Hull chairman assures Michael Dawson new players will be coming

Hull chairman Assem Allam has assured club captain Michael Dawson that new players will be arriving before the transfer deadline.

The Tigers are in turmoil as the new season gets underway, without a full-time manager following Steve Bruce's resignation and without a significant squad due to injuries and no new senior signings.

The Tigers have brought in just two youngsters and Dawson admitted it has been a "strange, tough and disappointing" pre-season having worked hard to return immediately to the Premier League last year.

The defender told Sky Sports: "I hope it changes. I've spoken with the chairman and he's told me players are going to be coming in.

"We need a squad. After what we did over the last 12 months to get back here, we need to see it and give ourselves a fighting chance of staying up.

"Steve's departure did come as a surprise after the summer saying he was going to stay. Three weeks into pre-season, we'd been in Portugal and he was still there, but obviously the disappointment of not bringing in players, maybe it was the point he couldn't take it anymore.

"It's a massive disappointment after what we've done in the play-offs. Loan signings have gone back. It has been a strange one. Credit to the boys who've stayed fit, albeit not many of them. It's been tough. You look who we've lost; Moses Odubajo, myself, Alex Bruce and the keeper Allan McGregor.

"But we've got to focus and we're here now ready for the first game back in the Premier League. That group of players will be fighting for each other. There's a togetherness."

Dawson suffered a knee ligament injury two weeks into pre-season training and he is hoping to be back by the end of September at the earliest.

"Realistically it will be six weeks before I'm going to be back involved; five until training and then maybe a couple of weeks more," the former Tottenham man said.

"Doing it two weeks into pre-season was perhaps the worst time to do it."