Garcia's got it

The two headers that Richard Garcia aimed into the back of Atalanta's net in last night's friendly in Italy looked superb on the television. It was a mere friendly, a tool to keep a semblance of match practice within the players who hadn't been called away by their national squads, but for Garcia it may prove most important.

Garcia has both fans and detractors, and this blog is a fan. A big fan, actually. The Australian midfielder is in possession of a fine touch, good passing ability and can unleash vicious shots from distance and swing in dangerous crosses. His detractors claim he isn't as good as he may think he is, and that he doesn't fulfil the potential he had when given a ticket across the globe to join West Ham United's academy.

After his performance against Stoke City at the weekend, he was criticised for laziness by some supporters; a criticism that hasn't previously been labelled against him in his three years at the club. This stems from his deep-lying position when City were on the attack, when fans are expecting to see him hugging the right flank. The abuse was fairly mild but it was still misguided, as Craig Fagan shifted out to the right hand side as much as he could during the first half and Garcia's more central and more reserved place on the park was evidently a deliberate tactic.

He still played some killer balls down the flank and got into advanced positions, and although he had little luck in the penalty area, he was one of the stronger performances in a half dominated by the Tigers but which ended with Stoke in front. Garcia's early substitution in the second half as Nick Barmby was brought on should not be seen as detrimental to his contribution on the day, even though City went on to score twice and win without his help.

Garcia is, first and foremost, a right sided midfielder. The other main candidates for this role are Kamel Ghilas, Bernard Mendy and Fagan. Oddly, none of them seem to have stamped their authority on the position, although Ghilas seems to have the fewest flaws of the quartet and yet is being held a lot in reserve right now.

Garcia's touch, distribution and shooting is better than Fagan's but Fagan has the edge on stamina and on facility to frighten opponents. In bootstrap-pulling adversity, Fagan is more preferable. Garcia can't beat a man as well as either Ghilas or Mendy but doesn't make cock-ups of the atrociousness to which Mendy seems all too prone. Ghilas evidently has flaws, as he keeps being substituted or dropped, but perhaps his main problem is that we don't yet really know if he is better as a wide man or as central striker. If he proves to be more useful in the latter role, then this is where Garcia could step in. On a pure footballing basis - ie, doing the good things often and the bad things seldom - Garcia is a better bet than either Mendy or Fagan.

Garcia was also played on the left flank and up front last season, with satisfaction rarely coming from either. When given the odd mega chance to score as a centre forward he failed, while on the left he showed too much of the ball to his natural right side and defenders got wind of him. His only goal last season came via his least likely of methods - a looping header at Blackburn in the second match of the campaign. And it's still open to question whether he was aiming for goal or just trying to return an overhit Fagan cross back to the danger area. Not that it should matter now.

He's still playing catch up after suffering a knee injury in pre-season, and this will provide as much of an explanation for his replacement by Barmby as anything, given that he was starting a Premier League game for the first time. His fitness continues to improve, and the smart goals he aimed into the Atalanta net this week will help his claims for a starting place improve too.

Ash is rising

His history at the club means that he could never be the forgotten man of Hull City, even in his current injury crisis, but nonetheless it is gratifying to see Ian Ashbee thrust back into the spotlight today with the offer of a new contract.

Despite his age, his injury record and the continued rigours of a Premier League career that only began for him a year ago, it is without doubt that the news of Ashbee's extended deal with the Tigers will be treated with unanimous approval.

It seems to hint that Ashbee will be given full opportunity to regain and renew his place in the team and utter authority in the dressing room once he recovers from the knee injury that he suffered against Aston Villa in May and had subsequently labelled with a season-long healing calendar in the summer.

It's not impossible, but certainly improbable, that Ashbee will feature in the Hull City team this season. However, nobody should doubt that his presence behind closed doors is being felt by all, and the respect he commands goes to the very top.

