Hull City’s first year in top flight could be a hard act to follow

Hull City will tread lightly as they kick off their 2014/15 campaign with a Europa League match in Slovakia on Thursday night, writes Richard Jolly.

David Meyler, left, Ahmed Elmohamady, and the rest of their Hull City teammates cannot afford to relapse this season after surviving their first year in the English Premier League. Matthew Lewis / GetShow more

Hull City began last season at Stamford Bridge in a glamour game that served as Jose Mourinho’s homecoming to Chelsea.

They start this season on Thursday night in the comparative obscurity of Slovakia, in a 10,000-seater stadium, where they face Trencin.

It is, strange as it sounds, the price of success.

It is little wonder that qualification for the Uefa Europa League is compared to accepting a poisoned chalice. None of England’s three Europa representatives last season – Tottenham, Swansea and Wigan – achieved their objectives for the campaign. Each sacked their manager as their league form was undermined by their continental commitments.

In contrast and deprived of distractions, Hull made an auspicious start on their return to the English Premier League. Their European debut is a consequence of a first FA Cup final appearance in their 110-year history, the 3-2 loss to Arsenal.

They were in uncharted territory at Wembley in May and so they are again versus Trencin in July.

After the initial excitement subsides, the sad reality is that Hull are probably best served by a swift and forgettable exit.

It is not merely the Europa League’s capacity to derail domestic campaigns that should concern them, there is also the spectre of that most dreaded of diseases: second-season syndrome.

Hull were relegated in the second year of their only previous stint in the top flight. They can look at unfortunate parallels with Ipswich, Reading and Birmingham, who, aided by the momentum collected as they won promotion, flourished initially in the Premier League but were relegated in their sophomore season.

It was a standard tale of a lost surprise factor, confidence faltering after a golden spell and new recruits failing to gel with the men who propelled them up the league pyramid.

History proves that sides can overachieve before reverting to their natural level. Hull have to hope that stalwarts of their Championship days, such as James Chester, Alex Bruce, Liam Rosenior, Ahmed Elmohamady, David Meyler, George Boyd, Stephen Quinn and Sone Aluko, do not relapse together.

It bodes badly that most were at their best in 2013. As the FA Cup provided a diversion, Hull took 14 points from their 18 league games in 2014.

The drawn-out Europa League schedule also means Hull will play two official games before any other team in the Premier League, with the return match at the KC Stadium on August 7. The Community Shield is August 10, and the league opens August 16, with Hull away to QPR.

The more encouraging element is that manager Steve Bruce, whose nine top-flight seasons have resulted in only one relegation, has been upgrading his squad every transfer window. Transfer-market ambition has underpinned City’s rise and, while owner Assem Allam has courted unpopularity with his attempts to change the club’s name to Hull Tigers, he has backed Bruce in the transfer market.

The pivotal pair of Tom Huddlestone and Curtis Davies were bought last summer, with goalkeeper Allan McGregor also strengthening the side’s spine.

The scorers they required came in January in the guises of Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic.

Jake Livermore, who excelled on loan, has been signed this summer and attention has turned to the flanks with the arrivals of wingers Thomas Ince and Robert Snodgrass, left-back Andrew Robertson and the pursuit of right-back Carl Jenkinson.

The five most expensive signings in Hull’s history have joined in the past 12 months and given Bruce almost a new side since Hull’s time in the second tier.

But such deals are not funded by Europa League football. The pragmatist in Bruce will recognise the pre-eminence of the Premier League in his priority list. It pays the bills and defines a status and a season alike. As many clubs can testify, second-season syndrome is a grave enough affliction without the added problems of competing on four fronts.

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