Hull made quite an impact in their first year of Barclays Premier League football but ultimately only beat the drop on a dramatic final afternoon of the campaign.

After collecting 20 points from their opening nine games, Hull appeared to have rubbished widespread pre-season predictions of a quick Championship return.

Yet a near-catastrophic run of just two wins in 29 matches left the Tigers hanging on by a point and grateful for Newcastle's abysmal failure to rouse themselves on the last day.

As the Tigers celebrated their survival - which had originally been their only aim - the manner of it did not matter and Brown felt its attainment had eclipsed even the previous season's play-off success.

But the 50-year-old knows mistakes were made along the way that must be ironed out to prevent the forthcoming campaign becoming another struggle.

"It was my greatest achievement," said Brown of last season. "But in the back of my mind I always thought about what was going wrong, what was going right and what I could learn from.

"There were one or two things we did wrong and certainly one or two things we did right but I think the whole experience is the learning curve for me.

"But we certainly have to improve to avoid that kind of day again. What we can improve on are clean sheets, goals from midfield and goals from strikers.

"We have a squad here that two years ago was a Championship squad. We improved it to be a Premier League squad and we are hopefully going to improve it to be a mid-table Premier League squad this year.

"When we do strengthen the team - and that is the important part - I'll be looking forward to the season with great optimism."

Brown has endured a frustrating summer in the transfer market with high-profile attempts to sign Michael Owen, Marc-Antoine Fortune and Fraizer Campbell all floundering and Bobby Zamora's procrastination not boding well.

As of the end of July, the only addition to the Hull squad has been French defender Steven Mouyokolo, whose transfer from Boulogne was agreed in January.

Yet despite the transfer setbacks, Brown still believes the club are making big strides as they look to embed themselves in the top flight.

With demand for season tickets remaining high, the KC Stadium looks likely to be close to its 25,000 capacity for every home game and the club are anxious to leave the training ground they have outgrown.

"At times last season the training ground was choking me," Brown said. "It was becoming a claustrophobic place because of the amount of people there.

"There was something like 80 people operating from a small site but we have moved to two sites now.

"I've moved the academy - which I vowed never to do - but I've had to.

"It's allowed me to breathe a little bit more and think a little clearer.

"We've also strengthened the backroom staff and we've strengthened the infrastructure.

"All of these things are making me feel more secure as a manager."

The quotable Brown appeared to bring a breath of fresh air to the Premier League as his side breezed into it last year, but his star mirrored that of the team and faded quickly.

In the early months Brown was being tipped as a future England boss but his off-the-wall style did not please everyone.

His now-infamous on-pitch team-talk at Manchester City gave the media a stick with which to beat him as form nosedived and some cringed as he sang on the pitch after safety was assured.

Yet Brown does not feel, as has been claimed in some quarters, he was too high-profile for the team's good.

"Profile is something that goes along with the Premier League," he said. "It is difficult to control that.

"If you look at the likes of Tony Pulis, you would have said at the start of the season he was low profile but at the end of it he was high profile.

"I'm me and I'm not going to change. I'll remain the same person and hopefully with the guidance and experience I've got behind me I won't be making the mistakes I made last year."