Hull City

Premier League Preview: Manchester City Vs Hull City, City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday, 28th November, 2009, 15:00GMT.

When these two teams met last season things were very different. Manchester City were a team on the up but before the influx of huge amount of Arab investment money made them a bloated club full of stars but short on team spirit.

Hull City were sitting 6th in the Premiership still riding high on the adrenaline of their first season in the top flight. The Blues were at the opposite end of the table sitting third from the bottom of the table.

This season the roles are reversed with the Tigers sitting just above the relegation places in 15th and Manchester City in 6th place.

Despite Manchester City's all star team they have been without a win in the Premiership in seven games when they beat West Ham 3-1 at Eastlands. What will be most worrying for Manchester City boss Mark Hughes will be the amount of goals conceded in that period. In those seven games they have leaked nine goals and only Liverpool and Aston Villa were opponents that Mark Hughes would expect to be difficult games. The rest been Fulham, Burnley, Wigan and Birmingham, all teams that Hughes would be expecting to gain three points against.

Phil Brown's Tigers are going through a purple patch at the moment gaining seven points from their last three games, all at home in the KC Stadium. What will be a doubt for Brown and the Hull City management is the clubs in effectiveness on their travels. The Tigers have only picked up one point from a possible 18 points.

The last time the two teams played at the City of Manchester Stadium the infamous half time team talk was the major talking point from the game. However, despite the drama that the press made out of the incident the performance of the Tigers on that day was shockingly poor and the team deserved much worse than the 5-1 drubbing.

This time the Tigers are a very different outfit from the team that played on Boxing Day 2008. Gone are Hull City's forward line of Marlon King and Dean Windass. Windass to retirement via a loan spell at Oldham and King to a stint in jail for Grievous Bodily Harm. Brown has brought in Jimmy Bullard, Jozy Altidore, Stephen Hunt and Jan Vanegoor of Hesselink to bolster the Tigers lacklustre attacking options

Manchester City are now a team of world beaters, everyone an international. They will be without the services of Kolo Toure who is doubtful and Martin Petrov is out.  Hughes may have the opportunity to pick Vincent Kompany and Michael Johnson again after they both featured for the reserves in midweek.

Hughes will also be bouyed by the availability of Robinho who should be back from a three month spell out with an ankle injury. The want away Brazilian will be a welcome addition to the underperforming Blues who have been lacking some inspiration.

The east Yorkshire club will be happy to see the possible return of Bullard who sat our the 3-2 victory over Eveton midweek along with Craig Fagan who also missed the game with a shoulder injury and Bernard Mendy who was suspended for that game. Brown will not have the services of Seyi Olofinjana who sustained a hamstring injury whilst on international duty with Nigeria in Kenya.

The Tigers face an uphill task with Hull City not having won a game against Manchester City in Manchester since 15th February 1930. Brown will be hoping though that his charges can sustain their current fine form for another week. Whilst Hughes will be hoping that Robinho will turn the tide back in the Blues favour.

Hull City vs Everton, Kingston Communications Stadium, Hull, England, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 19:45GMT.

David Moyes' Everton team take the trip to East Yorkshire with the decent away record of six points from six games. The valuable points were from two of this season's strugglers, West Ham and Portsmouth.

Moyes will be hoping that they can gain another three valuable points at the expense of Phil Brown's Hull City team.

The Tigers' home form has been much better of late with 11 points from seven games, with three wins, two draws and two losses. The Tigers haven't lost at home in over a month when they lost by four goals to nil against Everton in the Carling Cup. However, on that day Brown fielded an under-strength side including three of the club's young prospects.

The Tigers are without a number of key players for the clash, most notably Seyi Olofinjana—who suffered a hamstring injury whilst away on international duty with Nigeria in Kenya and is expected to be out for up to a month. Dean Marney is expected to fill his role again as he did at the weekend.

Hull City right back Bernard Mendy is also out suspended after getting sent off against West Ham at the weekend in the 3-3 draw. Paul McShane is expected to replace the attack-minded defender to give the side some much needed stability at the back.

Brown will be looking to give Boaz Myhill a late fitness test on his injured knee but may stick with Matt Duke who has performed well as Myhill's understudy. The Tigers will still be without inspirational skipper Ian Ashbee who isn't expected to return until next year.

