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Hull City have not had the calm and structured summer that they would have hoped for.
The Tigers are set to make an appeal on the three-window transfer ban that was placed on them, but they are still going ahead with free agent signings.
Oli McBurnie chose the MKM Stadium instead of a return to Swansea City or a move to Ipswich Town, while John Lundstram has also made the switch to East Yorkshire.
However, Hull will have one concern ahead of their first Championship fixture against Coventry City. Yet, Sergej Jakirovic will not be able to do anything about it.
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Referee Bobby Madley got on the wrong side of Hull City in October 2024
Bobby Madley has been selected to take charge of the 12:30pm kick off between the Tigers and the Sky Blues on Saturday. However, last October, former Hull boss Tim Walter was left fuming after a mistake from the referee allowed Sunderland to score the only goal of the game at the MKM Stadium as the Black Cats broke out from a corner for the home team.
Madley appeared to get in Marvin Mehlem’s line of sight as he received the ball, allowing Dan Neil to play Wilson Isidor in and find the back of the net with a fine finish.
Angrily, Walter said following the game (via: Hull Live): “Maybe you can interview the referee then it would be better,” a frustrated Walter told Hull Live at the MKM Stadium. “For me, it’s really frustrating. He apologised for this situation, but it doesn’t help.
“He’s not well prepared because I said, ‘If you know how we play the corner kicks and the set pieces, then he would know that we play a lot of situations short. He said to me that he was well prepared, but unfortunately not because I did it also in my former clubs, and we do it all the time.
“If you don’t find the right position, then in this case, maybe you’re not well prepared, and that’s what I said to him – and he said he could not whistle. You can’t explain every situation; sometimes you have to accept it, and it was like it is today.
“It was not the only situation (referee error), because in the first half, it was also for me a clear handball. He (Mepham) played the ball with the hand back to the keeper, and for me, it’s a red card, but he saw it in a different way. We have to accept it, but it is like a never-ending story.”
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Bobby Madley did not hand out a single straight red card in the Championship in 2024/25
While there was plenty of fury about Madley’s mistake in October, he was not a referee who rushed into decisions last season and he sent just two players off in the Championship in 2024/25 – but both of these were second yellows.
Coventry were involved in one of those games, as Tom Holmes was sent off for Luton Town in a 3-2 victory for the Sky Blues at the CBS Arena.
Nevertheless, this is the first match involving Hull that Madley has officiated since last October, and after the chorus of boos that he received 10 months ago, all parties will be hoping for a much less controversial affair on Saturday.