Taking the Tigers to the top

[slater6672]

View attachment 748869Hull City
Taking the Tigers to the top!

It's now been a whole year since Andy Slater took over management at Hull City. It's time to a look back at the season and review.


Aims:
Win European Cup
Win FA CUP
Win Premiership
Win Capital One Cup
Win Super Cup
Win Community Shield
Win World Club Cup
Become Richest Club
Complete the treble
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June 2014

Hull City reveal new manager Andy Slater 26. After his successful stint at Gillingham Assem Allam snatched at the opportunity to hand Slater an offer. With little hesitation Slater took the job and embarked upon his mission.

I decided not to be optimistic, setting our sights at a Mid-table finish with a measly transfer budget of $4M.

The Squad
View attachment 748868




Transfers In:

Humam Tariq - 300k

Obviously if I wish to challenge for the title in future years I'm going to need to build for the future. Humam was the beginning of this. At 18 for 100k upfront and the rest over 48 months this was a bargain even if he doesn't reach his potential.

Lucas Romero - 7m

This was a no brainer, due to my preferred formation a strong BBM / DM is required. With great potential Lucas is an obvious choice. For a small portion up front and the rest over 48 months I was delighted with this signing.

Munir 10.25m

A high price relative to my budget but building for the future wise this lad fits the bill. His current ability isn't too far off my current strikers and his potential is endless. Due to a 10.25m release clause all the money had to be upfront which certainly left a whole in the bank. It's pretty clear some players were going to get the sack.

Gaston Gil Romero 6m

Looking to further bolster my CM with a strong player with great potential was Gaston. Estudiantes accepting only 1.8m up front and the rest over 48 months Gaston proved to be the solid core of my team.

Eder Alvarez Balanta - 7m

To finish high you need to win games and to win games you need to concede less than the opponent. Once again offering a small portion upfront and the rest over 48 months, Eder was a brilliant signing. A strong CB who can also play as a wing back if necessary is exactly what i was looking for.


You might be thinking to yourself, how has he managed to fund all this with a $4m budget?


Transfers Out:

Robbie Brady - Newcastle 8.5m
Unfortunately for Robbie I focus on a narrow game so a left winger just wasn't what I needed. For 8.5m I had to let him go.

Tom Ince - Swansea - Loan
I tried to sell him but was unsuccessful in doing so. However,I did manage to loan him out to cover his wages.

Stephen Quinn - Leicester - 850k
After the purchase of two new CM's there was no need for Stephen. Even at his peek there was no room for him.

Paul McShane - Crystal Palace - 1.8m
Desperate for money I had to sell where possible. Sadly for Paul I had just invested in a new younger CB and he had to go.

Curtis Davies - Liverpool - 6m
Although at his peak and quite a strong defender I already had four of them. An easy decision and 6m was exactly what i needed.

Nikica Jelavic - OM - 8.5m
You could say this was Hull's current strongest forward. Much to the displeasure of the fans and as a result the board I let him go. The money was decent and he would majority fund the cost of Munir.

Maynor Figueroa - Krasnodar - 800k
A similar reason for Curtis. With an overflow of defenders and Maynor being one of the elder players. I was looking for the future and decided to let him go too.

Yannick Sagbo - Burnley - 1.8m
Yannick was always going to be a backup. A fair way off the ability of aluko and Hernandez and on top of the purchase of Munir. I just couldn't see him ever breaking through at the age of 26.

David Meyler - Crystal Palace - 1.3m
At the age of 25 David was a fairly good player. However to push on I need more quality than "fairly good" and with both Romero's coming in the ranks there was no place for him.

Humam Tariq - Stade De Reims - Loan
Humam is a decent player for his age. But with Ben Arfa and Ramirez fighting for the AM role I couldn't see him getting many games. It was for the best to loan him out and give him firstteam football.


