Guardian Writes Off Jakirović and Hull: They Will Need Another Miracle
The Croatian coach led Hull City into the Premier League through the playoffs, but English journalists believe they will finish the season in last place.
The Croatian coach led Hull City into the Premier League through the playoffs, but English journalists believe they will finish the season in last place.
Ahead of the new Premier League season, Guardian journalists have traditionally published their predictions, and Croatian coach Sergej Jakirović and his Hull City are forecast the toughest possible scenario: last place, 20th. This is the average of all Guardian journalists' predictions, not just the assessment of the announcement's author, Louise Taylor.
Hull finished last season's Championship in sixth place and secured their return to the English elite through the playoffs. The Guardian describes this success as a surprise bordering on a miracle, given the circumstances in which Jakirović worked. The team entered the season as one of the candidates for relegation and was under a transfer embargo for the entire campaign.
There were also problems on the pitch. During the season, Hull conceded 66 goals, placing them fourth in the Championship for goals conceded. Despite this, Jakirović managed to lead the team to sixth place and then secured promotion to the Premier League through the playoffs. As a result, ahead of the new season, it is estimated that Hull would need to produce another major surprise to stay among the elite, or as the Guardian puts it, "another little miracle."
This summer, the situation is completely different from last year. After gaining promotion to the Premier League, Hull is following the Sunderland model and plans to bring in as many as 14 new players, albeit with less financial firepower than Sunderland. So far, 11 have arrived, including Jack Butland, Hidemasa Morita, Matt Targett, Óscar Zambrano, Jens Hjertø-Dahl, Elliot Stroud, Konstantinos Tzolakis, Lucas Herrington, Joe Gelhardt, Lucas Gourna-Douthat, and Nobel Mendy. The last mentioned became the club's most expensive transfer, arriving from Rayo Vallecano for just over £20 million.
According to the Guardian, owner Acun Ilıcalı has so far spent around £78 million (approximately €90 million) on new signings, but he does not want to jeopardize the club's long-term financial stability. The business is not finished, as Jakirović also wants to bring in Wilson Isidor from Sunderland and Žan Vipotnik, the Slovenian striker from Swansea who was the Championship's top scorer last season with 23 goals.
The Croatian coach believes that deals will intensify just before the transfer window closes. "The market is very slow, but in the last seven days of the transfer window, it will become very, very fast," said Jakirović.
An additional problem is injuries during pre-season. The biggest issue is the hand injury to Jack Butland, one of the summer signings who made a very good impression in friendly matches. It is possible that the former Rangers goalkeeper will not play until Christmas.
Nevertheless, the Guardian writes very positively about the Croatian coach, calling him impressive and noting that he will need additional reinforcements and more Premier League experience for the fight to stay up. A key asset is the extremely strong team spirit, especially leaders in the dressing room like experienced center-back John Egan. It is precisely this unity that could once again take Hull further than almost everyone predicts.
The Guardian dedicated a separate section of the preview to Jakirović's path to the Premier League. It recalls that the 49-year-old was born in Mostar and holds both Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian citizenship. He arrived at Hull from Turkish club Kayserispor in June 2025, and shortly after his arrival, the club was hit with a transfer ban. Despite expectations that Hull would fight for survival, Jakirović led them to sixth place in the Championship and then beat Middlesbrough in the playoff final to secure Premier League football. The Guardian also notes that during his playing career, he played as a midfielder and center-back, and that as a coach, he won the domestic double in Croatia with Dinamo in 2024.
Now he faces his biggest challenge since coming to England. The Guardian's consensus predicts last place for Hull, but it was precisely Jakirović's team that proved last season how wrong such predictions can be.
