Clucas backs Phelan to stay

Sam Clucas is the latest Hull player to endorse caretaker boss Mike Phelan's qualities as a perfect fit for the club.

Phelan, 53, placed in temporary charge following Steve Bruce's resignation in July, has yet to agree a deal to take the job on a permanent basis, but is now considering an offer and expects negotiations to resume next week.

The Tigers are still in takeover talks with two separate consortiums and while both issues continue to drag on, midfielder Clucas has joined fellow team-mates in giving Phelan his full support.

"One hundred per cent, I don't see why not," said Clucas when asked if Phelan was the right man for the job ahead of Saturday's home Premier League clash with Arsenal.

"If you look at the start we've had and the experience he's got, he's got great credentials to keep this club in the Premier League and that's what everyone wants to do.

"Hopefully it will be sewn up sooner rather than later."

Phelan has guided Hull to eighth place in the table and won the Premier League's manager of the month award for August.

"Mike Phelan's been brilliant," Clucas added. "We still don't really know what's going on with that situation, it's out of our hands.

"He's been trying to keep us in the loop as best he can. He's been working on the fixtures week by week and we've been going about it like that."

Clucas, 25, who signed a new three-year deal with the club last month after joining from Chesterfield in July 2015, is not the first Hull player to have been impressed by Phelan's attention to detail.

"I think Dave (Meyler) said previously that we know what time the opposition go to the toilet and things like that," he said.

"He knows some weird stuff that we don't know. He relays it to us and it seems to be paying off because we go out there on Saturday and we know what they're going to do."

The Tigers face a daunting run of fixtures as Saturday's visit of Arsenal is followed by a trip to Stoke in the EFL Cup and league games against Liverpool at Anfield and home to Chelsea, but Clucas remains unfazed.

"We've got a good home record, so let's try to keep that up," he added.

"We know it's going to be tough and we're going to have spells without the ball but we've been working on that all week.

"We've got to go in there full of confidence and see if we can get something from the game."