Hull City v Doncaster Rovers: Grant McCann's sense of 'what could have been' as he returns to East Yorkshire

AHEAD of this latest January derby involving Hull City, Grant McCann briefly cast his mind back to another all-White Rose affair he was part of half a decade ago.

It was back on New Year’s Day 2020. Current Doncaster Rovers manager McCann, then in charge of the Tigers, saw the East Yorkshire outfit triumph 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday to move to the cusp of the Championship play-offs.

And then it changed, both in football and across the world.

Despite promises to the contrary, Hull sold star duo Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki in the winter window.

City’s play-off pitch promptly ground to a halt. As did competitive football that March due to the onset of Covid-19.

McCann’s Hull didn’t recover and when the game resumed in front of empty stadiums that summer, City were bereft and ended up being relegated in pitiful fashion. After that win at Hillsborough, they won just once in 20 league matches.

Commendably, Hull dusted themselves down and won their first title in 55 years to return to the Championship in 2020-21.

Unfortunately, no spectators were there to witness it in a largely soulless era where the narrative surrounded the efforts of the Allam family to sell up.

McCann was caught in the crossfire. He would leave in January 2022 when current owner Acun Ilicali took over.

McCann recalled: "I look back on my time at Hull with fond memories and maybe a little bit of what could have been.

"Particularly in that first season, when we were just outside the top six on goal difference when we beat Sheffield Wednesday on New Year’s Day away.

"Obviously, Aseem and Ehab (Allam) were going to be selling the club, so we knew there were going to be sales and we didn’t recover - the team, staff and everyone around the building - from Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki leaving in that window and we didn’t replace them.

"We did, but not with players ready for the Championship at that time.

"It was a nightmare four or five months when we were poor. But what we didn’t do was sulk and we got ourselves back together and put a squad together that we felt was strong enough to get promoted from League One and we did that by winning the division.

"In the following season, we felt we left the football club in a good place, eight, nine, 10 points away from the relegation zone and we’d just beaten Bournemouth away and Blackburn at home.

"Obviously, the owners came in and we wished them well when we left. And I wish them well for everything else as well."

McCann may have moved on, but his pang of lamentation is shared in his view of the current position in the football ‘eco-system’ of the FA Cup, which has lost its cachet among many big clubs in particular.

Most Premier League clubs will field what will be akin to reserve line-ups over third-round weekend. Many second-tier teams will as well, given a gruelling run of four fixtures in ten days over the Christmas and New Year period.

The fact that fixtures are dotted around all over the place due to TV scheduling further dilutes the cup’s allure.

To traditionalists and certainly lower-division clubs, it is sad and a bit unfair in truth. Not one Yorkshire club will be in action at 3pm on Saturday on what used to be one of the marquee days in the domestic calendar.

McCann, whose side kick-off at noon, commented: "I just hope the beauty of the FA Cup is not lost. You see the 38,000 crowd at Everton and (then) the six thousand at Bramall Lane... I hope that it is not going out of the game.

"I am hoping there will be a big crowd there for us on Sunday. I don’t know whether there will be or will people think: ‘It’s the third round, I can’ be bothered, it’s Sunday.’ I get the timing of the game is not great for everyone either, particularly with kids football.

"Football is nothing without the fans. Some of the rough times in the day for games just beggars belief really. But we can’t control that. From our point of view, we’d love to have an FA Cup run. Financially for the club, it’s unreal."

The game sees one of the EFL's most revered goal predators in Billy Sharp return to the club where he drew a blank in a short spell last season. A goal or two might grab a headline tomorrow.

McCann added: "I know Billy has spoken about not scoring there and I think its the only club he hasn't scored for in his career. That will be a bugbear.

"But he’s had an unbelievable career and is just focused on us and making sure he plays well for the football club.”