Rapport från England om säsongen 2010/2011
Dags att få en säsongsummering från våra Hull-kamrater i England. Mark Freelance, som både skrivit matchrapporter och försäsongstips kommer med sin summering senare under dagen.
1: Name - OLM
2: Age - 46
3: Location - Village west of Hull.
4: First of all! Has this season been better or worse than expected?
- I was optimistic ahead of the season, but having seen how many players left and finding out how dire our financial situation was, my optimism faded, but having seen us go from the relegation zone to just outside the play-off's in the second half of the season, I'd say the season finished better than I'd expected.
5 What do you think of Nigel Pearson? Has he lived up to your expectations? -
I think Nigel has done a brilliant job, in very difficult circumstances. Having lost so many players and having no money to replace them, he did well to keep us in the mix until January when we could strengthen. I like the way he handles himself, I like the signings he's bringing in and I'm very optimistic about next season, so I'd say he's definitely lived up to my expectations(though there's considerable work still to be done).
6: Who has been our best player this season? And who has been the worse?
- Liam Rosenior has been the best player, in on a free, completely committed, a good defender and good going forward, he's definitely one of the best right-backs in the Championship. The worst has probably been James Harper, he looks a shadow of the player he was at Reading a few seasons ago and brings little to the team, other than pointing a lot!
7: What has gone right/wrong this season? How come we have been so poor at the KC?
-The biggest thing that has gone right has been the Allam take-over, that combined with the appointment of Nigel and his back-room team has put us in a great position to build the club towards a promotion push. The biggest thing that's gone wrong is obviously our home form, we need to stop playing the same sort of game home and away and start being more attacking. I think this will taken care of with the summer signings, it's obvious to everyone that it's our biggest problem and I'm sure it will be addressed.
8: Which game has been the best/worst?
- There's a few contenders for the worst game, but I'd probably say Burnley away. We've not had a good recent record against Burnley, we were robbed at their place last season and rather than taking revenge this season, we took a pasting. I'd say the best game was probably Scunthorpe away, just because there were 2,200 of us there who stood and sang all game and obviously we managed to win 5-1(I'd put Forest away a close second).
9: Who do you think we should sign during the summer? Which position do we need to strengthen?
-Now that Matt Duke has been released we need two keepers, I expect we'll try to get Vito Mannone again, possibly with Dennis Eilhoff as backup. We also need at least two central defenders, I expect that Anthony Gerrard, Daniel Ayala and Jack Hoobs are all on the list. It looks like we try to sign Neil Danns(Crystal Palace) and I'm pretty sure that every City fan would like to see a midfield general in the centre of the park, Jonathan Greening(Fulham) would be good and I'm sure there's other options out there. I'd expect at least one more winger to come in, ideally a left winger, particularly as Stewart won't be back for the start of the season. Up front we need a target man, ideally I'd like to see Steve Morison(Millwall), or someone similar.
10: We (Swedish Hull-fans) are planning a trip to England next season. Should we come to the KC Stadium or an away game? Would we be welcomed to Hull? - You'd certainly be welcome in Hull and I would hope that our home form will be sorted next season, so the football on offer should be better than this season, so I think you should visit the KC.
11: And finally! Which is your best memory from the past season?
- Probably the first half of our home game against Leeds, we completely outplayed our local rivals with some really good football, it's just a shame the second half was not so memorable!
I thank you "OLM" for taking your time to answer my questions!
