Hull City's changed approach: Fewer gambles, less signings, 'louder' coach, more Championship experience and less glamour

Look deeper and the sense of progress is palpable. This summer feels very different to last, and needed to.

Last June Acun Ilicali was in his first summer as chairman, his first full transfer window. Optimism was rife but mistakes needed to be made, so they could be learnt from. Hull spoke of promotion and got into a relegation battle which cost coach Shota Arveladze his job.

When anyone who runs, manages or plays for a football club talks to the media at this time of year, glasses are rarely anything but half-full. Often it washes over you as propaganda but at Hull it feels well-founded.

Regan Slater's utter confidence that the Tigers can push for promotion next season may or may not be proven right, but things are moving in the right direction regardless.

Even in this quick-fix, instant gratification world, sometimes quiet building behind the scenes is needed, and Arveladze's replacement, Liam Rosenior, has been doing it.

The team looks clearer in its purpose and better organised defensively. More goals are needed, but that will partly be down to recruitment, and he will have a bigger say than his predecessor, who allowed Ilicali and vice-chairman Tan Kesler to play "Football Manager", signing a plethora of No 10s and too many players not robust enough for the physical Championship.

Others recognise it, with more than 1,000 new memberships sold when the ticket office closed on day one. Slater, Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Harry Vaughan and David Robson have signed new contracts since last season ended.

"We've made mistakes but I call it a learning curve because in football you make decisions with consequences. It's how you turn them into a win or a loss,” argues Kesler.

"One of the things we've learnt is the Championship is very robust and there's a certain style of play and culture that dictates the league's tempo. The referees are completely different and there are some old-school rules (interpretations)."

Last summer Dogukan Sinik, Ozan Tufan, Jean Michael Seri, Adama Traore, Oscar Estupinan, Benjamin Tetteh, Tobias Figueiredo, Cyrus Christie, Thimothee Lo-Tutala, Vaughn Covil and Ryan Woods joined permanently, Allahyar Sayyadmanesh's loan was made permanent and Dimitrios Pelkas, Harvey Vale, Xavier Simons and Salah-Eddine Oulad M'Hand were borrowed.

Between them they have 224 caps but only Seri, Estupinan and Tufan made 25 Championship starts. This year's recruitment will be smaller, less cosmopolitan and glamorous.

"I believe this is a 'spirit' league," says Kesler. "You can be very talented, a very expensive team or have high-profile players but it doesn't mean promotion is guaranteed.

"We trust the domestic market more now. The Allam family (the previous owners) had done amazingly in terms of business but the perception was a little difficult.

"Often speaking to players, they would prefer a London or a more southern team so it took us a year to change the perception by bringing in a lot of risky international players with a high profile, high CV. When they came people could see there was something good happening here so they would come as well.

"Now we need to focus on certain domestic players who can focus on Championship dynamics and also we need leadership. We need people who understand how to get promoted from the Championship.

"We're now focusing on characters who can help the locker room and build confidence in our more talented boys, with Liam.

"We did recruit some risky players last year but they were high-level players. In the case of Adama Traore, we knew the qualities, we just had to gamble on him playing in that robust league. This season he will be a Championship player because he's improved massively on the physical and football side.

"Now we don't want to gamble too much, we want to be more focused on domestic football and players who have played a certain amount with fewer injuries. But there will be some risks because we don't want to do what everybody else does."

Importantly, the coach will have a bigger say, though not the final one.

"Shota was more knowledgeable about the international market so he let us focus more on recruitment," explains Kesler. "Liam is one of the strongest voices at the table but the chairman has the final decision.

"If players hit our standards we'll shortlist them and speak. Liam will be the voice to say he fits our style of play (or not) and can improve us. Then we speak to every recruit face-to-face to understand how much they want to be a part of our family."

Most important is greater clarity.

"We have a coach with a clear understanding of how we're going to play and it compliments the philosophy of the board. We have players who have played the system and bought into it and they're young and hungry to have success, like we are.

"We are more confident because we know what we're doing and what we didn't do or what didn't work," says Kesler. "There's not much to do on recruitment. "

They still need a good window, like any club eyeing success in a formidable Championship, but Hull's foundations are much stronger.