Kamil full strength

Utterly brilliant news that Hull City have decided to make Kamil Zayatte a permanent signing at the KC Stadium when the window re-opens in January.

It also sounds like a shrewd bit of business by the club to get an exclusive buy-up option for the Guinean defender from his Swiss club Young Boys when he arrived on loan at the end of August.

And for £2.5million, the same record fee as Anthony Gardner, the man he is currently keeping out of the side, Zayatte will represent an amazing bargain, judging by his first four matches in a City shirt.

He and Michael Turner have been unbreakable at the heart of our defence. Zayatte's star turn was in the 2-1 win at Arsenal, where he bullied and broke and intercepted everything that the pretty possession-freaks at the Emirates tried to pass around him.

He seems to be brave as a lion, evoking memories of hard-as-nails defenders of City's less salubrious past, such as Peter Skipper, Russ Wilcox and Jon Whitney. Brick walls were no match for these men, and Zayatte seems to come from the same school.

It means we have two £2.5million central defenders in the squad, plus Turner, whose worth to the side is currently incalculable. If and when a darker day or two comes this season for Hull City, I'd still feel safe in the knowledge that the defence will see us through. Zayatte's acquisition is a crucial step in making sure that the sneerers who claim we're in a false position don't get too many days to prove it.

Please Hammer and hurt 'em

There is another glut of international fixtures to come this week, some involving Hull City players, but already I'm thinking about the return to Premier League action at the weekend.

We're back at the KC after two glorious days out in north London. The ovation that the side will receive when the Tigers take to the field will be atomic. West Ham United are the visitors - another team with one of those wretched 'continental' hierarchies which pushed Alan Curbishley's nose enough out of joint to prompt his resignation - and we're in a position to beat them.

There's no real history between City and the Hammers. We last played them in the League in the 1990-91 season, where we were relegated from what was then the Second Division and they were promoted. At Boothferry Park, it was an awful 0-0 draw. When we go to Upton Park in January, memories will be revived of the corresponding fixture in that 1991 season, as City were given a 7-1 trampling. Such was our poverty of ideas that our goal was a fluke, scored by David Hockaday, an ageing right back whose looping header caught Phil Parkes unawares. It was one of numerous tonkings we took under Stan Ternent, who was dumped on New Year's Day by the chairman as he protested his innocence and claimed a hypocritical boardroom promising him everything and giving him nothing.

That was garbage - Ternent bought a glut of seasoned but expensive pros, not feeling they had anything to prove within a club which had still to prove itself. Hockaday was less culpable, as were David Mail, Malcolm Shotton, Russ Wilcox and the mercurial Leigh Palin, but any supporter from that era who hears the names Tony Finnegan, Gwyn Thomas and, more than any other, Dave Bamber will recall dreadful, unmotivated players taking the money without accepting the responsibility. Bamber, who infamously spent the generous relocation allowance proffered by the Tigers on a house in Blackpool, remains one of the biggest hate figures on Hull City's long rollcall of past professionals. Richard Chetham, the chairman, gave Ternent a fortune to sign these players - their wages were among the largest ever paid by the club - and City were relegated because of them, not despite them.

The defeat at West Ham was, on scoreline alone, the nadir, but the high concession of goals that year at Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth Argyle, Bristol City and Portsmouth also represented the start of a decade which grew steadily worse and almost ended in the club's death. Ternent still has his apologists, and nobody can blame a manager for spending money a chairman gives him, but he had a lot to answer for as the club spiralled into more debt and depression under charmless, nervous leadership thereafter in both boardroom and dressing room.

Still, it's something of a different Hull City which plays West Ham United this weekend. Given that the Hammers got done over by Bolton Wanderers last time round and have the infamous continental managerial system - with their first ever continental manager - it bodes well. Plus they're in appalling shtuck over their ownership and have a shocking reputation to spin round following the decision to award compensation to Sheffield United (itself hardly a club to sympathise with) over the Carlos Tevez shambles.

Meanwhile, we've beaten three out of three London teams so far this season, just done over Arsenal and Spurs on their own manors, have a squad almost unblemished by injury, the newly-crowned Manager of the Month and a team drizzled in confidence and belief. We'd better watch our step, as soon we may even be tipped to win matches before we actually do so.

Turner for the better

Michael Turner is currently the ultimate Hull City hero. And those of us determined to pre-empt Fabio Capello's decisions remain convinced he will make Hull City history as our first ever England international.

We've never had an England player represent his country while at Hull City. We've never really come close, owing entirely to our lack of top-flight history. Chris Chilton, statistically our greatest goalscorer, received representative honours from the FA while bashing in goals in the old Second Division, but even in an era not averse to picking players outside the top flight, never received a call-up. He was the closest we ever came, and even then he wasn't that close.

Stuart Pearson played for England three years after leaving City; it took Brian Marwood five years after departing Boothferry Park and a further move from Sheffield Wednesday to Arsenal before getting his infamous nine minutes against Saudi Arabia. Since then, Garry Parker and Richard Jobson have left City and made subsequent England squads, but neither received a cap.

Jobson certainly could have played for England had the Hull City and Oldham Athletic teams he played for been as good as a player of his calibre needed them to be. This is where Turner, the only better central defender than Jobson I've ever seen play for the Tigers, could have the advantage.

