Hull City manager search latest: Club favourite has two more chances to impress

Ilicali said in a pre-match interview before Sunday’s tame 2-0 defeat to Birmingham City that he was in no mood to name a successor to Shota Arveladze, who was sacked over two weeks ago, with three games in six days.

Club favourite Dawson has been in charge for four matches, with one win and three defeats a return that is unlikely to earn him the job on a full-time basis. But the honest North Yorkshireman is not letting the bigger picture detract from the immediate task at hand, getting Hull ready for Wednesday night’s Championship trip to Blackpool.

"I’ll speak to the owner, but until I’m told otherwise I’ll be prepping the team for what is a really busy schedule,” said Dawson, who is likely to be in charge on Saturday as well when Hull head to Yorkshire rivals Rotherham United.

"That has to be my mindset, that’s easy for everyone else as well, we have to know what’s happening tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday; consistency in what we’re doing and if anything changes, it changes.”

The response from within the dressing room is similar, with players like Greg Docherty mindful that the squad as a whole need to take responsibility, no matter who the manager is.

“We’ve been well aware of the situation, we’ve got so much trust in Daws,” said the 26-year-old Scottish midfielder.

"We all want to do well for him because we know what he’s done for this club, the standards he has set.

"The squad have been made clear what has been happening, we just need to focus on the day-to-day stuff.

"Any manager coming in will be doing their homework, that’s what Shota (Arveladze) did when he came in, so as a player you never know what’s going to happen and what’s around the corner. All we can do is prepare right and bring the best of ourselves to matchday.”

For Docherty that means getting back to basics.

Hull have lost seven of their last eight games in the Championship, failing to score in six of those.

"We’re not hiding away from where we are,” said Docherty after Hull slipped to fourth-bottom.

"We need to take accountability for our actions and put that right on Wednesday. The fans deserve more than what we’re giving them at the minute.

"Teams are getting the better of us by doing the basics, and that’s disappointing.

"As a team we need to strip it back and get back to working harder on that. It sounds easy but it’s effective in this league.”

He added: "We are together, it might seem like we’re not, we all want to keep on progressing. There’s real quality in that dressing room. It’s up to people to dig deep and take responsibility and have some personal pride as well.

"We all need to have a look in the mirror and be honest with ourselves. Are we doing enough? Nobody at the minute can come away and say head held high that we are.”