Everton will be without the services of midfielder Marouane Fellaini who is suspended for picking up five bookings this season. Fellaini was instrumental in Everton's victory over the Tigers at Goodison Park last season, scoring a dubious goal from an offside position.

He was also lucky to be on the pitch after a series of very serious incidents which many Hull City fans and neutrals alike felt warranted a red card.

The Toffees will also be without the influential Mikel Arteta who is still suffering with a knee injury. The Liverpool club's long injury list also includes James Vaughan, Steven Pienaar, Phil Neville, Victor Anichebe, and Phil Jageilka, who are all out with knee injuries.

However, Steven Pienaar could be set for a return in time for Everton's derby clash against local rivals Liverpool next Sunday. Leon Osman is also a doubt due to an ankle injury.

Moyes will be hoping that despite the long injury list and the 3-0 drubbing that his players received at the hands of Manchester United at the weekend, that they will be able to bounce back and beat fellow strugglers Hull City.

However, Brown will be hoping that his charges will be able to maintain their current run of good form that has seen the club score five goals in two games.

When Hull City signed 31-year-old Jimmy Bullard in the January transfer window at the beginning of this year, it was hailed as a giant coup for the Tigers.

Despite reservations at the huge record breaking price tag of £5m and the astronomical wages of around £45,000 a week it was seen as a display of the club's ambition to be an established member of the Premiership.

Bullard had lost much of the previous two years for Fulham to an anterior cruciate ligament injury and many pundits and fans alike questioned the validity of Phil Brown and the Tigers signing a player with his injury record at the wrong end of his career.

Brown saw the introduction of a player of Bullard's quality as a catalyst who could take the Tigers to the next level. At the time, Hull City were still flying high in the Premiership, despite a dip in form at the tail end of the previous year.

Bullard made his debut in the away defeat at Upton Park against West Ham. Bullard was playing well and getting to know his new team mates when disaster struck. A robust tackle after 37 minutes and his season was over.

It was originally thought that the injury was not too serious; but after seeing renown sports medicine specialist, Dr. Richard Steadman in Colorado, Bullard's season was officially over. Steadman had been the doctor who rebuilt Bullard's knee the previously and Bullard had full faith in his ability to bring him back again.

So, it was after another large operation and much rehabilitation that Bullard made his long awaited return against his old club, Fulham. It was a lacklustre performance for the Tigers with Bullard coming on as a second half substitute.

Unfortunately, Bullard couldn't turn the team's performance around.

However, Bullard was able to make his long awaited home debut against Stoke City, and what a debut it was. Bullard was involved in both of the Tigers' goals in a stunning 2-1 victory were he controlled the midfield like a general as well as winning the
Man of the Match award.

His fine form continued after the enforced international break with Bullard controlling the midfield again in the 3-3 home draw against West Ham. Bullard was instrumental in all three of the East Yorkshire team's goals, scoring his first goal for the club from the penalty spot. Once again winning the Man of the Match award for the second game
in a row.

However, despite the turn around in form, it is the manner in which Bullard has marshalled the Tigers since his return which has been the most impressive. Bullard has been like a magnet for the ball. He always wants the ball he has become a conduit for the Tigers. He is becoming the channel through which everything moves forward.

Bullard has the uncanny ability to somehow make space for himself where it looks like he has none. He would make the difficult pass-and-run movement, that should be a staple of any professional footballer, look like the simplest of things.

Where others struggle to break free of their marker, he does it with ease.

He makes telling crosses with pinpoint accuracy and is not afraid to take a long-range, speculative strike at goal. Quite simply, he is becoming the heartbeat of the team. His bubbly, effervescent demeanour is rubbing off on a team that has been listless at times.

Players that have been playing well but not great have caught his bug, and it has changed the team's dynamics, with phenomenal success.

Brown has noted the similarities of Bullard to the inspirational figure of Jay Jay Okocha. Okocha signed for the Tigers in the promotion-winning season from the Championship and much of the Tigers' good play came through Okocha in that successful season, even without him scoring a single goal for the club.

The worry for the Brown and the Tigers is that as other clubs start to notice just how influential he is, they will start to make Bullard a target for special attention. Not that they will necessarily do anything to injure him, but he will obviously be marked closer to stifle his style of play.

If the Tigers are to survive and prosper in the Premier League, they will need Bullard to stay fit and hopefully he will be the catalyst for other great signings for Yorkshire's only Premiership club.

