Daring to Dream

There are powerful words from Hull City owner Assam Allam to be found in an interview in today’s Hull Daily Mail.

Responding to the two failed bids made by Leicester City for the Tigers’ Cameron Stewart, Mr Allam accuses former manager Nigel Pearson and his new bosses of setting out to “disturb” the winger.

Having already rejected the Foxes’ pitiful £1 million bid earlier in the month, the Egyptian-born businessman says he believes a second offer of £1.5m was made purely to unsettle Stewart.

Mr Allam said Leicester “were told before the window opened that we would not be selling any players – we told them not to make any approaches”.

His further comments – that the club is not looking to sell players – will be music to the ears of City fans concerned that star talents may depart in the January window. It was clear when Nick Barmby signed up as permanent manager earlier this week that he had received assurances that such a situation would not arise. Now the fans can similarly rest assured.

But the situation with Pearson’s new club is altogether more concerning. While there is no suggestion Leicester have illegally approached Stewart, their methods are tantamount to tapping up.

No means no. If any additional offer is made, City should report the Foxes to the Football League and FA.

Assem Allam’s tough, and perfectly reasonable, stance is not only highly welcome, but thoroughly admirable.

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Very rarely do I use this blog to link to posts elsewhere about life at Hull City, but one piece I’ve just read this morning is so wonderfully fascinating that it would be churlish not to hope it receives wider coverage.

Hull City Kits is a relatively new site, looking at, well, Hull City kits.

Today they publish a brilliant interview with Tigers’ kitman John Eyre – probably best known as the powerful striker who netted 13 goals in 51 appearances between 1999 and 2001. I enjoyed watching him lead the Tigers’ frontline almost as much as any striker I’ve seen at Boothferry Park or the KC Stadium before or since.

Eyre explains what his new job in the kit room entails, the lengths he goes to to avoid colour clashes with the opposition, and the demands that some players make when it comes to their gear.

It might be one for true aficionados, but it’s a gripping insight into what happens behind the scenes at the club, and makes an enjoyable read for any football fan.

The beautifully put-together Hull City Kits is well worth a slot in your favourites folder.

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It has a nice ring to it: “Nick Barmby, Hull City manager.”

The confirmation that the 37-year-old former midfielder will be the Tigers’ permanent manager heralds a new dawn for the club.

For perhaps the first time ever, fans will be able to look at the man in the dugout and know, without doubt, that he will put the club’s best interests ahead of personal fame or fortune.

After a year during which fans lamented the lack of an on-field talisman following the departure of former captain Ian Ashbee, we now have the ultimate leader, the figurehead, a Hull lad, and he’s not just leading the players for 90 minutes, he’s running the show altogether.

There can be no doubt that Nick is a proud son of Hull first and foremost. During his entire top-flight and international career, spent performing at world-famous grounds and alongside legendary players of the beautiful game, Barmby maintained a home in the city. He also becomes the first Hull City manager to be served by yours truly in Willerby Safeway supermarket (he bought a copy of The Sun, chewing gum and milk, circa 2002).

That he has given up playing to devote his attention to management shows how seriously he is taking this task. The infrastructure put in place by the Allams and Adam Pearson since the last manager departed in December shows the club’s intentions. Hull City will be a well-run, local-led club, living within its means and with a structure and line of command to supposedly cover all eventualities.

Part of Phil Brown’s success came through his initial understanding of people in Hull and his oft-repeated line that the players must appreciate the realities of life for supporters in the city, and thus perform admirably on the pitch. Barmby does not need to learn what makes the city tick – it’s in his blood.

If he can couple that local pride, graft and nous, with the footballing knowledge and experience he picked up at Anfield, White Hart Lane and Wembley under managers as respected as Terry Venables, Rafa Benitez and Sven-Göran Eriksson, then he could have a long, successful career in management.

If the Allams stick with him through thick and thin then much of that post-playing career could be spent with his home-town club. He may not recreate Sir Alex Ferguson’s Old Trafford dynasty at the KC Stadium, but a five-to-ten-year reign, seeing young players come through the academy and developing the club sensibly on and off the pitch, could eventually produce results beyond our expectations.

