Tottenham vs Hull City reaction: Aftermath of 'Hull Tigers' debacle splinters Steve Bruce's chances of survival

Tottenham 2 Hull 0

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As the full-time whistle blew at White Hart Lane this afternoon, sending Hull City closer to the Championship, the wounds suffered by the rebranding saga finally seem to be proving mortal.

Just twelve months ago the Tigers were preparing to take on Arsenal in the FA Cup final in the hope of adding the first major piece of silverware to their trophy cabinet. The dust remained undisturbed.

This season was always going to hinge on the merits of an uneasy Entente Cordiale between the embattled East Yorkshire club and its supporters.

In 1904 an agreement was struck between the United Kingdom and France which saw an end to centuries of conflict in defiance against a new European threat. It was also a year which paid witness to the birth of a new association football club in Hull.

Just like the Anglo-French treaty, concessions needed to be made at the KC Stadium between Dr Assem Allam and his enemies if the truce were to hold.

Dr. Assem Allam, the Hull City chairman who was widely criticised for his rejected rebrand plans, looked happy from the stands. (Getty Images)

The 75-year-old Egyptian wants to literally change the face of the club in an attempt to make it more self-sustainable.

Now set for another period of uncertainty in the second tier, the footballing wasteland, his unrelenting efforts appear to have been in vain.

Dr Allam, whose son Ehab operates as vice-chairman, has poured £67m into the infrastructure and playing squad in the last two years, but the cost to Hull supporters wasn’t merely financial. They believed the soul of the club was at stake and that it still is.

Some outside of Hull may have missed his most recent scandal. In March, local sports groups which had been using the Airco Arena, part of the KC Stadium since both were funded by public money in 2002, were told they had to vacate the premises.

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The Allam family wish for the facility to be turned into a 3G football pitch, allowing the academy to gain Premier League category two status.

This week’s revelations about Jake Livermore, with the former Spurs man testing positive for cocaine during a routine drugs test, just proved to be the latest kick in the teeth for Hull supporters.

The unrest felt across the region was a bearable side-effect, however, so long as Steve Bruce’s men were able to preserve their Premier League status. Now that hope has all but been lost.

The fractures in this uneasy relationship had always threatened to derail Hull’s campaign. But few expected the shrapnel to fly with such deadly consequences.

Some may point towards the presence of Europa League football in their diaries back in August as a factor in their demise, but an early exit to KSC Lokeren clipped the wings on any such argument.

In truth, a side with the quality at Bruce’s disposal shouldn’t be getting relegated. Credit should - at very least - go to Dr Allam for the squad he has funded over the years.

With their wages set to be slashed by up to 50% in the coming weeks, barring an unlikely swing in fortunes, it remains to be seen whether the likes of Tom Huddlestone and Nikica Jelavić have the stomach for a campaign in the Championship.

Home matches have often become overshadowed by disquiet in the stands - with some fans aiming unsavoury chants towards Dr Allam and others booing their peers for doing so. The unrest was hardly a source of strength for a side in desperate need of harmony.

Rumours of the controversial owner selling up don’t seem too far away, despite his insistence to the contrary, but Hull know this feeling of uncertainty all too well.

They came back from oblivion once before and, provided a new truce is quickly established, they can emerge from the wasteland yet again.