It's been three weeks now since Paul Duffen resigned from his position as chairman of Hull City, following the release of the club's finances. In his place came Adam Pearson, seen as a returning messiah by many fans.

Pearson is the man who turned around the Tigers' fortunes and dragged the club into the 21st Century with its head held high. Prior to his arrival, the club had languished as perennial underachievers for much of its long history, lurching from one disastrous situation to another with a few high spots along the way.

Pearson bought the club for next to nothing in 2001 and helped orchestrate the move from the crumbling and dilapidated Boothferry Park to the shinny new all-seater Kingston Communications Stadium.

Pearson wasn't afraid to wield the axe if he thought a manager wasn't working out right, as Brian Little found out after he was sacked despite taking the Tigers to the Third Division playoffs—an action Pearson would go on record that he regretted for not giving Little more time.

However, after some faltering steps in the early days, Pearson found his grove, and so did the Tigers under manager Peter Taylor. Pearson was loyal and hardworking, helping to forge an excellent working relationship with Taylor that allowed the club to gain back-to-back promotions, leaving the Tigers in the Championship.

However, despite this, Taylor expressed interest in pastures new at his old club, Crystal Palace. Pearson felt betrayed and let Taylor know this, ultimately leading to Taylor leaving the club that had restore his reputation in the game.

After another failed managerial appointment in the form of Phil Parkinson, Pearson appointed Phil Brown as Parkinson's assistant to give him some experience to help guide him.

During this period Pearson saw that he had taken the Tigers as far as he could. He didn't have the financial backing to make a real and sustainable push from Championship relegation battlers unless he could get more money into the club.

He managed to do this in the form of Russell Bartlett, who had looked at buying West Ham but had found the asking price too high. So it was that Pearson sold Hull City to Bartlett for £10 million.

His last act before handing over the reigns to new Chairman Paul Duffen was to promote Brown from assistant to Hull City's full-time manager.

The new regime helped to bring about the unthinkable for Hull City fans, promotion to the Premiership, and survival for another season. However, after all of Pearson's prudence and emphasis on financial sustainability, that soon disappeared under Duffen's tenure.

So after a fantastic 2008, the year 2009 was a complete disaster, culminating in the return of Pearson this month, but where does that leave Brown?

Pearson was in discussions with Bartlett about taking the executive chairman's position prior to the away fixture at Turf Moor, Burnley, and was in the director's box watching the display. Unfortunately for the Tigers, despite a valiant and spirited display, they were undone by a shocking display form the ref.

However, the performance from Brown's Tigers was enough for Pearson to let Brown keep his job, at least for another week. Stoke City traveled to the KC the following week, and Brown's players did not disappoint. An emphatic display from the team, led by fit again Jimmy Bullard, saw Hull control the game for all most all of the 90 minutes, beating the Potters 2-1.

The last two performances have left Pearson with a reasonably easy scenario to handle. Brown's handling of the team and the performances have meant that Pearson can leave well alone and concentrate on getting the club back on the right financial track.

It also appears that he has told Brown to control his media appearances. Prior to Pearson's return, Brown has had a number of foot-in-mouth situations that have left the club as the hunting ground for the story-hungry media.

The handling of the media after the Stoke City victory by the club's assistant manager, Brian Horton, would appear to be the result of Pearson's direct interjection. This will allow Brown to focus his attention on the team and take the target off his back that the media have firmly attached.

If the result of the Stoke game had been different, or at least the display had been as lacklustre as some of the club's recent outings, then Pearson would have had to have addressed Brown's recent failings on the field. There have been rumours circulating that Darren Ferguson left Peterborough because of interest from the Tigers.

This rumour seems hard to believe. When Pearson appointed Parkinson after the debacle of Peter Taylor's switch to Crystal Palace, Pearson set his standard to a new up-and-coming manager that was supposed to be the one to take the club to the next level. That didn't happen, and it would seem quite hard to believe that he would let lightning strike twice.

Pearson has not been in charge very long, and it is still too soon to say whether he will stick with Brown as manager in the long term, but the Tigers have an overbloated roster either way. However, the players that are available if fully fit are more than capable of keeping the club in the Premiership, and Pearson knows this.

He also knows that you don't become a bad manager overnight. By making Brown take more of a back seat at press conferences and post-match interviews, he can concentrate on the team's on-field actions. It will once again allow the name of Hull City to be on the forefront, not Phil Brown's.

