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Exclusive: Jacob Greaves hopeful for Hull to achieve “dream” Premier League promotion

Keeping the dream alive with just a couple matches to go.

Neil Goulding
Neil Goulding

Last Updated: 2024-04-01

Louis Hobbs

3 minutes read

Football defender Jacob Greaves in a match for Hull City

Image Credits: wearehullcity

Jacob Greaves is convinced Hull City are on the cusp of achieving something special – but only if they maintain their tunnel vision.

The club are six points behind fellow promotion-chasers Norwich City, with a football match in hand on the Canaries, and just eight games to go in what promises to be a thrilling finish to the season.

And vice-captain Greaves, 23, would love nothing more than to add another coveted promotion to his CV with the Premier League within touching distance of the East Yorkshire club can finish the season with a flourish.

Keeping the Premier League dream alive

Greaves starred in the successful Tigers’ team which were crowned League One champions in 2021 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I remember how good it was being promoted without fans!” recalled Greaves.

“To imagine it with fans is crazy. Doing it at the next step to go into the Premier League is what dreams are made of.

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It’s what you go to bed thinking about before you go to sleep as a young boy.

Jacob Greaves

“The dream for us is to play in the Premier League - and we’ve got a great chance of doing that. We’ve got to be able to control our emotions and see what we can do."

“He’s changed the way I look at football”

“But everyone’s excited. I think the fans, the staff, and the players are all united as one in this play-off race.

“We need everyone to be together and that’s why trips like this are so important.”

Hull boss Liam Rosenior took the majority of his squad – barring international call-ups – to Turkey for a mid-season training camp to recharge their batteries and to make sure they are firmly focused on the potential prize come the end of what has been a very promising campaign.

Image Credits: The Hull Story

Image Credits: The Hull Story

And ahead of a mouthwatering Easter Monday Yorkshire showdown with high-flying Leeds, centre-back Greaves said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it [working with the manager].

“It’s been fantastic for me to work on getting better as a footballer and the details that go with getting to the top.

“The professionalism and how you live your life. How you go into games tactically, he’s changed the way I look at football.

“Every meeting is different and you go into those excited about what game plan he has created. You don’t get that with a lot of managers.

“There’s that real pressure on us to go and win football matches. You don’t want things to be easy, you want the pressure that you have to go out there and win.”

Tightening up for the final stretch

Greaves, now in his fourth season at the MKM Stadium, added: “That’s what we need to do now. We need to turn the screw and turn that pressure into something that’s going to win games.

“He’s [Liam Rosenior] been there. He mentions it all the time. We’ve got rafting on the trip and the last time he went rafting they went up. 

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He missed out on promotion with Brighton by one goal, he mentions that a lot.

Jacob Greaves

“It’s good to see the other side of it and see why he thinks he and the team missed out.

“He tells us what went wrong and why he thinks the team didn’t get there.

“I think that’s why he is so demanding on trying to get there because he knows it can change careers and he knows how it feels to miss out.”

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Neil Goulding
Neil GouldingSenior Sports Reporter

Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.