Hull City

Premier League Preview: Stoke City vs. Hull City, Britannia Stadium, Stoke on Trent, England, Saturday 3 April 2010.

The Tigers travel up the River Trent to Stoke, to take on Tony Pulis' Potters. The Tigers recent form has taken a turn for the better after "Football Management Consultant" Iain Dowie stepped into Phil Brown's shoes at Hull City's KC Stadium.

After Brown had seen his Tigers side lose five on the bounce, Dowie has a one-in-two success rate after losing in the last five minutes away to Portsmouth in his first outing and a fantastic two-nil victory over Fulham despite having to patch together a severely depleted defence.

Pulis will be hoping that his side do not suffer the same methodical dissection that the Tigers provided at the KC Stadium in Novermber. On that day, the Tigers beat the Potters 2-1 with goals from ex-Stoke City midfielder Sey Olofinjana, and Dutchman Jan Vanegoor of Hessellink, who countered after Stoke City had taken the lead against the run of play.

The Potters had capitalised on an error from Hull City defender Bernard Mendy, who missed a header that allowed the swift footed Matthew Etherington to gain possession and score past Matt Duke in the Hull City goal, and a Hull City defence that had been impervious up to that point.

The Potters are sitting in 11th position and a win will possibly see them move up into the top half of the table, guaranteeing safety from relegation for another season.

However, for the Tigers, three points are vital for Premier League survival as it would see them leapfrog relegation rivals West Ham into 17th place.

Dowie will still have to mix and match to field his strongest team as club captain Ian Ashbee, and Amr Zaki, are suffering from knee injuries. Central defenders Kamil Zayatte is out with a knee injury, Liam Cooper has a broken nose, Anthony Gardner has an ankle problem, and Ibrahima Sonko is ineligible under loan rules.

However, Dowie will be pleased to see the return of defender Andy Dawson, but will be hoping that Hull City's top goal scorer Stephen Hunt will pass a late fitness test on his niggling foot injury.

Pulis has problems of his own with James Beattie out with a long standing knee problem, and Salif Diao suffering from a calf knock. There are doubts for the Potters captain Abdoulaye Faye and Dave Kitson, who both have knee injuries, Ryan Shawcross has an ankle injury, but all three will undergo late fitness tests before the tie.

For the Tigers, the fixture is an important test of the team's newfound confidence. After a couple of more combative displays, Dowie will be hoping that the club's very good home form can be translated to the road.

However, the Stoke City boss, Pulis, will be trying to tame the Tigers and push his team into contention for a Europa League place by the end of the season.

Hull City’s hopes of escaping relegation from the Premier League were dealt a savage blow on Saturday when they conceded two late goals to fellow strugglers Portsmouth. Defeat on the south coast was surely not in chairman Adam Pearson’s script when he installed Iain Dowie in the bizarre new role of Football Management Consultant as replacement for colourful manager Phil Brown, after the karaoke king had been placed on gardening leave following another run of poor results. Leaving aside whether a man with as undistinguished a record as Dowie is the best man to guide Hull to safety, the change was obviously a desperate gamble to avoid the disastrous financial implications of dropping down to the Championship, coming just a few weeks after Pearson had said, “We genuinely want Phil to succeed and for him to be here for many years”.

Fans first became aware of Hull’s financial problems when the 2008 accounts were issued late – several months late. This just happens to be a criminal offence, whatever former chairman Paul Duffen might say, so the financial community does not consider this a trivial matter. Of even more concern was the warning from the club’s accountants Deloitte that the difficulties the club might face in raising finance “represent a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt over the company's ability to continue as a going concern”. Strong words indeed. They further cautioned that Hull had to repay all their £22m bank loans by July this year. In order to operate within their finance facilities, the club would need to generate a surplus of £23m if they were relegated or £16m if they somehow managed to retain their Premier League status.

"The shy, retiring Paul Duffen"

Although that did not seem an enormous amount compared to debts at the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, at the risk of stating the obvious, Hull do not have the revenue generating potential of those clubs. In fact, the 2008 accounts reported a loss of £9.8m, though fans were quick to point out that this period covered their last season in the Championship. Duffen openly boasted that the loss was a result of the decision to bump up the players’ salaries by £6m in order to secure promotion to the lucrative Premier League, which was memorably achieved via Dean Windass’ spectacular volley in the Wembley play-off final. In many ways, this approach was completely understandable, as it allowed Hull to compete with those clubs coming down from the Premier League, who could afford to pay much higher wages, boosted by parachute payments of £10m. Speculate to accumulate, right? However, this did mean that Hull’s wages doubled to £14m before they had played one game in the top division with an unsustainable wages/income ratio of 124%, though they would certainly have anticipated improving this with the much higher revenue available in the Premiership.

The board’s confidence that the 2009 accounts would be far more positive after their first historic season in the Premier League appeared justified when they were published last week. On the face of it, the figures look much better. Yes, salaries have jumped by another £19.6m to £33.6m, but this was more than covered by the significant £39.8m increase in turnover from £11.3m to £51.1m. Most of the increase, £33.5m, is attributable to the higher revenue distributions from the Premier League compared to the Football League. As forecast by the directors, this resulted in a small pre-tax profit of £2.0m. So, the bet has paid off? Not quite. The auditors repeated last year’s bleak warning, though the amount of money that Hull would need to find if relegated was slightly lower at £21m (£16m if Harry Houdini makes an appearance at the KC Stadium). Yet again, the auditors wrote of “material uncertainties” that “may cast significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern” in their so-called “Emphasis of Matter” statement.

"Sing when you're losing"

How can this be? Well, as the old saying has it, turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is king. Even though Hull made a small profit, they also reported a net cash outflow of £4.6m, mainly due to repayment of bank loans £6.9m, interest on those loans £1.6m and buying players (net) £5.5m. The balance sheet may not be tremendously interesting, but it is vitally important to any company, especially the debt at a time when capital is no longer freely available. The accounts show that Hull ended the financial period to 31 July 2009 with bank loans of £15.1m. Although this was lower than the £22.0m in the 2008 accounts, Hull’s net debt was never higher than £1m in any of the previous six years, placing this amount into context. In the same way that Portsmouth funded their FA Cup success with debt, Hull followed the same route to finance their promotion campaign.

Returning chairman Adam Pearson has evidently appreciated that this is an urgent issue and has reduced the debt to £4.6m today (one of the lowest in the Premier League,) having made payments of £7m in August and £2m in both January and February. Impressive stuff, but the harsh reality is that Hull still need to repay the outstanding debt in full to Investec Bank in July, which is probably why the latest accounts mention that “The club is currently in advanced discussions with finance providers for the acceleration of known Premier League distributions for amounts of £7m”. Importantly, Hull also owe £4.5m in tax. You only have to look at events at Portsmouth and Southend United to see how eager Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs are to get their money these days, even if this results in a club going into administration or being wound-up. On top of that, the club has £14.6m of trade creditors (up from £2.8m the year before), which includes £12.8m relating to player transfers. These are presumably installment payments, but there is no information on when they are due. Sooner rather than later would be my guess, given the red flag raised by Deloitte.