Of course, England are blessed with centre backs. Beyond the wildly talented (if often difficult to like) default pairing of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, there then follows a lengthy enough list of worthwhile replacements. Matthew Upson got the nod in Terry's absence against Kazakhstan; the likes of Jonathan Woodgate and Joleon Lescott maintain sturdy claims. Steven Taylor and David Wheater represent the future, and no-one should rule out the claims of Sol Campbell, probably my favourite ever England defender, on the basis of his experience and continued form with Portsmouth.

But there is spin in Turner's favour with that list. Woodgate is injury prone. Lescott can be seen as an emergency left back by Capello as much as he can a standard central defensive back-up. Taylor and Wheater are not distributors of the ball. Campbell is 34 and has the type of personality which could see him quit all football without a moment's notice. Upson's main strength seems to be his natural left-sidedness, as opposed to any standout defensive attribute which gives him obvious prominence above the others.

If Capello saw Michael Turner put in as good a performance as City fans now expect when we play West Ham United next weekend, would he be prepared to select a Hull City player? Sniffier edges of the media would claim that his club alone is a stepping stone Turner, last season's unanimous player of the year, would have to overcome prior to selection. A Hull City player in the national side? Perish the thought. Wigan Athletic had a similar issue when one of their charges received a summons, but at least Emile Heskey had a long international career already next to his name when he became the Latics' first (and to date, only) serving England representative. A call-up for Turner would therefore become even more impressive due to his emergence from pretty much out of nowhere.

Of course, the spectacles can be rose-coloured and maybe Turner's current situation is as much down to his own form right now rather than any long-term class. He was rejected by his adolescent club, Charlton Athletic, and had to carve out a career initially at Brentford where even then no Premier League club rendered him a worthy recruit, despite extensive scouting. But his impact on Hull City has been tremendous and beyond the dewy-eyed, parochial stuff about Dean Windass and Nick Barmby, you have really to put Turner top of the pile if forced to pick one solitary player without whom Wembley and promotion would have remained a dream.

Turner is one third of the reason why the Phil Parkinson legacy remains a quirky one; an abject failure as a manager, but three of his summer recruits upon getting Adam Pearson's mandate flourished wonderfully at the club. However, a way of tarnishing the gloss is evident in Turner's initial form; playing at Championship level for the first time, he initially cut a clumsy, nervous and disorganised figure, struggling especially on the ground and reaching a nadir few defenders would ever reach when being somehow culpable for most of Colchester's goals in a 5-1 pummelling at Layer Road. Parkinson may have bought Turner, but it was only after a managerial change that we really saw why.

Phil Brown's patient breed of management helped bring the best out of Turner almost instantly. Certainly after Christmas of what would remain a relegation battle, Turner livened up and toughened up. For the first time, his predecessor Leon Cort and his defensive power was not being missed. Turner, alongside usually Damien Delaney, began a happy habit which continues to this day of not missing, mistiming or misreading a thing. His tackling was immense; his aerial power unplayable; his facility to inspire others as visible as you'd dare expect. He wasn't - yet - a goalscoring centre back, but he did begin another happy habit of finding the net remarkably late in games, earning crucial draws at home to Crystal Palace and away at Norwich as City began to fight back from the crestfallen position Parkinson had left behind.

Turner volleyed the goal of the season at Luton Town as City won 2-1; he also became notable for his absence when Brown dropped him for a home game with Ipswich Town and then proceeded to regret what was a stark error when Danny Coles, a flawed figure at Hull City, put in the sort of inept, confidence-shorn defensive performance Turner had himself displayed at Colchester. Coles was responsible for most of Ipswich's five goals; Turner was cheered as he warmed up in the second half and ultimately was called upon, damage already done, to prevent the goal difference being mutilated even further.

The season concluded with City's safety memorably assured after beating Cardiff and hearing of Leeds United's delicious concession of a late goal against Ipswich which at the very least would mean the Tigers would survive due to a colossal goal difference advantage (despite Coles' train wreck performance previously). It appeared that Brown, having done the job required of him, now had a chance to rebuild the defence around a splendid young centre back, whose demeanour was unassuming but whose performances had become ruthless, combining the defensive savagery required of this level with a brand of artistry in doing so, making defending entertaining. Jobson could do this 20 years earlier. Turner had at last become a worthy successor to the great man.

But Brown needed convincing even more, on the evidence of his selection for the new season's opener against Plymouth at the KC. With new hundred-percenter Wayne Brown now in place, the manager made the bizarre decision to pair him with Coles, and leave Turner benched. How he came to this even heaven still is to find out, and Coles failed to repay an amazing showcase of faith by being just as abject as when he came off the rails against Ipswich. Plymouth won 3-2, Coles was at fault throughout, and Turner returned for the next League game, never to be dropped for Coles again - indeed, his pretender to the throne was shunted off quickly, soon to depart Hull City for good.

City were slow starters but already Turner was imperious, clearly having the personality and belief to use a random exclusion from the side as a way of extending his own will to succeed. The manager knew he'd cocked up, and barring a suspension in March, Turner would not be seen anywhere other than on the pitch on a matchday again. He became the cornerstone of a growing team, combining with the more industrial Brown and an exceptional pair of full backs to help City establish a vital meanness to their defence, a trait which would be epitomised in the final, all-purpose match of the season. Turner continued, briefly, his last-orders scoring habit too, burying a 93rd minute header to earn the Tigers a 1-0 win at Burnley, though this would prove for some time to be his only goal of the season, a fact not lost on assistant manager Brian Horton, Jobson's mentor of 20 years earlier, who was constantly telling the star centre back that he needed to get more goals. This was the one aspect of his game on which Cort, now not remotely missed for all his popularity, remained ahead.

