HULL CITY EXCLUSIVE: Cash could be available in January

HULL City chairman Adam Pearson says cash can be made available to strengthen during the January transfer window.

But with a pressing need to offload a top-heavy first-team squad, supporters have been warned not to expect a flood of new faces at the KC Stadium.

Sitting inside the bottom three with eight points from their opening 11 games, Phil Brown's side look set for a season spent fighting relegation.

And while Pearson says finances can be assigned for fresh blood in the new year, an equal emphasis must be placed on trimming an over-sized squad.

"The major factor for January would be how many players we were able to move out," Pearson told the Mail.

"A lot would depend on where we are in the league. If we're battling in and around the relegation zone then we'll find the finance to bring in one or two new players, but that will depend on players going out.

"We think that with some diligent hard work and proper management, and working in conjunction with the players, we'd hope to move some on. Then you can look again at what you're able to do."

As reported in Saturday's Mail, the Tigers are looking to shift up to 10 players off their £36m annual wage bill in January.

Bryan Hughes, Nathan Doyle and Caleb Folan, all currently on loan to Championship clubs, are expected to leave on permanent deals while a number of out-of-favour high-earners like George Boateng and Daniel Cousin will also be made available.

Following an alarming truth behind Michael Turner's £4m move to Sunderland, Pearson has already stressed that no key players will be sacrificed when the window reopens.

"There's no need of a fire-sale, all we have to do is work strategically with players who aren't in our long-term plans to move them on," he added.

"We've got revenues totalling £54m which would tend to suggest that you can operate off a £27m to £30m wage bill.

"If you're in that bracket and it's focused on having a 24-man squad who are all contributing, that's giving you over £1m per player and I would tend to suggest that it's entirely viable.

"However, when you've got a £36m wage bill and you've got £12m sat in the stands every week, then it's obviously a problem."

Pearson has met with Brown to discuss which players can be sacrificed but is also in the hunt for outside investment to ease financial headaches.

That avenue could unlock money for transfers but Pearson is not budgeting for such a quick deal.

"My brief is to get the right investors at the right shareholding, and at the right time," he adedd.

"That will be a process that starts straight away but could take anything up to a year.

"In the mean time, it's my job to put a business plan in place to make sure this club goes from strength to strength without having those investors.

"Obviously, the investors would be the icing on the cake and enable us to go out and buy players in either the January or the summer period."

For the full, extensive, exclusive and revealing interview with the Hull City chairman, read today's Mail.