Ultimately, it does not matter what happens behind the scenes with the new regime. For Brown and Hull City's survival, it is vitally important that the players remain fully fit and the performances on the field remain 100 percent committed.

If that happens, Adam Pearson, Phil Brown, and Hull City fans will be happy.

When I was a kid watching the Tigers, there was not much to cheer for in the way of Hull City players in the World Cup finals. The Tigers' teams were usually made up of low-level British players with no chance of anyone playing for Scotland or Eire, let alone England.

The Tigers have had some England and Scottish internationals, but usually after they have finished their international careers—most notably Hull City legend Raich Carter, who played for England in the post-war years. However, when he was leading the Tigers as our player-manager, his international career was a thing of the past.

Our most high profile internationals of recent history are Theodore Whitmore and Ian Goodison, who sprung to fame after representing Jamaica's "Reggae Boyz" at France 1998, a year before joining Hull City. Unfortunately they weren't Tigers at the time of the Reggae Boyz' finest hour.

However, we would on occasion have current Welsh internationals or Northern Ireland internationals, but nobody that actually played during a World Cup finals. The only player that springs to mind as a Hull City player to actually be a currently serving player during a World Cup is Manuel Rui Marques .

Rui Marques was on loan with the Tigers from Leeds United when he represented Angola in the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany. With the South Africa 2010 World Cup Finals, the Tigers actually have currently serving players that will be ever present in their national teams.

From the current squad, the Tigers have Jozy Altidore representing the United States of America, Richard Garcia of Australia and Seyi Olofinjana from Nigeria, but there is still the possibility that Algeria's Kamel Ghilas could make the World Cup finals if they can beat Egypt in a playoff game.

The club's Republic of Ireland trifecta of Kevin Kilbane, Stephen Hunt and Paul McShane will have to overcome the loss to international giant France when they play them in Paris to qualify for South Africa.

Hull City's current squad of players is a far cry from the championship playoff winning squad of two years ago that had only two known British players in Jay Jay Okocha and Richard Garcia. Currently the club has players from 16 different nations and from every continent.

How things change in football. It is a testament to the international nature of the English Premiership that clubs need to scour the globe for players to stay in the World's favourite league.

So too for the Tigers, who will have a few representatives in the World's favourite football competition—the World Cup—for the first time in the club's history.

English football is littered with heroes from every generation, from every team, and every division. Manchester City's Bert Trautmann's heroics in the 1956 FA Cup final playing 17-minutes with a broken neck instantly springs to mind.

Steve Bull of Wolverhampton Wanderers is another, who was one of the most prolific goal scorers of his generation. Winning a call up to the England team whilst in the second tier of English football, yet despite this refused to leave the Wolves and play for a Division One club.

However, none come bigger than Hull City skipper Ian Ashbee, who just won an extended contract with the club 'til 2011, even though he is not expected to play again due to injury till March 2010. 

Ashbee was born in Birmingham on Sept. 6, 1976, and was a Birmingham City fan as a kid, but it was with Derby County that he got his first chance in professional football. He made one senior appearance for the Rams in Roy McFarland's last match in charge at the Old Baseball in the 1994/5 season.

He would make a couple of preseason appearances for the Rams under Jim Smith but  would not make another first team appearance for the Midland's club. The following summer, Ashbee was loaned to IR Knattspyrnudeild of Iceland, where he scored three goals in eight games.

In December of 1996 Ashbee made the switch to Cambridge United, joining up with Roy McFarland again, as his first signing. Ashbee would go on to 11 goals in 204 appearances for the club. During his tenure at Abbey Stadium, Ashbee became a fans favourite for his tenacious style of play.

Ashbee was able to play in the midfield holding role and right across the back. It was this versatility that made Ashbee an ever present in the U's 1999 promotion winning team that were runners up in the Football League Division Three.

It was Ashbee's no-nonsense style of play that attracted Hull City's new manager Jan Molby. He signed Ashbee on a free transfer as his third signing of his less than distinguished time with the Tigers in 2002. Despite Molby's inability to progress with the Tigers, Ashbee would go from strength to strength.

However, Ashee's debut for the East Yorkshire club was less than auspicious when he was sent off for a second bookable offence against Southend United at Boothferry Park. His combative no-nonsense style of play quickly made him a great addition to the Tigers team that were clearly a mid-table team in the fourth tier of English football.