As City got into the New Year and the form suggested a promotion push may be in the offing, Turner got meaner and ruder. Discipline has always been a strong point, but ultimately lummox strikers dragged his yellow card level upwards and upon a fifth booking, he had to serve a one-match ban, immediately after helping City to a season-defining 2-1 win at West Bromwich Albion. Bristol City away was the game and the manager, who had sold natural replacement Damien Delaney to QPR in January, recruited Neil Clement on loan from the Baggies to maintain an element of strength while Turner was out. City found themselves, however, in the odd position of having two left-footed centre backs, and Clement, replacing Turner on the right side, got confused with his angles which allowed the home side an early goal, ultimately resulting in a 2-1 win. Turner was back immediately afterwards.

At this point, Turner also began scoring goals, almost for fun. Just the late, late show at Burnley was on his record, but then suddenly he was heading in goals against Scunthorpe United and Southampton - 2-0 and 5-0 wins respectively - before opening the scoring in the very first minute of a massive top six game against Watford. Even then he wasn't done, as he proceeded to revert to old habits, scoring an injury time equaliser against QPR at the KC on a day when City failed to show up. Four goals in four consecutive home games, ten points from 12, and now promotion was on course.

The injury to Wayne Brown and the sly recall by West Brom of Clement was ultimately City's downfall as far as automatic promotion was concerned, as Turner had no obvious defensive partner left and so the emergency game left in David Livermore's contract was activated by his manager. Livermore was left-footed but not ideal centre back material for a team looking to get to the Premier League - he'd played there for Millwall but never in two seasons at the KC - and Sheffield United coasted past the Tigers, even when going down to ten men. Turner, however, had Brown back with him for the play-offs and, in a first-choice back four flanked by Sam Ricketts and Andy Dawson, City proceeded to score seven goals, concede just one and clinch promotion from their three games.

Beyond Turner's early achievements this season - the way he has dealt so far with Michael Owen, Yakubu, Emmanuel Adebayor and Darren Bent so far has been beyond mere words of praise - it will be one piece of fearless defending at Wembley which will define him. In the final moments of normal time, Boaz Myhill punched under pressure from Dele Adebola on to the cultured left foot of faux-Welsh panto villain Lee Trundle, he controlled, shot for goal - and Turner's speed of thought and sheer courage was enough to get a thigh in the way of the ball and deflect it over the bar. That moment defined a whole season of flawless, iconic defending for the Hull City devotee, and how appropriate that it was almost as crucial a factor in success at Wembley as the solitary goal scored by Windass in the first half.

If Capello does come to watch Turner and pick him, then maybe playing for England and setting a Hull City first no player could take away from him will be as fitting an accolade for Michael Turner, Hull City's finest ever defender, as it is possible to have. Let's see.

Manager of the Month

Not many managers can come into a month on the back of a 5-0 monstering at home and end it with the Manager of the Month champers, but Phil Brown's done just that.

Clearly the 2-1 win at Arsenal alone should have earned him the award, especially as it was almost a unique achievement and came via the further handicap of a 1-0 deficit, but the victory at Newcastle United by the same margin and a draw against Everton at the KC had something of a bearing too. Maybe now the severe kicking administered by Wigan at the end of August can now be regarded as a freak rather than the norm. We'll see.

Fortunately, a 1-0 win at Tottenham has begun October in the same style, meaning that hopefully Brown will avoid the alleged 'curse' which comes with such awards - the one which dictates that the recipient's team will immediately be unable to beat a carpet, let alone a football team.

International rescue

Marlon King has joined up with the Jamaica squad for matches against Mexico and Honduras in the CONCACAF section of the World Cup qualifiers, under the tutelage of former City midfielder Theodore Whitmore.

With Richard Garcia now regularly in the Australia squad, plus a good fistful of European international players, it means the Hull City training ground at Cottingham is getting quieter during international weeks.

It's a doubled-edged sword, of course. International players become so because they are playing well for an in-form, successful, progressive club. That does a club credit. But such success also poses the risk of players being called up for meaningless friendlies which involve long-haul flights and coming back with injuries or fatigue.

This weekend, there could be two City players starting for Wales, plus one for Hungary, one for the Republic of Ireland, and King's role for Jamaica. Australia have a game next week. Only Garcia currently does not start matches for City, but could do so at any moment given Phil Brown's propensity to shuffle and alter as he sees fit. But it's a risk we should welcome, more so when City finally gets an England player.

Hull City has had a lot of ex-England internationals (Neil Franklin, Emlyn Hughes, Peter Barnes, David Rocastle, Mark Hateley, Nick Barmby, Danny Mills, Ray Parlour) and a couple of future internationals (Stuart Pearson, Brian Marwood) but no player has ever pulled on an England shirt at full international level while on the books of Hull City. Michael Turner is on course to change that, we'd like to think, though given Nicky Shorey got a chance on form alone when at Reading, it may yet be not too late for Andy Dawson. Fabio Capello has yet to watch us play, but I rather hope he'll take a trip to the KC Stadium when West Ham United come up a week on Sunday.