"No worries"

Pearson has characterised the excesses of the Duffen era as “too much champagne and not enough ale”. Football finance expert Stephen Morrow, Head of Sports Studies at the University of Stirling, agreed, “There comes a point when a club has to stop following the dream and ensure it runs on a sustainable basis”. Fans would have been reassured by Pearson’s calm, reasonable words, “The position of the club is manageable going forward, but if it had been left much longer, there was a danger of it becoming more serious. I shall be running the club from top to bottom to get it back on track, working strictly within the financial budgets that have been set”.

The most obvious problem is the wage bill. As a result of what appears to be a completely dysfunctional recruitment policy, Hull have somehow ended up with one of the highest payrolls in the Premier League, despite their lowly league position. To his credit, Pearson has recognised this anomaly, “The problem is to reduce the wage bill, which is £38m, from the sheer weight of players on the club’s books. My job is to reduce that”. In a horrible echo of other clubs with economic difficulties, Duffen had demonstrated his ambition by bragging of spending £19m on new players in 2009, but according to Pearson this resulted in “£12m sat in the stands every week”. He also noted that £5.3m has been committed in agents’ fees and £2m is payable in bonuses. Although the club have not made any massively expensive signings (the injury-plagued Jimmy Bullard is the highest at £5m), some of the salaries have raised a few eyebrows: the non-scoring forward Daniel Cousin was on £25k a week; the limited Bernard Mendy £22k; and the club captain Ian Ashbee was given a new £20k contract while out injured for the whole season. While he is about it, Pearson may also want to look at Directors Pay, which increased by an amazing 700% from £250k to £2.0m in 2009. Including pension contributions, the highest paid director pocketed a cool £1m …

"Hey, big spender"

Paul Duffen resigned from his position as Hull chairman last October, stating that he should “take ultimate responsibility for the disappointments of 2009”. When he referred to awful results, most assumed that he meant on the pitch and not the financials, even though his exit came just one day after the publication of the alarming 2008 accounts. This was obviously just a coincidence, as he had maintained that “there are no problems here, the club is properly financed”, when invited to comment on the reasons for the delay in issuing the accounts. Sounding horribly like Peter Ridsdale, he whined, “There has been an awful lot of misinformation and misinterpretation of what happened on my watch at Hull”. As anyone who has been unfortunate enough to observe Duffen on Sky Sports will appreciate, this is a man with a gigantic ego who is just as happy to bask in the limelight as his former manager, so it was all the more strange when he claimed that the Guardian’s article on the 2008 accounts “contained a number of inaccuracies” - without taking the opportunity to specify what these were supposed to be.

To Duffen’s credit, he did appreciate Hull’s enormous latent potential, describing the club somewhat clumsily as “a perfect box-tick”. It’s a one-club city with a wide catchment area, no competitors nearby and a brand new stadium paid for by the local council that attracts nearly 25,000 crowds. Whether the club is a good investment is important, as Pearson is reported to be seeking £25m of new money, “'It is part of my remit to get extra money into the club. Every Premier League club is in a position where it is looking for external investment. It is a big responsibility financially for myself and owner Russell Bartlett to manage alone and we are looking to ease that burden and provide a secure foundation for the club”. This is why it is imperative to stay in the top division, as every club receives around £40m in TV money alone, while Richard Scudamore has just secured a bumper new £1.2 bln overseas TV agreement worth an additional £20m per season for the next three years. Hence, Pearson’s fear of relegation, “People are very canny. They won’t invest if there’s an element of risk”. Hardly surprising, when you look at the monetary difference with Hull’s time in the lower leagues: their revenue of £51m in their first Premiership season is more than the revenue they earned in the previous six years combined (£50m).

"See you on Soccer Saturday"

Unfortunately, any potential investors will have noted that Hull have very few assets. Unlike most other football clubs, they do not own their stadium, so there are only £103k of tangible fixed assets in the books (probably lower now on the assumption that Phil Brown took his sun bed with him). The stadium was built with £43.5m of public money, so is owned by the council. This is a double-edged sword: although he club did not have to incur large debts to develop the ground, they have no major asset to mortgage and they have to pay rent to the council. The other (intangible) assets are the players, who are carried in the accounts at a value of £19.2m, representing the amortised cost of players’ registration fees. The directors have estimated the current value of the squad to be £35m, but that seems very high to me, as there are few players in this struggling team that would command large fees. Although Pearson has said that “there’s no need for a fire sale”, the fact is that Hull are unlikely to achieve top dollar for any players if they need the money. This is what happened at Leeds when they were forced to make distress sales. It is not clear whether the players’ contracts contain clauses reducing their salaries in the event of relegation. Duffen seemed to indicate that this was the case, but he added, “The players’ contracts stipulate they can leave for free” if this came to pass. On the one hand, this would help balance the books; on the other hand, there would be no monies generated from the transfer.

In fact, there are still several questions about Hull City’s finances:

1. If the finances are not so bad, why is the club so keen on getting money in early?

(a) Having valued star defender Michael Turner at £12m and apparently rejected a £7m bid from Liverpool, Hull accepted a £4m fee from Sunderland. It seemed strange to cash in on their best defender, especially as this happened just two weeks after the club bid £12m for Alvaro Negredo. This was probably why Turner’s former clubs, Brentford and Charlton have asked the League to investigate the sale, as they only received £1.2m sell-on fees.

"Any tips, Peter?"

(b) Having decided to give Phil Brown the heave-ho, it was a bit surprising that they placed him on gardening leave instead of severing all ties. Some believe that this is because the club is in no position to pay the £1.5m settlement at present.

(c) The club raised £4m by selling 14,000 season tickets for the next two seasons to the ticket agency Ticketus, but at a price lower than that currently charged.

(d) Hull are borrowing against future TV money (again, shades of Leeds United here) with 2009 accounts revealing that the board has “secured funding with Investec Bank to accelerate circa 45% of known Premier League receivables (around £15m) in order to provide working capital and assist funding player trading activities”. OK, funding once-off transfers may be understandable, but surely not to cover ongoing working capital? That’s got to be a concern.

2. Why are the accountants so pessimistic?

Some have accused Deloitte of being unnecessarily cautious in order to cover their back. This suggestion was made by Duffen amongst others, “Auditing standards have changed and we are in negotiations with our auditors over a way round it. They have become much more stringent about signing-off accounts since the global economic crisis hit”. Accountants are not renowned for their sunny nature, but the reality is that they are legally obliged to review a period of at least 12 months from the sign-off date. This is based on forecasts prepared by the directors themselves, which would obviously include items such as TV money and parachute payments, which less well-informed supporters have claimed could be added to cover the shortfall. The requirement to fully repay the bank loan is clearly uppermost in the auditors’ minds and if the club had more robust plans in place, then the report would not have been so scathing.

"KC and the Sunshine Band"

3. Never mind the £2m profit, what does the balance sheet tell us?

(a) We have already seen that Hull’s cash flow in 2009 was negative to the tune of £4.6m, even though they made a profit. Cash is vital for the day-to-day running of the club and cash flow problems were the first signs of trouble at Portsmouth, made visible when players’ wages were paid late. Critically, a lack of cash can also lead to the taxman not being paid, which can end up with him having his day in court. In 2008, Hull reported a positive cash flow of £5.7m, but this was only because they took out nearly £22m of new loans. It is these figures that make the requirement to find an additional £21m (or £16m if they are not relegated) so challenging.

