Sergej Jakirovic not concerned by Hull’s chaotic summer

Head coach Sergej Jakirovic insists Hull’s chaotic summer was not even the most difficult of his career.

The Bosnian was announced as the Tigers’ third new boss in 13 months in June and almost immediately had a transfer embargo impede his efforts in rebuilding their squad.

While that has since been lifted, Hull still cannot sign or loan in players for a fee, but their players clearly have not let off-field developments distract them as they produced a dogged performance in a goalless draw at Coventry.

They managed to restrict opponents who reached last season’s Sky Bet Championship play-offs to few chances, and have retained the majority of their squad.

On what he has gone through in his first two months in charge, Jakirovic said: “At least we can bring in three players on loan – in my previous club (Kayserispor) I had an embargo as well.

“Nobody could come and join us, we had 13, 14 players plus academy players, so I was used to it already, this situation – they’re joking with me (that) I brought the embargo to Hull.”

Jakirovic also insisted defender Charlie Hughes, who has been attracting the attention of the Sky Blues, would not be sold on the cheap.

He said: “I told you in the press conference before the game £7million is nothing.

“In my opinion, it is below my valuation (of him). I will not even pick up the phone because he’s very good, and for me the next level for him is the Premier League, not the Championship.

“Every pre-season game he played, he was always a top-three player on the pitch, so it’s a very big value for us.”

On his team’s battling display, Jakirovic added: “It was a very tough game for us because of the pressure (from Coventry). It was the first round (of the season), but we were defensively very good.”

Tatsuhiro Sakamoto almost opened the scoring for Coventry after three minutes when he bent a low shot from outside the box narrowly wide.

Hull’s best chance came in the first minute of the second half when Abu Kamara had a shot saved by Sky Blues goalkeeper Carl Rushworth.

But the closest either team came to a breakthrough was when Milan van Ewijk struck the woodwork with a long-range effort in the 53rd minute.

Coventry boss Frank Lampard said: “They defended their box well – I think you could tell they were very happy with the draw.

“So, not easy to break down and maybe with the (lack of) sharpness at the top end of the pitch in the first game of the season it can be a difficult game for different reasons.

“But I was happy with lots of our play, happy with a clean sheet – it’s always important if you’re not going to be absolutely at your best you make sure you don’t concede.

“Disappointed not to win the game, but there are positives to take, moving forward.

“I thought once we got settled into the game there were some nice bits and moments that might have gone our way, and a lot of control generally of the game.

“Only the counter felt a big threat, or a long straight one that might get in behind us, but we dealt with all that stuff.”