In recent years, only Northern Ireland's Stuart Elliott was a regular absentee from training due to international commitments. Before that, we used to see the Reggae Boyz disappear every so often to team up with Jamaica (Whitmore's buddy Ian Goodison remains our most capped player). More perversely, the very English (and very suspect, ability-wise) Jamie Wood, as unprolific as any centre forward in a City shirt could be, was given a call-up by the Cayman Islands.

In the 1980s, Tony Norman was always in the Wales squad but Neville Southall's presence always prevented him from actually playing, and striker Nick Deacy was too a Wales international on City's books before the club's receivership prompted his departure. I can't think of a serving Scotland international to have played for City, as Billy Bremner had been banned for life from the Scottish side by the time he came to Boothferry Park.

It's not a distinguished international record but as Hull City improve and improve, it will improve with it. It's the England player we want, but meanwhile we'll enjoy supporting Boaz Myhill, Sam Ricketts, Paul McShane, Peter Halmosi, King and Garcia as they proudly represent their nations - and pray for their safe and healthy return.

Marney well spent

It's great to see Dean Marney playing so well for Hull City. This was a lad who, for a good spell of his early months with the club, looked like being a rather expensive flop. And we've had a few of those down the years...

Marney was a Phil Parkinson signing, at a cost of half a million pounds (though the official line was that the fee was tiresomely 'undisclosed') when finally Tottenham Hotspur agreed to stop mucking him about with loan deals here, there and everywhere and admit that he wasn't going to get many games for them. Marney had been a star pupil of the Academy and one single game (of just 11 in total) is etched on the memory of Tottenham fans when, against Everton, he curled in a marvellous shot from outside the box during a counter attack which had commentators and supporters everywhere purring.

Sadly for Marney, that was immediately dug out on YouTube by Hull City fans when news of his arrival at the KC two summers ago was announced. I was one of those supporters who wondered if this memorable goal had been given to the Internet for all eternity, and I too was purring at the prospect of a clearly exciting footballer leaving the headiness of White Hart Lane to venture north to a club with little history of achieving, in a city with a bad reputation and for a manager unproven at the club.

Parkinson's reign was a disaster and Marney epitomised the lack of belief which the whole team had in its manager. He had fleeting moments - one mazy run past the whole of the Southampton defence was cracking, although he couldn't get a shot in at the end of it - but clearly there were issues with the boy. Homesickness was a worry, certainly - he was a London lad who had left home for the first time and, apparently, had not been able to persuade his girlfriend to move up to East Yorkshire with him.

Marney's rotten demeanour was most obvious when he took a set-piece. Free kicks of shooting range were generally left to Andy Dawson, but he took the wider free kicks and the corners and invariably, overhit them so much that there was as much laughter from the City fans as there were howls of frustration. As we reached December and City languished, hopeless and helpless, Marney seemed to have become one of those dud signings for megabucks that leave us all very disappointed.

Then Adam Pearson lost patience with Parkinson, gave him the boot and asked Phil Brown, who had been coaching under Parkinson for just a few weeks, to try to save the club from the drop. As Brown settled into the role, there were signs of Marney's initial recovery, slow as it sometimes was. He scored his first goal for the club in a splendid home win over Cardiff City courtesy of a well-struck left-foot shot which was slightly deflected. That deflection was the spot of luck he required.

Over Christmas, Marney struck again, sidefooting home the opening goal in another win at the KC, this time against Burnley. As we worked our way into the New Year. the signs were that Brown's faith in Marney was beginning to bring the best out of a clearly gifted footballer. He'd stopped taking the corners, but had started shooting from distance, testing goalkeepers and finding his range. More crucially, he was finding his range as a passer of the ball too. And, thanks to hindsight, we then discovered this was the point he'd found somewhere to make a home and his girlfriend was ready to join him.

Marney remained an in-and-out figure as City fought to the end, often making way for Ray Parlour's experience as Brown used quick fixes to solve a problem which was short on time. Marney's appearance as a second half substitute in the final away game of the season, at Cardiff City, proved crucial as he took control of a directionless match and began the move which led to Dean Windass scoring the goal that maintained the Tigers' status in the Championship and, with a twist even Jeffrey Archer wouldn't dare steal for one of his books, sent Leeds United down in the process.

With Brown's mandate now in place, Marney became a vital and settled figure in the midfield for the season ahead. He scored in the opening day defeat to Plymouth Argyle - albeit a game City lost, and the goal was a mere rebound from Windass's grim penalty - and began to assert himself. Until Christmas, we saw the best of Dean Marney for the division he was playing in, and somehow knew that he could perform better if given the better standard of footballers to play with, and against. He had nerves of steel too - putting away a 93rd minute penalty at Crystal Palace to earn a late, late 1-1 draw and end Peter Taylor's reign at Selhurst Park.

No more vital was Marney than when, oddly, he was being isolated in the side. The arrival of Jay Jay Okocha automatically brought with it an urge from all Hull City players to give the iconic Nigerian the ball. Marney, a player who thrived on being the fulcrum, the centre of creativity, had his nose pushed out of joint. As Okocha shimmied and sashayed in possession, Marney cut a lonesome, peripheral figure - but his worth was clear for all to see as Okocha could never last more than 70 minutes. At QPR, with Okocha playing, City were shocking and the hosts were 2-0 up. Okocha's withdrawal brought Marney back into the game, and although City couldn't score, it was their only dominant spell of the game, and it came when Okocha was off and Marney stayed on.

