Gaffer is ‘concerned about the mental state’ of Irish trio…
Hull’s Irish trio Paul McShane, Kevin Kilbane and Stephen Hunt would’ve cut depressing figures today, having returned to the club’s training ground. With so many players involved in Handball-gate, The Spoiler would have thought Tigers boss Phil Brown would be waiting with open arms, ready to provide a shoulder to cry on.
But (not for the first time) we’d be wrong. Instead, the three were told to go and get their heads checked by a psychologist in time for Saturday’s clash with West Ham. According to the Daily Star, a club source said:
[Sports psychologist Mark] Nesti can help them prepare for games and be mentally ready. Such a massive disappointment can take its toll and be hard to overcome. So it is important to find out what sort of place they are in.
In a story which will be cited for years to come as proof human endeavor knows no bounds, Leeds fan Andy Ballantyne has been crowned as the official Guinness World Record holder for (deep breath) the most rejection letters ever received in application to a managerial post at a football club.
Andy has been knocked back from his own club, Celtic, Hull, Spurs, England (twice) and recently got a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ letter from Sven for the Notts County job.
The obsession started after applying to take the reins at Spurs in 1998, he told the Yorkshire Evening Post:
Despite the Tigers skipper being on the brink of retirement…
Recently departed Hull chairman Paul Duffen clearly hasn’t been keeping up with Dean Ashton’s troubles at West Ham. According to The Mirror, one of his last acts before leaving was to give club captain Ian Ashbee a brand new £20,000 p/w contract.
Considering Ashbee is a Tigers legend, having captained the club from League Two to the Premier League, this wouldn’t typically be an issue - except the 34-year-old midfielder has been ruled out of the whole 09/10 season with a cruciate ligament injury which could force him into retirement. Oh, and Hull are already £27m in debt … mainly thanks to their crippling wage bill.
If tonight’s Panorama, promising a gritty investigation into life on a Bristol estate, doesn’t appeal, some even grittier action is available on ESPN this evening. Hull did the double over Fulham last season, so Hodgson’s men will be hoping to take a tentative step on the recovery road back from such shame, by dealing with the Tigers tonight.
Sky Sports 1 at 7:30 is the place to be if you like your Premier League nostalgia, as Leeds host Norwich. Whilst for those curious to see how the younger members of Chelsea squad can defend the dead ball, Chelsea TV at 7 is the place to watch Chelsea Reserves vs West Ham reserves.
Hull boss “sweet-talks” girl contemplating suicide
There’s an old adage among top flight managers: if you’re team has only won two of their last 29 matches, take them for a walk on a suspension bridge. Phil Brown did exactly this yesterday, taking his woeful troops for an “inspirational” stroll across the Humber Bridge. While avoiding the question of why he took his team to a suicide hotspot for inspiration, the orange boss has nonchalantly revealed how he talked down a jumper:
“We walked across the Humber Bridge on Wednesday and saved a girl actually.”
“She was considering her future, shall we say, but you never know whether somebody is just standing there until they jump. But there was no need to be up there unless you were a football team looking for inspiration. Maybe she must have seen us and thought ‘at least it’s not that bad’. Well for me in particular - not the players.
“She was claiming she was 40-plus, but she looked a lot younger I tell you. Nobody said she was going to jump. She was contemplating her future, but so was I. In the end she tootled off back to wherever she had come from. I’d sweet-talked her out of it.”
Phil certainly deserves praise for his rousing “things could be worse, you could play for Hull” speech - it’s just a shame that he looks so powerless to help his team avoid a drop of a different kind.
Fabricio Coloccini to Espanyol
After tragically losing their captain Dani Jarque, Spanish paper Sport report that Espanyol are lining up the shaggy-haired Newcastle defender as a replacement. The Spoiler truth-o-meter: The Argentinean will surely favour a return to sunny Spain over second tier football in the north east. Winter is coming…
David Nugent to Hull
After Madrid’s Alvaro Negredo turned his nose up at the prospect of humiliating half time team talks on the pitch, Hull
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