Fans should remain realistic, however. Taking to management with no prior experience will be no bed of roses for our Nick. There will be inevitable struggles and tough spells. The current honeymoon period will extend to the end of the season and perhaps further. The real test will come if City find themselves deprived of two or three key players and stuck in an eight game winless run. Then we’ll see what Barmby is made of, although I suspect we can already guess…

This season is not a make-or-break one for the Tigers. Results in the past six weeks have shown that the remainder of the season could well be another mixed bag. We remain well-placed, and a promotion push or play-off battle would be fantastic. But another mid-table finish would not represent the end of the world. Remember it is only a year since the club came close to an implosion which would have been hard to recover from for a decade or more.

Having such a well-respected figure at the helm will buy the Allams many things – fans’ goodwill, patience, and further local interest will be key among them. Perhaps some national exposure will also come our way given Barmby’s clear links with top clubs and managers throughout the country.

Six months ago the idea of Barmby being appointed manager would have seemed ridiculous. Today it feels like not just the most logical step, but an incredibly positive one which should secure the club’s safety and progression for years to come.

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It’s an issue we have discussed many times during the 18 months since Boaz Myhill’s unfortunate departure from the KC Stadium: Who will be Hull City’s next long-term goalkeeper?

A few have tried, but for one reason or another failed, to ensure their name is at the top of the Tigers’ team-sheet every week, and so here we are again. Another transfer window, another goalkeeper (re)-signed.

Adriano Basso took the jersey at the start of the season but has been in and out of the team, making 14 appearances so far. He has looked good at times – particularly his shot-stopping at Peterborough in September – but is as injury prone as you might expect for a 36-year-old.

Peter Gulacsi never got going, making just three starts before October and then seeming to secure his place before falling apart in the last couple of weeks.

The New Year’s Eve shambles at Burnley was the final nail in his coffin. It left him seemingly so shattered that he departed before half time and was not even on the bench for Monday’s home defeat to Derby County, despite Basso’s tendonitis and the lack of another substitute goalkeeper.

Brad Guzan, who some would happily see return, is covering relatively admirably for the injured Shay Given at Aston Villa and is thus out of the equation.

And so to our Italian stallion. Vito Mannone was as popular, and arguably as successful, as any of Matt Duke, Gulasci, Guzan or Basso in the pursuit of the gloves.

His spells on loan from Arsenal last season brought some brilliance – his long throw at Sheffield United on Boxing Day 2010 set up a last minute winner – and some buffoonery – conceding three before being subbed off at half-time in the penultimate home game of the season against Middlesbrough was not his best work.

My main reservation with bringing him back now is that again it is only on loan. This short-term approach has not worked for the last 18 months. Surely it is time to pick our man and stick with him, just as we did with Myhill in 2003.

I think it’s fair to say Mannone has no future at Arsenal, and maybe Arsene Wenger and Nick Barmby agreed this week to a loan move with the full intention of making it permanent in the summer?

The 23-year-old could feasibly play 25 games for City this season and cement his position. If he is successful in doing that then it would surely be crazy to not invest in him for the long term.

Mannone clearly likes life in east Yorkshire and is happy to begin his third spell at the club. The need for City fans to unite behind him and hope he stays fit, cuts out the occasional errors and recreates his best form, is abundantly clear.

Then we can move on to our next problem – finding a striker.

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If you’d asked me a month ago whether Nigel Pearson was merely dull, or actually quite unpleasant, I’d have plumped for the former.

Now I’m not so sure.

Let me set the scene for last Saturday.

For a while last month I felt I might even be the one partly responsible for Pearson’s decision to leave the KC.

Immediately after the draw at Brighton the then-City manager repeatedly denied claims his side were dour. What worried me about his denial was that it came just after I’d written that they were exactly that in the Brighton matchday programme.

Usually the programme is left out in the teams’ changing rooms prior to the game. My fear was that Nigel had read my remarks and taken offence. [As an aside, the Brighton game actually threw up what was probably one of City’s most attacking performances under Pearson.]

