Hull City are confident that they remain in better position than big-spenders

Middlesbrough’s capture of striker Jordan Rhodes in a deal that could rise to around £12m was the standout deal of the window in the second tier.

But it was far from the only significant investment by the promotion chasing pack, with Burnley splashing £6m on James Tarkowski, Nick Blackman joining Derby County for £2.5m and Gary Hooper becoming Sheffield Wednesday’s most expensive signing since the late Nineties when moving to Hillsborough for a little over £3m.

In contrast, Hull’s only permanent addition was back-up goalkeeper Dusan Kuciak with Nick Powell also arriving on loan from Manchester United.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Tigers vice chairman Allam said: “We were very happy with the window. There was no need to panic at this club.

“People may point to other clubs around us spending a lot of money but that can, in my opinion, backfire. You can never be sure how bringing players into a club in January will affect a dressing room.

“The dressing room character and spirit is what has got us to the top of the Championship this season. If we had made changes in January, it would have suggested we got things wrong in the summer. And results point to that not being the case.

“Our priority was keeping the squad together, with a couple of tweaks due to Steve (Bruce) wanting a third goalkeeper in case of injury and Nick Powell offering us something a little bit different.”

Hull approached the window looking potentially vulnerable to interest from elsewhere due to the number of buy-out clauses inserted in the contracts of the squad. Last summer, just such a provision was how Derby County managed to prise Tom Ince out of the KC Stadium when manager Bruce had been keen to retain the winger.

However, despite extensive speculation over the likes of Tom Huddlestone, Mohamed Diame, Ahmed Elmohamady and Curtis Davies throughout January, City retained every member of a squad that looks the most well balanced in the Championship.

Allam added: “I kept reading about Crystal Palace wanting Diame but that was totally unfounded. We made it clear from the start (of the window) we wanted to keep our squad.

“If you look back to last summer, we did have interest in Abel Hernandez and Harry Maguire. Bristol City wanted Harry but we could see his potential so said ‘no’.

“Abel also attracted interest but we made it clear we wanted him to stay. And now we are seeing the player that we felt to have signed originally.”

Hernandez has since repaid that faith by netting 16 goals, while former Sheffield United defender Maguire has started 12 of City’s last 13 league matches.

Hull also tied down Allan McGregor and David Meyler to long-term contracts in January, while talks that began in November with Elmohamady, Davies and Huddlestone about extending deals due to run out in the summer remain ongoing.

Sone Aluko is another whose contract is set to expire at the end of June and the Tigers fielded serious interest for the striker on deadline day. “Four clubs in the Championship wanted Sone,” said Allam. “But we wanted to keep him and made that clear to those clubs. Anyone who watched him on Saturday (in the FA Cup fourth round win at Bury) knows what Sone can bring to the team.”