Honeymoon over again for Mccann
FLEETWOOD DEFEAT PUTS A DENT IN FANS’ CONFIDENCE
It didn’t take long for the honeymoon period to end. Four games and 73 minutes to be exact. If Grant Mccann thought the best start to a league season for Hull City had won the fans over following the implosion which led to relegation from the Championship, a quick glance at the responses to the club’s social media posts would convince otherwise.
It wasn’t so much a wave of negativity, more a light spray, but nevertheless the response as Sam Stubbs’ goal went in to put Fleetwood Town 4-1 up on Hull City spoke volumes about the mood around the club and Mccann in particular.
An opening day win and a clean sheet against Gillingham, followed by three successive victories against the newly promoted sides in Crewe, Northampton and Plymouth put a nice sheen on a City side rebuilt over a truncated off season that left little time to wallow in the mire which the club had found themselves in.
A bit of spit and polish, with undeniably good recruitment, gave City a fresh look for their new surroundings.
Early results suggested City wouldn’t just look the part but would have the substance to go with the style.
Friday night at the seaside has reaffirmed the belief of some that simply isn’t the case.
“Mccann knows this division, knows the teams and players and knows how to get results in League One. That’s why he was kept on,” was the assessment of BBC and the Mail’s pundit Peter Swan only last week.
That view will be shared by many still. This was after all, a first defeat in what has, on the whole, been a very positive two months for the Tigers.
A sense of realism points to City being one point off the top of the table after five games and with four clean sheets in the process.
One defeat shouldn’t alter the perception this season so far has been anything but a productive one. The trouble for Mccann is the naysayers are not questioning this season, they’re highlighting the collapse at Fleetwood and its striking similarities to last season as the Tigers lost their bite and at times their fight.
The City head coach can brush aside all the questions about last season, but it doesn’t make it go away. The hangover may have gone thanks to the elixir of a good start to the campaign, but the memories haven’t faded.
That’s the challenge for Mccann. Each defeat, especially in these first few months of the season won’t be used as a stick to beat the head coach with, but capitulations of the manner of last
Friday certainly will. City have shown enough to suggest they can tackle this division, but we’ve also seen enough to reinforce what most already knew, League One can be just like the Championship for unpredictability.
It’s a division which can be a real struggle to get out of.
The Tigers will not just need their bite back, but a little bit of a snarl too and an ability to stand up to the challenge in the face of adversity.
They look to have the necessary players to handle that challenge. Many will believe they have a man who knows enough to oversee an immediate return, but as Friday night showed, there are many still to be convinced.