On reflection, I was right. Sides do, of course, replicate their manager’s style. Hence Jose Mourinho’s teams are ballsy, attacking and showy. Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United line-ups display a never-say-die, embattled, the world is against us spirit. Terry Dolan’s Hull City side lumped balls forward cluelessly, often to a mis-positioned Rob Dewhurst sent aimlessly to the front line.

And, undoubtedly, Nigel Pearson’s City side was regularly solid, hard to break down and showed few if any signs of adventure, flair or exuberance.

There was nothing wrong with that. Grinding out results is effective. How else did we break the club’s unbeaten away record? There weren’t many 4-0 or 5-0 results in that run, but there were plenty of 1-0 smash-and-grabs.

The ‘dour’ issue played on my mind for a while after Pearson departed for Leicester’s bulging transfer kitty and a second crack at a supposedly unfinished job (anyone who disagrees that he went for the money is, frankly, mistaken – do you think he’d have walked out of the KC for a team – still – lower than the Tigers in the league if Leicester’s board had offered to halve his salary?).

But listening to Pearson’s various post match interviews on Saturday I was struck by a few things, some which we knew, and some which dawned on me for the first time.

First I listened to him on Radio Leicester. He was every bit as tetchy, rude and as unpleasant to the interviewer as City fans were used to hearing during his regular clashes with Burnsy on Radio Humberside. You might explain his comments, and temper, by pointing out that he’d just seen his new side, purchased at a cost of many millions of pounds, defeated by the far-more-cheaply-assembled one he walked out on less than three weeks earlier.

His refusal to answer questions about the focus being on his return to the KC was standard Pearson, and perhaps he couldn’t be blamed. Time moves on and he was never going to offer a review of his job with City, and nor should he have.

But a second interview – on the BBC’s unbearably poor Football League
Show – showed yet another side of his character.

The FLC’s post-match interviews showed Nick Barmby being asked about the long-term possibilities of his managerial career and his desire to take on the City job. He said he wasn’t sure, it was about the team and he’d have to see how things would work out.

Then the same question was asked of Pearson – how did he see Barmby’s career in the dug-out panning out?

His response was, in my opinion, a little frostier than it needed to be.

After trying to squirm out of it (as Barmby had as well in fairness), Pearson said his successor had “a good team to work with” – that of course being the team Pearson himself had built. Then he wished Barmby and the players all the best.

You might think that’s fair enough and question what else he could feasibly have said.

But before kick off, and in the media in the build-up to the game, Barmby had praised his most recent former boss, and even embraced Pearson as the boos rang around the KC ahead of kick off. They shared a laugh and a kind word or two.

So why, two hours later, could Pearson not extend pleasantries of his
own towards a man who is widely regarded as one of the nicest in football, and other than his infamous clashes with Jimmy Bullard is not known to have fallen out with anyone in his long playing career. Would it really have pushed Pearson too far for him to say that yes, Barmby might well have an accomplished managerial career?

A couple of weeks ago Barmby was featured in a fantastic piece in the Telegraph by Henry Winter. He discussed the many big name managers he’d played under – Terry Venables, Gérard Houllier, Kevin Keegan and more – and explained how those experiences would influence his own managerial career.

If nothing else, it is a disappointment that Pearson could not offer some warm words of his own. Perhaps he said them to Barmby privately. Clearly the new Leicester gaffer is not a man comfortable dealing with the media. Maybe some of the Midlands club’s millions could be spent on some media training for the boss?

Whatever the reasons, Pearson’s comments disappointed many City fans and left yet another sour taste. I suppose we’re used to it now…

The more I think about it, the more I realise that I was right after all to say Pearson’s City side was dour. On Saturday the home side flourished, admittedly against 10 men, but with a sense of style and flair that was rarely seen under the last incumbent of the KC home dugout.

I’m thinking of the way the full-backs, Andy Dawson and Liam Rosenior, charged forward to get on the end of chances. Rosenior completely fluffed one after being put through by the increasingly indispensable Robert Koren. Dawson pulled off a remarkable volley, forcing Kasper Schmeichel into a brilliant save.

Barmby’s boys seemed to play with new-found exuberance. Even in defeat at Southampton last week City earned plaudits from the home fans for their free-flowing football and attacking prowess.

