Steve Bruce set for warm welcome from Hull City supporters

Namely that the West Brom chief – whose coach and son Alex also returns to his old stomping ground – will receive a warm ovation from Tigers fans fully appreciative of his time at City.

Hull supporters chanted in support of their old boss returning to East Yorkshire in the home loss to Peterborough on October 20, just hours after Bruce left Newcastle United.

Bruce, who was promoted twice with Hull and took them to the FA Cup final in 2014, is now otherwise engaged. But City head coach Shota Arveladze expects the Geordie to be afforded fulsome respect.

Arveladze, whose side won 3-0 in the reverse fixture against Peterborough last weekend – to spoil ex-City head coach Grant McCann’s second coming at Posh – said: “It is always nice when someone has such a (long) career as a coach and football player.

“He (Bruce) is a huge name who is coming back and I believe that the home supporters at the stadium will give him respect and passion as they love football and names who have done so much for English football.

“I believe he will get good applause and a reception and he deserves it. He has a thousand games under his belt and I am sure his reception will be a good one.”

Tomorrow marks the official unveiling of the newly-named Chris Chilton Stand in honour of City’s all-time record goalscorer, who passed away last May at the age of 77.

On the pitch, Hull are seeking to end a run of three successive home defeats, with Arveladze conscious of the need to get fans onside with City producing a particularly poor display in their last game at the MKM Stadium against Barnsley.

Arveladze said: “We know the energy that your own supporters can give you.

“They have followed us in away games and don’t let us feel alone and we feel the energy to give us unbelievable adrenalin.

“But of course, at home, it’s a ‘sweet home’ and everyone wants it to be comfortable and more nice and feel that atmosphere.

“We did it once against Swansea, who had a very difficult game and then we didn’t get good results.

“But we must look forward and do what we did last Saturday.”