2016-17: Robert Snodgrass confident Hull City can learn from previous top-flight mistakes

Escorted into the national stadium on a state-of-the-art team bus by scores of police on motorbikes and then afforded the same treatment on the way out, footballers see precious little of what goes into making it such a special day for supporters.

Hence why, when Robert Snodgrass found himself with the opportunity to enjoy a taster in the wake of Hull City’s Championship play-off final success last May, he jumped at the chance and loved every minute. Even if, as the Scot laughs, it almost led to the Tigers midfielder “getting my head kicked in by 20 Sheffield Wednesday fans!”

“The team bus had left without me and Elmo (Ahmed Elmohamady) because we were still waiting to do the drugs test,” explains the 28-year-old to The Yorkshire Post.

“Anyway, we eventually finished and Elmo wanted to get a taxi.

“But I wanted to walk down Wembley Way to soak up the full atmosphere of the day.

“I nearly got my head kicked in by 20 Sheffield Wednesday fans! They weren’t happy. But I am really glad I walked towards the tube.

“My family were all down there and I wanted to soak it all in. And feel the atmosphere of a brilliant day.”

Snodgrass’s desire to bask in the glow of City’s promotion was understandable. He had endured the horrible side of being a footballer, spending 15 months out after dislocating his kneecap on the opening day of the 2014-15 season.

In his absence, the Tigers were relegated from the Premier League. Being part of the side that righted that wrong brought immense satisfaction.

“It feels amazing to be back in the Premier League,” said Snodgrass, who spent two years in the top flight with Norwich City.

“I’d say it maybe didn’t sink in until a few weeks after we won promotion. Not until I went back home to Glasgow and people were saying, ‘Premier League football again’.

“I hadn’t really thought like that.

“Wembley was brilliant. Maybe it meant that bit more because of what had happened to me with the injury, I don’t know, although it was very much a collective thing.”

The spirit and togetherness that took Hull back up at the first attempt has been tested like never before in the past fortnight.

Steve Bruce’s departure, together with the lack of additions to a squad already decimated by injury, has left City in a bereft state.

Few outside the East Riding – and, it has to be said, quite a few who do live there – give the Tigers any chance of staying up.

“When you have a campaign as long as last year there is a bond anyway,” added Snodgrass. “Good things do that.

“Usually, when teams get relegated five or six go out the door and a similar number come in. But we stuck together and managed to get the club back up again. That creates a bond.”

City’s Wembley triumph was made all the more special for Snodgrass by the presence of so many family at the play-off final – even if it was a bit touch and go as to whether the Snodgrass clan would make it in time.

“I had 35-40 people coming down from Glasgow,” he added. “But I got a ‘phone call on the morning of the game to say one flight had been delayed from Glasgow and it was the one my family were on.

“I was thinking, ‘Typical. What is happening here?’ What I had to do, though, was put all of that to one side. I forwarded the text on to my missus and told her, ‘You have to deal with this, my phone is going off because I have to focus’. I was in game mode and had to be on it.

“Thankfully, they made it for the 5pm kick-off. If it had been 3pm, it would have been a bit dodgy.

“Mind you, despite getting there late, they probably drank more than everyone else at Wembley! Mine and Andy Robertson’s family had a big hospitality box and they all nearly got kicked out halfway through!”

As for the challenges that lay ahead, Snodgrass added: “We have to go in there and have our own style.

“After the Euros and England losing to Iceland, the FA were talking about whether to copy this model or the other. Just have your own style. That is what we have to remember. I am sure we will learn from our mistakes as we go along.”