City will meet Leicester again on March 24. By then, both clubs’ seasons will be heading for the final stretch and we’ll have a far better idea of who’s going to end where.

It is probably best now to draw a line under the Pearson era, move on and back Barmby. But I feel Saturday’s events will only reinforce the feeling for City fans that our former boss is not just dour on and off the field, but is quite possibly also not a very nice guy.

Maybe we never understood him? Maybe it was never really a very comfortable fit? Maybe we’ll never know what went on behind the scenes?

But watch those post-match interviews again…

I certainly know which guy I’d rather have in charge of my football club.

Well, well, well. A fortnight ago Hull City appeared to be in the midst of one of the least tumultuous managerial spells in the club’s history. Nigel Pearson was guiding the Tigers up the Championship table, presumably towards a promotion push.

Now? The players will return from the international break under the caretaker stewardship of a man who never even coached or managed a first team game.

But that’s not the full story, is it?

My pre-prepared blog on “Warren Joyce: The Second Coming” will be stored away, probably never to be read by anyone. Just when you thought you’d seen it all, the Tigers manage to throw up another shock.

I had written that tempting Joyce away from Manchester United reserves had been something of a coup – as it is, Joyce himself must have thought the same thing and decided that actually, thanks for asking, but a return to the club he managed to Football League survival 12 years ago wasn’t really for him.

It’s hard to blame him for deciding to stay in what is, admittedly, a pretty cushy job in Lancashire. He remains a Hull City legend whose special place in the hearts of Tigers fans will not be tarnished (as it might well have been) by a second crack at the manager’s job.

Instead you can now peruse over a hastily re-written section on Nick Barmby, who effectively comes from nowhere to find himself on the other side of the desk in the manager’s office, at least for the time being.

There’s no one more popular at the club, no individual more likely to unite the fans.

Despite some newspaper reports, I can only imagine that this is truly a caretaker role. While Barmby would make a very suitable assistant to a new manager, it is hard to see how on earth giving him the job permanently now, without any experience whatsoever, could be deemed a good move. Frankly, he has no coaching credentials at all.

It seems, for today at least, that there is nowhere else to turn in terms of having someone to lead the players in training this week, and so the squad’s wisest old head is asked to keep an eye on the lads.

The 37-year-old does show signs of being a promising coach in the making. Witness his effect on games in the last two years, when, coming off the bench with half an hour to go he has repeatedly been influential in either rescuing a point or converting a draw into a win.

As they say, the first yard is in your head, and Nick, with years of experience not just at the top end of the game but in the international domain as well, has the sharpest of football brains. Under someone else’s wing, he is likely to develop into a future Hull City manager of some ability.

When he first moved to the KC in 2004 I was sceptical. In all his years in the top flight with Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and the rest, rarely if ever did he mention Hull City. Many felt his move was due only to Leeds United’s perilous financial situation and his own need for a club after a period of injury. In fairness, he always lived in Hull, even throughout his years as an England regular, and was once even served by yours truly at the check-out at Willerby Safeway.

In the past three or four years he has become the Tigers’ talisman. A leader on and off the field, an example to the younger players, and, if you believe the stories, puncher of Jimmy Bullard not once, but twice… His experience in the Premier League was vital, and as explained, his value on the field remains incalculable. What he can do off it remains to be seen.

City now provide the chunkiest mention on the “games played” section of his CV, with 180 games under his belt. He bleeds black and amber.

Perhaps Barmby will be given a couple of weeks to prove himself. Check out Dougie Freedman’s progress at Crystal Palace in recent months to see what can be possible from an on-the-field leader transferred to the dugout.

More likely, I expect and to some degree hope, Barmby will be charged with keeping things ticking over until a more experienced gaffer is appointed. Steve McLaren would seem to be the favourite now perhaps, although he wouldn’t fit with Assem Allam and Adam Pearson’s apparent desire for a younger coach.

Whatever the new managerial line-up, it seems obvious from today’s appointment that Nick Barmby has a long-term future on the opposite side of the Tigers’ touchline to the one he so far knows best.

Hull City’s new caretaker manager deserves, and should surely receive, the backing of all true Tigers fans.