Peter Taylor swore by him, Phil Parkinson got on his wrong side and was soon on his way (poor results were Parkinson's undoing, but plenty of stories remain about Ashbee disapproving of the manager near Adam Pearson's shell-like) and Phil Brown soon made it plain that a fit Ashbee would be the first name on every teamsheet he drew up in the Championship and Premier League. Pearson himself has every moment for Ashbee and Paul Duffen regularly waxed lyrical about the influence and inspiration of this exceptional captain.

Ashbee is the great storybook hero of the Tigers, the history-making skipper who rose through the divisions with City and earned himself a national following as someone who had made it to the top of club football the hard way - en route to the Premier League, he had to cope with unambitious previous clubs, awful injuries and loan spells in Scandinavia's foggiest outposts, among other things. It's been clear for a while that City has a plan in place for Ashbee when he chooses to retire from playing, and handing him a contract that will expire when the great man is pushing 35 proves it just a little more.

Jimmy Jimmy

What a difference Jimmy Bullard makes.

No, really, what a difference Jimmy Bullard makes.

You probably saw the game, on television if not at the ground. This was the day when Bullard finally got a place in the starting XI and proceeded to run the game and inspire the team in a way no individual player has done for years. And did so for 90 minutes, despite playing for a mere hour at first team level all year.

This is what we've been waiting for. Phil Brown must be a relieved man but also a rather irked one. His mega signing of January has had ten months of rehab and setbacks and during that time the achievement of the team and the reputation of the manager has been in steady decline.

Imagine what could have happened if Bullard had been fit throughout his time with the Tigers. It's very easy, and by no means scientific, to use his performance against Stoke City as a yardstick for a hypothetical guess on how 2009 may have turned out, but nonetheless it's doubtful that we'd have gone quite so long without a Premier League win. It's also consequently doubtful that we'd have gone into the final game of last season still fighting to survive.

Bullard was influential in a way even Geovanni has never been. The two are similarly skilled, but Geovanni tends to win matches through individual brilliance. Though a team player when necessary, the Brazilian is the type of self-promoting footballer whose personal glory is often the key to that of his team.

If Bullard's display against Stoke is a true indication of how he plays the game, then we have got ourselves a chap who constantly wants the ball and then always looks to give an opponent room and time. He involves the whole team, yet dictates the pace and direction of the game with ease and class. Bullard's creativity opens the way for others, whereas Geovanni's creativity tends to open the way for himself.

This isn't a criticism of Geovanni; heaven knows we need him to be back in the team for West Ham United's visit to the KC after the international break. And think of the mouth-watering prospect of Bullard and Geovanni playing together. Indeed, is it viable? Bullard played in a 4-4-2 thanks to his ethic as a provider for the team; Geovanni is never picked within a four-man midfield because of his natural tendency to roam the field and do as he pleases. Can Brown pick a midfield containing Bullard and still have room for Geovanni up front?

We'll see. The selection problem for Brown has suddenly turned from choosing between devils and deep blue seas to opting for either angels or saints. He won't pick two forward players because the previous two didn't perform; he now has to pick two forward players from at least four who have performed. Jozy Altidore and Craig Fagan put in their best performances of the season, but then on came Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink late on to score the winner, then Geovanni's freedom from suspension complicates the equation further. And do throw in Nick Barmby, whose cameo against Stoke was more than useful.

Whoever Brown picks up front, they will at least know that they have a genuinely forward-looking midfielder trying to set them free of their markers with killer balls, or freeing the wide players sufficiently to make room and time for the crosses that strikers love. Everything, even in these earliest of early days, has slotted into place. What an amazing impact on us all Bullard has had. And long may it continue.

12: Hull City 2 - 1 Stoke City - 08/11/2009

Adam Pearson made it clear via a national broadcasting outlet that a victory against Stoke City would keep Phil Brown in a job for a little longer. This doesn't mean that a draw or defeat would have seen him ushered out of the KC Stadium, but certainly his position was precarious as the injury time board went up.

