Sunday, December 22, 2024

Timing of Brown sacking seems strange

Graham Fisher in Editorial, English Premier League 16 Mar 2010

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Where it started to go wrong

Where it started to go wrong

If there had been two minutes of injury time in the game between Hull and Arsenal on Saturday, Hull would have gained an excellent and invaluable point from their illustrious opponents.

Cruelly

As it was there were three minutes and Nicklas Bendtner scored the winner for Arsenal to cruelly snatch that point away from Hull.

Everyone agreed after the game that if Hull showed the sort of spirit, fight and determination in the rest of the season that they showed in that game, they would have every chance of staying up. To play Arsenal with ten men for forty-five minutes, and hold them, is no mean achievement.

History

If the referee had produced a red card instead of a yellow one when he awarded Hull their penalty, Arsenal would have lost Sol Campbell and who knows what would have happened. He didn’t and the rest is history.

I know that ‘if’ is a very big word in football, but following that game Phil Brown has been sacked and that just seems a little unfair.

Relieved

Brown has been relieved of his duties at Hull and been put on ‘gardening leave.’ Assistant manager Brian Horton and Steve Parkin will take charge of the first-team until further notice, and presumably until a new man comes in and brings his own people with him.

After Saturday’s unlucky defeat by Arsenal, Hull are second from bottom of the Premier League, three points adrift of safety, with just nine games left. Chairman Adam Pearson says he hopes to appoint a new manager before Saturday’s game against Portsmouth.

In a statement, Pearson said,

“Retention of Premier League status is paramount and the board believes that a change in managerial direction is the correct option at this time. The club will keep supporters completely up-to-date in respect of any managerial appointment but, in the meantime, Brian Horton and Steve Parkin will prepare the team for our important game at Portsmouth.”

You have to agree that Premier League survival is crucial but what, exactly, does Pearson think a new manager, with no transfers available, is going to achieve in nine games? It is hardly recent news that Hull are struggling so it is unbelievable to me that either Pearson didn’t act sooner so as to give the new man a fighting chance, or wait until the end of the season and give Brown a chance to rescue the situation.

First

Fifty year old Brown took charge of Hull in December 2006 and led the club into the Premier League for the first time in their history in 2008.

They made a great start to life in the Premier League but a poor run of results in the second half of the season meant they did not guarantee their survival until the last day of the season. They hardly won a game after Christmas.

Tough

This season has continued in much the same way and has proved just as tough. The defeat by Arsenal means Hull are deep in relegation trouble after losing their last four games.

Brown has said,

“I am obviously very disappointed with the club’s decision and the fact that I will now not have the opportunity to secure Hull City’s status in the Premier League for a third consecutive season. Although I am extremely sad to be leaving Hull City, I am very proud of my achievements during my time as manager, especially having led the team into the top flight of football for the first time in the club’s 104-year history and ahead of schedule.”

The sacking could be about more than just results on the pitch as it comes just a few days after Brown was forced to apologise on behalf of Hull midfielders Jimmy Bullard and Nicky Barmby. The pair had a fight in public during a warm-down session on the Humber Bridge, with the incident seen by members of the local Women’s Institute.

Ridiculous

Added to that, captain George Boateng was sent off on Saturday for what were two ridiculous red card offences in the first half.

It could be that Pearson thinks Brown has lost control of the dressing room and that would be a different matter.

Having said that, the other ten players played their hearts out for the manager on Saturday so that would seem unlikely. If this decision is based entirely on football then I’m afraid I don’t understand the timing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Graham Fisher


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  • Gooner

    0 0

    I had to laugh at this article when i read it! You obviously haven’t been watching your team this season or you would have realised that ‘YES’ you made it tough for us at the weekend but that was just because of the way your wretched team play (can i say play coz play seems the wrong word!!!).

    Once you had a man sent off (should have been more in my opinion) it made our job twice as hard, not easier, as you very well know your team just shut up shop, kept everyone behind the ball and had no intention of trying to grab a goal at the other end. To say we battled to the end, against a rough nasty team intentent on committing foul after foul after foul and continuosly getting away with it due to yet more poor officiating offering no protection to the rough hold taticks employed by these lesser teams whenever they come up against arsenal. It’s a disgrace!

