How an eye for a talent earned Hull City millions

JUDGING by the speed in which Jake Livermore and Harry Maguire received England call-ups after leaving Hull City, maybe Sam Clucas should stay close to his 'phone ahead of next month's international window.
Stan Ternent: Top recruiter.Stan Ternent: Top recruiter.
Stan Ternent: Top recruiter.

The 26-year-old left the KCOM Stadium 12 days ago in a £15m deal that saw Stephen Kingsley move in the opposite direction.

Since arriving in south Wales, Clucas, a former England C international, has already spoken about his desire to make the step-up with the Three Lions.

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If he does realise that dream, Stan Ternent, Hull’s head of recruitment when the midfielder moved to East Yorkshire from Chesterfield in a £1.3m deal, will be justifiably proud. Just as he is about all the signings made during four years working under Bruce at Hull, who have benefited to the tune of tens of millions of pounds in transfer profits from the duo’s recruitment.

“We never made mistakes because we couldn’t afford to,” said Ternent, who left the East Riding last January in the clear-out that followed Marco Silva’s appointment. “As a team, we worked together really hard and did some very good business for the club.”

A brief look at the players signed by Bruce who have since moved on underlines that point. Maguire, for instance, joined Hull for £2.5m but left in a deal that saw an initial £12m paid with another £5m possible in add-ons.

Andrew Robertson’s £8m (rising to £10m) switch to Liverpool also came three years after he joined from Dundee United for £2.85m, his sale helping the Tigers post a profit on transfers this summer of almost £30m despite spending £16m on reinforcements for Leonid Slutsky.

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Ternent added: “There were so many over the years, from Shane Long through to Sam Clucas, Harry and Robbo. I first saw Robbo in a game when I had gone to watch someone else but he caught the eye straight away. I left at half-time and said to Steve: ‘You have to sign him’.

“We were thinking of bringing in both Robbo and a lad called (Stuart) Armstrong, who is at Celtic now. But we couldn’t see a place for Armstrong, as at the time we were flying at Hull. He is an international now, too.”