The Hull City pre-season debacle continued this week as first team coach Keith Bertschin was told "his services were no longer required" just moments before the team bus headed to the airport for the Tigers' flight to Austria.

Bertschin likely to follow Bruce into next role

59-year-old Bertschin had decided to continue in his role at the KCOM stadium following the departure of long-term colleague Steve Bruce. Yet when Bertschin turned up to board the coach with his luggage for the five day trip to Austria, he was unceremoniously sacked in front of the squad.

Bruce's trusted companion had worked under the former manager at Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland. He also enjoyed an extensive playing career with his peak coming in the 1980's during spells with Birmingham City, Norwich City, Stoke City and Sunderland.

The venue for Hull's training camp (photo: Twitter/Hull City)
The venue for Hull's training camp (photo: Twitter/Hull City)

"Strange old pre-season so far"

The latest move by the Hull hierarchy suggests that the new manager, who is due to be announced in the near future, is likely to bring in his own coaching staff. The bookies favourite is former West Ham and Watford boss Gianfranco Zola, whilst Chris Coleman is being tipped by some despite the Welsh FA rejecting an official approach on Tuesday for the Wales man.

As Hull continued their trip to Austria, where they will play two friendlies amongst various training sessions, Robert Snodgrass tweeted a picture of the team bus that keen observers noticed was looking particularly sparse. Tom Huddlestone, a victim of the summer injury crisis at the club, also tweeted to say "landed in Austria, few days training and couple of games before big kick off. Strange old pre season so far".

The players took part in an evening training session on Tuesday and will take on Turkish club Caykur Rizespor on Wednesday evening as they continued their preparations for a return to the Premier League.

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