Recently returned Hull City chairman Adam Pearson has delivered a dismal assessment of the club's financial plight, declaring that the Tigers' will not have the funds to sign any new players in January.

Pearson returned to the KC Stadium a fortnight ago after a spell as Derby's chairman, drafted in by Hull own Russell Bartlett in a bid to get to grips with the club's spiralling debts, which have since been revealed to total £9million.

And having coming to terms with the club's finances over the past two weeks, he categorically ruled that if the Tigers are to stay up this season, it will be without additions in the January transfer window.

"It has been a really long two weeks but now I think fans are aware that the club is in a difficult financial environment," he told Sky Sports News.

"Hopefully, we can all come together in the realisation that we haven't got the chequebook way of getting out of trouble.

"It's just not open to this club. I think that it has needed some re-focus and some direction and hopefully I can do that."

Pearson added that now he has quashed talk of new signings, he hoped the club could re-evaluate their escape plan, and begin to concentrate on alternative factors that will give them a better chance of avoiding relegation.

"The only way open to this club is hard work, commitment, desire and unity and spirit and we have got to be better at all those things than Bolton, Wolves, Portsmouth and all those teams around us.

"If we are, we'll survive; if we are not we'll go down because a chequebook is not going to be the way out of this."

Hull climbed out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over Stoke in their last Premier League outing, and have another proverbial six-pointer when they meet their relegation rivals West Ham at the KC Stadium on Saturday.