Ray Parlour: Hull City can stay up in the Premier League

Former England, Arsenal and Middlesbrough midfielder Ray Parlour believes Hull City can win the Championship play-off final and stay up next season in the Premier League.

Parlour was part of the Hull City side that stayed up in the Championship the year before they clinched promotion under Phil Brown.

He also praised the club’s current management team and ownership.

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Hope

The trend of promoted teams being immediately relegated has been broken by both Sunderland and Leeds this season and Parlour believes could match that should they gain promotion.

In an exclusive interview with 10bet , Parlour discussed the relegation trends explaining “You saw last season all three went down. I’m really pleased that this season Sunderland have stayed up and Leeds have had a good season.

“But it’s always difficult—it’s all about investment and what sort of gamble you want to take as a club when you come up. Sometimes the players aren’t quite good enough for the Premier League, so you’ve got to make big decisions on whether to give them an opportunity or recruit.

“You usually see at least one go down, and all Hull have to do is say, “We aren’t going to be that one.’ With Ipswich coming up and Coventry, it’ll be interesting to see how they all do. You always want to see clubs stay up in that first season because it gives everyone in the Championship hope. 

“Last season was a bit of a mockery when all three promoted sides went down, but this season Sunderland and Leeds have proved you can do it with the right recruitment and desire.

“Hull will be similar if they go up. It’s going to be a tricky game against Southampton, we all know that, but I really hope they can go up. I only had 15 games with Hull, but I enjoyed it. It’s a good little club.”

Stability

When asked about the role of the management and ownership in Hull’s success Parlour said “Sometimes you think, “Who’s this manager? What’s he going to do? Is he any good?” But the players are certainly playing for him. They’re really working hard.

“That’s all you can ask for as a manager—you make sure they go out every single day and give it their all. You can coach them Monday to Friday, but when they cross that white line, they need to know exactly what their jobs are, and he’s brought that stability.

“They’ve had a great season. Everybody thought they’d drop away towards the end, but they’ve kept going and they deserve to be in the playoff final.

“I’m sure everyone in Hull will be down at Wembley cheering them on, and everyone from the south coast will be there for Southampton. It should be a hell of a game.”

He continued “We all know Profit and Sustainability and all that sort of stuff is coming into it now. It looks like he’s backed the manager—I don’t know what sort of budgets they base themselves on—but it seems like a much better ship now than it was a few years back.

“That’s all you need. I’m sure the supporters see that as well and get behind the club. Owners will come and go, managers and players come and go, but the supporters are the main people.

“Everything about Hull at the moment is going in the right direction, which is fantastic for the fans.”

Read the full exclusive interview at 10Bet

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