League One manager of the season Grant McCann has worked hard to improve at Hull City

The Northern Irishman suffered a painful relegation with Hull City last term, but has bounced back in style, leading the Tigers to automatic promotion from League One at the first attempt.

Three points clear at the summit with just two games of the campaign remaining, the East Yorkshire club can wrap up the title when they host Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Tipped by many to struggle following their demotion, it should come as no great surprise to see McCann named as the third tier's best boss, though the 3-year-old admits he has learned lessons over the past 12 months and pushed himself to do better.

"As a manager you learn and you get better. You have to take the rough with the smooth," he said.

"You're learning all the time and hopefully I'm getting better all the time because I know I work hard to try and get better for myself and for my staff and for my players. Hopefully that continues to carry on.

"I've had a lot in my young management career so far. I've lost a job when I was six points of the play-offs with two games in hand at Peterborough. I've got beaten in the semi-final of the [League One] play-offs at Charlton [with Doncaster]. I've been relegated, I've been promoted.

"I've seen everything so far and I think all of these experiences will help me build a stronger character and a stronger backbone for the future, and hopefully that will benefit myself and Hull City and the players that we have got here."

Reacting to the news that he has been named League One's manager of the season for 2020-21, McCann played down his own contribution, insisting that City's success this term was a result of a huge collective effort.

"It's not about me, it's about the team, it's about us as a staff and a collective this season," he added.

"I think that everything we have done is all about everybody at the football club and the hard work that has got us into this point of the season.

"Individual accolades are always great, but I think that if you ask Callum Elder and George Honeyman [included in League One's team of the season], they'll tell you they couldn't have done it without their team-mates and I couldn't have done this without my staff and my players and a full collaborative approach.

"That's what I would say about it. Yes, it's nice, but it's about everybody, it's everyone here, we've done all of this together to get to this point.

"What we are about this season is 'we'."