PS – if he does get the job permanently, Nick might be able to tempt another talented Manchester United junior into a loan spell at the KC. Long-rumoured to be an even more capable player than his father, a certain Jack Barmby wouldn’t even need to look for somewhere to stay…

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Imagine: You have a good job. You enjoy it and perform admirably. But then you fall out with the boss, and despite still doing well, you feel you have to leave.

You get a new job, do well again and enjoy it, but nonetheless feel a bit disappointed that the disagreements with the boss meant you’d left the last one. It niggles. The new job is fine but it’s not quite the same, it’s not quite home.

Then your old company is taken over, a new boss comes in and decides he wants you back. Your old job on double the money. What would you do?

You would do exactly what Nigel Pearson has done this week. You might kid yourself and say you would stick with your new employer, it’s not about the money, you are loyal to the people you work for… But you would still go. You know you would. I would.

While Pearson’s immediate future remains in doubt as Leicester stall over paying appropriate compensation for his services, it seems almost implausible that he could ever return to east Yorkshire should those talks in the Midlands fail. I fully expect he will be installed at the King Power Stadium within the next seven days.

Yet amid all the rumours that have dominated the last week, some facts remain sacred.

Nigel Pearson is an extremely competent football coach.

He did a great job at Leicester City. The fans loved him and wanted him back.

He did a very admirable job at Hull City. Some fans admired him, but not everyone gave him the respect he (at that point) deserved and had earnt.

Someone offered him a huge amount of money and better short-term prospects.

That’s pretty much what this all boils down to. But do read on…

Some of the knucklehead Leicester fans on Twitter and in the forums have taken great pleasure in goading the Tigers supporters over Pearson’s choice. I’m not sure why.

Having seen a former England manager spend millions of pounds on their team and “fail” to such an extent that he lost his job, you might think most of them would be sufficiently embarrassed about the need to crawl back to their former manager that they would keep their mouths shut and wait until their fortunes improve.

In another 18 months or two years they will be the ones mocked when Pearson ditches them for a richer club in a higher division. It will happen.

Still, there’s nothing as fickle as football fans – as Hull City supporters have also shown this week.

A fortnight ago the Tigers were unbeaten in nine games, sitting pretty in the play-offs and dreaming of a promotion push under Pearson.

The volley of abuse aimed at him – indirectly – on Twitter and other forums in the past few days has been a little embarrassing. This was the guy who arguably saved us from a quite likely relegation (which would have been half of a double relegation) and turned the side around completely to such a degree we became potential play-off hopefuls. And what did he get for it? Idiots on phone-ins calling for his head after two defeats in three months.

There will be no tributes for Pearson’s time at the Tigers of the ilk served up when Phil Brown departed. But make no mistake, Pearson’s role in Hull City’s history should be remembered fondly, and may well be in the future.

He inherited a squad overloaded with over-paid underachievers, unwilling and unable to put in the performances on the pitch or make the decisions off it that were needed to help the club at a time of dire financial burden.

He leaves a squad loaded with young, hungry players, full of desire to make careers for themselves at the top level and prepared to bust a gut on the field and work as a unit to climb the table. And he did all that with a bit of nous, some decent contacts and not a lot of money.

We should be grateful. Even if you are not thankful for anything else, acknowledge the fact that Pearson built a squad capable of beating a long-standing club record for away games without defeat. What a change it made to travel the country knowing we’d come home with something to show for our day out.

No doubt when Pearson returns to the KC with his new side on December 3 he will receive plenty of abuse from the home fans. I intended to write that such a “welcome” would be wrong in my eyes, although the sad state of affairs we are now witnessing with these protracted negotiations has somewhat changed my mind. Pearson could have done the honourable thing and resigned at the KC in an effort to speed up the move. But he seemingly refuses to. He’ll also probably take his new side home with three points next month – typical City sod’s law.

I’m still sorry to see him go, but I’ll lose no sleep. I’d be more concerned if he returns in January with his multi-million pound kitty and attempts to pilfer away the likes of James Chester, Matty Fryatt and Liam Rosenior. We can only hope they have a greater degree of true loyalty – although such hopes will no doubt again be dashed. Money talks, simple as that. Any football fan who thinks loyalty counts for more than money is a fool.

