Boss Grant McCann insists Hull City have got their swagger back

The Tigers have not won in the Championship since January 1 and lost nine of their 11 league outings prior to lockdown, a sequence of results that saw them sucked into a relegation dog-fight.

They were routed by fellow strugglers Stoke City in their last competitive outing, however that 5-1 defeat came more than three months ago, and McCann insists that what has gone before is unimportant ahead of tomorrow’s crunch clash with Charlton Athletic.

“I think it’s irrelevant,” he said of Hull’s 12-match winless streak in all competitions.

“The break was actually longer than a normal pre-season, so whatever happened before the break has happened and all we’re focused on are these next nine games.

“It’s almost like a nine-game mini season for us now. That is what it’s all about. Thankfully, we’ve got everyone back. We feel good, we feel confident and we feel as if we’ve got our swagger back.

“We’re going to approach these remaining games as best we can and look to win as many as we can.

“First up is Charlton and our only focus is on getting a positive result this weekend.”

While City head into their remaining nine fixtures of 2019/20 with a different mindset having had the chance to press reset, they also do so with a clean bill of health. The importance of this is not lost on McCann.

“The biggest and most pleasing thing for us is that we now have a fully fit squad,” he added.

“Going into the Stoke game, we had nine or 10 players out through injury, but to now have those players back is a real positive for us and has made us so much stronger.

The boys are in a good place – both physically and mentally. They’ve all come back fitter, stronger and sharper than they were before the break.

“Although we’ve had a few bumps and bruises, everyone is available for the weekend which gives me some good decisions to make going into Saturday’s game.”