GRANT IS GRATEFUL FOR THE CHANCE TO REVITALISE TIGERS
FA CUP FIRST ROUND SATURDAY, 3PM
AFTER losing 16 of the last 20 games to hurtle out of the wrong end of the Championship, manager Grant McCann’s future at Hull looked decidedly dicey in the summer.
But the Tigers are reaping the rewards after sticking with the Northern Irishman, sitting fourth in League One.
And in repaying the faith the owners are showing in him, McCann is keen to instill a sense of unity with a sign plastered all over the training ground demanding ‘surrender the me for the we’.
McCann, whose side host Fleetwood in the FA Cup tomorrow, knows he could have been sacked but is grateful his bosses saw the bigger picture. ‘I don’t think there is
much patience in football these days,’ he says. ‘Any manager will tell you they go home with a win on a Saturday they are safe for another week and if they lose they are dreading the phone call. That’s just football. ‘But here we feel as if we have got time to build what we are trying to build and we thank the owners for having that patience with us.’
Hull were on the cusp of the play-off spots on December 31, before they went into freefall with an injury crisis compounded by selling star players Jarrod Bowen (pictured) to West Ham and Kamil Grosicki to West Brom.
‘If you took Mo Salah and Sadio Mane out of Liverpool’s team last year would it have affected them? Of course it would,’ says the 40-year-old boss.
‘We lost Jarrod and Kamil for the right reasons – because we can’t stand in Jarrod‘s way if a Premier League side comes in, and Kamil was never going to sign a new contract.’
Then, when the season resumed in June several key players including Eric Lichaj, Marcus Maddison and Jackson Irvine refused to play as they were out of contract in the summer. ‘It was difficult for us with the domino effect it had,’ admits McCann. ‘It was huge for us to go out of the league but we have an opportunity to build again. ‘We all take responsibility for what happened last season. It’s not just down to one person – it’s us as a football club. We want to do better. ‘We want to get out of this division, hopefully this year, and make sure we are better equipped the next time we are in the Championship.’
The former Peterborough and Doncaster manager is glad to have finally put his stamp on the side after taking over at the start of last season.
‘Recruitment has been huge for us. When the last game finished we made sure we got the right characters for this level. I think all of the ten players who came in have played a part already.
‘It was good to start afresh. There were a lot of contracts that were running out and there was a whole different dynamic in terms of wage structure and the club coming from the Premier League.
‘But now we have got the club on an even keel and everyone is buying into the mantra that we want to get out of this league as soon as we can.’
And McCann is keen to play positive football. ‘I like to be on the front foot with high energy and be expansive in our play, create chances but also be defensively strong,’ he adds. ‘That is the most pleasing thing this season.’
Getting back into the Championship is the top priority but McCann has no intention of fielding a weakened side against Fleetwood in the FA Cup, having suffered a setback in the league in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Swindon.
‘We would love to make progress and would love to have a run. I love the FA Cup. As a player and manager, I have always enjoyed it,’ he says.
‘Fleetwood are a good side. We are at home. It feels like we have been away for a long time over the last few weeks. Hopefully it’s a nice distraction after the defeat at Swindon.’
‘But promotion is paramount. We have a really good honest group of players.
‘We have had a good start. The boys are buying into everything we do.’