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Premiership Football News: Hull City In The Premier League

Andy Greeves

No sooner had the final whistle sounded at Wembley on Saturday, talk of the task facing Hull City in the Premiership next season began. Despite Hull's jubilation of being in the top flight of English football for the first time in their 104 year history, nobody at the club will be under any delusions of the size of the challenge awaiting them come August.

Only six teams promoted to the Premier League via the Play-offs in the last sixteen years have survived more than a season without getting relegated. Just three clubs on the list of Championship Play-off winners since 1992 remain in the top flight now (Blackburn, Bolton and West Ham), while Blackburn are the only ever Play-off winners that have gone on to land the Premiership title. Swindon Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers have never returned to the Premiership, after Championship Play-off promotion and Premier League relegation in subsequent seasons.

Last season's Play-off winners Derby County hardly offer Hull any inspiration going into the top flight. Derby won just one game all season in 2007/2008, racked up just 11 league points (a Premiership record low) and also had the league's worst ever goal difference (minus 69). There are already cruel bookmakers offering narrow odds on Hull or fellow promoted side Stoke to do even worse than the Rams next season. They are also offering closer odds on Liverpool winning the Premiership title than Hull avoiding relegation.

Not that Hull City will be overly concerned with other people's views of their club, especially with a whole summer to prepare for their Premiership baptism of fire. Optimism is abound at the KC Stadium that Hull really can establish themselves long term as a Premiership club. "Bolton went up in 2001 with Blackburn and Fulham and all three stayed up and are still there," commented manager Phil Brown in his post match press conference.

"I believe that survival is achievable… I am planning meticulously for survival in the Premier League," he continued. Brown has earmarked Bolton Wanderers as the club he would like to see his side to emulate. The Trotters are the perfect role-model for any newly promoted side, having stayed in the Premiership since winning the Championship Play-offs in 2001.

Bolton's ‘no frills' approach both on and off the pitch has been key to their success. A 4-5-1 formation has been the norm, with tough tackling and direct play the Bolton tactical ethos. Their midfield has been famed for stifling the opposition into eventual submission and in Kevin Nolan, Bolton have been blessed with a home grown skipper that has led by example in over 270 games for the club.

Often portrayed simply as a one dimensional outfit that grinds out results, it must be remembered that the likes of Youri Djorkaeff, Hidetoshi Nakata and Jay-Jay Okocha have brought flair to Bolton during their Premiership years too.

Where Bolton have truly excelled is in the transfer market, with the club having been able to construct the spine of their team for next to nothing. Goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen cost a mere £100k back in 1997 and 344 games later for Wanderers, he is one of the best goalkeepers in the Premiership. Then there's Greek midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos, who has appeared 137 for the Reebok Stadium club since arriving on a free transfer in 2003. Kevin Davies also cost nothing and has gone on to make 170 starts and score 35 goals.

Bolton have also known the right time to sell. Michael Ricketts cost the Trotters £500k from Walsall in 2000. The striker promptly went on to score in the Play-off final of 2001, thus securing cult like status at the Reebok Stadium. But after a dip in form and a falling out with then boss Sam Allardyce, he was sold for £3m just three years later.

Nicolas Anelka was another Bolton striking sensation, signed by Allardyce in 2004 for £8m. The club managed to get excellent performances out of a player that other teams have found notoriously difficult to motivate. But like Ricketts, every Bolton player has a price and 53 games and 21 goals later Anelka was sold to Chelsea for £15m, where he now struggles to make the starting line-up.

The parallels between Bolton Wanderers and Hull City are already apparent, not least in the way the Tigers have been piecing together their squad. For Jussi Jaaskelainen read Boaz Myhill, a keeper signed for just £50k from Aston Villa in 2003 who has gone on to play 186 games for Hull.

Defender Michael Turner was bought for £250k from Brentford and won this season's Player of the Year award at the KC Stadium. Like Bolton there's also been a place in the side for the old stars still able to bring flair to the team. The Hull-born duo Nick Barmby and Dean Windass and ex-Trotters man Jay-Jay Okocha are all cases in point.

Phil Brown and Hull City's buying credentials face the examination of a lifetime this summer. 'We have a good nucleus but I will add to the squad with players who will improve us on the field and off the field", says Brown. Just spending money isn't going enough to keep them in the Premiership, as the likes of Watford, Wolves and Derby will vouch for from their stays in the big time.

Good judgement, negotiation skills and that all important bit of luck are all vital in securing the right kind of players. It's difficult to put a price tag on what Hull will need to spend this summer to give them a chance of survival. To put it into perspective, Sunderland spent nearly £40m on new players after winning promotion to the Premiership last season and went on to finish just three places and three points above the relegation zone. Even if Hull were to spend the entire £60m they are reported to have gained by winning promotion to the Premiership, survival would still be a massive ask for the Humberside club.

According to Brown, Fraizer Campbell, Hull's loanee striker from Manchester United, is "top of his shopping list" and it's not hard to see why. The 20-year-old has a phenomenal goal-scoring record in the two seasons he has spent away from Old Trafford gaining first team experience.

He netted 21 times in 33 matches in the Belgium league for Royal Antwerp last season and has followed up with 15 goals in 35 starts for Hull this campaign. A Campbell-Barmby/Windass frontline would surely cause Premiership defences a problem next season, if Phil Brown could agree a price with Sir Alex Ferguson. Raiding relegated Reading might also proof a wise ploy - with the likes of Stephen Hunt, Ívar Ingimarsson, Glen Little and Nicky Shorey all capable of improving Hull's squad if available.

Phil Brown admits the "work starts now" to ensure Hull City aren't the next club Play-off promoted one season, Premiership relegated the following campaign. Following the Bolton blueprint certainly gives the Tigers a fighting chance of staying in the league they've battled so hard to be a part of.

Andy Greeves

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