Pressure-free: Cups provide welcome breather for Hull City

Michael Dawson: We are still showing fight we will keep going, says Tigers defender.

The Tigers prop up the Premier League with 20 games of the season played and are odds-on to be relegated in May.

Hull have taken just seven points from a possible 54 since starting the campaign with back-to-back wins over champions Leicester City and Swansea City, their latest defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Monday proving the last straw for the club’s owners.

The search has begun for Phelan’s successor, but whoever comes in faces an uphill task to turn things round.

A wretched summer at the KCOM Stadium undoubtedly sowed the seeds for the struggles that have followed. Steve Bruce’s departure amid a fall-out with the board was a serious blow, compounded by a shockingly poor recruitment drive.

Hull were the last of the 92 clubs in the top four divisions of English football to make a signing and the rush to bring in six new faces during the final 36 hours of the window smacked of panic.

It left Phelan, still in temporary charge at that stage despite those back-to-back league wins against all the odds, with a horribly imbalanced squad.

This included just one fit recognised full-back in Andrew Robertson and a dearth of quality up front, a point underlined by the strikers at Phelan’s disposal having managed just one goal between them since August 20.

Phelan – not the club’s first choice to succeed Bruce with both Frank De Boer and Chris Coleman initially sounded out – has suffered for the club’s poor recruitment, which came amid talks with several parties interested in buying out the Allam family.

Those discussions came to nothing, however, and the season has turned into a miserable affair with just one win in 18 matches since those heady days of August.

Things are likely to get worse before they get better thanks to a daunting looking fixture list once the Premier League resumes on January 14.

Bournemouth, who put six goals past Hull in October, are first up at the KCOM Stadium. That is followed by trips to Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, the latter two split by the visit of Liverpool on February 4.

These five opponents have already scored a combined 18 goals against Hull this season.