Guardian writers’ predicted position: 20th (NB: this is not necessarily Louise Taylor’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 6th (Championship)
Prospects
It is no exaggeration to say that Hull’s playoff triumph in May was a shock. They had, after all, started the season as Championship relegation favourites and operated under a transfer embargo throughout the campaign. Moreover, they conceded 66 league goals, the fourth-highest, along the way. Now another minor miracle will surely be required if Premier League survival is to be secured.
Much may hinge on Oli McBurnie, the scorer of 19 goals last season, succeeding where he has struggled in the past and retaining his scoring touch in the top tier, but there is no lack of optimism in East Yorkshire. “Think about us like a volcano,” says Hull’s owner, Acun Ilicali. “It’s boiling right now and it’s going to erupt.”
Hull intend following Sunderland’s template last summer by making 14 new signings, albeit on a significantly smaller budget. So far 11 – Jack Butland, Hidemasa Morita, Matt Targett, Óscar Zambrano, Jens Hjertø-Dahl, Elliot Stroud, Konstantinos Tzolakis, Lucas Herrington, Joe Gelhardt, Lucas Gourna-Douath and the club record buy, the central defender Nobel Mendy, who has arrived from Rayo Vallecano for just over £20m – have arrived.
“The transfer market is very slow,” said the manager, Sergej Jakirovic, who covets the Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor and last season’s 23-goal Championship top scorer, Swansea’s Zan Vipotnik. “But, in the last seven days of the window, it will become very, very quick.”
His cause has been hindered by pre-season injuries, with perhaps the biggest blow involving an arm problem suffered by Butland. It threatens to keep the former Rangers goalkeeper, who had impressed in friendlies, out until Christmas. The consensus is that Hull will have long since become a lost cause by then, but, much as the impressive Jakirovic needs new faces and Premier League nous, he does hold one ace card. Hull boast an exceptionally powerful team spirit driven by exemplary on-field leaders, including the veteran central defender John Egan. Maybe, just maybe, it can, once again, transport them further than anyone believes possible.
In June, the playoff winners faced kicking off the new Premier League season handicapped by a near certain six-point deduction. A club that spent last season under a two-window English Football League transfer embargo avoided it by selling their goalkeeper Ivor Pandur and midfielder Aidon Shehu to Rangers and Panathinaikos respectively for a combined £8.5m. Access to the fruits of the top tier’s broadcast deal has since made Hull a whole lot wealthier, but Ilicali has pledged not to risk the club’s future by overspending and, at the time of writing, has invested around £78m on the new players.
Owner-fan relationship
Unpredictable and slightly conflicted. Aidon Shehu, the Turkish sports reporter turned media mogul – who is on his fifth manager since taking control in early 2022 – was offered a wholesale welcome when he took over from the unpopular Allam family, but he now exerts much more of a polarising effect on supporters. If November 2022, when he treated 320 fans to an all-expenses-paid week’s holiday at a luxury resort hotel in Antalya represented a high point, a nadir arrived when late payments resulted in Hull being placed under a transfer embargo last season. Nonetheless, the playoff triumph ensures many are prepared to offer the 57-year-old the benefit of the doubt.
The manager
The Mostar-born, 49-year-old Jakirovic has Bosnian and Croatian citizenship and says his life was shaped by the 1990s Balkan war that broke out when he was 14. “It was life or death,” he has said. “It has made me the person I am today.” Shortly after his arrival from Turkey’s Kayserispor, in June 2025, Hull were placed under a transfer embargo, but, defying widespread predictions of imminent relegation, he led the team to sixth place before beating Middlesbrough in the Championship playoff final. A central midfielder or central defender in his playing days, the former Bosnia and Herzegovina international led Dinamo Zagreb to the Croatian League and Cup double in 2024.
Star signing
The Japan defensive midfielder Hidemasa Morita joined from Sporting Lisbon after four trophy-laden years in Portugal. A fans’ favourite in Lisbon, he played regular Champions League football last season as Sporting reached the quarter-finals and has 40 senior international caps. Morita could have stayed in Lisbon, but opted not to renew his contract in order to experience Premier League football. Hull fended off competition from Ipswich for the signature of the 31-year-old who was a key part of the Japan squad at Qatar 2022. Morita is the second Japanese player to represent Hull and his amalgam of experience and quality in a key position promise to prove invaluable.
Stat attack
The strangest part of the Championship playoffs might not have been the Southampton spying scandal. Hull were second-bottom for expected points, 53.1, and would have been relegated if underlying performances determined results. It was remarkable tthey won promotion and it will be even more surprising if they make a serious fist of staying up.
The 22-year-old central defender Charlie Hughes was Hull’s young player of the year last season and his assurance in possession and excellent passing range are bound to catch all sorts of Premier League eyes. Helpfully, his ballplaying ability is matched by some equally impressive – and combative – defending. After spending his youth in the academies of Liverpool and Manchester City, Hughes joined Wigan, leaving for Hull last summer. An imposing blend of steel and silk, a defender also comfortable in central midfield will miss the start of the season after hernia surgery. Happily, Hughes is expected back by early autumn at the latest and appears integral to the team’s survival hopes.
World Cup impact
Not content with helping Hull win the most unexpected of promotions, the Canada winger Liam Millar headed across the Atlantic to the World Cup. He made three appearances at the tournament as they reached the knockout stage, losing to Morocco in the round of 16. Given his career seemed in real jeopardy when he suffered a serious knee injury shortly after joining Hull in 2024, inclusion in Canada’s squad represented the fulfilment of an unlikely looking dream. “It was an unbelievable experience,” said the 26-year-old. “I’ve never seen Canada the way it was, I’ve never seen so many red shirts in Vancouver and Toronto. We want to inspire the next generation and I think we did Canada proud.”
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