Hull City yesterday signed former Blackburn Rovers midfielder Richie Smallwood on a two-year deal.
The 29-year-old, who began his career with Middlesbrough in the North East, made 87 appearances for Blackburn, 52 of which came in League One in 2017/18. However, he only appeared twice last season, a statistic which contributed to his recent release from Ewood Park.
After emerging at Boro he appeared on loan for Rotherham, moving there in 2014 on a permanent deal. He spent a small amount of time on loan with Scunthorpe United but had already helped the Millers into the Championship in his maiden season.
“He will put his foot in, challenge for every ball and compete for everything on the pitch,” Hull City boss Grant McCann said.
“We’ve got some good young players at this club and they will also benefit massively from Richie’s experience, along with his footballing knowledge and know-how. I’m sure our fans will love his endeavour, commitment and passion and I’m certain he will make a significant impact on the team this season.”
The Tigers were relegated to the third tier for the first time since 2005 at the end of last season, in McCann’s first campaign in charge. The move for Smallwood comes just two days after they swooped for both Lewie Coyle and Josh Emmanuel, from Fleetwood and Ipswich respectively. McCann has hinted this morning that may not be the end of the transfer business, telling the club’s official site;
“For sure – we’re still looking to make further additions,. Lee (Darnbrough) and the scouting team are working very hard. We know that we need to add some more bodies to the group. Obviously, the midfield is an area where we need to strengthen but there are one or two other positions we’re looking at as well.
“The targets are in mind, of course. We know who we want to bring in but, with the salary cap coming into play now, it’s not as easy as it was.”
Tigers’ fans seem delighted with the recent move, given how dire their season was last time out it points at some modicum of success in 2020/21.
Have you tried our Hull City trivia quiz?
[freshpress-quiz id=”12874″]
Buying someone from the championship, what’s going on?!
— Millie (@millliehunt) August 11, 2020
https://twitter.com/jackturner1865/status/1293234097305923585
https://twitter.com/BlazaStuart/status/1293252795609550849
I am unimpressed. We shouldn’t be in this league #hcafc #allamout pic.twitter.com/0tfzcIzrfy
— Richard Bibby (@RichardBibby1) August 11, 2020
https://twitter.com/SteveKerry15/status/1293250984416772098
Him and honeyman in the middle will give 100% all game we just need to sign a creative attacking midfielder now and we will be sorted in that department what’s that Dempsey from Swindon like on a free ?
— Aidan Grassham🐯 (@AidanGrassham17) August 11, 2020
In the red corner we have the “who?”, and in the blue corner we have the “stop being negative, welcome him” who wins? 🤔
— Aaron Spencer (@hcafcspencer) August 11, 2020
Might as well announce Hull league 1 champions now, guy would go into a 50-50 with his nan and snap her in half
— Bobby (@Bobby_Morris7) August 11, 2020
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