MANAGING director Nick Thompson admits Hull City were left "enormously disappointed" after their ambitious attempt to sign West Bromwich Albion striker Shane Long fell agonisingly short on deadline day. A dramatic conclusion to the summer window saw the Tigers come close to breaking their club record transfer fee after agreeing in principle a £5.5m deal for Long.
The 26-year-old striker was permitted to leave the Republic of Ireland camp and travel to East Yorkshire in the hope of finalising a move, only for West Brom to pull the plug when Everton won the chase to sign Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku. Long was present at City's training ground in Cottingham when the news broke in the final minutes of the window and Thompson says it came as a bitter pill to swallow.
"It's enormously disappointing, of course, but West Brom had always made it clear it would be conditional on them doing their own business," Thompson told the Mail. "They came to the stage late in the day that they no longer wanted to do the deal.
"That's understandable because you look after your best interests as a football club, but it was hard to take coming so late in the day. Everyone I have spoken with since has said 'That's football' but it's still hugely disappointing."
Though Thompson's sense of dejection was evident, he fell short publicly criticising the conduct of Premier League rivals West Brom. He added: "If they had said no right at the beginning we could have looked elsewhere but it happened so late there was no chance of doing anything else. That's up to them.
"Quality strikers do not come along very often and we were hopeful of concluding a deal. If I was in the same position again I would be very sceptical. It's never wise to be in a one-horse race so with the benefit of hindsight we could have looked at other options available to us. That wasn't possible so late on."
Long's collapsed move meant City's only incoming business of deadline day was the return of former loan star Gedo. The Egypt international, who scored five goals in the Tigers' promotion season, has left Al-Ahly for a second time and ready for his return from a foot injury when City host Cardiff in 10 days.
"He's not a household name in the Premier League but supporters here have seen what he can do," said Thompson. "He scored five goals in his first six games with us and we've brought him back to hopefully have a similar impact.
"He's an international striker and if not one of the best in Africa, certainly north Africa. Put him alongside Danny Graham and Yannick Sagbo, plus Robbie Brady and Sone Aluko, and we've got plenty of attacking options. A manager will always want one more and someone like Shane Long would have strengthened us, but we've already shown that we can compete at this level."
