity, no concessions, no honesty,” the statement begins. It is a devastatingly succinct analysis of supporters’ feelings toward a club with which they have clashed often in the past, most recently last year where fans protested club chairman Assem Allam’s governance by displaying red cards in the home supporters’ end during a fixture against Brentford.

The implication was clear to all: send Allam off, and take back our club. It’s a message that resonates with supporters around the league, who are no doubt cognizant of the fact that a committed, knowledgeable ownership can make all the difference in the world; indeed, Leicester City’s own Foxes Trust has reportedly lent its support to the cause.

Hull City’s meeting with Leicester on the pitch may have already been decided. Indeed it is difficult to envision a scenario where Hull City does any better than relegation fodder at this point.

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One thing, however, is clear: while the team may ultimately be defeated on the pitch, and the boardroom may remain blissfully ignorant of the reality of their situation, the fans who turn up every Saturday to sing and cheer and watch the club they love will not go down without a fight.