On the eve of our Premier League bow, it’s time to address some of the issues Hull City face as the season draws to a close. It’s been eventful, but ultimately disappointing, with more questions than answers. I’ll try to redress the balance…

HCFC didn’t really ask anything, but their post is worth commenting on…

You're having a bubble surely by citing Pulis and Stoke?
Don't understand why so many City fans think Stoke are a club to admire.
That bunch of Route One cloggers are bankrolled by Peter Coates who has hundreds of millions of pounds, some of which he gives to Pulis to stock up his Potteries Donkey Sanctuary.

Hull City's away campaign concluded with a handy metaphor for the season in general. A promising, industrious performance gave way to a lack of concentration late in the game, turning three points into just one. The lack of goals throughout the team has been alarming, but ultimately, points have slipped through our fingers thanks to inept defending, points which would have (just) kept us up.

It's been a rotten season on the road, with the Manchester City and Tottenham games offering brief respite in a string of soul-destroying defeats. It's particularly galling when compared with last season's away form, when Phil Brown's tactics worked perfectly as City racked up a series of victories at grounds like St James' Park, White Hart Lane and the Emirates. However tactics are assessed, incidents scrutinised, and referees blamed, the simple fact remains that City are not good enough for this division.

Well, it finally happened. Eventually the games were going to run out and today came the day. There was a hint of irony in that Hull City were relegated to the team they sold their best player to in August, effectively signing their own death warrant in the process.

There’s a mixture of feelings at the moment, which I will expand upon later in the week when I’ve had a chance to reflect; anger, sadness, but almost a relief that it’s over. The constant hope of survival is a very wearing experience, but there was a strange calm feeling in the way our fate was meted out today at the KC.

It's not a certainty just yet, but the great probability is that Hull City will be playing Championship football next season. The sorry state of affairs came to a head on Saturday, when in a must-win clash against Burnley, Iain Dowie's team capitulated to a 4-1 defeat.

It was a shocking display, one in which only George Boateng and Jozy Altidore truly played to anywhere near their true potential. The performance was pitifully gutless, heart-breakingly difficult to watch, and rightly booed at the final whistle by those souls hardy enough to see out the full 90 minutes.

Another away game, another defeat. It’s getting really hard to watch Hull City on the road these days, as they maintain a nasty habit of offering little potency in the final third, coupled with a defence that always looks capable of creating the odd mistake.

Stoke are nothing special. They’re a solid, workmanlike outfit with some decent players. Their approach is open to question but attitude and total commitment to the cause cannot. That commitment was enough for the Potters to see off City 2-0 on Saturday. They didn’t really have to get out of second gear.

Hull City's tumultuous season took another twist on Saturday in a comfortable win against Fulham. Credit to City boss Iain Dowie for lifting the players' spirit after last week’s late debacle at Portsmouth, but the survival champagne corks shouldn't be popped just yet. It's important to put the 2-0 win in some sort of context.

Fulham were woeful, and played exactly what they were; a club with a small squad who have played lots of games in recent weeks. With a Europa League quarter-final on the horizon, it's understandable that Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson rested several of the team that lost to Tottenham on Wednesday.

If last week’s last-gasp defeat to Arsenal was demoralising, then Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth was simply heart-wrenchingly unbearable. 2-1 up with five minutes to go, Hull City’s porous defence coughed up two goals in three minutes, witlessly failing to take even a point from the league’s bottom team.

To lose in such a way to on paper the worst team in the league was just monumentally hard to take. Caleb Folan’s second goal of the game looked to have wrapped up the points for City, but a late free kick from O’Hara and even later finish from Kanu after some shocking defending game Pompey the points.

Another crazy few days in the world of Hull City passes. Friday saw a spate of rumours about on the future of Phil Brown, and the odds on him being the next Premier League manager we drastically shortened.

Then came a terrific performance against one of the best clubs in Europe, with the players certainly playing for the manager, before Brown was put on gardening leave on Monday morning. Wednesday saw the appointment of Iain Dowie, an appointment that has already been derided by much of the City support.

What a whirlwind of emotions. First, sadness for Brownie, whose achievements as manager will never be forgotten. Many claim he’s our greatest ever manager, and while I wouldn’t go that far, I’ll always be thankful for the fantastic times Brown brought to the KC, three fabulous seasons and that day at Wembley.

Few things in football hurt more than your team conceding a late winner. But it really hurts when your team in question, Hull City, have played for the whole second half with only ten men, holding one of the best teams in Europe in the process. What a huge sickener Nicklas Bendtner’s injury-time goal was.

City battled and scrapped away well after an annoyingly docile opening 20 minutes, and were well worthy of a point in my book. It was terrific to see a 10-man Hull City side deny 11 Arsenal players for so long, but begs the question; why can’t we produce this level of performance against the poorer teams? (away from home in particular).

Hull City’s away form is really becoming a concern. In Sunday’s game at Everton, the Tigers started quite well, before capitulating worryingly in a second-half performance that had all the hallmarks of a relegation-bound team. There was no quality, urgency, or most worryingly of all for me, fight on display, as Everton overwhelmed City’s midfield and scored three goals in the second period.

Goodison Park is never an easy place to go, and few were predicting City could get anything from this encounter. But we expect a better shift being put in from the starting XI than was on show yesterday, particularly after the horror show at Upton Park.