(b) The club has net liabilities of £11.8m, which means that the assets do not cover their liabilities. In other words, if the club sold all its assets, they would not have enough money to pay off all the people to whom they owe money. That is serious in any one’s books. Hull’s strategy was to stay a few years in the Premier League, so that the sizeable TV revenue would one day resolve this, but relegation would throw a rather large spanner into the works.

(c) The bank loan is largely secured against future Premier League money, so it is likely that a covenant will be broken if the team is relegated, meaning that the loan would be payable on demand from the bank, though it is questionable whether Investec would actually pull the plug. Having said that, Southampton were forced into administration when Barclays called in their overdraft. The loan is also covered by a personal guarantee provided by the owner Russell Bartlett, but there have been concerns expressed about how well his business is doing, as his property company is unlikely to be immune from the recession.

"Duffen ready"

4. Has there been any financial skullduggery?

On his return to Hull, Adam Pearson felt compelled to immediately call in the accountants to scrutinise the books, especially after Paul Duffen claimed he was owed money. Following this investigation, the company issued legal proceedings in the High Court, seeking £500k damages against the former chairman, “to protect the commercial best interests of the football club against the actions undertaken by Paul Duffen while in office at Hull City”. They specifically alleged that Duffen had used the club’s money for his own personal expenditure; that he had accepted inducements from agents for directing business their way; and that he was frequently absent from the stadium, which was his designated place of work. The court took the allegations sufficiently seriously to freeze some of Duffen’s assets, but the case was settled out of court last month. No details of the settlement have emerged, though the club’s lawyer explained that the club “wanted to ensure their focus from here on in is on matters on the pitch and not off it, so they are happy to resolve this issue”.

5. Why is the ownership structure so incredibly complicated?

Given that Hull City is a very straightforward business, the number of inter-linked companies is ridiculous. We have (deep breath) the company regarded as the football club, The Hull City Association Football Club (Tigers) Limited, which is owned by Tiger Holdings Limited with the ultimate parent being Isis Nominees Limited, a company registered offshore in Jersey. Russell Bartlett is the controlling party by virtue of his beneficial ownership of Tiger Holdings Limited. In addition, Superstadium Management Company Limited is regarded as a related party because of common control. This company runs Hull City’s KC Stadium and is owned by Superstadium Holdings Limited. It’s a Hull of a mess.

"This is how the company structure works"

If that (understandably) confuses you, wait until you look at the inter-company loans. Bartlett loaned £1.6m to Superstadium Holdings (£1m directly and £600k via yet another company, Bartlett’s R3 Investment Group), who then loaned £2m to Tiger Holdings, which subsequently loaned £2m back to R3. It looked like Bartlett had effectively been loaned £400k interest-free with no repayment date, though Duffen denied this, “At no time has any money ever gone out of this club, as some people have suggested, to any of Russell Bartlett’s property companies”. R3 had invested £4m in Tiger Holdings through which Bartlett bought the club, but there are suggestions that Hull City may have financed its own takeover, as Hull loaned Tiger £3.2m (again at no interest and no specified repayment date). The 2009 accounts also suggest that Superstadium Management Company owes the club £1.7m. You have to laugh when Duffen said, “At no stage has there been any obscurity about the financial results whatsoever”. It may all be completely kosher, but it still leaves you with an uneasy feeling.

6. Why does the owner not put in more money?

To be fair, Russell Bartlett has loaned a further £4m since the 2009 accounts, while Pearson has said, “He is a good owner who has put his own money into the club and he continues to fund it privately”. Nevertheless, if Hull is such a good investment and/or Bartlett is such a wonderful owner, you have to wonder why Bartlett does not provide the additional investment, instead of going cap in hand to the bank, especially as the money required to safeguard Hull City’s future is relatively small.

"Facing up to the facts"

In spite of these questions, Adam Person has emphatically stated that the club is not facing collapse, though he has acknowledged that they are struggling to meet day-to-day commitments, ”Every problem at this club is solvable and the supporters should rest assured the club is in no danger of going out of business or going into administration”. This should provide some comfort, as Pearson has a good track record. He bought Hull City out of administration in 2001 and presided over the club’s rebuilding, before selling the club to Bartlett in 2007, leaving it debt-free with £1m in the bank. He moved on to become executive chairman at Derby County, where he secured new investment, reduced the debt, slashed the squad size and cut the wage bill to put Derby on a sound financial footing.

So, it looks like Hull City have the right man for the job, at least off the pitch, though there are still many challenges to face – and indeed questions to answer. Even if the club does not go bust, it is clear that the manager will have very limited resources to rebuild the squad. Either way, Hull City feels like an accident waiting to happen. Who said that 2010 was the Year of the Tiger?

Premier League Preview: Portsmouth vs. Hull City

Fratton Park, Portsmouth, England

Saturday, March 20, 2010, 15:00GMT

The Tigers sail into Pompey on the back of some major changes for both clubs. When the teams met last time at Hull City's KC Stadium, Phil Brown was in charge of the Tigers, and Paul Hart was Portsmouth's manager.

Since that nil-nil bore draw, both clubs have changed their managers with Avram Grant— the talented ex-Chelsea manager—now in charge at Fratton Park, and Iain Dowie just installed as the Tigers new manager.

Pompey has also had the huge impact of a nine-point deduction for going into administration, leaving them 14 points adrift of the rest of the Premiership teams sitting at the bottom of the division.

The trip to Hampshire is the first game at the helm for Dowie, who will have to motivate a team that has a decimated defense, and hasn't won a game in four outings.

On the road, things are even worse for the toothless Tigers. The Tigers have only managed to amass four points so far this season when away from the KC Stadium, and that's without a win as well.

On the plus side for Dowie, the Tigers have seen the return of Jimmy Bullard to the fold. He helped to inspire a purple patch when he returned to fitness in November, and over the span of four games, helped his team win eight points from a possible 12.

Things aren't much better for Grant. Pompey has not won in the Premiership at home since mid-December when it beat Liverpool 2-0. However, the famous old South Coast club has been winning well at Fratton Park in the F.A. Cup.

Grant told the Daily Mirror newspaper about the club's player meeting that would be held prior to this weekend's fixture: "It will be a democratic meeting, but we will go with my decision in the end—I cannot say what my team will be.

"What we do next I will tell you after I have spoken to the players. I want to know what their opinions are from what we do from now on.

"We do not have a duty to the other clubs in the Premier League. The Premier League has a duty to those clubs but we only have a duty to ourselves.

"I think the Premier League are embarrassed by Portsmouth, but I think they need to check the rules about who can buy a club and who cannot.

"The writing was on the wall a long time ago and for me it is a sad day. It is a sad day for Portsmouth Football Club and for the Premier League.

"The Premier League is the best league in the world, but for the first time in its history a football decision has been made not on the pitch but in some office.

"This is wrong, this is not good. I said we would fight against everything as long as we had a chance, now I do not know.

"All the time that we believed we could stay up we had something to fight for, and it is always easier when you have a target to aim for.

"Our target now is the semifinal and I am trying to win that."

Will Portsmouth field a weakened side with one eye on the upcoming F.A. Cup semifinal, or will Grant's players feel the need to show some team unity for a club that have shown no unity toward it's players?

Grant also has the headache of a late fitness test for David James, who has a calf injury; Kevin Prince-Boateng (ankle); Hassan Yebda (knee); and John Utaka (groin). He may decide to save his stars for the Cup clash against Fulham or Tottenham Hotspur next month.