The step forward Jimmy Bullard. Brown's stay of execution, were it to be confirmed over the fixtureless fortnight now ahead of us, was pretty much orchestrated by the one player who has been unable to have any influence, good or bad, on the destiny of the Tigers. Finally, however, the scampering midfielder made his home debut, his starting bow, and ruled the game entirely. That he lasted for 90 minutes was miraculous; that he went beyond 90 minutes to set up a winning goal which will be talked about for years defies all logic.

Bullard, with fewer than 60 minutes of real football in 2009 in the tank, was introduced as one of five changes from the shambles at Burnley eight days before. Bernard Mendy started at right back, while Jozy Altidore got a rare start up front and Craig Fagan returned to the starting line-up after, presumably, a heart-to-heart with the manager who had flung him aside two months earlier. Richard Garcia also got a welcome start after knee problems.

Geovanni's absence through suspension paved a more obvious path for Bullard to begin the game, while also allowing an orthodox 4-4-2 to be used. And it instantly looked better for City, although the defence was shaky against the muscly, ruthless, enormous Stoke presence. City dominated the opening exchanges but Stoke looked more dangerous when applying pressure in attack.

The visitors could have had a penalty in the first 30 seconds when Mendy handled a Matthew Etherington volley in the box but Mike Dean waved the appeals away. It was a fair shout. City's first attack involved a smart run from Garcia which allowed Altidore a turning opportunity in the box, but the burly American went too easily to the deck and rightly got nothing.

Fagan then flicked on Andy Dawson's ball into Altidore's path, and the striker laid it back for Bullard who lashed over. Welcomed to the KC with ear-splitting appreciation from the Tiger Nation, Bullard was soon making himself the chief source of City's dominance in possession, and no pass was wasted, few options taken were backwards. Other players limitations remained, but Bullard had already made City look a totally different team.

Stoke had a chance when Seyi Olofinjana, against the club that sold him to City in the summer, was relieved of the ball by Ricardo Fuller whose drive was beaten out by Matt Duke. Altidore shot wide from distance from Mendy's good approach work.

It wasn't exactly end to end, even though Stoke made the next chance when Etherington was put through in a promising position but Kamil Zayatte got a shin in the way to good effect. The Tigers had the lion's share of the ball but Stoke looked more capable of fashioning a proper opening when they had possession. It was tough to predict which team would take the lead.

It should have been City when Bullard and Mendy combined nicely to send Garcia through via a lucky deflection, but the Australian's cross was deflected and went out for a corner. Garcia then headed a Stephen Hunt centre on target but without adequate force and Thomas Sorensen pouched it easily.

It was City in the ascendancy, and it was Stoke who took the lead. The goal was ugly from the Tigers' point of view as Mendy let a ball past him way too easily. Etherington had time and room to charge down the left flank and find the net with a precise drive at Duke's near post.

Horrible. And it took a good while for City to rediscover the composure required in such adversity. Passes were misplaced, options were limited, desire seemed dulled. Eventually Garcia took some control from a deep-lying position and fashioned one crossing chance for Fagan which Altidore couldn't reach, then headed a Hunt fizzer back across goal before getting a second chance which was blocked for a corner.

Olofinjana, as maligned as anyone in the Tigers side, repeated his irritating trick of refusing to shoot in a goalscoring position when he squared the ball to absolutely nobody with just the goalkeeper to beat, to howls of chagrin from the Tiger Nation. Half time came and it looked bleak. Better, but still lacking in real strength at the back and proper ideas and, most importantly, a goal adrift.

Rory Delap's long throws caused the inevitable problems in the first half but only when he launched his first after the break did City look in trouble, with Mendy hacking one away in the six yard box as James Beattie closed in. Etherington then crossed dangerously for Anthony Gardner to intercept with a goalbound deflection, but luckily for the big central defender Duke got in the way via his forehead and elbow and the ball inched just wide.

By now, Nick Barmby had replaced Garcia and hugged the right touchline, a ready outlet for Bullard's eagerly spread balls and, refreshingly, some diligent running by Mendy. After a couple of let-offs, City were beginning to fight it out.

