Not that Fulham, the opening-day visitors to the KC Stadium when the Tigers will make their top flight debut after 104 years of largely unrewarded toil and endeavour, should be worried about a bloodbath on the field.

No, the blood that the Tigers squad have already shed ahead of the new season relates to a new tool Brown has introduced that measures stress levels.

The Hull manager explained: "If I think something will benefit us, I will try it. So, after reading about these stress tests over the summer I decided to introduce them.

"Basically, it relates to white blood cells so we take a drop of blood from the players to gauge their stress levels. They did the test on Monday and Ian Ashbee came out on top as the coolest customer we have got. It also identified a couple of unusual ones, which was interesting.

"Are the players under stress? Is the manager under stress? Are the staff under stress? It is not just football that causes stress. It could be something at home.

"Stress can be the difference between a good and bad performance. With that in mind, I see the tests as a tool to help decide when I can rotate or rest players when needed."

Asked what his own results had been, Brown replied: "My stress levels? Not bad at all, thank you. I am looking forward to the season."

Brown's relaxed mood ahead of Hull's top-flight debut is in stark contrast to the rest of the city where the excitement levels have noticeably risen in the final week of the close season.

With season ticket sales having been capped at 20,500 early in the summer, there is an air of expectation with supporters hoping this month's opening trio of games against Fulham, Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic will provide the Tigers with a rewarding start to the campaign.

Brown said: "It is a very exciting place to be at the moment. I was at Beverley races on Wednesday – when I murdered the bookies, by the way – and I could not get to the paddock because of all the attention.

"People wanted to shake my hand and get autographs. It was a real cross-section, too, from young kids to a 90-year-old man.

"Then the day after we had more fans at training than I can recall before. Even the captain, who is going into his fourth division with the club, is excited.

"But now we have to focus on the football. We have three games before the first international break and everyone has been saying what a great start we have. But they are three difficult Premier League matches."

Today's game against Fulham will cap an amazing transformation in fortune for Brown who, just two years ago when unemployed, feared his days as a manager were over after being sacked from his first job in sole charge at Derby County.

Brown added: "I just wish my mother and father could be here to witness it. This is something I have always strived for as an individual and now I have it.

"But I don't just want to be here once, I want to be there for a long time. I want it to be the norm. By that, I do not mean take it for granted – I have seen that happen at a club where they took Premier League football for granted, and it is a dangerous thing to do.

"I want to see Hull City in the top flight for a number of years, not just one.

"(Fulham manager) Roy Hodgson has been there, seen it and done it. I am envious of that. I want to be that man and the only way to be that man is to remain in the Premier League.

"I have ambitions apart from the one I am realising on Saturday and to fulfil those ambitions, I have to be in the Premier League for a number of years.

"A lot of good friends have tipped us to be relegated. Even my old mate Sam (Allardyce) said we would finish 18th, which was two places above most of the rest.

"But we are out to prove them all wrong."