Hull City: Nigel Adkins' 2019 "simple decision" did not pay off as swift exit proved | OneFootball

Adkins' decision to acquire Liam Ridgewell didn't pay off for the Tigers

At the start of 2019, the landscape of Hull City as a club was completely different to where the club currently finds itself, apart from being in the same division, of course.

Nigel Adkins had been at the helm for just longer than a year, after initially replacing former Russia head coach Leonid Slutsky in December 2018, with a remit of bringing stability and consistency back to the club after their relegation from the Premier League.

And whilst the purse-strings weren't exactly loosened by the Allam family at the time, the former Southampton and Sheffield United boss had galvanised the Tigers to safety in the Championship, before initially struggling at the beginning of the following season.

However, given the usually congested nature of the early-season table, a momentum swing from November onwards propelled City to potential play-off contention, which included an unbeaten run of 10 games and seven straight victories from December through to mid-January.

Adkins had a squad of both experience and flair, which included the notable duo of Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki, as well as Evandro and David Marshall in net, who had begun to silence his previous critics in East Yorkshire.

And, whilst so close to the top six, the experienced boss decided to add further Championship know-how in the form of Marc Pugh and Liam Ridgewell.

But, it would be fair to say that the centre-back's short spell at the MKM Stadium didn't go as Adkins first envisaged.

Nigel Adkins believed Liam Ridgewell acquisition was "simple"

During the first half of the 2018/19 season, Hull had acquired the services of Tommy Elphick on a temporary basis from Aston Villa, with the former Bournemouth man steadily becoming a fans' favourite during his short loan stint, which was ended on New Year's Day, just days after the centre-back scored his only goal for the club against Swansea.

Therefore, with City light on defensive depth beyond the trio of Jordy De Wijs, Reece Burke and Ondrej Mazuch, Adkins acquired the services of Ridgewell on a short-term deal after his release from MLS outfit, Portland Timbers.

"He’ll bring a vast amount of experience. He’s captained clubs in the Premier League, he’s won trophies and been promoted out of this league. For me it was a simple decision to get him on-board," was Adkins' verdict on the signing in a press conference ahead of a 2-0 victory against Stoke City, with Ridgewell named on the bench for that particular fixture.

Liam Ridgewell didn't have the desired impact at Hull City

Despite highlighting the experience of 257 Premier League games for West Midlands rivals Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, Ridgewell's addition didn't have its desired effect on the remainder of the Tigers' season.

The defender would make his first appearance for the club in a 15-minute cameo at Pride Park against Derby County, before being handed his full debut three days later against Rotherham United.

After a controlled first-half display, Ridgewell's lack of pace and match speed was ruthlessly exposed by the Millers, who came back to salvage a 2-2 draw, before the London-born man also played the full 90 minutes in a 5-1 hammering at the hands of Brentford.

To give the centre-back his due, his services were called upon to see out successive home victories against Millwall and Birmingham City, before playing out the last of his seven appearances against Norwich and QPR, with the latter of those coming on March 16th, just two months before the end of the season.

Of course, a limited number of appearances and a clear showing of rustiness wasn't the sole reason as to why Hull's season drifted away from them in the latter months, but Adkins would have hoped for slightly more influence from a player, who, quite simply, wasn't comparable in relation to his previous spells in the English game.