His clear authority on the pitch made him an ideal choice to lead the Tigers and Molby made him the team skipper. After Molby was replaced by new manager Peter Taylor, he remained the custodian of the Hull City, Captain's armband.

In Peter Taylor's first game in charge at Torquay United, Ashbee scored a fantastic volleyed goal that was voted "Goal of the Season" by City fans for the 2002/3 season. Unfortunately, his season was cut short when he suffered a season ending ankle injury against Shrewsbury Town.

The 2003/4 season would prove to be the start of the Tiger's rise through the divisions and Ashbee's first historic promotion as Hull City's captain. It was fitting that it was his stunning goal away to Yeovil that would be the goal that secured that elusive runner's up place.

Ashbee would go on to produce another piece of Hull City history when he captained the club to back to back promotion in the following season. The 2004/5 season was were he scored his first goal for the club at home with one of the goals in the 6-1 demolition of Tranmere on the way to winning promotion.

Peter Taylor was so convinced that Ashbee should lead the Tiger's in the Championship that he confirmed him as captain for the Championship campaign before the start of the season. Unfortunately again for Ashbee after leading the Tigers to a fantastic start to the season, leading the Tiger's to ninth in the Championship he was diagnosed with a fractured knee.

Under further examination, it was discovered that his injury was much worse. He was suffering from a osteochondral defect. The doctors weren't saying that he might not play football again, but that he might not walk again.

He underwent surgery which involved having 14 holes drilled in his knee to promote new bone growth to try to save his career. It also mean that he would miss the rest of the 2005/6 season.

Fortunately, for Ashbee and Hull City, the surgery was a success, and after four months of walking with crutches, even more months of rehab, and slow hard work with physical therapists, he managed to recover.

Ashbee said in 2008 of his injury, "I'd felt the knee a year before and it was niggling. I didn't think it was going to be as drastic as it was.

"The bone was coming away so if I hadn't gone in at that point and the bone had come away, I might not have been walking again, never mind playing football. Not walking again is a different scenario to not playing football again, but I was lucky.

"I wasn't thinking about not playing again at that point. I was thinking about not being able to go down to the park with my kids and stuff like that. That's how serious it was, but we were lucky enough that the bone had not come away and we just drilled the holes and luckily enough it grew back".

Things have definitely not been going well for Hull City. With four wins out of the whole of 2009 going into a home game against ninth placed Stoke City all signs pointed towards another defeat. All except for one critical event, the return of Adam Pearson.

On the face of it a change of chairman does not seem as radical as you would think. It is the manager who has control of the players, the tactics, the training and everything else related to the actual day to day running of the team. However this was quite a radical move for the owner of Hull to take.

In my opinion Paul Duffen was far to close to Phil Brown to be an effective chairman. Because of their obvious friendship the Duffen failed to challenge Brown when he made dubious decisions and so these were let to pass.

A good chairman should have a distance from the manager to enable him to see when a bad decision is being made and advise him to take a different course. He should be able to manage the manager.

I think Pearson can bring that to the job. As seen in the Stoke game on Sunday a marked difference was seen in the team. Some of that must have been to do with Jimmy Bullard, the clear man of the match. But another factor must also have been Pearson from behind the scenes.

How else do you explain the reappearance of Fagan from the naughty step, a place he had been confined to for weeks? Or the sudden attacking, positive attitude the whole team brought to bear on proceedings? These things can only have come about with a new ethos from the man at the top.

Hull fans all have soft spot for the Harrogate born businessman. This was the man who bought the whole club for a pittance when they were dangling dangerously close to extinction and then not only saved the club but oversaw back to back promotions to the Championship. For that he will always be remembered.

During his first tenure at the North-Eastern team one key event defined it. The building of the new KC Stadium. Unfortunately this momentum shifting event cannot be repeated, he will have to rely on subtler tactics to keep Hull up.

The best thing about him is his obvious loyalty to Hull. When Hull City were at the Play off finals he was there to watch his former team. This passion is just what the team needs.

The task before him seems just as difficult as escaping the depths of League 2. The Premiership is the hardest league in the world. To stay up requires expert organisation, determination and competence. Can he do it? I just think he might. But only just.

Last season the Tigers won three home fixtures. The Kingston Communication Stadium was far from been a fortress. This season Phil Brown went on record that he wanted to turn the KC Stadium into a fortress for the Tigers.