Dowie put his new charges through their paces for the first time this week, after his appointment on Wednesday. Unfortunately for Dowie, he is without the services of inspirational skipper, Ian Ashbee, who is still out with a long-term knee injury.

Ashbee is joined by two others: Tigers centre back Anthony Gardner (ankle), and Kamil Zayette, who was involved in a crunching tackle with Arsenal's Sol Campbell last week in the Tigers' unlucky injury-time loss to the Gunners.

Dowie will also be without the services of George Boateng. Boateng was issued a red card for a horrendous challenge on Bacary Sanga of the Gunners.

On a positive note, the Tigers' top scorer Stephen Hunt—who has been out with a foot injury—may be ready to make his return to the first team.

The Tiger nation will be watching in anticipation just to see how Iain Dowie's team will perform. His initial interviews have been the right mix of caution and positivity, but until his Tigers cross the line at Fratton Park, we will have to see if they have bounce-back-ability.

For Pompey's long-suffering fans, the outcome of that player meeting will have a bearing on which Pompey team takes the field in a forlorn hope of Premiership survival.

There is a popular and lazy misconception that Phil Brown's tenure as the manager of Hull City started to unfold when he gave his team a dressing down at half time at Eastlands last season. This perception has been fueled by lazy journalism and ill informed fans who can see no further than the tabloid press stories and the woodentops on the BBC's "Match of the Day."

It is true that the incident didn't help matters, but when Dean Windass, who played in the match, was asked about it's affect on the team recently, he said, "People have asked that question on a numerous of occasions and the answer is no."

Windass continued, "At the end of the game nobody mentioned it—or on the bus on the way home. It's what Phil wanted to do that day, it was just the media who took it and dragged it on a little further."

The rot actually set in for Brown when the team won promotion to the Premiership. This may seem strange, but from that point Brown and the club as a whole could not compete on a level playing field with other teams—from players, to transfers, to wages, and facilities.

Once the club joined the top flight, the club became a minnow.

The club hit the ground running in the Premiership with some astute signings in the likes of Geovanni (on a free transfer from Manchester City), Kamil Zayette (from Young Boys of Zurich), and Marlon King (from Wigan on loan).

The adrenaline was still fresh off a successful promotion winning campaign, and the free flowing and attacking style that had seen the Tigers get to the top flight for the first time in it's history could carry the team only so far.

This style was very successful at first, because with the exception of Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion, the Premier League teams had little knowledge of the Tigers style and frailties. After historic victories against established Premier League teams such as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham and Newcastle United, it all seemed too easy, with naive fans and a chairman claiming that Europe was the next step.

The club and Brown soon learned that with an attacking style, the better equipped, established sides could counter this and put Brown's team on the back foot. Hull City's fragile defence was unlocked successfully on too many occasions.

With the need for a more cautious approach that Brown had to instill in his team came unrest.

This manifested in the form of Marlon King fighting with teammates and benched players, such as Windass, complaining about playing time.

But Brown had to do what was right for the club as he saw it. In King's case, he was also going through a number of off-the-field problems that would see him end up serving a prison term for assaulting a young woman in a London bar.

Brown could see that the main problem for the club was not the strikers, because they had been scoring.

It was the service that they were not receiving from midfield. However, as results started to slip, Brown attempted to nip it in the bud at the City of Manchester Stadium on Boxing Day.

Brown had given the players time off on Christmas Day, but the first half display was shocking. Brown made the decision to hold part of the halftime team talk on the pitch for the benefit of the many travelling fans that had spent Christmas in Manchester so they could see their team the next day.

The next game came very close to dispelling the myth that Brown had lost the dressing room after the Eastland's incident. The Tigers were very close to earning a well-deserved draw against an inform Aston Villa team, only to be undone by an unlucky own goal and some very poor refereeing.

The Tigers earned a credible draw in the FA Cup at Newcastle's St James' Park, but then came a major change in tactics from Brown and Hull City.

In contrast to the free flowing 4-4-2 formation that had seen the Tigers climb up the Premier League table, Brown changed to 4-5-1.

Despite some awful refereeing decisions and an offside goal to give Everton the lead in the next game, the Tigers were particularly negative in the 4-5-1 formation. This continued, and it saw the Tigers losing the initiative in too many games. And from a proactive style of play, the team became a reactive team.

Brown attempted to give the team the much needed spark in midfield by breaking the club's record transfer fee to sign Jimmy Bullard from Fulham. The signing of Bullard was a definite show of intent and ambition by the club, but with Bullard's injury record and huge wage it was a bone of contention.

Unfortunately for Hull City, Bullard, and Brown, the midfielder was injured in his first outing for the Tigers, after only 37 minutes at Upton Park.

The rest of the season carried on in this negative vein with a backs-to-the-wall negativity that ultimately saw the club survive by the skin of it's teeth on the last day of the season because results went Hull City's way.

Brown had seen that the club was thin in terms of quality and tried to paper over the cracks in the best way he could, by trying to buy a quality player in Bullard.

However, with Hull City a new side to the Premier League, attracting players was always going to be difficult. To entice players to the club has always been difficult, but when you are the favourite to be relegated it makes it even harder.

The signing of Bullard was a very good attempt, but because he re-injured himself so soon, the club was back at square one. But again, this demonstrated the difficulties of new teams in the richest league in the world.

To sign players for clubs in the position of Hull City, they have to gamble or sign players that are unproven at that level—neither of which are particularly cheap options.

You have to speculate to accumulate.

This is exactly what happened in the closed season. With the absence of King and Windass, and Daniel Cousin seemingly only interested in putting in a good performance against the division's best teams, Brown targeted strikers.

However, due to the poor handling of transfers by his friend and chairman Paul Duffen, the team made ludicrous bids to sign Spaniard Negrado from Real Madrid for 13 million Euros. Another audacious bid was for ex-England striker Michael Owen from relegated Newcastle United.

Unfortunately, the club's financial problems were not helping Brown with the club, selling important players such as Sam Ricketts to rivals Bolton Wanderers and Micheal Turner to Sunderland for a paltry sum.

Ultimately, the club did bring in strikers, but with two of the main defensive team at other clubs the defense and with Bullard still out injured the midfiled was still short on quality.

The club's second season in the Premiership continued in the same vein as the last with a negative style of play, partly due to the loss of experienced defenders and a lack of quality in the middle of the park, meaning that the defense was getting little to no protection from further up the field.

The midfield being short of quality and missing a good holding player led to lost possessions on a regular basis. The knock on effect was that the team seemed to be constantly defending deeper and deeper. The constant hustle for the ball because of a lack of possession led to lapses in concentration and conceding late goals in both halves of games.

The packing of the midfield with five midfielders should alleviate this by restricting space, but with a static midfield that is slow to react and that does not attempt to find space when moving forward, means that the team loses possession to easily.

In October, Duffen, the club chairman, stepped down and former club owner Adam Pearson returned. There was much speculation that Pearson would remove Brown from the Hull City hot seat, but after a spirited display in the two-nil loss to Burnley, Pearson saw enough to think that Brown still had enough to save the club from relegation.

With the return to fitness of Bullard in November, it led to a purple patch for Brown and the Tigers, as they reverted to the 4-4-2 formation.

