Coventry City v Hull City: Sergej Jakirovic happy to meet his idol Frank Lampard

The Bosnian is a contemporary of Frank Lampard, now manager of Saturday's lunchtime opponents Coventry City, someone he says he admired as a player, and now a coach.

But with both teams' Championship seasons kicking off, sentiment will have to be put to one side, and Jakirovic senses his new charges are looking forward to that.

"I know the players, they don't like to play so many friendly games but we did everything in our pre-season," he said. "I must commend our players because of hard work, because of dedication, because of the desire to adapt to our ideas.

"So I think we are ready but I know it's difficult always, especially the first game away with Coventry.

"Last season they took 45 points, I think top-five at home.

"We will see where we are at the moment because I want us to play like in friendly games.

"We need to show what we trained till now.

"We need to be brave there, especially with the ball.

"It's a long journey. There will be some crisis, for sure. This is normal for a team.

"But we are like a new team because new players came to us and are still coming. In the end, I think we will have a good competitive team for this level."

In stark contrast to last season and despite financial problems which have seen them banned from buying players or even loaning them for a fee until 2027 – Hull now expect a verdict on their appeal next week – they have been unbeaten in pre-season. The only game they failed to win was a 0-0 draw with Getafe in their final warm-up match.

Some good free transfers and loans – most notably the former Sheffield United pair of Oli McBurnie and John Lundstram have built on that, and at the time of going to press confirmation of the return of Joe Gelhardt on a second loan from Leeds United was expected to be imminent, as was the arrival of David Akintola.

Lampard certainly lifted morale at Coventry last season after taking over midway through the campaign, taking a relegation-threatened side into the play-offs.

"I admired him as a player, he was like an idol," said Jarikovic, who played in midfield or at centre-back. "Frank was a very good, excellent player for me.

"As a coach as well, he tried to put players on the pitch, maybe how he played in the past but it's not so easy because you must have very high intelligence to play like him.

"I think the players are following him."

The arrival of Gelhardt will be a particular boost for the Tigers after the way he performed in the second half of last season.

He joined on loan in January and scored five goals in 20 games playing across the "three-quarter line" of players between the two holding midfielders and lone centre-forward in previous coach Ruben Selles' preferred formation.

Hull as a team only scored 44 goals in the 2024-25 Championship. Six-goal top-scorer Joao Pedro left in the summer, and Abu Kamara (five) is the only other player in the squad to score more than three league goals last season – even including the seven other players signed this summer.

Gelhardt’s last league start for the Whites was in August 2023 and he has not featured in either of their public pre-season friendlies this summer.