The hour mark had just passed when an array of simple possession balls from City made some room for the shot-shy Olofinjana some 25 yards out. With the memory of the City fans imploring him to shoot earlier in the game, he had a go from a range you'd never expect him to score from - and duly curled a gorgeous effort round Sorensen and into the net. Bedlam in the crowd, and Olofinjana was soon at the bottom of a pile of amber-clad bodies as he celebrated to full effect a goal against his ex-employers.

Fagan nearly got another when he got ahead of Sorensen with the ball rolling towards goal, but couldn't get enough of a final touch to stop Abdoulaye Faye blocking it on the line. Dawson then fed Altidore for a shot that he dragged wide, before the hardworking and luckless American was replaced by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink with seven minutes remaining. In this time Stoke had been firing poorly, but had notably created one big chance which Ryan Shawcross headed on to the top of the crossbar.

In the last five minutes, the tide turned entirely City's way. They had looked more likely winners but without the real authority to their play that suggested Stoke were troubled. Then Faye, already on a yellow, went through Barmby on the touchline in as stupid a manner as you could fathom, was sent off and Stoke fell into all-out panic. Tuncay, on as a sub a few minutes earlier, was re-withdrawn to great amusement from the home ends as Stoke tried a reinforcement job, but their organisation and poise had gone.

Bullard had one shot which Vennegoor of Hesselink tried to help on its way but couldn't quite get enough purchase to take it away from Sorensen's gloves, but then in injury time the same two combined to the greatest of great effects. Bullard had another go from distance, Sorensen failed to hold and the tall Dutchman tucked home the rebound to prompt celebrations as wild as those after any of the Tigers' triumphs in the Premier League.

The rest of injury time was played out with a few nails bitten as Delap sent in throw after throw but nothing was forthcoming from the beaten visitors. The final whistle was a truly joyous thing to hear.

Bullard was exceptional, showing in 90 minutes exactly what could have kept City a good distance from the relegation scrap last season had his knee stayed the course. Other players - Zayatte, Mendy, Altidore - had their best games for a while. But the credit belongs to Brown. Knowing he had to do whatever it takes to keep in work, he offered olive branches, took gambles and relied on the players' trust, and it came off. It was bumpy stuff, against a team with real history for mucking up the Tigers' plans, but it worked an absolute treat. Questions will still be asked, and very rightly, yet the biggest question Brown had to answer was that about himself and his suitability to stay at the helm. His response was there for all to see.

Hull City: Duke, Mendy, Dawson, Zayatte, Gardner, Olofinjana, Bullard, Hunt, Garcia (Barmby 52), Fagan (Boateng 90), Altidore (Vennegoor of Hesselink 83). Subs not used: Warner, Kilbane, McShane, Ghilas.

Stoke City: Sorensen, Shawcross, Collins, Huth, Abdoulaye Faye, Whelan, Delap, Etherington, Whitehead, Fuller (Tuncay 81, Wilkinson 87), Beattie (Kitson 61). Subs not used: Simonsen, Cort, Higginbotham, Lawrence.

Let the Bullard loose...

Phil Brown may already know whether he will have a job after this weekend, come win, lose or draw against Stoke City. Alternatively, however, he may have been told straight by Adam Pearson that a win will keep him in work a little longer. So the team selection for Sunday becomes more crucial than ever.

The defence doesn't need changing, despite Andy Dawson's worrying dip in form and Paul McShane's histrionics with the water bottle. But the midfield needs major surgery and, assuming he has at least 60 per cent fitness to give, Jimmy Bullard has to start the game.

If Brown leaves next week, then he will always have the fact that he never got to play Bullard from the start as a stick with which to beat the club. Bullard's health certificate seems a little more clear, as do many other things, since Pearson's return to the throne and so now there is an avenue open to Brown to get him on the KC pitch for the first time. The only glimpse the stadium has had of him so far involved a warm mac, a Hull City scarf and a soundtrack of derisory chants from visiting Millwall fans..

