More financial woe in the Premier League as Hull chairman hits out at his predecessor

Hull’s 2-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa on Wednesday evening has all but condemned them to relegation. That could be the least of the bad news as chairman Adam Pearson has launched a stinging attack on former owner Paul Duffen and how he controlled the club finances.

Mess

Whilst Hull won’t be going down a division in quite the same mess as Portsmouth, their situation won’t make pleasant reading for their fans.

In his programme notes for the Aston Villa game, Mr Pearson said,

“Of course the future is very tricky, it’s bound to be when you consider the figures. The club desperately needs to stay in this league. The club under Mr Duffen spent money it didn’t have. The prospect of relegation should not need to be the doomsday scenario that everyone currently discusses and worries about. The financial planning just needed a bit of basic strategy and common sense applying to it back in summer 2008 and even more so when the team survived on the last day of the season in 2009. In my personal opinion the decisions made by Mr Duffen at that point were extremely short-sighted.”

Person went on to criticise Duffen further and give some figures to back up what he was saying,

“The problems which were apparent throughout 2009 should have been at the forefront of the summer transfer and business dealings. Instead, the wage bill was increased even further. The safety valve of pragmatic realism was cut off. This is not ambition or ‘giving it a go’ or ‘living the dream’, it is, in my personal view, poor business sense. Just under £6m spent on agents’ fees in two years and the deal breakdown and size of agent payments is abhorrent. A wage bill of just under £40m when the club turnover is £50m in the Premier League. These figures, added to the significant transfer fees owed, clearly show that the maths don’t add up.”

Mr Duffen has replied with the following statement,

“Hull had one of the lowest squad wage bills in the Premier League and amongst the lowest levels of debt. Hull City Football Club have been on an amazing journey over the past four years. The Tigers have travelled from the brink of Championship relegation to Premier League promotion via their first ever Wembley appearance. The successes were not achieved through financial muscle but through partnership, ambition, team spirit, collective positive attitude and a stubborn refusal to fail. I firmly believe that if those qualities remain at the club then Hull City have every chance of playing a third season in the Premier League and I wish them well.”

Duffen took over from Pearson as chairman in June 2007 and led Hull into the Premier League, but he resigned in October 2009 with Pearson eventually taking over his old role at the club.

Court

In January this year, Mr Pearson claimed insufficient care had been taken over transfers and deals and started legal proceedings against Mr Duffen. Duffen denied all the allegations against him at a initial hearing at the High Court and the two men eventually settled out of court.

There is obviously a fair amount of personal loathing between the two men but once again it is the players and, particularly the fans, who will suffer as a result of apparently deluded businessmen allegedly spending money they hadn’t got in order to buy success.

Mistakes

I said yesterday that Portsmouth wouldn’t be the last but I didn’t expect another story to break so quickly. Why don’t these people learn from the mistakes made at other clubs. Ask the fans if they would rather have a season or two at the top level and then plummet down the leagues or go out of business or have a well run club playing at the appropriate level and going on forever. I know a majority of fans would go for the latter.