I’d have been more greatly wounded by the departure of the other Pearson – Adam – a step which I fear can’t be too far away and which will have considerably more serious and dire consequences for the club as a whole.

Where City go from here remains to be seen. There are plenty of options; some good, some bad, some ugly (sorry, no more Iain Dowie jokes).

I think we could do a lot worse than Dave Jones, an admirable man both in football terms and in life generally. Steve McLaren, derided up and down the country, may do very well at a club he used to play for and in a city where his in-laws live. But the Allams’ suggestion that they want a younger man seems to rule out those two experienced heads.

Warren Joyce combined with Nick Barmby may create an ideal coaching combo given how many of our current players trained under our former manager at Manchester United’s Carrington training complex. Joyce seems to be the favourite and might be a good way of persuading the former United youngsters to Stick it out at the KC. But would he leave a cushy job at one of the biggest clubs in the world to return to a city where it took more than a decade for him to receive the praise he deserved for saving us from the drop into non-league football?

Time will tell. Until then we should simply say thank you and good luck to Nigel Pearson. I’m grateful for what he did for us, and that’s pretty much it. No man is bigger than the club. Peter Taylor wasn’t, Phil Brown wasn’t, Nigel Pearson isn’t.

The king is dead, long live the (soon-to-be-appointed) king.

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Ahead of today’s clash at Brighton and Hove Albion’s new American Express Community Stadium, I spoke to Richard Morris from the Seagulls’ matchday programme about both clubs’ starts to the season.

The feature should appear in the programme at today’s game. For those of you who can’t make it to the south coast, here is our preview for the Championship match:

BHA programme: Hull seem to have slipped under a lot of people’s radar this season but are positioned well in the league and in good form. How do you see the season going for you and are you happy not being everyone’s pick for promotion?

Daring to Dream: After a slow start with three defeats in the first four games things have really come good in the last month. We are now six unbeaten – our best run of form in years. Our defence is tight, but at the other end of the pitch we are struggling a little to kill games off once we’ve gone a goal ahead. We’ve scored only nine times in ten league games. But being under the radar seems to suit us. We let the supposed pundits talk about everyone else while we quietly go about our business. If we can keep this run going, a very promising season could lie ahead.

For a team so recently in the top flight, your squad does not necessarily boast a lof of household names. Who has impressed so far?

The apparent lack of a “star” name seems to suit us. We’ve prospered through collective team effort and everyone pulling together. We’ve a good mix of experience and youth and Nigel Pearson is clearly a great man-manager. No one player has shone brighter than the others, but James Chester at the back seems to be fulfilling his potential as a Manchester United graduate and now glides through games with maturity and composure beyond his 22 years. Robbie Brady, on loan from Man Utd, is a promising talent and often involved in our best attacking moves. He’s got pace, touch and a wicked left foot. Martyn Waghorn seems an astute loan signing from Leicester City.

We have just opened our new ground and are experiencing a real boost in interest. Hull City must have benefited from the same when the KC opened. What advice would you give the Albion as far as sustaining that initial interest?

Undeniably our rise to the Premier League would not have been possible without our stadium move in 2002. It brings a breath of fresh air and rejuvenates a club from top to bottom, from players to fans, on and off the pitch. Given your promotion last season and good start so far this year, the difficulties you have faced in achieving your move seem to have been negated somewhat. You’ve moved in a far better state than we did (we were in the bottom division) and so it seems your new ground can now be a platform for an assault on the Premier League.

I see Assem Allam has tried to open talks about buying the KC only for the council to turn the offer down. Would it be better for the club to own the ground, or do you as fans prefer it being in council hands? What difference would it make if you did own it?

In recent weeks this has become the hot topic among City fans. There is a bit of a split – fans are keen to see the KC Stadium expanded and new facilities added, and definitely do not want to move out of the city of Hull to the Melton site which Mr Allam says he will redevelop if the council don’t agree to his plans. But there is also some fear among supporters, perhaps understandably, about the potential of a club owner borrowing against the club in order to purchase a stadium which we moved into for free and have so far enjoyed for nine years while paying only rent. But this will be a long-running issue over the next five years. For now we are happy the club still exists.

