Caleb Folan will be staying at Hull City after an offer from Queens Park Rangers to take the City centre forward on loan with a view to a permanent move was abruptly turned down.
Quite right.
Folan is still enigmatic, but Phil Brown thinks he's a fabulous player and a high-quality part of his Premier League squad. It beggars belief that City would let Folan go, even though he isn't in the starting XI, as he is the next on the list for when changes to the forward line need to be made.
It also beggars belief that Folan would wish to go. He may be as disappointed as any player should be that he isn't playing more often, but he's sensible. His time will come, his chance will come and to sacrifice Premier League football for a regular role in a Championship side would be folly.
The irony is that, of course, this is precisely what he did in August last year. He left Wigan Athletic of the Premier League to join Hull City of the Championship, for a cool £1million, the Tigers' first-ever seven-figure outlay. What is different now? Well, he was only a Carling Cup player with Wigan, as proved by playing against us in that competition mere days before switching clubs. He wasn't starting Premier League matches and rarely getting off the bench.
He had also been at Wigan at that level long enough for the club to be able to make an open-minded decision about his future. The money was good for a player who was scarcely making an impact and it seemed good business all round. Now it's a different matter, as Folan has yet to have a proper chance of proving his Premier League credentials again and seeing whether his season in the Championship with us has made him a player more suited to the highest echelon.
There were initial doubts about his finishing when he joined, as it took him until December (albeit partly because of a head injury he suffered on his debut) to get his first goal for the club. Thereafter he became a reliable, if infrequent getter of goals and acquired a dubious reputation as a supersub, which no player really wants to be as it implies that you are less effective if given a starting role. Nine goals came from Folan in total, including his contribution to the 4-1 win over Watford in the second leg of the play-offs, and that goal, along with a good few others, came after he was sent on as a sub.
He scored an equaliser against Stoke and a winner against West Brom, both away from home. These were the two clubs who beat us to the automatic promotion spots, proving that Folan had the stomach for the biggest occasions available. Crucial clinchers at Colchester United and Leicester City - clubs who were relegated - also proved that he focussed as much on the supposedly less strenuous occasions.
His first touch needs work, as does his awareness of what's around him. Against his old club - his only Premier League start for us - he was off the pace, head slumped and starved of help and service. His capacity to be caught offside, as proved when he came on as a sub at Tottenham, is staggering. He needs to work on that a lot. But he is quick, possesses a good attitude and seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. He is not a panicker. He'll take scoring chances when they come - see his goal which won us the opening game this season against Fulham. When he was a sub, of course.
There is much to come still from Folan and his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in midweek will also be a key reason why he should want to stay in the Premier League as much as his manager intends to keep him there. Marlon King has a back problem, so maybe tomorrow represents the chance Folan has waited for.
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