Phil Brown believes Grant McCann can replicate the heroics of his famous Hull City side from 2008.

Former boss Brown guided the Tigers to the top flight for the first time in their history, a remarkable feat considering the club was 22nd in the Championship when he initially took over in October 2006.

Brown steadied the ship at the then-KC Stadium, keeping the club in the division before securing a fairytale promotion to the Premier League the following season.

Fast forward to 2021 and Hull are currently on a four-game winning run despite looking destined for relegation less than a month ago.

The Tigers now sit 19th – five points above the drop zone – with Brown attributing the recent run of form to a change in style by the manager.

“I’ve known Grant quite a while when he was at Peterborough,” he told BBC Football Daily.

“In my opinion, he has tightened things up at the back, whether that’s the consistency of team selection or what, I don’t know, but he certainly tightened things up at the back.

“But once you win that first game, and then you get the second one, all of a sudden people start breathing. People start relaxing a wee bit and start looking forward to the games and I think that’s what Hull City are doing at the moment.

“They look like they want to play and they want to face the opposition.

“By the way, that is a minefield, the Championship. Every team that you play has the capability of beating you handsomely.

“But they’re now believing, they’re starting to breathe a little bit and starting to play the kind of football that he (McCann) wants to play, but it’s all down to the basics of keeping a clean sheet and then building from there.”

Brown sees a stark resemblance between what is happening now to his own achievements more than a decade ago and refused to rule out a promotion push for Hull next season.

“Well, if you look at it as a parallel it’s very, very similar to when we got promoted and snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the season.

“We started terribly but it wasn’t as bad as 21 points from 20 games.

“I think after about 10 games, we were struggling and in single figures, then all of a sudden 20 games we got ahead of steam and nicked into the top half of the division.

“Next thing you know, 30 games is your next milestone if you’re in a 46 game series.”

“(All of a sudden) You’re not going to knock on the door, the playoffs and then the finishing run is all about holding yourselves together and getting in the playoffs by hook or by crook… then it’s a free fall.”