Bruce: No excuses for Hull after relegation

The Tigers were demoted to the Championship after their 0-0 draw with Manchester United, as Newcastle defeated West Ham in their final Premier League game of the season.Steve Bruce says that Hull City can have no excuses following their relegation from the Premier League on Sunday.Bruce's men played out a goalless draw with Manchester United at the KC Stadium, and were unable to capitalise on the sending off of Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini.
Yet a win would ultimately have been futile for the Tigers as Newcastle claimed a 2-0 home victory over West Ham on the final day to secure their own survival.Twelve months on from playing in the FA Cup final, Hull will now return to the Championship after two seasons in the top flight.A downbeat Bruce refused to make excuses after the clash, telling reporters: "We all have to take the brunt of it, we have not been good enough.I thought at the start of the season we would have enough to stay in the Premier League but we have not done enough.You are desperately disappointed with what has happened. It is an awful experience, and it will dawn on the players we are not in the Premier League anymore.Bruce agreed a new deal in March, but sought to deflect questions on his own future in the wake of Hull's demotion.I've had a terrific relationship with the owner, who in that respect I'm desperately disappointed for because at this particular moment I've let him down.A contract, we all know, means nothing really in football. He [Allam] was trying to pick me up, probably, at the time to offer me it, if we're being truthful. But for that I'm always going to be grateful.I don't think it's the time now to talk about myself. At the end of the day I've not been good enough, so I'll reflect on that and have a conversation with the powers-that-be, which is always going to be inevitable when the fall-out begins of relegation.Asked whether he wanted to lead Hull's bid to return to the top flight, Bruce replied: That's not for me [to comment on], that's for others to decide that.There's obviously a lot of talking and soul-searching to be done. It is bitter and sad at the moment. It's an awful, awful experience.Hull captain Michael Dawson, meanwhile, admits that he did not expect to suffer the ignominy of relegation when he joined the club from Tottenham last summer.It was not today that relegated us, we had 38 chances to do it, he told BBC Sport.When I signed [from Tottenham last August], I was not expecting this. It is hard to take. It is going to be a hard summer.