His plan, formulated the season before, was to have a quality player in the middle to control the passage of play, and it seemed to work, as the team climbed out of the relegation places for the first time in weeks. It also won a "Player of the Month" award for Bullard, who was phenomenal in that month. Interestingly, Brown was touted as a possible Manager of the Month in the same month.

Unfortunately for Brown, Bullard sustained another serious injury that would keep him out of the side for nearly four months. With the injury to Bullard and the loss of  Seyi Olofinjana to the Africa Cup of Nations for a month, Brown's midfield that had started to perform well was decimated.

With results in decline, Brown went back to a cagey 4-5-1 system to stop the defense from leaking goals, with his Tiger's side only gathering three points. It was only with the return to 4-4-2 that results started to turn again.

Two gifted goals to the Wolves allowed them to earn a draw. A great draw against Chelsea and brilliant display to beat Manchester City saw the Tigers again climb free of the relegation placed. A plus for Brown was the performance of his aging midfielder George Boateng and young tyro Tom Cairney in a similar role that had seen Bullard control games so well in November.

However, Brown's Tigers returned to their inconsistent ways with a lacklustre performance to Blackburn Rovers, followed by a hammering by West Ham.

Once again Brown reverted to the 4-5-1 system that had been his cautious plan to nullify attacking midfield teams with the away visit to Everton's Goodison Park. This despite the fact that with the 4-4-2 system only a month earlier his team had destroyed a very good Manchester City team.

This was on the back of a totally inept display that saw Brown's team capitulate to a team full of confidence, as Everton ran out five-one winners. Pearson started to think of a change.

Despite a spirited display with only 10 men against Arsenal were the Gunners only won three minutes into injury time, Brown was relieved of his managerial duties.

Ultimately for Brown, he was in charge of a team with no credentials in the top flight. It takes time to establish a club in any league, but in the rich-blooded Premier League, it is even harder. The top clubs have an almost inexhaustible supply of international players. If one gets injured, another international takes his place. For teams at the wrong end of the division, they can only dream of such a luxury.

Attracting quality players to new teams for nothing short of a king's ransom is a very difficult thing and has bankrupted clubs. You only need to look at Portsmouth to see what can happen if you overstretch a club's finances.

For Brown, he made some good signings and some bad ones, but ultimately, it was the inconsistency of his teams that cost him his job. He has had the Tigers playing some of the best football Hull City have ever played, but at the same time, if the team has one or two injuries, the difference in quality is there for all to see.

The team has had injuries to key players at every turn of both seasons in the Premiership. In the first season, only Michael Turner was a constant in every game, and whether Brown had a hand in the transfer or it was economics that led to his sale, we have no way of knowing.

It is unfortunate, but in the Premiership more than any other league in the world it all boils down to money. Brown proved that he can produce winning teams but without money to bring in quality he was always going to struggle.

There is no way of knowing whether Brown would have been able to raise his and the team's game for the last nine games of the season, but I think that with the teams that the club have to play, Phil Brown and his Tigers would have lived to fight another Premiership day.

Speculation is rife in the Tiger-nation that Ian Dowie is to be unveiled as Hull City's new manager.

The former Oldham Athletic, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, Coventry City, and Queens Park Rangers manager could be announced as Phil Brown's replacement as early as Wednesday morning.

However, talking on Sky sports, where he was a pundit at the Championship fixture between Preston against Sheffield Wednesday, the ex-Newcastle assistant said,

"There's been a little bit of contact, asking for my CV to be sent, other than that, that's where we are.

"I wouldn't be standing here if I was about to get the job."

Dowie continued, "Obviously I am a coach and therefore of course it possesses an interest, but an interest and getting a job is a lot different, to be fair."

The appointment of Dowie would be a slap in the face for many Hull City fans. It was rumoured that when Dowie was offered the manager's position at the KC Stadium prior to the appointment of Phil Brown in December, 2006, he said,

Joining Hull City would be a " slap in the face to his family." He also allegedly said, "he wouldn't inflict Hull on his wife."

However, it is his managerial record that is the main focus of fear for Hull City fans. Since starting his managerial career with Oldham Athletic he has only had one period in his career with any sustained success.

Whilst in charge at Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace he took a struggling Palace side sitting in 19th place in the Championship, to sixth place and won promotion the Premiership via a victory in the play-off final.

Dowie's disciplined approach was attributed as the reason for the massive upturn in Palace's fortunes. It is also speculated that the emergence of Andy Johnson, who seemed to be scoring goals for fun and ended the season on an impressive 32 goals was the main reason for Palace's success.

It is interesting to note that the following season Palace managed to have a chance of Premier league survival right up to the last game of the season, in part to the 21 goals that Johnson scored for the Eagles.

With relegation to the Championship, Dowie had to let Johnson go and despite reaching a Championship play-off position, the clubs lack of a goal scorer was evident, as they lost heavily to eventual play-off winners Watford.

After missing out on promotion with Palace, Dowie and Simon Jordan the Palace owner, and chairman decided to end Dowie's contract by mutual consent. However, six weeks later Dowie was installed as Charlton Athletics new manager.

Jordan issued a writ claiming that Dowie had lied to be able to be released from his contract at Selhurst Park. After going to the High Court in London, The Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled that Dowie had lied when negotiating his way out of his contract.

After only 15 games in charge and spending more money on players than any other Charlton manger in their history, and a disastrous series of results, which saw Charlton sitting in the relegation places. Dowie was again released from his contract.

It was now that Hull City offered Dowie a chance to move to East Yorkshire, that he is rumoured to have so rudely have rejected.

In the intervening years, Dowie has had little success as a manager, seeing Coventry City just survive in the Championship in 17th position under his aegis. He was then appointed the manager of QPR only to see himself fired after only 15 games with them in ninth place in the Championship.

However, with his appointment at Newcastle United as an experienced assistant to the Toon Army's talismanic Alan Shearer he would have hoped to resurrect his career but unfortunately for Dowie it wasn't to be, as Newcastle United were relegated to the Championship with the Tigers survived at their expense.

If Adam Pearson does appoint Ian Dowie as the Tiger's new manager and he can galvanize the inconsistent Tigers in the final nine games of the season. It will be a tremendous feat. In helping the East Yorkshire side to another season in the Premiership he will have deservedly earned the reported one million pounds that is reported to be the bonus for Premier League survival.

However, if he fails to keep the Tigers in the top flight, something that has taken the club so long to achieve, it will be Adam Pearson who will be one of the biggest losers. He has been seen as a Messiah like figure for how he saved the club from the brink of extinction and bankruptcy.

If his gamble of replacing Brown with Dowie fails, a tactic which seems to be driven by the media's hunger for anything negative to do with Brown, and a need to distance the club from anything to do with Brown. It will be a cold day in Hell before a lot of Hull City fans follow Pearson, if his gambit does not play out.

When Paul Duffen appointed Phil Brown to the post of Hull City manager in 2006 after he had been brought in by Adam Pearson to help struggling young manager Phil Parkinson, it was seen as a bit of an uninspiring choice, and not a little bit worrying for some after his unsuccessful tenure at Derby County.

However, with the new manager effect, Brown managed to save the club from relegation and help sink local rivals Leeds United in the process. For this alone Brown would be engraved in Hull City folklore.

