'We were written off' - John Egan on how experience of old heads got Hull City back to the Premier League

John Egan, a 33-year-old Ireland defender, credits Hull City’s promotion to the experience of seasoned players brought in after a transfer embargo limited signings at the start of the season. Egan believed the club had enough players with promotion experience, Premier League exposure, or high-level Championship experience to compete despite expectations of failure. He emphasized the team’s togetherness, describing close relationships in the dressing room and enjoyment of training and away trips. In the promotion play-off final against Middlesbrough, Hull dug deep after conceding possession, trusting they would create opportunities. Egan will have another chance at the Premier League next term and was rested from the Ireland squad for upcoming friendlies.

""It's a long season. There are a lot of ups and downs, but I think what helped us this year was the amount of experience we had last summer," said Egan. "The embargo was tough on the club, but it probably helped us. We had to sign more experienced players. Everybody was writing us off, but I thought we had a lot of lads in there who had either been promoted, played in the Premier League or played top end championship football, so I was excited for the season."

""The togetherness has been huge. We're so close as a team. When you're in dressing rooms like that, it's special, everyone loves coming into training. "We all love each other's company. We love going on away trips together. And I think we showed on the pitch."

""We dug deep on Saturday, they had a lot of the ball, we knew they would. But we always knew we'd get a chance," added Egan, who has been rested from the Ireland squad ahead of the Qatar and Canada friendly games."

Read at Irish Independent