In December, prior to a game at Charlton, the now undroppable Marney got the gutsache. He was too ill to play and was driven home while City ground out a 1-1 draw, joyously coming with the bonus of Danny Mills being sent off. His ailment kept him out for three more games over Christmas - none of which City lost - and so his place had gone and, tragically, his confidence went with it. The returning Marney, a necessity once David Livermore's contract situation prevented him from playing, wasn't the Marney who'd been so dynamic and positive prior to his attack of the runs. This made the evidence clear that Marney was an extreme type of confidence player and the last thing he needed was City fans on his back when he didn't instantly return as the Marney we saw prior to Christmas.

As City maintained their form, Marney's began to creep back into his game. He ran the show against Southampton, scoring one terrific long range goal having already delivered a sublime long pass out of nowhere on to Fraizer Campbell's toe for the opener. City won 5-0. Working with Okocha - now injured and set to play negligible further part in the season - had clearly sharpened Marney's range with a dead ball and he was arrowing in corners and free kicks with precision.

He scored a scruffy but important opener at Leicester as City won 2-0. His penalty miss in the same game, when the Tigers led only by his goal, could have been crucial but Leicester's incompetence saved Marney's nerves. At Barnsley less than a month later, and with City now on course for promotion, he took another and made no mistake. A confidence player maintaining his confidence! The Leicester penalty had provided Marney with another watershed moment as he allowed himself, for the first time, not to be affected by adversity.

For the rest of the season, Marney was tidy and efficient and sometimes exceptional as the Tigers, thanks to a stutter in the last three games, missed out on the automatic spots but secured third place and a bash at the play-offs. Marney then hurt his knee in training and, with an element of injustice hard to describe, saw nothing of the 6-1 aggregate win over Watford which sent the Tigers to Wembley. Unwilling to change a winning side, Brown kept Bryan Hughes - who'd ended the season poorly - in the team for the final, with Marney only coming on deep into injury time, albeit to win one tackled and play one calm ball out of defence towards Caleb Folan as the seconds counted down towards immortality.

With the numerous squad changes inevitable for a crack at the Premier League, one wondered where Marney's future lay. We needn't have bothered. Although he was on the bench for the opener against Fulham, injury to George Boateng offered him a way back in at Blackburn and he has maintained his place since. He was excellent at Ewood Park, stunning at Newcastle, doggedly brilliant at Arsenal (and as Brown changed to a 4-3-3, the bravest decision was making sure Marney still had a place in the side) and influential at Spurs, his boyhood club, where he would have scored one of City's great team goals but for the width of a post. It came full circle for Marney at this point, as he played and defeated the side that raised him but messed him about, and looked more comfortable a Premier League player than any of the players on view in white.

The previews of the game concentrated on the returns of Nick Barmby and Anthony Gardner to White Hart Lane, but a spot of research and industry from such boneidle hacks would have noted that neither of these two bigger names would be playing because of injury and lack of favour. Marney, however, was and is one of the first names on the teamsheet as City embark on a glorious early start to the Premier League adventure. City fans who saw him frequently put free kicks into the upper tier at Birmingham must acknowledge that Marney has, in all ways, proved how damned good he is.

Marney is out of contract this summer. It really is about time Hull City did something about that.

07: Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 1 Hull City - 05/10/2008

Say it's a crazy old world if you wish, but it's beginning to feel eerily normal for Hull City to win a Premier League match against one of the old guard, the big cheeses, the head honchos. And to do so in their own backyard - again - sweetens the feeling even more.

Given that we'd polished off Arsenal at the Emirates thanks to sublime tactics and ruthless determination, it was almost an insult, after a week of praise and begrudging offers of congratulation, that most experts predicted a Spurs win at White Hart Lane. After all, they're Spurs. They're the establishment. They have a trendy foreign manager, heritage, a big ground, a long list of honours. We're not like that.

Spurs, however, also have a severe lack of Premier League standard firepower, a shaky defence which hates pace and a strange inclination to play good players out of the position which makes them good. They hadn't won before playing us. They still haven't.

Phil Brown, happy in his quiet preparation for a new game while everyone still scraped out the giblets of the old one, selected the same XI. How could he have done differently? The element of surprise had gone - nobody plays a 4-3-3 at Arsenal, nobody - but then again nobody should be afraid to pick a 4-3-3 at Spurs when they are in such a rudderless, confused state.

Fraizer Campbell was selected to play up front for Spurs on a day when he was the main feature of the match programme. As if already aware of his frustrations, all the Campbell chanting from the Tiger Nation was positive - indeed, strains of his song of last season rang out from the away corner when he picked up a second half caution. But it wasn't his day, and the slump of his shoulders - and his applause of the Tiger Nation at the end of the game - signalled that he seemed to be wishing he was back in the other team on show.

Still, he was the enemy for 90 minutes as the game began. Initially City needed to defend, with the imperious Kamil Zayatte clearing an early opportunity off the line and Boaz Myhill batting out a Roman Pavlyuchenko header from close range which Paul McShane then bravely swept away as further Spurs players sniffed a rebound.

In attack, City began as brightly as one could now reasonably expect after such a good time on the road lately. Geovanni hit a bouncing shot over the bar from a good range after a subtle knockdown from Daniel Cousin, then lined up a free kick after Cousin was scythed down from behind. Andy Dawson, as heroic as anyone else of late, also sized the chance up, but the sparkling Brazilian took control, swerving a divine shot over the wall and inside Heurelho Gomes' near post with the Tottenham keeper not moving even a toe.