This hasn't materialised, yet. However, this afternoon the Tigers equalled last season's home record with an impressive 2-1 victory against last season's promotion rivals Stoke City.

The Potters came to the KC on the back of an impressive season so far gaining 16 points from a possible 33, with the clubs only losses to Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

The Tigers were not on the same sort of form sitting in the bottom three with a paltry eight points from 11 matches.

So, how did Phil Brown and the Tigers turn the tables on their recent form? In recent outings the East Yorkshire club had been playing a restrictive 4-5-1 formation with a sole striker up front in the shape of Jan Vanegoor of Hesselink.

Vanegoor of Hesselink has valiantly kept the link for the Tigers but with little in the way of support as the midfield have been trying to bolster up the defense, and as such he has been a victim of the Tigers' frailties at the back.

Brown has been playing reactive football. Making changes to the team to counter the opposition. Today was different, he played proactive football. Instead of his usual 4-5-1 he reverted to 4-4-2 and the team delivered, just as it did when he used the same formation in the last thirty minutes against Bolton at the KC a few weeks back.

Vanegoor of Hesselink was sacrificed for the more athletic Altidore and Fagan was brought in alongside him. Both players play fast and aggressive football that unsettles defenders.

In the midfield Jimmy Bullard made his long awaited home debut and what a debut it was. Bullard was magnificent in the middle, controlling everything that came his way.

The only blip for the Tigers today was an error that cost them a goal well against the run of play, but things like that happen and it is a great mark of the teams fortitude that they played so well for Brown.

So, Brown has finally hit a winning formula. Can the team follow through and produce again against West Ham in the next game after the international break.

At the last international break, Hull City went into it with a deserved victory against Wigan and came back to a thoroughly lacklustre display in the loss to Fulham.

So, the Tigers have finally emerged from the bottom three. The Tigers' fans will be hoping Brown can keep the same team with the introduction of Geovanni (back from suspension) in place of Garcia and keep the momentum going. Fingers crossed.

The past few weeks at the KC Stadium have been like watching a soap opera. Not a flashy American soap like Dallas or Dynasty , filled with bags of intrigue and mystery, but a gritty British soap opera like Eastenders filled with seedy melodrama and sleaze.

The main characters have been involved in rumours and stories but it has at times been very difficult to distinguish between truth and rumour.

Speculation has been rife about the Tiger's most successful manager, Phil Brown's future in charge. It has become so bad that British Bookmakers have suspended all betting on him loosing his job.

Since December of last year, Hull City have only won three games, and only four wins in the last 12 months. A poultry tally in anyone's estimation but is it all Brown's fault?

No, not according to Russell Bartlett, the owner of Hull City. Last week Hull City Chairman Paul Duffen stood down from his position for "football business reasons." Was he pushed or did he jump?

The day before Tiger's former owner and Chairman, Adam Pearson stepped down as the Executive Chairman of Derby County.

Pearson had seen the the East Yorkshire club through some tough times and only sold the club after steering the Tigers from near the foot of the Coca Cola League Two to back-to-back promotions to the Championship. It was only after Hull City avoided off relegation from the Championship that Pearson decided that he had taken the club as far has he possibly could financially.

The club needed funds if they wanted to make the next step forward. This came in the shape of Bartlett and his consortium, who has previously tried and failed to buy West Ham. He appointed his close friend Paul Duffen to the role of Chariman at Hull City.

Duffen's first piece of business was to promote Phil Brown the post of manager after he had been brought in by Adam Pearson to help struggling young manager Phil Parkinson. Brown managed to save the club from relegation and in his first full season in charge won promotion to the Premier League through the Wembley Playoff Final.

Duffen came 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 more successful than expected and promotion was won well within the first year.

The financial ramifications of this were huge for the club. Not only was it the single biggest financial windfall with the Tigers expected to earn in the region of £60 million for the club. However, with promotion came greater financial outlays.

The players had to be paid a promotion bonus. Contracts were renegotiated to compensate players for winning the ultimate prize and to keep the team together.

The summer then became a major recruitment process, and although many players were brought in on free transfers their wages were extremely high to entice them to a newly promoted club. Leaving the club with a wage bill comparable to a team in the top half of the Premiership not in the bottom three.

The club broke their transfer record with signing of Peter Halmosi from Plymouth for a fee of in excess of £2 million and then did it again with Anthony Gardner's signature from Spurs for £2.5 million, and with them came more high wages.

