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.
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.
Paddy Power already have a market up for next boss, intended to go live at 10pm tonight. Andy Burton has now reported it on Twitter (albeit after thespoiler broke it.)
Is this the end for Mr Orange? And how extraordinary does this make that vote of confidence yesterday?
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.
Hull boss believes his side’s 1-6 versus Liverpool was ever so similar to Fiorentina’s 2-0 victory
To the layman observer of professional football, Liverpool’s last two matches have been a little different. On the one hand, a porous defence seemingly intent on allowing Fernando Torres the match ball, ends up on the receiving end of a 6-1 lamping. On the other, the home side restrict Torres to scraps, and emerge comfortable winners with a 2-0 scoreline that flattered Benitez’s boys. Phil Brown however, is no layman. He understands better than us.
Commenting on the Tigers triumph at Anfield last Saturday, Brown explained:
“I got the boys in on Sunday to analyse and dissect what went on on Saturday. The most important thing was that I knew the gameplan was right. I watched very closely Fiorentina do exactly the same gameplan and it paid off.”
In other words, the 6-1 was certainly not his fault, and so convincing was Hull’s performance, that former Serie A Coach of the Year Cesare Prandelli only went and pinched Brown’s tactical strategy.
There is no great genius without a touch of madness. At least that is what Aristotle believed. And probably Phil Brown too.
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