Bullard's role is made all the more urgent by Geovanni's suspension, as it's simply not viable to hope that Dean Marney can provide craft and guile. That said, Marney's true strength in offering endless energy and yardage to the team makes his retention a necessity, even though he remains more maligned than most. The other change in the midfield needs to be at its base.

Seyi Olofinjana's form has been harrowing to observe. He needs to be removed forthwith and Brown needs to bury the first of three hatchets by giving George Boateng the opportunity to stamp his qualities as a stopper, protector and leader on the team. His place at the base of midfield with Bullard at the helm, either side of Marney and Stephen Hunt's endeavour, will give the mixture of bite and subtlety that we've lacked.

And with Bullard in the side, Brown can pick two proper centre forwards. Kamel Ghilas, all pace and heart, is a must for one role, and though Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has his critics, his continued uncomplaining shiftwork as main centre forward without anything approaching adequate support, permits him an opportunity to see what he can do with a proper partner, not one in a deep lying and largely free role.

Two more hatchets need to be buried in order to back this up, with Daniel Cousin and Craig Fagan genuine new options via the bench if only their manager can ditch the pride and let them do their jobs.

Whatever Brown does, he must know that the one team who would take personal pleasure in hammering in the last nail of his coffin would be Stoke City. For his long term pride, as well as his Premier League career, he has to make sure they don't get that chance. That means picking a team that can win, not a team merely with whom he is on speaking terms. And it also means that if it represents nothing bigger than a daring risk, throwing Bullard right into the starting XI.

The dreaded Stoke

Stoke City are this weekend's visitors to the KC Stadium, making the soap opera surrounding Phil Brown's fragile future all the more interesting. This is because Stoke fans, as a people, hate our manager more than any other faction in football.

The glee in their voices when they went one goal and then two goals up in this game last season as they shouted "Tango, what's the score?" at a hapless Brown was plain for all to hear. Despite this unpleasant line of inquiry, they were by some distance the best fans to visit the KC during the campaign. Loud, incessant, passionate and always positive.

Stoke don't like us and we don't like them. But for all the mutual hatred, certainly from this side of the argument it is hard not to envy, but most of all just admire, what Stoke have done. There was little to choose between the two clubs in the Championship when we were both promoted (our games were both 1-1 draws) and ultimately only two defeats in our last three games sent Stoke up, deservedly, and left us in the play-offs.

However, despite our showbiz start last season, by New Year it was evident that Stoke were better equipped to continue as a Premier League club. They didn't make as hard a job of it as us, although that game at the KC was their survival clincher and there were only two games remaining thereafter. Their success in the transfer window in January was made all the more sour for us by Paul Duffen claiming the hopeless Manucho was a better investment than James Beattie. Beattie scored loads for Stoke while Manucho struggled to locate his own buttocks.

The hatred among older fans goes back to that FA Cup quarter final in 1971. Among the younger element, it refers to the 2007 clash at the Britannia Stadium when Stoke were on the cusp of the play-offs and the Tigers were on the cusp of relegation. Stoke were leading 1-0 until the third minute of injury time when Nick Barmby shinned a volley in from distance.

Well, we went totally haywire in the away end. It was one of the more intensely celebrated Hull City goals this blog can recall in almost three decades of watching the Tigers. Barmby wheeled off to the touchline in celebration and, as the TV footage shows, stewards had to prevent raging Stoke fans, loosened from the seating and heading for the pitch, from physically attacking him. In a way I still wish a little that the leading assailant-in-waiting had reached Barmby, because Ian Ashbee was alongside him and would have happily kicked the barmy invader into next week.

This point ended Stoke's play-off hopes and their fans were not happy with us. We were kept in the concourses and then sealed inside the away end parking area by police while they tried to disperse Stoke's angrier element. Coins and mud and anything else they could find was hurled over the meshing and actually struck people, including children. Then, when all seemed to have quietened down, we were allowed to leave the stadium but were soon ambushed further along the business park where Stoke's ground is based.