    And to say Campbell should have been sent off beggers belief. For starters it was offside in the first place so you shouldn’t have even had the penalty to begin with. Secondly, Sol only jumped in because he & Vermaelen had played the guy at least a yard offside then seeing it wasn’t given had no choice but to try and get to the ball when he was no longer goal side (having played the offside to begin with). And thirdly but most importantly, look at the replays. It’s a red card if a clear goal scoring opportunity is denied, you player had neither the ball under control or even knew where it was. If you haven’t seen the replay yet i’ll help you out, the ball was in fact actually behind your man (in fact it can clearly be seen directly behind his head).

    It’s a bit like one of them “where’s wally” pictures, wait a minute oh that’s right he’s been sacked. Boom Boom!!

    Getting back to the penalty the reason your man didn’t have a goal scoring opportunity was because instead of keeping his eye on the ball and trying to score a legitimate goal he was more interested in flinging himself in front of Campbell’s path when seeing Sol was getting back to make the interception thus if you wanna get petty maybe your guy should have been booked for unsporting behaviour.

    Anyhow, you still got a penalty and an underserved goal so to still have the cheek to bang on about how it should have been red……..”whatever mate”!

    Oh and lastly, just because you battled away and almost nicked an undeserved point against us didn’t show to me that you were a team team that could escape relegation. The reason being that ‘YES’ you may have been up for the scrap with arsenal with your “lets get in their faces” attitude (although yes we did in fact beat you still), you can’t adopt the same tatics when playing a team such as Everton who although they can play football they’re also a team that can dish it out as well which is why they hammered you the other week. The class bully can’t bully someone bigger than them!!!!

    Here’s to seeing Hull & Stoke back in the Champioship next season!!!!     

  • Gooner

    0 0

    I had to laugh at this article when i read it! You obviously haven’t been watching your team this season or you would have realised that ‘YES’ you made it tough for us at the weekend but that was just because of the way your wretched team play (can i say play coz play seems the wrong word!!!).

    Once you had a man sent off (should have been more in my opinion) it made our job twice as hard, not easier, as you very well know your team just shut up shop, kept everyone behind the ball and had no intention of trying to grab a goal at the other end. To say we battled to the end, against a rough nasty team intentent on committing foul after foul after foul and continuosly getting away with it due to yet more poor officiating offering no protection to the rough hold taticks employed by these lesser teams whenever they come up against arsenal. It’s a disgrace!

    And to say Campbell should have been sent off beggers belief. For starters it was offside in the first place so you shouldn’t have even had the penalty to begin with. Secondly, Sol only jumped in because he & Vermaelen had played the guy at least a yard offside then seeing it wasn’t given had no choice but to try and get to the ball when he was no longer goal side (having played the offside to begin with). And thirdly but most importantly, look at the replays. It’s a red card if a clear goal scoring opportunity is denied, you player had neither the ball under control or even knew where it was. If you haven’t seen the replay yet i’ll help you out, the ball was in fact actually behind your man (in fact it can clearly be seen directly behind his head).

    It’s a bit like one of them “where’s wally” pictures, wait a minute oh that’s right he’s been sacked. Boom Boom!!

    Getting back to the penalty the reason your man didn’t have a goal scoring opportunity was because instead of keeping his eye on the ball and trying to score a legitimate goal he was more interested in flinging himself in front of Campbell’s path when seeing Sol was getting back to make the interception thus if you wanna get petty maybe your guy should have been booked for unsporting behaviour.

    Anyhow, you still got a penalty and an underserved goal so to still have the cheek to bang on about how it should have been red……..”whatever mate”!

    Oh and lastly, just because you battled away and almost nicked an undeserved point against us didn’t show to me that you were a team team that could escape relegation. The reason being that ‘YES’ you may have been up for the scrap with arsenal with your “lets get in their faces” attitude (although yes we did in fact beat you still), you can’t adopt the same tatics when playing a team such as Everton who although they can play football they’re also a team that can dish it out as well which is why they hammered you the other week. The class bully can’t bully someone bigger than them!!!!

    Here’s to seeing Hull & Stoke back in the Champioship next season!!!!     

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