Twelve months after he typed out his resignation, Steve Bruce is typing out a player wish-list after securing Hull City their Premier League status at Wembley.
Bruce has now achieved promotion from the Championship four times but he’s never been made to sweat quite as much as he did in this edgy play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday.
Senegalese midfielder Mo Diame's spectacular 70th minute winner, decided what’s dubbed the ‘£200 million game’ and secured the riches of top-flight football will return to the KC Stadium after a one-year break.
It’s well known that losing at Wembley intensifies the pain and Hull fans know the agony of defeat at this place, two goals up in the FA Cup final two years ago, they lost 3-2 to Arsenal.
Just five players from that day were involved in this all-Yorkshire encounter but the contrast of emotions was clear for every Tigers fan in the stadium, who, in recent years, know that the heights of victory are wonderfully multiplied by the depth of previous disappointments.
“I offered my resignation after we were relegated last season because that failure was ultimately mine,” admitted Bruce.
“I’m just very pleased that the owner didn’t accept it but if we hadn’t won this, I don’t know what my future would have been. Thankfully we don’t need to have that conversation.
“However, it’s not about me, it’s about the club and how we move forward now. We’ve got to play to our maximum and we’ve got to invest well. We are ready for the challenge but even when you’ve got a bit of money, you’ve got to know how to spend it."
Bruce admitted he thought luck was against him as a string of chances went begging but Hull were certainly value for their win, dominating possession and scoring opportunities.
“Mo’s produced some magic there and his quality has got us back in the Premier League,” he added.
“I was starting to think that we’d wasted too many good chances and it might not be our day.”
Sheffield Wednesday were looking to defy the doubters and follow in the footsteps of Blackpool, the only team to have finished sixth in the league and won the play-off final in the past 11 years.
A grand old club, they sold their allocation of tickets and then some again and their top-flight quality fans sung, bounced and never stopped believing from kick-off to final whistle.
Not since the glory days of Chris Waddle and David Hirst, 23 long years back, when the Owls played here four times in the matter of weeks, have Wednesday ran out at Wembley.
But, in truth, they paid for the price for the lack of chances they created and the scoreline would have been different had it not been for three inspired saves by their goalkeeper Keiren Westwood.
Even when behind their fans maintained their noisy domination but the goal seemed to sap the players’ self-belief and they barely registered an effort after Diame’s decisive strike.
“They deserved to win this game but we can play better than this,” said Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal.
“The emotion between players and fans after the game was a very good sign of what we can achieve going forward. We will be more respected in the future.
“I think 20 teams will start next season thinking about promotion but we will be a stronger side next season for this and we’ve created a good base and we can build on this."
Match statistics
Hull City (4-5-1): 16 Eldin Jakupovic, 2 Moses Odubajo, 6 Curtis Davies, 8 Tom Huddlestone, 9 Abel Hernandez, 10 Robert Snodgrass, 14 Jake Livermore, 17 Mo Diame, 21 Michael Dawson (captain), 26 Andy Robertson, 27 Ahmed Elmohamady
Substitutes: 11 Sam Clucas for Snodgrass 81, 7 David Meyler for Hernandez 84, 12 Harry Maguire for Diame 88
Substitutes not used: 30 Dusan Kuciak, 4 Alex Bruce, 15 Shaun Maloney, 19 Chuba Akpom
Goals: Diame
Booking: Dawson
Manager: Steve Bruce
Sheffield Wednesday (4-4-2): 1 Keiren Westwood, 4 Sam Hutchinson, 5 Glenn Loovens (captain), 14 Gary Hooper, 15 Tom Lees, 20 Kieran Lee, 32 Jack Hunt, 33 Ross Wallace, 36 Daniel Pudil, 41 Barry Bannan, 45 Fernando Forestieri
Substitutes: 17 Jeremy Helan for Wallace 62, 9 Atdhe Nuhiu for Hutchinson 75, 18 Lucas Joao for Pudil 85
Substitutes not used: 28 Joe Wildsmith, 7 Marco Matias , 21 Alex Lopez, 23 Vincent Sasso
Goals:
Booking: None
Head coach: Carlos Carvalhal
Referee: Bobby Madley
Assistant referees: Simon Bennett and Peter Kirkup
Fourth official: Roger East
Attendance: 70,189