The point that day not only robbed Stoke of the play-offs, but gave us a real chance of sealing safety the following week, which we duly did by beating Cardiff City away from home, sending the hated Leeds United down in the process. Even Stoke fans would admit we did football a great service that particular day. But their hatred for us was clear.

The following season, which ended with both of us going up, was free of any spats or trouble between the two clubs. Indeed, there was an element of kindred spirituality going on as Stoke realised, just as we had, that Jon Parkin was a tubby waste of space and needed to be sold on. (Maybe they got their revenge for that by lending us Ibrahima Sonko this season, and thank goodness the rules dictate he plays no part this weekend). But it seemed that Tony Pulis, the becapped Stoke manager, and Brown did not have a great relationship. Criticism of Stoke's brutal but effective playing style was heard from the direction of East Yorkshire and the fans took it upon themselves to monster Brown.

Of course, Brown's own reputation with all footballing parties crashed as City struggled through the second half of the Premier League season, but it was from Stoke where the dislike was aired most keenly. Indeed, the last nail in the relegation coffin seemed to be malleted in by Stoke when Ricardo Fuller and then Liam Lawrence, with a fine shot, scored the goals that earned a 2-1 win and a second Premier League season for the visitors. At that point, we felt we would go down and, crucially, felt we deserved to go down. Sent down by Stoke, on our patch, with their fans taunting our manager all the way to obscurity? It felt rotten.

But the point at Bolton and the considerable ineptitude of clubs further north than City rescued us, and so still Stoke haven't managed to break our hearts since 1971 (though we also went out of the FA Cup to them in 1972, though more conclusively and less controversially). They stayed up last season, but so did we. Yet when we stayed up in 2007 with the aid of Barmby's late goal, we stopped them from going up in the process. Their record against us in recent times is better (we've only won one of our last eight meetings, while they've won three; oddly the home team has never been the winner in any of these games) but they've never in that time condemned us to anything, despite believing they'd done so in two of the last three seasons. Unless you count mild hilarity at our expense, but ultimately we could cope with being teased and criticised as we didn't go back down.

This Sunday, with Brown's job on the knife's edge, they may get their wish to inflict harm on us, or specifically our manager - indeed, they may still get their wish even if they lose the game. If Brown were to go next week, then he could verily take even the most minuscule of consolations from beating the team, and the set of fans, that have had it in for him the most. And even if things were settled and solvent round our way, it's still about time we beat the dreaded Stoke at the KC.

Olive branches all round

One thing we hope Adam Pearson has told his manager this week in their meetings of re-acquaintance is that he has to end his spats with various members of the first team squad.

City are understrength and playing poorly, and at least one (and maybe as many as three) of the fit and able footballers currently taking no part in matches because of a disagreement with Phil Brown could yet make a difference.

Bygones have to be bygones. It'll give us a genuine measure of Brown's stubbornness and sense of his own self-worth if he goes into his personal win or bust game with the dreaded Stoke City this weekend still insisting he was right to isolate players who dared to argue with him.

The one who absolutely could make a difference is Daniel Cousin, a centre forward who can both bruise opposing defenders and score proper goals. He carries an eternally unfair image of laziness but does know where the goal is and, more pertinently, knows where natural providers are aiming to place the ball and is willing and ready to aim directly for that area. He has an instinct and real ability and the longtime row with Brown which has prevented him playing a real part in the Premier League season needs to end instantly. It was noted by many that when he came on, surprisingly, at Liverpool when the game was long gone, that he won everything in the air and utilised his strength when given possession with his back to goal.

Who else? Well, George Boateng is also out in the cold and deserving of an opportunity to get warm again, not least because the player currently occupying the holding midfield position, Seyi Olofinjana, is chronically out of form. Boateng is believed to be the player Brown most referred to when the manager publicly complained of senior players not doing what was required of them, and we haven't seen him for a while. Having recently turned down a loan move to the Championship, the experienced Dutchman evidently feels he has some Premier League life left in him, and even if his current fitness issues mean he only plays every other game, he has still to be regarded as a proper asset. If nothing else, he is a far better leader than anyone out there right now.