Board Expectations:

English Premier Divison - Mid Table
Fa Cup - Reach fifth round
Capital One Cup - Reach quarter final
Euro Cup ( yes Hull are in the Euro Cup ) - It was either the knockout round before or the group stages I cannot remember

Initially I thought these to be fair. A mid table finish was fine, as for the Fa and Capital One it was dependent upon who i was drew. In all honesty I didn't want to make the group stages of the Euro Cup. My squad wasn't of sufficient quality to undertake the extra games.

Preseason
View attachment 310740
Two draws and two wins, not the best but at least it wasn't a loss! It was clear we had some work to do and a slight change of tactic was in order.







I have actually completed my first season as Hull. Initially I wasn't going to create a story, however i have decided to hence some of the past tense. Unfortunately I didn't take screenshots for league table updates so I will briefly post our progression through the somewhat exciting year. When next season beings expect much more detailed posts!

 

[SamPeters]

Some great signings there! good luck for the season

 

[joshcoles224]

Awesome business mate, looking forward to this.

 

[slater6672]

View attachment 308296
So as I don't have too many pictures from the 2014 season as mentioned before I'm going to try cover it quickly, which is a shame because it was an interesting first year.

August:

So as you can see my first three games of the season in the league, Tottenham away, Everton home, Chelsea away. First thoughts.... I would be happy with draws at both Tottenham and Chelsea although the latter is less likely. If i was going to grab a win it had to be Everton at home. Both the Tottenham and Everton game were very close and could of gone either way. Everton were slightly fortunate, we had far more possession in the attacking third we just couldn't find the net. Two games two losses it wasn't a great start, never the less we pushed on and knew that with these fixtures we had to expect a slow beginning. Chelsea away, I cannot remember the odds but they were definitely stacked against us. Now whats going to surprise you even more than the 5-4 win is Chelsea went 4-1 up. Half time, I decided there was no point playing defensive and so be it if we lose GD. "overload", I went all out. We got a goal a back within a minute of kicking off, there was hope! I distinctly remember Aluko scoring an absolute screamer is this match, Munir quickly followed up with another goal. It was now 4-4 and then came the decision of hold out or push on. I hate the phrase and everything about it but the term "yolo" came to mind and I pursued the all out tactic. 89 minutes in Munir delivered a magnificent goal. 5-4 Hull city the crowd went wild.

Meanwhile the in the Europa cup we squeezed through the play offs, a disappointing performance but a win is a win!

September:
We followed up our victory at Chelsea with three successive wins, the morale had certainly lifted among the ranks. 6-0 , 4-0 , and a 2-0, we were climbing back up the table and in a positive state of mind for the upcoming crystal palace match. Football being football we can beat Chelsea away from home 5-4 but we cannot beat Crystal Palace. A poor show on our part not finishing chances and the defense not holding their own. After slamming the team post match it was clear to them that it was unacceptable to lose these types of games and they replied in the correct fashion delivering two wins to finish up a very good month in all.

October:
The winning mindset continued, a great start to the month picking up another 3 points. The celebrations were short lived however, after a draw at home to the hammers I felt somewhat let down. The game was there for the taking and our strikers did not produce. A 3-0 win in the Europa league wasn't exactly what I wanted. My squad wasn't sufficient to be in so many cups. My players were tired and the constant injuries of my strikers in particular was taking its told. I wouldn't of minded dropping out of the Europa league during the group stages as I had already passed expectations. The 0-0 draw to Man Utd, a good result. If you offered me this prior to the match I would of comfortably bit your hand off, away from home 1 point was a bargain! After a great result at Old Trafford we were knocked out to Stoke, I wasn't too bothered about this. The cup isn't at the top of my priorities and the same is for the board. In the long term to me it meant fresher players.

November:
Definitely a mixed bag of results here. Three wins in the league whilst only losing 0-1 away at Arsenal was a great month, especially beating the scousers ( Man Utd fan ). On the other hand the Europa league was somewhat of a let down, some very poor performances.



I seem to be having issues with posting pictures not sure why. Apologies for it being so brief but without proper pictures I want to get this story up to the second season where I took plenty and have some really tense results.