How popular is Allam among the fans and what has changed about the club since he took over at the helm?

Anyone who puts his hand in his pocket to the tune of £50 million to save a club going out of business will forever be a hero among fans. Without the Allam family’s bailout we would have definitely gone into administration, and quite possibly liquidation. They’ve stabilised the financial situation beyond what anyone imagined would be possible – offloading players on ridiculous contracts handed out under the previous regime in the Premier League, supporting Nigel Pearson’s efforts to rebuild the squad, and investing in various off-field aspects at the club. It’s very pleasing to see the club being run sensibly after a few years of utter madness in the boardroom.

And what about the manager – do you think you have the right man for the job?

What Nigel Pearson has done in a little over a year is remarkable. He inherited a squad of largely lazy, over-paid Premier League journeymen uninterested in a Championship battle for survival and has slowly transformed it into one with a good mix of experience and youth thanks to some shrewd business in the transfer market and impressive loan agreement link-ups with other clubs, notably Manchester United. While his team’s playing style, and his media presence, are somewhat dour and unexciting, no one can ignore the fact that the team looks more stable, hard-working and determined than at any point in our Premier League experience, or indeed for many years before. He’s a seriously impressive performer.

Craig Mackail-Smith has started brilliantly on the south coast. How is his old striking partner Aaron McLean doing on Humberside?

Mclean is a hard worker. It is possible to argue that he is the best grafter in the squad, whether starting or coming off the bench. He has been a touch unlucky on the field – his hard work has not been rewarded with goals. Since joining in January, Mclean has only scored only four times in 32 appearances. But his work rate is exceptional, he’s a popular member of the squad, and just needs a good run of goals to really make an impact. The arrival of Waghorn has seen Mclean drift in and out of the starting XI in recent weeks, but he’s almost always involved at some point.

Any good young players we should be looking out for during today’s game?

Plenty. Joe Dudgeon (another on loan from Old Trafford) has looked impressive at left back in recent weeks with Andy Dawson out injured. The aforementioned Brady is always dangerous down the left wing, and Tom Cairney, if fit, could play in the middle of the park. He has a decent pass on him and shone during our second season in the top flight. Recent injuries have somewhat hampered his development though.

Boaz Myhill was a bit of a crowd favourite at the KC wasn’t he? How does Adriano Basso compare and how happy are you with the club’s recent signings?

Having played in all four divisions for City, Myhill’s gloves are almost impossible to fill. Fans remain gutted by his departure last year. However Brazilian Basso has done very well in recent weeks, pulling off decent saves at Peterborough and grabbing his chance between the sticks with both hands following an uncertain start to the season during which Peter Gulasci struggled as first choice keeper.

Overall, Pearson’s signings seen very shrewd. Paul McKenna has been a good addition from Forest, and the arrivals of Brady, Waghorn and Austrian winger Martin Pusic have added plenty up front. Any City fan complaining at the moment needs to have a long think about how we looked 18 months ago.

Is there anyone in the Albion team you would like in the Tigers line-up and what is your overall impression on the Seagulls so far?

Albion’s start and Poyet’s popularity has seemingly made you everyone’s favourite team in the Championship. It’s hard to avoid Mackail-Smith’s obvious success – I doubt there’s a club in this division (and many in the Premier League) who wouldn’t want him. The arrival of Vicente is an exciting one. If he can recreate his best form he could be a wonderful signing for Albion. Ashley Barnes appears to have hit the ground running also.

Prediction for the game?

Given the two sides’ impressive starts I’m expecting an exciting game. Brighton’s attacking prowess will be a challenge for our usually robust defense. I’d like to think we could come down here and nick three points, but I expect a 1-1 draw is a more likely outcome. I’d be happy with that.

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The Yorkshire Post has published a fascinating interview with Adam Pearson today on the legacy of City’s Premier League journey and the desire to again aspire to that “Holy Grail”.

The Tigers’ current head of football operations points out that when the club entered the top flight in 2008, it “may not have had any assets but it also didn’t really have any debt. That it eventually racked up the best part of £50m debt is what went wrong, not winning promotion in the first place”.