The signings seemed to be great from a playing stand point as the Tigers took the Premiership by storm. Taking the scalps of Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham Hospurs, and Newcastle United, leaving the club sitting joint top of the Premier League in October.

January was the same with 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 reinjured 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. 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 all the plaudits and fanfare of the Tigers meteoric start to their first season in the best league in World football, the season ended with a whimper. Scrapping survival on the last day of the season because other teams were decidedly poorer than the Tigers.

The last day Houdini act meant that the club 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 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 target after getting relegated with Newcastle, but when Manchester United came calling, the Tigers 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 Hull City were the Bridesmaid never the Bride in their attempts to sign a much needed Striker.

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.

The club also 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.

During this period Sam Ricketts was sold to 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 has not helped him keep his position. He has on a number of occasions backed his manager and friend even insulting Hull City fans in the process.

However, it appears that amongst his many failings it is the disastrous sale of Michael Turner to Sunderland that was the final straw. At the time of the sale the transfer fee was classed as undisclosed. It appears that the club made only £2.8 million for a player that was valued at approximately £12 million at the start of the season.

The transfer has also raised the prospect of a Premier league investigation into the deal after complaints from Charlton Athletic and Brentford who had sell on clauses built into Turner's contracts. To their dismay they failed to reap much of a reward for the supposed £12 million man.

With the appointment of Adam Pearson the Club is looking to stabalise after a turbulent couple of years. Pearson has already said he will give Brown some time to sort out the club's on field woes. He is also attempting to off load some of the club's bloated playing staff, which currently has 29 full time professionals.

He is hoping to off-load at least 10 players that are not Premiership quality in an effort to shrink the clubs ridiculously high wage bill. He is also trying to bring in some much needed investment to help cement the club's place in the Premiership.

Whether Pearson is successful or not is tied very closely with the affairs of the team on the playing field but if Pearson can steady the financial ship it should make the waters calmer for the good ship Hull City on the playing field.

After eight games last season the Tigers were sitting third in the Premiership table only three points behind leaders Liverpool and Chelsea. This season, there is a very different look to the Tigers. 

The league standings and points gained doesn't tell the whole story. Take a look at the corresponding games played against like teams.

First game this season we lost to Chelsea 2-1, last season it was a 0-0 draw and lost Scolari his job.  That means Chelsea zero points in comparison to one point last time.

Second game, a loss to Tottenham Hotspurs, last season a loss to Spurs. Still zero points compared to one from last season.

Third game, a home win to Bolton Wanderers, last season we lost to the Trotters at home. So three points compared to one point last season.

Fourth Game, Wolverhampton Wanderers a 1-1 draw last season we didn't play Wolves but they were Champions of the Championship so I will replace them with the team coming third bottom in last season's Premiership. Last time we beat Newcastle 2-1 so that would have us at four points as opposed to four points last season.

Fifth game, a lost to Sunderland as compared to a loss to Sunderland so still four points this season as opposed to four points last season.

Sixth game, against Birmingham City as before I will replace a promoted team with a relegated team. Birmingham were runners up in the Championship and Middlesbrough were runners up for the Premiership wooden spoon. This season a loss to the Blues and last season a win against Boro, so four and seven.

Seventh game, against Liverpool and a loss this season but last season a deserved draw. So still on four points but last season we would have been on eight.

Eighth game, last time a huge loss to Wigan Athletic but this time a great victory. So seven points compared to eight last time.

Looking at the season in a linear way with x-number of games in, as opposed to x-number of games last time. It is not a much more clear way to demonstrate how a season will pan out. It depends on who you are playing and in many cases how a club is fairing on the field.

You only have to look at Yesterday's fixture of Hull City Vs Wigan Athletic. Wigan came off of an famous victory against Chelsea and the Tiger's came off a mauling of Liverpool.

I suspect that Roberto Martínez Gutiérrez the Wigan boss would not have wanted to play Hull City after we lost to Liverpool. All the pressure is on his team to repeat the victory over Chelsea and go one better and do what Liverpool did to us. That was never going to happen.

By looking at like for like(ish) meetings it is a better comparison of how any club are fairing in the league.

As it stands the Tigers are only down to the tune of one point. If we can keep up this level then we will be safe come May and be playing Premier League football for a third season.