Hull City’s Journey: From Championship Survival to Premier League Aspirations
On a blazing spring bank holiday, the city centre belonged to Hull. Sergej Jakirovic stepped out on to the balcony of Hull City Hall, looked down at a sea of black and amber, and delivered the line that will live in club folklore.
“I only had one task before the season – to stay in the Championship … I failed. We’re going to the Premier League!”
Forty thousand people roared it back at him. A club that had clung on to its Championship status by goal difference in 2024-25 was suddenly staring at Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool instead of Plymouth, Millwall and Rotherham. It felt surreal. It still does.
That surge began with one swing of Oli McBurnie’s boot. His late winner in a tight, nervy Championship playoff final against Middlesbrough sealed a 1-0 victory and one of the most improbable promotions English football has seen in years. Hull, a side many expected to slide into League One, had gatecrashed the elite.
Jakirovic, a compelling presence and natural storyteller, became the face of it all – the man with the alchemist’s touch who had somehow turned survival strugglers into Premier League newcomers in the space of a season.
From balcony euphoria to survival scrap
Three months on from those scenes in Queen Victoria Square, the mood has shifted from euphoria to defiance. The same story is being told about Hull everywhere you look – and it is not a flattering one.
Bookmakers have them nailed on for the drop. Pundits have lined up to agree. On a podcast this week, former England forwards Carlton Cole and Joe Cole dismissed their chances with a sneer.
“Hull are gone, man,” Joe Cole said. “They have spent £70m and I’d be stunned if they stay up. They have come in through the back door, they’ve slipped in.”
That clip travelled fast. It infuriated Hull supporters, who had watched their side earn every inch of progress on the pitch. For Jakirovic, it landed as fuel, not fear.
Such barbs barely ruffled him when he faced the media before Manchester United’s visit to the MKM Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
“I’m buzzing,” the 49-year-old said. “Of course there’s a very big gap between the Championship and Premier League. We’re up against the best teams, players and managers and I’ve seen all the predictions. But it’s a great motivation to prove them wrong because we don’t have anything to lose.”
He knows the scale of the task. He does not dress it up.
“What we did last season was a very big achievement, but this is football and what happened yesterday doesn’t matter any more. We want to improve and show that we can develop to do even better as a team – and of course we need another miracle to survive. It will be an even bigger achievement than winning promotion if we manage to stay up. We need 40 points, so everything is very clear.”
Forty points. One simple target in a league that rarely deals in simplicity.
“Stupid and disrespectful”
Hull is a city used to outside scorn, its reputation often dragged through lazy jokes and tired stereotypes. Jakirovic has, in a short time, given people there a different posture – a reason to walk a little taller.
So the ridicule from the Coles struck a nerve.
“It was stupid and disrespectful towards the club and players because we earned everything on the pitch – nobody gave us anything for free,” Jakirovic said. “It’s not fair, especially when it’s coming from ex-players who know how hard players work to reach the Premier League.
“If they were in my position they would fight, so it’s easy to say we’ll finish 20th, but can they bet on that? They can put everything on that or they can lose, so we will see. But we’re not here by accident.”
There is no faux outrage in his voice, just a clear line in the sand. Hull might be favourites to go down, but they refuse to be treated as impostors.
Big spending, big doubts
If Hull are supposed to be making up the numbers, nobody has told their chairman. Acun Ilicali, the high-profile owner who has publicly promised to stand by Jakirovic even in the event of relegation, has thrown himself into a bold and expensive rebuild.
Eleven new signings have arrived, the club record fee broken twice along the way. Several of those additions are already on the treatment table. Critics have called the recruitment scattergun, a shopping spree without a clear plan.
Jakirovic pushes back gently, but he does not pretend everything will click overnight.
“We’re expecting three or four more players,” he said. “We’ve signed some good players with potential, but I’m also aware that they need more time to adapt and build chemistry with the team.
“Mr Chairman and I have had a very good connection since our first meeting and we do everything together. In all decisions, we are always speaking and trying to improve our team in many ways.”
The message is clear: this is a joint project. If Hull stay up, it will not be by accident. If they go down, the manager is not expecting the trapdoor.
A life forged in harder battles
Part of Jakirovic’s calm comes from the simple fact that he has known far worse pressure than a Premier League relegation fight.
Born in Mostar, in what was then Yugoslavia, he grew up in Metkovic in Croatia and came of age during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. His childhood included running from fighter planes and taking shelter from bombings. Those experiences hardened his resolve and reshaped his view of what truly matters.
Football, by comparison, is just football.
His playing career took him across Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria before he moved into coaching, bouncing between clubs at a relentless pace. Hull is his eighth job in nine years. The instability would unsettle many. For him, it is simply the path that led to this stage.
“I always sleep like a baby because this is just sport at the end of the day,” he said, smiling. “I have to be fresh on Saturday; I also need to show my potential and prove that I can handle this stage. And I don’t have any doubt because I’ve showed already that I’m capable of doing some great things.”
Now comes the hardest part. The miracle worker who dragged Hull up must conjure something greater: 40 points in a league that expects them to fail, with a squad still learning each other’s names and a city braced for another fight.
The balcony speeches are over. Manchester United are coming. How long this Premier League chapter lasts will depend on whether Jakirovic can turn one fairytale into something far more stubborn: a habit.
