Bruce keen on Arsenal star | Barnsley report and pics
IT ONLY feels like a couple of weeks since we were all at Wembley for the FA Cup final but a new season is almost here for Hull City.
Starting off in the Europa League on Thursday adds another layer of excitement.
I can't pretend to know much about AS Trencin or Slovakian football, but it's going to be a great adventure for the club and the supporters.
Who could ever have expected we would be starting a campaign in Europe? The closest I ever came as a player here was a pre-season tour to Bulgaria.
A lot has been made of the problems that will come with all the additional games, but I'd rather have those worries than not.
It's important to embrace this challenge because it might not come again for a long time.
Will Steve Bruce's side be fully prepared for Thursday? I very much doubt it.
Although the days of coming back from summer nine pounds overweight are long gone, you're not going to be at your sharpest on the back of three weeks training in pre-season.
They'll not be far off, maybe 90 or 95 per cent, but not quite there, but I would still expect City to get past Trencin.
Any team from the Premier League should have enough to progress over two legs and Bruce will not want this journey to be over before it's begun.
Remember, this is his very first crack at European football as a manager. That also means he will have to do some learning on his feet this year.
We could be looking at 10 extra games on the calendar before Christmas if we can get through to the Europa League group stages and, with all the travelling that comes with it, that's not going to be easy.
Bruce will want to bring in at least three more players before the end of the transfer window to make sure his squad can cope and provided that's the case, I see no reason to suggest everything will suddenly fall apart this season.
This is still a very good group of players. The important bit will be juggling it all.
Bruce will need a bit of luck along the way with injuries, but there's plenty of scope for chopping and changing to manage it all.
You often hear the term 'second-season syndrome' and I'm sure it's one people are getting ready to level at City this season.
We saw the points dry up in the second half of last season and that will provide ammunition for some pundits if we start slowly with all the European games going on.
It was only five years ago that this club fell out of the Premier League during the second year as well, but I don't see any similarities with that period.
This is a much more talented squad, led by a far more astute manager, and there's nothing to suggest to me that City will necessarily struggle.
This team finished 16th last year and should really have ended up higher.
They were better than their final league position suggested.
Bruce's only aim for this season will be to make sure his team are safe as quickly as possible and key to that will be a good start, like 12 months ago.
Those early wins gave us breathing space when the points dried up after the turn of the year and looking at those first five or six games there's the opportunity to do the same again.
No one is talking about QPR on August 16 just yet, though.
After today's friendly at Barnsley it will all be about a trip into the unknown on Thursday.
So long as City do not take their opponents lightly over in Slovakia, I'd make them favourites to come through the tie pretty comfortably.
With the greatest of respect, I don't imagine Trencin have players with the quality of Tom Huddlestone, Shane Long or Curtis Davies.
Man for man, I fully expect City to be better and although their hosts will be sharper for coming through the second qualifying round, they'll be up against a far better side than the Vojvodina team they held off.
I'm sure all the fans travelling to Slovakia cannot wait and the same will go for the players. It's going to be a trip to remember.
SWANNY ON ... ROBERT SNODGRASS
He's a player I've liked for a long time. He might not be blessed with pace but he's an intelligent footballer who can hurt opponents.
As well as being a threat from set-pieces, there's vision, trickery and an ability to put the ball on a sixpence.
He also gives full-backs a hard time week after week simply because he's a nuisance.
Steve Bruce wasn't always blessed with too many options playing out wide last season and Snodgrass addresses that. Ahmed Elmohamady, for example, no longer has his place guaranteed and that's very important to keep progressing.
Snodgrass played a lot of his football for Norwich out on the right and cutting inside and Bruce must have been impressed with how he did down at Carrow Road in January.
He really caught the eye that day and I can remember Bruce having to shift Liam Rosenior across just to do a job on him.
We've seen Snodgrass prove he's a Premier League player over the last two years and City have pushed the boat out to make sure they've got him.
Even at £7m, he looks a really tidy bit of business to me.
SWANNY ON ... TOM INCE
Time will tell how much City have to pay when this deal goes to a tribunal, but I'm sure Ince is a gamble worth taking.
Although things didn't really click for him on loan at Crystal Palace, there's no question there's a talented young player there. We saw him at his best a couple of years ago for Blackpool and he was excellent. He's the type of player to put you on the edge of your seat.
He's got that flair, that ability to make something happen. The closest player City have to that is Sone Aluko but you can never have too many.
As a former defender, I wouldn't like to mark him. You're never quite sure where he's going to go next because he plays off the cuff. That naturally puts you on the back foot.
The big challenge for Ince is proving the Premier League is his stage. He's done all he can in the Championship and now's the time to take his game to the next level.
That won't be easy, and he might have to be patient, but it was interesting to hear him talking about his development. He's come here to further his game and firmly believes that Steve Bruce is the man to do it.
SWANNY ON ... JAKE LIVERMORE
Signing Livermore probably wasn't met with the same excitement as Snodgrass and Ince, but turning that loan deal into a permanent move was vital.
It was a lot like Ahmed Elmohamady 12 months ago. You start taking the player for granted when he's had such a successful loan, but if City hadn't tied it up they'd have been left with a big hole to fill.
Livermore's come at a cost, a club record fee, but Bruce knows exactly what he's getting. Not just as a player but the character. Last season's loan left him in no doubt that he had a really good professional in his dressing room.
Bruce could have gone out to the foreign market and possibly got the same player for half the price, but Livermore fits the bill for having a young and British and Irish squad.
That midfield partnership between Livermore and Tom Huddlestone was a big part of City's success last season and I see no reason for that to change.
If anything, it will get better. A first full season in the Premier League will have done Livermore the world of good and he can kick on again next year.
