Hull City v Nottingham Forest: Worry about what you can control '“ Adkins

MANAGER Nigel Adkins insists a possible takeover of Hull City is not deflecting his thoughts from the task of maintaining his side's improved form.
Familiar face: Former Hull City captain Michael Dawson, left, is back at the KCOM Stadium with his new employers at Nottingham Forest, today. (Picture: Nigel French/PA)Familiar face: Former Hull City captain Michael Dawson, left, is back at the KCOM Stadium with his new employers at Nottingham Forest, today. (Picture: Nigel French/PA)
Familiar face: Former Hull City captain Michael Dawson, left, is back at the KCOM Stadium with his new employers at Nottingham Forest, today. (Picture: Nigel French/PA)

The Tigers host Nottingham Forest today sitting third bottom of the Championship table despite taking eight points from the five games that preceded the international break.

With the Allam family’s attempts to sell the club understood to be entering the final stages, a move away from the relegation zone would be timely.

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Asked if he felt on trial in front of any prospective new owner, Adkins replied: “I do not look at it like that, to be honest. I look at what I can control and do my job. That is what we do.

“Whether it is a new owner or the present owner, I am looking to make sure the environment here at the training ground is right to support the staff and the players to be the best they can be.

“I believe the environment we have got is a good one and now we have got to go and perform.

“Ultimately if things do not go the right way then the guy sitting in my position is the guy who loses his job. He is the one who goes.”

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Hull’s recent form backs up Adkins’s assertion that the club are moving in the right direction on the field.

Nigel Adkins, Hull City manager (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)Nigel Adkins, Hull City manager (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)
Nigel Adkins, Hull City manager (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

Victories over West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers were followed by a 3-3 draw at Birmingham City in Hull’s last outing as the Yorkshire side fought back from two goals behind.

Adkins, however, knows from personal experience how new owners can often decide to make a change having lost his job at Reading in 2014 just a couple of months on from John Madejski selling the club.

“That is football,” added the Tigers’ head coach about his departure from the Berkshire club. “But I just look at the things I can control. I can draw on many, many years of experience, knowing what should be done and shouldn’t be done.

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“Sometimes there are things out of your control that you have to deal with.”

Today will see former Hull captain Michael Dawson return to the KCOM Stadium with a Forest side who sit seventh in the table. It is the first of nine games in a 39-day period that could define Hull’s season.

“I had a meeting with the players on Thursday morning and refocused everyone after the break we have had,” said Adkins, who is approaching his first anniversary in the job. “We touched on several things and one of those is the run of fixtures we have got now.

“We have talked about it, going up to that January 1 game against Bolton Wanderers when the window opens. We can’t control the speculation up to then, we have just got to keep working hard and doing everything we can to get as many points as possible in these next nine games.

“It is a total focus on these games. Everyone is going to be involved in this squad of players.”