Nine minutes, the boy from Brazil's done it again. More mayhem in north London courtesy of one glorious strike. An early lead, and now we must defend it.

Tottenham's efforts to respond were a mixture of desperate and tepid. The goal had come early, but this didn't mean that they didn't require to exercise some urgency in trying to make amends. This factor is going to be as crucial to Hull City in the acquisition of points as goals and clean sheets - the attitude of the opposition. Despite an appalling start to the season, despite the Tigers' growing reputation, despite the stress in the dugout and the woe on the terraces, Tottenham seemed to assume that as they were at home, and as it was Hull, the equaliser was inevitable.

Play into our hands, why don't you? We're not going to pitch in with any objections.

Aaron Lennon, who seems to be Theo Walcott with quicker feet but less directional sense, began to receive ample ball down his flank. On one occasion, Ian Ashbee sent him tumbling and Rob Styles, as under pressure (and as lucky, after last week, to be doing a top tier game) a referee as there has been, showed the skipper a yellow card. Gareth Bale, talented but unmotivated, swerved a left-footer over the wall which Myhill got fingers to as it hit bounced off the bar and behind.

City's possession was less frequent but always looked calm and unflappable. A splendid bit of chasing from Dawson robbed Lennon of possession and the ball was quickly steered into the line of Dean Marney's sight. The ex Spur then fed Marlon King, whose shot was spilled by the comical Gomes but nobody could follow up.

The Tigers then carved out a move of genuine artistic beauty, beginning with King combining with Geovanni near the corner flag. The interplay gave the Brazilian room to look up, but he smartly fed Ashbee square and his ball was flicked instantly by Cousin into Marney's path. The instant shot on the turn did Gomes all ends up but bounced back off the post. Delightful, glorious football, and such a pity that having put spectacular goals away, City were paintwork away from scoring a divine team goal.

Spurs lose Pavlyuchenko with injury and replace him with Darren Bent. They then up the pressure a bit, in possession at least, as City spend the last stages of the first half on the defensive. Still, there's nothing wrong with that - it's why you have defenders, and with Zayatte and Michael Turner playing so magnificently at the back it's as entertaining and sometimes as gripping watching the Tigers soak up whatever the illustrious figures in the other kit put their way. Turner was marvellous in blocking and clearing, but also in reading where the ball was going to go. An immense performer, he seems to become more immense by the week.

He probably didn't know much about the Jonathan Woodgate shot from close range which hit his side and bashed the post as a result, but he got in the way and the deflection was the difference between 1-1 and staying ahead. That was the last chance of the half and again City sauntered back to the changing rooms, totally satisfied and, according to the booming reception from the Tiger Nation, totally satisfying.



The second half. City make the first chance but not of many - Cousin's smart turn gives him the space but the shot is too high. Tottenham have had a severe dressing down from Ramos, presumably translated by Poyet, and they're having a real go at us. None of this fancy stuff to suggest they think they can outplay us. It's sharp, quick passing, jugular challenging. City's work ethic needs to be stand true now.

Bent had the best chance, just before the hour. Put clean through, his diagonal run was adjudged to be timed with perfection and his dink over Myhill was destined, from the long distance vantage point among the away support, for the far corner. It missed. Relief? Yes. A let-off? Possibly. The offside trap hadn't worked this time. City need to focus again, and tighten up.

Brown relieves the midfield pressure by bringing on Bernard Mendy for Cousin. It's a 4-4-2 now as Spurs maintain almost exclusive possession of the ball. Jermaine Jenas, maligned by many but clearly a focal point of Spurs' attacks and a willing taker of the ball, begins to rule the match. David Bentley, an odious figure with a sense of colossal self-importance, is brought on to provide overlaps and crosses. Turner and Zayatte continue to defy the home side as the minutes tick by. It's essential viewing, if not entirely comfortable. At times, it seems more likely Spurs will score than Arsenal would a week earlier. But Spurs' final ball is either met with a dreadful finish - Luka Modric smacking an unmarked volley into the ground and over being a prime example - or a brave, win-at-all-costs block, interception or piece of general courage by a defender. It's momentous stuff. And we're still a goal up as the last 15 minutes come along.

Peter Halmosi replaces Geovanni as City try something new. Natural width and fresh legs together should help retain a bit more ball and relieve the pressure on Turner and Zayatte, McShane and Dawson. Instantly, Marney has time to take a King pass and put a shot just over - could have done better maybe, but the movement and creation did wile away a few precious seconds.

King then took advantage of a rare City counter, haring on to George Boateng's ball and closing in on Gomes, but the keeper with slippery gloves - he didn't catch a thing all game - saved the goalbound shot with his legs. No matter, more time is wasted and Spurs look spent. King does too, hence why Caleb Folan came on in his place and spent his brief period on the pitch being caught offside.

Injury time was called as Spurs, who had resorted to diving and ungentlemanly stuff to try to penetrate the City rearguard, flew forward again. A foul is committed and a free kick is awarded. Bale takes ... and it's a yard wide. Styles blows his whistle before the ball can even be retrieved from the crowd and another famous day out with the Tigers is completed. Ramos steps closer to the guillotine, Brown steps closer to freedom of the city.