In a thinly-veiled attack on former manager Phil Brown and ex-chairman Paul Duffen, Pearson explains how he “struggles to understand what the thinking was” in City’s post-promotion player spending spree.

He highlights the signing of Kamel Ghilas as “extraordinary”.

“To take a 25-year-old player from the Spanish Second Division with no real track record and pay £2.6m and £600,000 of agents’ fees is quite staggering. And that’s without his wages.”

Pearson concludes that the Premier League experience was “a painful lesson and one that I believe every newly-promoted club should never forget”.

Interestingly, Pearson says the much-derided Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, has done a “phenomenal” job that “couldn’t have gone better in any commercial sphere”.

But he does attack top flight clubs for failing to better invest their riches.

There is also a now-trademark blast at football agents, but Pearson said he believes the football world has learnt from the financial failure experienced by City and others, including Leeds United and Portsmouth.

The entire piece is an essential read for City fans. Credit, yet again, to the YP and reporter Richard Sutcliffe.

It sits somewhat uncharacteristically when for seemingly days on end the only news coming out of Hull City can be put in the “good” category.

Yet still it comes.

The club has today issued an update on the progress of five injured players, four of whom could, on their return, be key figures in the campaign.

Cameron Stewart, who burst onto the scene last November before suffering that horrible knee ligament injury, is, we are told, slowly but surely on the mend.

The club’s head of medical services, Chris Burton, said Stewart is “eager to get back involved” and is on schedule for a possible reserve team return at the end of next month.

While it will understandably take time for the pacey winger to get fully back into his stride, Nigel Pearson must be thrilled by the prospect of possibly being able to unleash a double wing attack of Stewart and Robbie Brady on opposition defenders.

However, City will urge maximum caution in returning the 20-year-old to the first team in order to ensure no longer-term damage reoccurs.

The seemingly forgotten man, Nigeria international Seyi Olofinjana, may take a little longer to recover.

His knee injury – which I’m not entirely sure we’ve ever been told when or how he suffered – is clearing up slowly.

Burton said the midfielder, who spent last season on loan at Cardiff City, has mainly been doing gym work but should be back in training in around a month’s time.

It can only be imagined that his Premier League salary will mean the Allams and Pearsons will seek to off-load him, but depending on the success of his return to fitness, the big man may be just what the Tigers need to toughen up a midfield that at times still looks short of brawn. I would certainly welcome him back into the first team.

Australia World Cup performer Richard Garcia is “doing brilliantly” in his recovery from a serious cruciate ligament injury, but is nonetheless likely to be absent until at least the back end of November.

His contract situation appears to remain unresolved, having expired in the summer, but it can only be hoped that his return to fitness is welcomed with a new, perhaps short-term, contract from the club.

While fans may debate his best position and utility, Garcia always gives his all and his experience could well come in handy in the latter stages of the campaign.

Club captain Andy Dawson, suffering from medial ligament damage picked up a week ago, is in the “early stages” of recovery, according to Burton. He is expected to be out for around six weeks.

Joe Dudgeon can ably fill in at left back. Had Dawson suffered this injury last season, City would have been chronically short of cover. This absence will give the former Manchester United defender a chance to cement his position. If he does well, Dawson may struggle to get back into the side. However, like Garcia, his experience both on and off the field will be essential.

The fifth injured man assessed is reserve keeper Mark Oxley. He has a back problem but should return to second-team action in “a couple of weeks”.

The return of the four first-teamers should represent a big boost to Nigel Pearson, and could perhaps even dissuade him from entering the loan market in the next month, unless further injury or suspension disaster strike.

So in an ideal world, with these injuries cleared up, no suspensions, and a full squad to select from, how about this for a potential best XI City line-up around Christmas time?

(4-2-3-1) Basso; Rosenior, Chester, Hobbs, Dawson (c); McKenna, Olofinjana; Stewart, Koren, Garcia; Fryatt

(Subs) Gulasci, Dudgeon, Cairney, Brady, Waghorn/Mclean

I reckon such a squad would be well-placed to challenge even more substantially than in the final few months of last season.

Let’s hope all goes to plan and we can welcome these players back into black and amber sooner rather than later.

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