Hull City play their first Premier League match in nine years on Saturday lunchtime, and the build-up has been dominated by people explaining why they will not last. "Hull are gone, man," Joe Cole said on a podcast, before adding: "They've spent 70 million. I'll be stunned if they stay up. They've come here through the back door, they've slipped in." Michael Owen has suggested the club "shouldn't have been promoted".
The visitors to the MKM Stadium finished third last season on 71 points, from 20 wins, 11 draws and seven defeats, and closed the campaign unbeaten in six: five wins and a goalless draw at Sunderland. Hull came up through the play-offs after finishing sixth in the Championship on 73 points, 22 behind the champions Coventry City, and beat Middlesbrough 1-0 in the final.
The chairman, Acun Ilicali, answered the pundits in a post on X. "As a club we are used to being underestimated and we enjoy it, and we enjoyed it more when were promoted last season," he wrote. "For me, seeing two ex-players making fun of a deservedly promoted club, is more laughable than the things they were laughing at."
Sergej Jakirovic took the same tone at his first press conference of the season. "I saw all these predictions but it is a great motivation to prove them wrong, if it's possible," he said. "It will not be easy but at least we can fight there. We don't have anything to lose. You play for yourself, and you show your potential on the pitch."