Then there's Craig Fagan. This is a harder one to call, as Fagan is easily the most frustrating and divisive figure in the squad. Sometimes he is awesome, a grafting, chasing, persistent irritant down the flanks who gives no defender a moment's peace. More often, however, he is a peripheral figure, rarely able to get the ball under any control and distribute it in a positive manner while committing pointless offences and getting in trouble with referees and opponents. He has not been seen since his appalling brainstorm at Sunderland, when his early handball gave away a penalty and his later substitution began the row which smoulders to this day. Fagan deserved to be punished but maybe it has gone too far and at least the bench should be offered as a proper option. Still wouldn't pick him on pure ability for the right flank, not when the more gifted Kamel Ghilas (quicker, more disciplined) and Richard Garcia (better control and far better crosses) are around, but fire burns in Fagan's belly for the club that doesn't affect the digestive system of most others, and for that he needs to be hovering around the squad.

Of course, recruitment of any or all of these three players doesn't guarantee anything, and that includes their own professionalism. They may want Brown out and could see their selection as a direct, if deeply undesirable and eminently dishonest, way to get their wish. For the sake of every supporter who pays real money to watch the team each week, you'd hope that they'd never consider this. But Brown needs to take any kind of risk open to him. Caution on this occasion could be his last act as City boss.

Brown can't please everyone, but he can appease everyone now. He may have no choice. Pride and politics have always played a part in his assembly of squads and teams but right now he can see the clock ticking on his career at the KC Stadium and, with a job he intends to keep very much at stake this weekend, there simply isn't room for principle ahead of survival - his own survival, that is. Whatever happens against Stoke and immediately afterwards, there is plenty of time for City to stay up. This weekend is more about Brown than ever before, which is how he seems to like it, and so in order to give himself the best chance to have more such weekends, he needs to rebuild some very crumbled bridges. Even if he doesn't believe this, it's pretty certain his chairman will, and will tell him so.

No wonder it was undisclosed

One of Adam Pearson's first acts as returning chairman has been to reveal exactly how much money Hull City got when Michael Turner was sold to Sunderland at the end of August.

Once the sell-on fees to Charlton Athletic and Brentford were passed to those clubs, City ended up with £2.8 million.

That's scandalous. No wonder Paul Duffen chose not to say anything.

This was a player who City actively touted around over the summer, with Liverpool supposedly put off because they didn't have the £12 million that the Tigers were demanding.

It seemed quite clear. Hand over a dozen big ones and Turner's yours. Anything less and he goes nowhere.

Except nobody did. Liverpool were notoriously short of transfer funds once they'd shelled out crazy money for a right back. Manchester City chased Joleon Lescott for twice Turner's valuation simply because they could. In our naivety, we thought that it was a ploy by the club to ward off the interested parties as they wanted Turner to stay.

But no. We get to the last week of August and, knowing the club needs an injection of funds urgently, a deal is struck with Sunderland.

It was evident that the reason the fee was undisclosed, despite a definite public valuation stapled to Turner's forehead over preceding months, was because the club knew that the fans would be outraged if the true recompense for losing the services of the one player who would do more to keep us in the Premier League was revealed.

At least while it was undisclosed, speculation in the bars and concourses was not backed up by evidence and the supporters could solely be angry at the decision to sell, not also at the derisory compensation given to the club in return. For as long as the fans thought there might be a whopping £12 million or so in the current account it was easier, though not easy, to placate them.

Anyway, the club's sneaky tactics have backfired. With £12 million valuations published and repeated everywhere but no concrete proof of Sunderland's final outlay, Charlton and Brentford have complained that they suspect they have been severely undercut in the deal and so the Premier League has launched an inquiry. Out of this, Pearson's in-built desire for candour and transparency, a trait so beloved of him during his first spell at the helm, has made the figures public at last.

