Retained List and Manager Update
Hull City’s retained list was announced over the weekend, which was more depressing news for the fan base, especially after the news of Rosenior being sacked just over a week before. It was par for the course to see most of the players on this list depart and it is hard to envisage another great transfer of loan players again to live up to the same expectations like last season.
The only positive aspect of the former manager’s style of play is that teams in the Premier League play in the same way and they will be looking for teams in lower leagues to loan their players out in order for them to get used to how they want to play. Hence why we got the players we did. However, now we are getting a new manager with another style of football, it is going to be difficult to get these top players.
Here is a list of the players departing:
Greg Docherty - this was a big blow as the Scotsman, scoring seven goals and making 142 appearances, was a huge part of our promotion back to the Championship in 2021 and has continued to be a key player throughout the next two seasons; it will be hard to see him go and I wish him the best in the future.
Adama Traore - the Mali international, scoring three goals and making 37 appearances, joined in the 2022/23 season, however, we did not see much of him until the latter part of the season, but what we did see was a great prospect with huge potential. It is unfortunate he had so many setbacks, but hopefully he unleashes his talent somewhere else.
David Robson - the young Welsh goalkeeper never had his opportunity to shine for us and only made one appearance before joining Crawley and Darlington on loan. With three other keeper options, it was unlikely he would feature for us again.
Cyrus Christie - the Irish defender joined in the 2022/23 season and was a key individual during our campaign scoring 3 goals and featuring in 56 games overall. Unfortunately, he had a couple of injuries and rarely made the bench towards the end of the 2023/24 season. He was an experienced player and is somebody who deserves to go to a side where he will be played.
Aaron Connolly - this is another signing who we do not want to see go, but, like the others in this list, he had a few injuries and never got going in the last half of the previous season. However, he did score 10 goals in 36 games, became a super sub and helped us get back into games that we were out of (for example, Blackburn away last season). Let’s hope he can shine somewhere else.
Billy Sharp and Vaughn Covil - it never worked out for either player, the latter having a big injury and featuring in only 8 games across the two previous seasons. The former was brought in for an impact sub, and was only played 13 times at the end of games, scoring zero goals. To be fair, he is coming to the end of his career and was never going to be at his best for us.
The bad news does not stop there; brace yourself for the names on this next list:
Ryan Giles - making 17 appearances and creating one pivotal goal. He has a great left foot on him and was very energetic down the left flank. His talent is too good for a Championship side and it was inevitable that he will not be staying.
Tyler Morton - he made 41 appearances for us, scored three goals and claimed five assists. No doubt he was an incredible player, who controlled the middle well and was a great asset in our campaign. Again, it would have been hard to keep him, especially with his parent club Liverpool getting a new manager.
Fabio Carvalho - joining during the January transfer window, he made 20 appearances for us scoring nine goals and making two assists. His attacking talent was incredible and he was one of the most energetic and creative loan players we have brought in in a while. He will go back to Liverpool for the next season.
Noah Ohio - he made eight appearances for us and scored three goals, two of which were in the most crucial circumstances; if he did not score them, we could have essentially dropped quite a few points. It is a shame that we could not keep him, but if he was not getting regular game time, I do not blame him for leaving–he deserves to be played.
Annass Zaroury - the Burnley loanee made 12 appearances for us, scoring two goals and being a very active and dynamic player. Unfortunately, he suffered from an injury towards the end of the season, which saw him out of the squad.
Liam Delap - what a big loss this is going to be. He featured 32 times for us and chalked up eight goals. Without this talented striker, we would not have won some of our earlier games. His ability to turn, run and keep hold of the ball at the same time was incredible and it is unlikely we will see someone like him back in black and amber shirt.
The players above will see their spell expire on 30 June.
The only positive news from Hull City is that we are expecting a manager announcement very shortly and it looks certain it is going to be former Hamburg manager Tim Walter, who is ostensibly crazy and interactive on the touchline and will bring us ‘heart attack’ football. He looks the most likely candidate for the job and you will find out if this is true in my next piece.