Hull City didn’t strike gold with £3m Stoke City deal – Cardiff City were big winners of his Tigers stint

Hull City didn’t strike gold with £3m Stoke City deal – Cardiff City were big winners of his Tigers stint

In an attempt to improve on a mediocre debut season in the Premier League, Hull City embarked on a recruitment

drive in the summer of 2009.

After finishing in the top six during the Autumn to Christmas season, the Tigers won a lot of early admirers.

However, a run of one Premier League victory after the year’s beginning saved Phil Brown’s team from being

immediately relegated back to the Championship by just one point ahead of Newcastle United

Unaware of the impending financial instability, City proceeded to sign players like Paul McShane, Stephen Hunt,

Steven Mouyokolo Kamil Zayatte, and Kamil Ghilas. Additionally, Jan Venegoor of Hesselink, Jozy Altidore, and

Ibrahima Sonko arrived on loan agreements and free transfers, respectively.

Nigerian midfielder Seyi Olofinjana, who cost £3 million to join from Stoke City, was another addition that cost the

team a lot of money The Potters had already secured their spot in the Premier League with automatic promotion in

2007–08.

However, it would be fair to say that the Staffordshire outfit would prove the real winners of this particular transfer,

as well as Cardiff City later down the line with the East Yorkshire club left to feel a major sense of transfer regret.

Seyi Olofinjana’s first season at Hull City ended in relegation

On the first day of the 2009–10 season, Olofijana made his debut in Black and Amber in a 2-1 loss to Chelsea at

Stamford Bridge. He quickly established himself as a mainstay in Brown’s starting lineup for 10 of the next 12 games,

during which Hull only managed 11 points.

But the last of those games was a 2-1 victory over his old employers, when the 56-time international scored his only

goal for the team with a spectacular equaliser in the second half before Venegoor of Hesselink handed Hull a crucial

three points in the closing seconds.

As City’s form remained inconsistent amid a backdrop of financial turmoil, Olofinjana found himself in and out of

the side, particularly in the final weeks of the season as Brown was placed on gardening leave and replaced by Iain

Dowie, with the club officially relegated after a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland with two games remaining

Cardiff City benefitted from Seyi Olofinjana loan – Hull City never saw the same player

Many long-serving and highly paid players, including Geovanni, George Boateng, and Boaz Myhill, left Hull as their

financial problems grew worse. Nigel Pearson was appointed manager of the team prior to the 2010–11 season.

Three days later, Olofinjana made his debut for the Bluebirds in a 2-1 away success at Derby County, after not being

used as a substitute in the 2-0 opening-day victory against play-off champions Swansea City in HU3

Hull would see Anthony Gerrard move the other way on loan as the transfer window came to an end, and both

players were bizarrely permitted to play against their parent clubs. This, however, only worked in Cardiff’s favour in

the early-season match-up between the two clubs as the Nigerian shrugged off a helpless Gerrard, who went on to be

named Hull’s Player of the Year, for the opening goal in a 2-0 victory at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Although his final appearances for the team would see Cardiff lose 3-0 to Reading over two legs in the play-offs, the

midfielder’s output under Dave Jones was significantly increased, recording a total of six goals and two assists

alongside players like EFL and Bluebirds great Peter Whittingham.

Olofinjana was reportedly Hull’s highest paid player, earning £28,000 a week. However, after returning to East

Yorkshire, he never reached the same heights and only made five appearances in the 2011–12 season due to a

protracted injury.

Seyi Olofinjana’s Hull City Record (2009-2013)	Total
Appearances	40
Goals	1
Assists	1
All Stats as per Transfermarkt

Although he would be loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday in the final weeks of the season, reuniting with Jones on a

temporary and then permanent basis after his release from the Tigers at the end of the season, his time at the MKM

Stadium is largely forgotten many years later. The final 12 of his 40 appearances for Hull came in the promotion-

winning season of 2012–13.

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