The Tigers would go from strength to strength, playing at Wembley stadium for the first time in the clubs history, winning promotion to the top flight for the first time in 104 years of existance and surviving to fight for a second season in the top flight. All this whilst under the control of Phil Brown.

Duffen had come in with the standard three-year plan of year-on-year growth with the objective of promotion to the Premiership by year three. The on field plan was even more successful than expected, with Brown's Tigers winning promotion well within the first year, through the Wembley Playoff Final.

The year 2008 will forever live long in the memories of Hull City fans. It started with the Phil Brown's Tigers riding high in 8th place in the Coca Cola Championship after fighting relegation the season before.

The rest of the regular season would see the Tigers winning 11 of the next 24 regular season games and drawing five, which would be enough to see them through to the Championship play-offs in third place behind West Brom and Stoke City.

The Play-off Semi-Final was against pre-season favourites for automatic promotion Watford. The Tigers provided a 6-1(on agg) demolition of the Hornets, which saw Hull City head for Wembley Stadium for the 1st time in their history to play against a Bristol City side that were hoping to get back into the top flight for the first time in over 25 years.

The stage was set for a nail-biting match but for fans that weren't involved it was pretty much a dire affair that will be remembered for one of the best goals to have ever been scored at either the new or the old Wembley stadiums.

On 38 minutes Fraizer Campbell received a threaded pass through the Bristol City midfield and weaved his way through the Bristol defence, taking the ball to the edge of the six yards box. But instead of taking a shot on goal, the on-loan Manchester United striker saw the old war horse Dean Windass running to the edge of the box, and cleverly chipped the ball to the free Windass—who hit the ball sweetly on the volley into the top corner of the net, despite the despairing dive of the the Bristol City goalkeeper.

1-0 to the Tigers, and that is how the team got to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history, with a goal from a local lad who had saved us from bankruptcy by being sold many years ago in his prime, only to come back and save the club from relegation the year before and to be the oldest player to score at Wembley Stadium.

Conventional wisdom has it that the team winning promotion from the play-offs is at a disadvantage by being three weeks behind everyone else in preparing for the new season.

Phil Brown and Paul Duffen the Hull City Chairman didn't agree with this, they held the belief that we were ahead of the rest of the Premiership teams as we were fitter than the rest because we hadn't had the lay off that other clubs had had.

The battle plans were drawn up and new recruits were brought in. Geovanni from Manchester City on a free transfer, Anthony Gardner from Tottenham Hotspur, Marlon King on loan from Wigan, Kamil Zayette from Young Boys of Zurich on loan, Bernard Mendy from Paris St Germain, Peter Halmosi from Plymouth Argyle, and George Boateng from Middlesbrough. 

After an indifferent pre-season, the opener against Fulham would be at at the KC stadium in front of a sell out crowd or Tiger's fans, and they wouldn't be disappointed.

As Ian Ashbee lead out the Tigers on that warm August day with fellow Hull City players Boaz Myhill and Andy Dawson it is worth remembering that these three special players have been with the Tigers all the way from the Coca Cola League Two through to the Premiership.

Indeed Ian Ashbee has the distinction of being the only player to have captained his club through all four professional English divisions.

After going behind to an early goal from Fulham's Seol Ki-Hyeon in the 8th minute, a sublime strike from Geovanni on 22 minutes saw the Tigers go in at half-time all square.

In a game were the established Premiership side were supposed to be in control it was hardly the case and on 81 minutes Hull City sub Caleb Folan popped up and grabbed a late winner after some tenacious play from Craig Fagan, who stole the ball off of a Fulham defender on the edge of their box.

The season would carry on in this vein with Phil Brown's Tigers gaining confidence with every match. Even after the 0-5 thrashing to Wigan the Tigers resolutely stuck to their principles and played fast paced counter attacking football built on a solid hard working team performances.

The highlight of the season was the four game winning streak which included wins against Arsenal (this at the Emirates on only the second time Arsenal had lost there since moving to the new ground), Tottenham, and West Ham.

There were also some other notable games last season, against Everton we out played them for 75 minutes only to let them back into it in the last 15 minutes. After losing easily to Chelsea the Tigers traveled to Manchester United at Old Trafford and gave them the scare of their life in a gritty 4-3 loss.

Liverpool were lucky to scrape a 2-2 draw with the help of some dubious refereeing. The 2-1 victory against Newcastle United when they were in turmoil helped to give the Tigers belief that they could compete in the Premiership.

The season has had it's ups and downs, more ups to be sure but the season  ended on a low for the Tigers. Only seven points from the last 11 games and three losses on the bounce was not mid-table form but relegation form.

However, there was some hope to come out of the end of last season, with a few exceptions we have proven we are a very difficult team to beat.

Yes, there were heavy losses, in two of the last three games, but the loss to Sunderland was a game ruined by a poor sending off and a deflected goal. The first half against Manchester City was one of the best displays of attacking football I have seen for some time—and added to the fact that Hull City had one of their most lacklustre performances for that first half display added to our misery.

January brought a record breaking transfer in the shape Jimmy Bullard from Fulham and with him huge wages. The signing was also accompanied with a very suspect medical that was a toss up as to whether he was actually fit.

Bullard's signature was an attempt to stem the loss of form that was seeing the club slip down the able after the stellar start to the campaign. Unfortunately, he re-injured his anterior cruciate ligament on his debut for the Tigers, with in 40 minutes.

Duffen failed to file the clubs tax returns for the promotion season by almost nine months and they did not prove to be comforting reading for Hull City fans, and with Duffen and Brown intertwined it didn't look good for Brown as well as Duffen. From being a club on a stable financial footing to a club on the brink of financial meltdown in the space of a year.

From Brown and the Tigers reaping all the plaudits and fanfare of the clubs meteoric start to their first season in the best league in World football, the season ended with a whimper. Scraping survival on the last day of the season because other teams were poorer than the Tigers.

Brown's on field rendition of Hull City favourite, "the best trip I've ever been on" was roundly condemned by football fans of other clubs and pundits for its hubris considering just how lucky the Tigers had been in winning survival.

The last day Houdini act meant that the Brown and Hull City seriously needed to find new blood to bolster a team that had the Premier Leagues second worst defence, and the one of the worst home records ever recorded in Premiership history.

Hull City's Championship goal scoring hero Fraizer Campbell was a major target for Brown, from Manchester United and a fee of around £6 million was accepted but Campbell was away on England Under-21 at the European Nation's Cup, and he stalled to the point that he joined Sunderland.

Michael Owen was also a summer target for Brown after getting relegated with Newcastle, but when Manchester United came calling, the Brown lost out again. Marc-Antoine Fortune was targeted but he chose to team up with his former manager at Celtic rather than signing with the Tigers.

It was looking like Brown was the Bridesmaid never the Bride in his attempts to sign a much needed Striker. The tabloid press and some of the Tiger-nation blamed the lack of a solid second half of the season on Brown's on field dressing down of the players at Eastlands.

Then came the signatures of Stephen Hunt from Reading for £3.5million, and Seyi Olofinjana for £3million from Stoke City, Kamel Ghilas from Celta Vigo for £1.7 and Jozy Altidore the young American striker on loan from Villareal. Leaving the club and it's fans feeling better about the club and Brown's signings.

The Brown also managed to captured the signature of the Dutch international Jan Vanegoor of Hesselink who was out of contract after rejecting a contract at Celtic during the summer.

