Emotional Hull City celebrate ‘incredible’ promotion to the English Premier League
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Hull City's Oli McBurnie, who scored the only goal of the match, celebrating with the trophy after his team were promoted to the EPL with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough on May 23.
PHOTO: AFP
LONDON – Hull City manager Sergej Jakirovic and his players cried tears of joy, after their “incredible journey” culminated in a lucrative promotion to the English Premier League on May 23 as the Championship’s “spygate” drama finally came to an end.
Oli McBurnie clinched Hull’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in the play-off final at Wembley, scoring the £205 million (S$352 million) tap-in with just seconds left in world football’s richest match.
The Tigers are back in the Premier League for the first time since 2017, after a remarkable renaissance over the last 12 months.
Hull avoided relegation to the third tier only on the final day of last season, with goal difference saving them from the drop, before they were hit with a damaging transfer embargo.
Jakirovic’s sixth-placed team sneaked into the Championship play-offs on the last day this season, before beating third-placed Millwall in the semi-finals.
For nearly two weeks, Hull’s final opponents were shrouded in mystery after Southampton – who had beaten Middlesbrough to reach Wembley – were charged with spying on their semi-final opponents by filming a training session before the first leg.
Southampton were kicked out of the play-off final on May 19, leaving Jakirovic with just days to prepare his players to face Middlesbrough instead of the Saints.
Jakirovic had claimed Hull were “collateral damage” from the Southampton scandal, while the club’s owner Acun Ilicali threatened to take legal action if his team were beaten by Middlesbrough.
The prospect of an ugly battle in the courts was the last thing Football League chiefs wanted.
In the circumstances, the burly McBurnie’s close-range finish after an error from Middlesbrough goalkeeper Sol Brynn was the ideal conclusion for both the Tigers and the sport’s authorities.
For Hull’s Bosnian manager and his squad, it was just reward for their refusal to be distracted by the Southampton controversy.
“A lot of players were crying with happiness at the final whistle. It’s incredible,” Jakirovic said.
“An unbelievable journey, so many problems, so to achieve the Premier League is incredible.”
Ilicali no longer needed to think about calling in the lawyers as he celebrated at Wembley.
Instead, he was planning to send his players on a trip to Las Vegas to mark their triumph.
Scotland striker McBurnie, in his first season at the club after arriving from Spanish side Las Palmas, said: “I’m speechless for the first time ever.
“That game summed us up; we knew we weren’t going to have all the ball.
“It was tough out there with the heat.
“Middlesbrough are a top team. We knew we’d be up against it, but we felt we’d have one chance and I felt like it was written for me to get it.”
Having been reinstated to the play-offs after Southampton’s punishment, Middlesbrough again blew a chance for promotion this season.
Kim Hellberg’s team were unable to secure automatic promotion despite holding a top-two place for much of the campaign.
They eventually finished fifth and lost to Southampton 2-1 on aggregate before their reprieve ended in heartache at Wembley, where they have not won once in history.
“It was the toughest two weeks I’ve been through. Back and forth, back and forth – a very weird situation,” Hellberg said. AFP
