There’s a reason the blog has become more and more of a walk down memory lane recently. Well, I say recently, sometimes something sparks my interest in the current situation (sacking Walter Tim or getting knocked out of the FA cup) and I use that to look back, but on the whole I’d admit I’ve avoided saying too much about the club in the last two years.
Two or three reasons really, one I’m not really going much as my time is being taking up with non-league coaching, so most of my City consumption is TV based and I think it’s hard to get a totally accurate take on things. Two it’s not the most inspirational write, I think the current product gets a hell of a lot of attention and posts and mine isn’t significantly different or more valid than anyone else’s.
Three and this might be the most poignant reason, City twitter and the other versions or it are somewhat of shark infested waters for me these days, lots of “I told you so” merchants, finger pointing, points scoring and tribal-ness for me, and I suspect many of you are like formerly some of the most prolific city fans and have kept a low profile of late.
Sometimes I write a reply to snarky comment, and then just think “nah” and delete it, it’s wasted energy, I don’t want an argument with someone about City, it’s bad energy, if you really think what you think, good luck to you, there’s an element of pile ons and put downs that aren’t really for me on this app. So I’ll keep my powder dry.
So, with that in mind let’s break down January 27th 2025 into 3 things under the heading of “Good City and Bad City” and if you’re ok with my takes lovely, if not, send your hate tweets on X to @thelikesofhull (my name was taken in vain unintentionally by disappointed Sheffield United fans last week, so that’s always a good sign) or pop onto Bluesky and call me a twat or something… it all works. UTT and all that.
Good City
Ivor Pandur
Player of the year hands down for me from what I’ve seen. Often great even when we’ve been tepid and he’s got better and better. Had no issue with Rushworth and he might even be a tad better with the ball at his feet but you’ve got to believe the boys in the squad back Pandur and will feel at ease with him back in goal. Sometimes keepers are hard to totally surmise with just their saves, Pandur has a presence now and you back him in the big moments, he’s calm but he’s also the aggressor in one on ones when they happen. Acun has got far from everything right, but he definitely nailed this one. You could even argue he could attract attention from the league above.
Ruben Selles
Obvious I know but it’s still true. Ruben has come in, assessed everything around him and quickly set about putting things right. He’s pragmatic but calm, passionate but realistic and he’s clearly got the boys onside. Not unlike a certain French football league manager did a couple of years before him, he saw a leaky defence and some people not pulling their weight and started by sorting that our first. We no longer look like conceding every time someone comes forward and slowly he’s providing the team with players who can make impact at the other end.
Good managers can bring in new players who make a difference (Crooks, Geldhardt, Matazo) but the real sign of how good Ruben is, is the difference he’s made to those already here and who might have been struggling. Sean McCloughlin looks reborn, Joao Pedro was already one of the better players in but he’s gained a spring in his step, Abu Kamara has gone from the outhouse to the winners enclosure.. and I could go on. We’ve got some way to go yet, but I think we’ve found another good one, so let’s hope we keep him this time.
Jared Dublin
Again it’s early doors, but we’ve shipped out what wasn’t working (Mehlem, Giles, Longman) we’re looking to ship out more (god knows we need to) and what he’s brought in so far looks a distinct improvement. As I’m writing it looks like Louis Barry is going to be added to the list and Geldhardt and Crooks were both outstanding on Friday night as well as Matazo fitting in well straight away. Sure we’ll see how much Amrabat plays and what Lincoln can do, but it does seem to bode well overall. I think if we can get a left back in, we’re almost there, especially if Charlie Hughes is nearing fitness. The finances may well be a damned sight trickier to balance up, but let’s hope we hit the jackpot with somebody and that’ll help plug the gap. Well done to this point Mr Dublin.
Bad City
Everything related to the Ryan Giles deal
This whole thing was a disaster both financially and on the pitch. We’ve paid way too much to take a player that however you dress it up had essentially just failed at Luton (no matter how much they spent or how well he’d done before, he couldn’t dislodge Alfie Doughty and didn’t deserve to if you speak to any Hatters) We’ve paid him plenty for the pleasure of some very half hearted performances and he’s left for a club that don’t have to buy him if he continues to be Stephen Kingsley with nice hair. It’s done now, and there’s no going back but jesus… what a mess. Please learn from this.
FFP, the mounting losses, eek
This is one I usually keep to myself, mainly because like most things financial there’s lots of missing details in there and the people who are shouting from the rooftops that it’s impending doom AND those who are saying that those people are idiots and this is how things should be done… are probably both wrong. Far from being the Martin Lewis of football blogs, I’ll just say we’ve had a couple of real goes at chucking the dice so far and it’s not really worked, let’s hope the next one does, so we don’t have to shake like a shitting dog when we read “The price of football” and their breakdown of our finances on twitter. It doesn’t take a genius (and I’m not one) that we probably can’t do this forever.
Fan goading and feuding
Honestly, it’s a messy place the #hcafc hashtag at times, sniping, whataboutery, angry tin hat wearing lunatics, personal attacks etc etc. I try just to swerve most of it, but it’s hard. Is is that hard just to be civil to other fans of this club? I have mates that have wildly different takes to me on life, and football and both, does it really help to make these differences so stark by disrespecting each other? I don’t think so but then maybe as an older fan (51 damn it, when did that happen?) maybe my run ins with John Fenwick on City Independent 25 years ago gave me a little more wisdom.
A small piece of advice, read Tony Turner (@tonytiger67) hands down the funniest bloke on the whole of twitter and a never ending source of brilliant city quips, dip into Tiger Tube (@TigerTubePlayer) and get lost in the reams of brilliant City content, have a look at what John Uzzell says (@Uzzell01) for a balanced view that has reflects what most fans really think and the same for the City Southern Supporters club (@HCSStweets) for the away perspective from folks that have lived a life outside of Hull and are still mad enough to love us all the same.
I know I’ll get stick for leaving out other good people and creators of city content, there’s plenty of good people out there is essentially what I’m saying, go have a chinwag with them, you do you…. Turn down the volume of the squeaky wheels, enjoy being a City fan, because the process of the ups and downs of supporting this club are going to cause you more that enough pain. You don’t need to add to it.
Ok I’ll put my tin hat on and hide for a bit, hopefully the current team are heading to a better destination and there’s a reason or two to be cheerful. Thanks for reading, keep the faith.