However, during this period the experienced Sam Ricketts was sold to rivals Bolton Wanderers with no replacement immediately on the horizon, which seemed to be a very bizarre turn of events. This was to look even stranger when at the start of the season Michael Turner, arguably the Tiger's best player was sold to Sunderland for an undisclosed fee, with Paul McShane going in the opposite direction.

The new season continued as the last one ended with the team playing back to the wall football and conceding goals like the Titanic taking in water, and the strikers failing to find the net.

The new signings brought with them huge wages with the club allegedly having an annual wage bill in the region of £40 million, which puts the club as the seventh highest in the Premiership. Add to this the £5 million that the club paid out to player agents involved in the transfers and it is not looking rosy for the club.

The financial miss steps ultimately lead to the resignation of Duffen as the Club Chairman, and with the late filling of the Club's taxes and his inability to get any of the high profile signings that the Club targeted it was proving harder for Duffen to have any credibility.

Duffen's staunch faith in Brown did not helped him keep his position. Duffen backed his manager and friend on a number of occasions even insulting Hull City fans in the process. However, it ws the sale of Michael Turner for a incredibly low sum that lost Duffen his job, but mainly blamed Brown for not stopping the sale of one of the clubs prized assets.

With the appointment of Adam Pearson the Club looked like it was stabalising after a turbulent couple of years. Pearson said he would give Brown some time to sort out the club's on field woes. He attempted to off load some of the club's bloated playing staff. with only a modicum of success.

Pearson's tenure is tied very closely with the affairs of Brown and the team on the playing field but it appears that Brown's teams sporadic performances have blotted Brown's copy book.

Since the arrival of Pearson and Brown's stay of execution the team went on a mini revival gaining eight points from a possible 12 that coincided with the return of record signing Jimmy Bullard, but it didn't last as Bullard sustained another injury and the club's form dipped yet again.

Since Pearson's return the club have only gained 16 points out of a possible 54 points, with Brown's side not wining any matches away from home and only drawing two. This has culminated in the Tigers going on a loosing streak since early February, when the team beat Manchester City at the KC Stadium in one of Hull City's finest ever performances.

Despite the club languishing in the relegation zone three points adrift of safety, the tenure of Phil Brown has had it's highs and lows. Would the club have ever played at Wembley without him? Would we have won promotion to the top flight without him? Would we have had such a fantastic first season without him?

Whatever your answers, without a doubt it has never been boring with Brown at the helm.

Premier League Preview: Everton Vs. Hull City, Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Sunday 7th March 2010, 1600GMT.

Phil Brown's Tigers, travel to Liverpool to take on David Moyes, Everton side in Sunday's only fixture.

When the Toffee's played the Tigers in November of last year the famous old Merseyside club were in a very poor vein of form with some serious injuries to key players. The East Yorkshire side were riding high in the midst of their best run of form so far this season.

The Tigers ran out as deserved 3-2 winners that day, scoring three goals in the first thirty minutes of the game.

However, things have changed since then for both teams. At that time in the season both clubs were on 15 points and struggling in the league but as players have regained fitness the Evertonian's have steadily climbed the table sitting in tenth place, with 14 more points than the Tigers.

Hull City boss, Brown will be without the services of Craig Fagan who is serving a one game ban for two yellow cards in the 3-0 loss to West Ham two weeks ago, and stalwart defender Anthony Gardner who will be out for at least the next six weeks with a ankle injury sustained in the same fixture.

However, Brown could call on talismanic midfielder Jimmy Bullard who has had a number of successful runs out for the reserves recently along with Geovanni the mercurial Brazilian, but the Tigers top scorer Stephen Hunt is a doubt after suffering a foot injury and is expected to be given a late fitness test.

David Moyes also has some doubts for the clash with Leon Osman who has had a foot injury and Phil Jagielka (thigh) possibly returning to the first team squad. Moyes could also be buoyed by the return of Australian Tim Cahill who has been out for the last three weeks with a calf complaint.

Phillippe Senderos and James Vaughan are expected to be given fitness tests but the Sunday afternoon clash may come too soon, but Louis Saha will definitely miss the match with a thigh injury.

With the Tigers having won no away games so far this season Phil Brown will be hoping that the return of Jimmy Bullard can turn around things for the Yorkshiremen. The loss of Anthony Gardner will mean that Brown will have to shuffle his pack, with a probable return to the centre back position for Kamil Zayette to partner French U21 international Steven Mouyokolo.

Moyes too will have to restructure his side but with a victory it will give the Merseysiders the chance to leapfrog both Fulham and Birmingham and put them within striking distance of Aston Villa and local rivals Liverpool in the Europa Cup places.

The little magician that is Jimmy Bullard is set to make a sensational return for the Tigers as they travel to Upton Park for what is bound to be a real relegation six pointer.

With dodgy dealing Portsmouth all but relegated, they should be deducted nine points on Mar. 1 and placed into administration, the significance of this game cannot be underestimated.

Both Hull and West Ham sit only one point above the dreaded drop zone with only goal difference separating the two sides.

The difference, however, could be their walking wounded returning to action and no-one can underestimate the importance of Bullard for the Tigers.

Having been out injured for the last 11 weeks with his second serious injury since moving to Hull from Fulham, the midfielder from East Ham will be looking to put one over the club he supported as a boy. However, his last match in West Ham in January 2009, his Hull debut, ended with the injury that kept him out for 10 months.

Bullard has only played five times since recovering from that career ending injury, but it is worth pointing out that Hull did not lose any of the three games he started. His most telling performance coming in the 3-3 draw with West Ham at the KC Stadium where he scored one and set up another before initiating the move for the third.

It is somewhat strange that the East End club have become so intrinsically linked with his Hull career over the last 14 months, and six games, three of which will have been against West Ham.

Should the likeable midfielder return to action he will be joined by George Boateng who had his ridiculous red card rescinded. The duo make a formidable partnership in the Tiger engine room, and if Hull really have any ambitions of winning this match they will first have to win the midfield battle with West Ham's powerhouse Scott Parker.

Hull will definitely be without the inspirational Ian Ashbee and Geovanni as well as their little Algerian striker, Ghilas.

For the Tigers, the trip to West Ham will represent a real journey into the Lions Den. Hull have only won once in 75 years of travelling to Upton Park, a 2-1 win in 1990...and they are now 18 games away from home without a win, they have also failed to score in seven of the last nine away matches.

But why are records there if not to be broken?

For their part West Ham have a strong spine but very little outside that. Hull will need to exploit the wide positions while Boateng contains Parker.

Supply to Ilan and Cole from the Hammers rampaging full backs will need to be cut off, but swift counter attacking into these spaces could provide the key to getting in behind Matthew Upson at the back. Stephen Hunt will have a major role in cutting off West Ham's attacks while initiating Hull's.

While they may be favourites to avoid the drop, West Ham are not too good to go down and Hull's Dutch striker, Jan Vennegor of Hessilink (the coolest name in football) has declared that Hull can provide a big upset.

"West Ham have always been a good footballing side with great players," he said. "Anyone from Europe who hears of West Ham, knows them as a good Premier League team.

"They like to play entertaining, attacking football and go about things in the right way.

"But last season if you had said Newcastle could get relegated, no-one would have agreed with you. But they did go down and when that happens, there can be no excuses.