Again, we found a way of combining our obvious skill and incisiveness up front with dogged fortitude at the back. Geovanni won the game in scoreline terms, but the back four - and especially Turner and Zayatte - were beyond words in their commitment to keeping Tottenham at the bottom. In midfield, the work-rate and flair of Marney was the pick, though Ashbee and Boateng's spoiling and plotting was as effective as you'd expect. Spurs were intricate but profligate, a lack of any kind of ruthless centre forward being as obvious in practice as it seemed on paper to those of us who saw Defoe, Keane and Berbatov allowed to walk away.

Ten points from four games, which were against Newcastle, Everton, Arsenal and Tottenham. Most would have predicted a fat zero for those four games. Another away win - still unbeaten on our travels - and a first, crucial clean sheet of the season too. Only Chelsea and Liverpool are above us in the table. Maybe it won't stay that way. Maybe we'll end up above them too.

No, all Tiger feet are on the ground - but I'm glad the chairman and manager aren't asking the fans to stay close to the earth's crust too. This is beyond the wildest of wild dreams.

Tottenham: Gomes, Gunter (Bentley 55), Corluka, Woodgate, Bale, Lennon (Giovani 74), Jenas, Zokora, Modric, Pavlyuchenko (Bent 35), Campbell. Subs not used: Cesar, Dawson, O'Hara, Assou-Ekotto.

Hull: Myhill, McShane, Turner, Zayatte, Dawson, Marney, Ashbee, Boateng, Geovanni (Halmosi 71), King (Folan 81), Cousin (Mendy 60). Subs not used: Hughes, Duke, Garcia, Ricketts.

To coin a Fraizer

Fraizer Campbell will play against Hull City tomorrow, assuming Juande Ramos decides to select him.

It's not easy to gauge how I feel about the prospect of seeing City's sparkling loanee of last season, the extra bit of class which proved the difference between play-offs and mid-table, trying to put one over on us at White Hart Lane.

That said, I hope he does play. Every Hull City fan wants to applaud this remarkable young man again for what he gave to the Tigers in eight immortal months.

He could have been ours permanently, of course. But for Spurs' bit of panic negotiation after it was obvious Dimitar Berbatov was off, Campbell could have been playing against them this weekend, in the black and amber stripes of Hull City.

He's never been ours, but he feels like ours. He adored our club. He was a runaway success, a quick, nimble, disciplined, skilful and ruthless front man whom no defender in the Championship could cope with.

He worked hard in the play-off games though he'd largely shot his bolt by then, underperforming by his standards and yet still making telling contributions with roles in both of the first leg goals at Watford and, of course, chipping a perfect clipped ball on to the instep of Dean Windass at Wembley.

Yet, despite my craving for his return on previous blog entries here, I'm glad we haven't got him now. Or, to clarify, I'm glad he hasn't returned in the circumstances which looked likely - ie, in exchange for £7million. That was a lot of money to pay for a striker with no Premier League heritage whatsoever. Potential is surely not worth that much, even if the money is chicken feed compared to your overall wealth. In City's case, I'm not sure it is.

If the bid had been accepted, it could have emptied City's transfer coffers for the year. And I'd rather like Phil Brown to be able to strengthen again in January, should we need to. The money men, and the manager, clearly knew what they were doing, but the bid was akin to a serious game of chance.

Campbell could be best served by seeing out his year at Tottenham, playing well, returning to Old Trafford and finding out about his future. Assuming we stay up, I'm in no doubt that our best chance of landing Campbell to everyone's benefit will be in the summer.

Meanwhile, I hope he has an off-day this weekend. Nothing personal, of course...

Hull, hell and White Hart Lane

I write this as Tottenham Hotspur's UEFA Cup tie in Poland gets underway. Hull City fans are pleased, naturally, that Spurs have a game on the other side of the continent a meagre three days before we go to White Hart Lane, though the possibility of circumstance playing into our hands is increased further by Juande Ramos' decision to field a very strong team.

He has to. Already at the bottom of the Premier League and hearing much mumbling of discontent at his management methods and the general coaching structure at his club, Ramos suddenly has to place enormous faith in the UEFA Cup, even at this earlier stage. If Spurs go out of the competition today then the two preferable sources of success for their supporters have already done one. The two domestic Cups, one of which Spurs hold, become vital - and given that Liverpool are the next opponents in their defence of the Carling Cup, there isn't a lot of confidence in Tottenham's capability of clinging on to the trophy much longer.

With or without a European exit today, however, our game at White Hart Lane this Sunday has been mentioned in passing as the make-or-break game for Ramos. If Hull City win, which now looks more than possible (even after winning at Arsenal I'm loath to say it's likely), then Ramos could be ditched. This is something Hull City have got used to recently.

Last season, we managed to get rid of two managers in the space of four days by having the nerve to win against their clubs. Both were Lancastrian too, which added a childish yet nice territorial glow to the news. However, you could also muse that a lack of disrespect was being shown to Hull City by the boards of Burnley and Preston North End in taking their decisions, as they were essentially saying that defeat to the Tigers was simply not acceptable.



We coped with it. Steve Cotterill's sacking by Burnley after we won there courtesy of a 93rd minute header by Michael Turner (celebration above) seemed a trifle surprising; however, the prophetic Tiger Nation spent three-quarters of a game singing "you're getting sacked in the morning" most cruelly at Paul Simpson as we battered his guileless and clueless Preston side at the KC and it was, indeed, the next morning that the news was released that Simpson, a decent man, had been relieved of his duties. We shouldn't have been so proud of ourselves though, as revenge was served at a cold Deepdale under new manager Alan Irvine a mere 24 days later when they tonked us by the same scoreline, 3-0.

