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Hull City: Team preview for the promoted club

By Jocelyn Taub

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 28: Father and son Alex Bruce and Steve Bruce, manager of Hull City celebrate with the trophy after the Sky Bet Championship Play Off Final match between Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley Stadium on May 28, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 28: Father and son Alex Bruce and Steve Bruce, manager of Hull City celebrate with the trophy after the Sky Bet Championship Play Off Final match between Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley Stadium on May 28, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /
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Hull City head in to the start of the new Premier League season in complete disarray and look likely to face immediate relegation

Hull City are a disaster waiting to happen. While the other Premier League clubs have spent the summer getting ready for the new campaign, it appears that Hull have been doing the opposite. One look at the current state of the squad suggests an organization doing its best to undermine any chance of top flight survival.

Hull finished fourth in the Championship last season and earned promotion via the playoffs. They accomplished this with Steve Bruce at the helm as manager.

The good times didn’t last too long. Bruce quit last month out of frustration at the club’s lack of signings. The only player to have arrived this summer is 18-year-old goalkeeper Will Mannion who is expected to play for the under-21 squad.

Hull has yet to name a permanent replacement for Bruce. They will begin the season with Mike Phelan serving as the caretaker manager.

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Aside from the manager, Hull have lost four key players to injury. Captain and defender Michael Dawson will be out until late October with knee damage. Defender Alex Bruce is sidelined with a serious Achilles injury and goalkeeper Allan McGregor will miss at least six months due to back problems. Midfielder Moses Odubajo joined the list of injured players last month and will miss about six months with a knee injury.

In addition, defender Harry Maguire and midfielders Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore missed a significant amount of preseason training. With Hull short on defenders, Livermore is expected to play at center back to start the season.

Another subtraction from the roster was striker Chuba Akpom who returned to Arsenal after spending last season on loan with Hull.

What might be the final nail in the coffin to moral at Hull City came this past week. Midfielder Mohamed Diame signed with Newcastle United who were relegated from the Premier League last season. In other words, Diame saw a better opportunity to play in a lower division with Newcastle than to stay with Hull in the Premier League.

Loyal Hull City fans are fed up and a protest is expected to take place this weekend at KCOM Stadium as Hull host champions Leicester City.

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The Hull City Supporters Trust released a statement last week with regards to a protest about the current state of the club. It began with a rather blunt statement.

"No communication, no manager, no engagement, no signings, no identity, no concessions, no honesty. The list goes on. You don’t need us to tell you what a state Hull City is in at the moment. The owners are digging their heels in more than ever, discarding people at an alarming rate and pushing ahead with all of their ill-considered ideas with their usual arrogance and complete lack of interest in the damaging effects they will have."

Of course the Premier League season is long and the fortunes of Hull City could change. As things presently stand, however, the outlook is bleak.

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