"You might not expect to see some of the big teams get relegated, but when it happens, it happens for a reason.

"It's too easy to say you are too good to go down and if you start thinking that, then you are in big trouble."

"From 12th downwards, it's incredibly close," said the former Celtic hitman. "We hope we can take the pressure off a little big by winning at Upton Park.

"I have to say, I've not been in this situation before at any of my previous clubs. It's a similar kind of pressure to going for trophies.

"The only difference is that you are at the opposite end of the table. You know you have to go out and win whether you are chasing trophies or fighting relegation.

"The pressure is always on you to find those wins. It's not a case of stumbling around, that's for sure."

Phil Brown has matured massively as a manager this season, and is confident that his team can produce yet another great escape.

"The experience we have from last year stands us in good stead," said the Hull manager.

"People talk about the top end of the division and how Manchester United are in a good position because of the experience they have.

"It's the same at the bottom half of the division and if you've got players who have been through it before, it can only be a positive.

"Going into the business end of the season last year we were short of experience at this level. It was the unknown, but now we know a little bit more about it."

"We can take something from every game where belief is concerned because we know we're going in the right direction.

"You would have to say no side in the bottom half is safe."

The experience Brown picked up last year could be key to Hull surviving, and in that area the Tigers have the advantage over Gianfranco Zola and his happy Hammers.

I have never read the Bible, and likely never will. However, if the events at Hull City this season are to show anything, it must be that despite the inherent flaws of their manager, he and the Tigers can be reincarnated and shake our beliefs about them to the core.

Like Tiger Woods, Mel Gibson, and John Edwards, people have their own vices and addictions which threaten to undermine them as the pinnacle figures of their profession. These vices can manifest themselves in sex addiction and alcoholism, but we often fail to recognise those who are addicted to fame, fortune, and popularity.

Instead, the mainstream media obsesses over Paris Hilton and Katie Price, casting them in the spotlight, covering all angles of their lives, ignoring the fact that they live for the attention they receive, and become frustrated when the camera lens switches to other popular figures in our society.

Last season, Phil Brown was as guilty as the Hotel Heiress and the reality TV star. After securing promotion to the Premier League far more quickly than Chairman Paul Duffen expected, Brown set out to maintain the Tigers' place in the top flight, ensuring that the spotlight remained on him in the process.

Hull City's spectacular start to last season merely fortified his belief that Hull City could challenge for Europe, and that he would be integral to such an endeavour.

It was only until Hull lost to Manchester City in spectacular fashion in late December  that the wheels on the Phil Brown train began to buckle. Rather than praising his opponents, Brown abandoned civility, descending into a tirade of self-indulgence, lambasting his players for producing a performance that was "unacceptable for a Phil Brown side."

The slide continued and the players on whom Brown depended for success lost faith in him. Hull would win just two of its remaining 19 matches, narrowly avoiding relegation.

Hull's poor form did little to force Brown into changing his managerial style or his persona in front of the cameras. In a defeat to Blackburn in March, star player Geovanni kicked a water bottle following his early substitution. Brown responded by telling reporters that he hoped the Brazilian would fail his scheduled drugs test and declaring rightly that he wasn't bigger than the football club.

Sadly for Geovanni, he failed to realise that this position belonged to his perma-tanned manager.

Brown's addiction to the spotlight, it seemed, would never be abated. Like a heroin user, he needed his fix, flashing his pearly white teeth on countless television programs and running to every camera. This was demonstrated on the last day of the season against Manchester United when he grabbed a microphone and sang to the crowd, lapping up the applause whilst his courageous players were left to reflect on the narrow escape.

It took the departure of Duffen and the arrival of Adam Pearson to be the catalyst in Brown's change of character. No longer addicted to the attention of the press, he switched his concentration to team affairs. Unsurprisingly, Hull City's fortunes have since improved.

In the management of Stephen Hunt and Jozy Altidore, Brown has been able to reinvigorate the team. Through their individual talents, their record at Kingston Communications Stadium has seen a marked improvement over the previous season. Chelsea, Stoke City, Everton, and Manchester City have all become victims to Hull's new-found resilience and ability to convert key chances.

In last night's defeat to Blackburn, Hull were still able to show fight and spirit, despite the rather harsh dismissal of George Boateng. They made Rovers work hard for their narrow victory, a sight that was seldom seen merely a year ago.

Fans of the Tigers now have cause for optimism. Brown's reincarnation and their improvement in the last third will forge a foundation for key games that lie ahead. Apart from games against Arsenal, Everton, Birmingham, and Liverpool, Hull will face the rest of their remaining schedule dueling with teams who, like them, are keen to avoid relegation

Hull's ability to avoid the drop will depend on Brown's key figures. Hunt and Altidore possess an abundance of strength, which has been coupled with the shot-stopping ability of Boaz Myhill and the defensive ruggedness of Paul McShane and Boateng. New signing Amr Zaki will also give the Tigers a much needed boost in pace, despite previous behavioural indiscretions at former club Wigan.

Unlike Tiger, Mel, and the Edwards before him, Brown has shown that people can escape the vices and addictions that challenge their ability to govern their lives and create positive success in the world around them. Whilst there is hope for the previous three, Hull's manager has abandoned the thrill of popularity and attention and rediscovered that the art of managing rests in focusing on the team. Their success at home this season has been built on improving their confidence and utilising tactical skills.

Hull's future looks promising and hopefully with their good team spirit and a bit of luck they can escape the demons that used to plague them, and in so doing, avoid the drop. Only time will tell, but the Tigers look to have discovered their stripes and, seemingly, their trust in their perma-tanned manager.

Premier League Preview: Blackburn Rovers versus Hull City
Ewood Park, Blackburn, England—Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, 20:00 GMT.

When the Blackburn visited the KC Stadium in Dec. 2009, the two famous old clubs battled valiantly but both clubs cancelled each other out with the tie ending as a goalless draw.

This time the Tigers travel along the M62 to take on Blackburn Rovers in the wake of two fantastic performances at the KC Stadium. Phil Brown's side comfortably beating Manchester City and gaining a massive draw against league leaders Chelsea.

Sam Allardyce's Blackburn team are coming off the back of a 3-0 dismal thumping by Stoke City at the weekend and will be looking to get back to winning ways.

Big Sam may try shaking things up for his out of sorts Riversiders, with top scorer David Dunn still unfit and Christopher Samba suspended after receiving a red card against the Potters.

The Yorkshiremen will still be without the services of Jimmy Bullard and club captain Ian Ashbee, and Dean Marney and Kamel Ghilas still not fit. The Tigers Brazilian playmaker, Geovanni has been in Portugal receiving for a medial ligament trouble but the game against Phil Brown's old friend Allardyce may be a week too soon.

However, with the fine performances that Brown's team has put on this past week it is unlikely the Hull City boss will make any changes. The Tigers high tempo play was enough to dispatch European hopefuls Manchester City, so Brown will be hoping for more of the same.

For Allardyce, his team's form has been hit and miss of late and he will be praying that his team can get back on track after back to back victories against Fulham and West Ham in mid-January. Unfortunately, Rovers have been struggling to find their feet despite some decent performances.

Needless to say for both clubs this match will be very important as both will feel this is a winnable fixture, but with the Tigers having the worst away form in the Premier League, Blackburn will be hoping for another important victory.