The third game in this sequence, after beating Burnley and Preston and prompting managerial merry-go-rounds to turn vigorously, was away at Scunthorpe. A 2-1 win hid how easy this match was against our primitive south bank neighbours, but despite the pleading and jocularity from the away end, Nigel Adkins kept his job...

More pertinently, before any of this we had secured a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, a game which spelt the end of his tenure at Selhurst Park for our own former boss, Peter Taylor. We have a sizeable number of morons who dislike Taylor, despite his achievements while managing Hull City, and they got what they wished for when Simon Jordan went to his axe cupboard the Monday morning after the game.

Anyway, a win for City at White Hart Lane could, even allowing for UEFA Cup progress today (Spurs are still ahead on aggregate as I type these words), do for Ramos what wins at Selhurst Park, Turf Moor and the KC did for his less glamorous contemporaries in Taylor, Cotterill and Simpson. I don't necessarily hope for this as I'm not one for unlocking the lions' den through vocal jibes, even for highly-paid football managers, but it would be some coup nonetheless.

Tottenham Tigers

Although we haven't competitively played Tottenham Hotspur for 28 seasons (and for a further three seasons in the League), there always seem to be a host of connections knocking about between the two clubs.

Currently, we have a chairman in Paul Duffen who is a boyhood Spurs fan (but holds no candle to the Lilywhites this weekend, of course) plus three ex-Tottenham players, two of whom graduated from their Academy to become first team starters. Nick Barmby started his career there, playing in that amazingly daring (and disastrous) front five system which Osvaldo Ardiles used to commit entertaining defensive suicide. Barmby's odd move to Middlesbrough seemed to be entirely for family reasons and despite a good spell at Everton and numerous trophies at Liverpool, it seems his best football goes back to his teenage years at the Lane.

Dean Marney, meanwhile, was similarly a star graduate of the Academy but didn't get the football he needed upon acquiring a squad number. He'll forever be associated with an outlandish New Year's Day 2005 performance against Everton but otherwise required loan spells and, ultimately, a big move to Hull to get the pitch time a player of his quality required. When he joined City, everyone immediately lurched to YouTube to find his goal versus Everton and loud, appreciative dribbling noises could be heard round the Hull and East Riding boundaries.

Anthony Gardner was a boy on the up when he joined Tottenham from Port Vale, and even secured an England cap during his long period at White Hart Lane. However, he found himself in the stiffs frequently thanks to the likes of Ledley King, Michael Dawson and Jonathan Woodgate (and, early on, Sol Campbell) all being ahead of him, and Spurs fans always said his initial potential was never quite realised. Our record signing, he would have been mad keen for this weekend but his thigh trouble, plus the form of Kamil Zayatte, means that he is almost certain to be absent from the teamsheet.

Beyond those three, our finest defender Michael Turner was a boyhood Tottenham fan and so playing at the club he spent his childhood pocket money on will be a big deal to him. Then there's Andy Dawson, who could very easily come up against his lil' brother Michael, thereby splitting the family loyalty but also representing an astonishingly proud day for the town of Northallerton, their place of upbringing.



Connections with Spurs have been crucial in Hull City's recent progress too. Our other great manager of later years, Peter Taylor, played his highest level of football (if not his best) at Spurs in the late 1970s; indeed, he played in the two League games of 1977-78 against the Tigers which represent the previous time the two clubs were in the same division. Playing connections existed under Taylor too, with right back Alton Thelwell being an exciting free transfer from Spurs but whose injury issues were among the most chronic ever seen in a Hull City player's period at the club. Slightly more recently, Mark Yeates was a reserve winger signed on loan from Spurs, whose acute lack of application made him one of the least successful loan signings any club has ever made.

Two testimonial games of great City vintage - indeed, the last two I think we've had - both came against Tottenham Hotspur. Our long-serving physiotherapist Jeff Radcliffe had a testimonial match in the summer of 1988 against the Tottenham team of the day - Mabbutt, Waddle, Metgod - and Radcliffe himself played the first couple of minutes. As a teenager, I recall getting Paul Allen's autograph and spying the Tottenham team coach afterwards, representing a sort of luxury you'd never get from Plaxtons or Connor & Graham, or even those nicer coaches you'd get on for a foreign holiday courtesy of Siesta.

Three years later, Tottenham came back to play against a Hull City Select XI for Garreth Roberts' testimonial match. Roberts had been forced to quit due to knee trouble after 12 years in the first team and we got a mish-mash game of ex-Tigers (though still active pros) like Steve McClaren and Billy Askew playing against a disappointingly youthful Spurs side lacking in its main stars, though coincidentally a 17 year old Barmby did play. Don't ask me to recall the result of either of these benefit matches as I have no idea at all. My abiding memory of the Roberts match was the on-pitch ovation he got from the supporters afterwards.

We played Spurs in the 1981 FA Cup third round, at the Lane, and were beaten without disgrace. City were relegated to the bottom division that season and Spurs went on to win the FA Cup. That was the last time the two teams met for real - until this Sunday, when, to add to the Barmby/Marney/Gardner stuff (although only Marney will start) we may come up against a certain Fraizer Campbell. What a tangled old web we weave.