Duffen should be relieved he is out of the picture. Had the inquiry been launched under his watch, then someone else would have revealed the figures if he hadn't. Then there would have been merry hell to pay. There still is, but he's avoided it. I dread to think what the Tiger Nation's reaction would have been had Duffen still been at the club by the time of this weekend's game against Stoke. He probably saw it coming and used it as a partial reason to bale out.

And it still rankles, more than ever now, that he tried to blame the entire transaction on Turner's alleged itchy feet. Turner was happy to be ours, an all-time hero of Hull City. Then his paymasters declared they would prefer it if he was someone else's.

So it mirrors Richard Jobson's departure 19 years ago even more than we feared. Tall, blonde, elegant, match-saving centre back with numerous suitors is valued at a huge fee by his club and is sold, early in the season, for a fraction of it. Back in August 1990, we wanted more than a million for Jobson, apparently, and let him go to Oldham Athletic for £460,000. We feared, nay expected, relegation after the sale went through and duly went down quite horribly. That's the only difference - so far - between what happened then and what has happened now. But come May, don't be surprised (but do be furious) if history is repeated in its entirety.

Saviour?

There is a plaque on the wall of the main reception of the KC Stadium which was unveiled as a lasting tribute to Adam Pearson's work for Hull City after he left the club.

Now this greatest of great men is back.

It was hardly a secret, even though everyone involved at Hull City followed stringent embargo instructions until the official statement was released this morning. For the second time in a decade, he is striding into the club to make sure it stays alive.

Immediately, we also know that Phil Brown remains the manager. The fixture list is kind to the Tigers in that as Pearson sets about analysing where the restructuring of the club is most required, there is an international break imminent. Once this weekend's televised game against Stoke City at the KC is complete, then there are two weeks of furrowed brows and long, caffeine-powered meetings to be had as the new, austere era of the Tigers is mapped out.

Brown needs to beat Stoke to save his job, however. He might need to beat them conclusively, too. Nobody has said this in so many words but defeat to a side who have adapted to the Premier League so brilliantly, in a sharp and uncomfortable contrast to the Tigers' own time in the top tier, would be too hard to swallow. Stoke came up at the same time as the Tigers and have stuck to their principles, spent wisely, stayed together, eschewed the criticism and have not sought to inhale all of publicity's oxygen supply. And with feelings between the two sets of fans not at their most loving, it allows them a good laugh at our expense too.

And yet even a conclusive win still might not be enough.

Pearson appointed Brown just before Christmas in 2006 and relinquished control of the club six months later. Another two and a bit years have passed and he is back at a very different Hull City. The dreams he kickstarted have been fulfilled by others, but the prudence and means-testing he insisted upon during the club's quick but manageable progress under his stewardship has been flung aside. He has to find a way to cut costs - ie, sorting out a mighty wage bill, the size of which is not justified by the level of talent it recompenses - while also making sure that current and missing ingredients to Premier League survival are in place as a collective as soon as possible.

And one of those ingredients is a manager who can provide the inspiration and nurture to doughty, middle of the range footballers to perform above themselves. This is what Stoke are still doing right now. But here, Brown can't do that any more. He has taken on a persona so grand that good players, albeit limited ones, are being cast aside or sent out on loan for not falling under his spell enough. He has lost some of his nerve when using real quality on the pitch and is astonishingly negative in games where winning is both necessary and possible.

Pearson and Brown get on fine. Pearson appointed Brown to keep the Tigers in the Championship and that was exactly what he did, although his long-term mandate for progress to the Premier League was drawn up by Paul Duffen after Pearson sold up. The two men have no secrets and no professional tension.

But Pearson is how a chairman has to be, ruthless in his decisions and absent from the screen when it comes to his own ego. He was never self-protective during his first spell at the helm but always got prickly and argumentative if Hull City as a business was given a bad press. Criticise him, fine. Criticise the club and you were on shaky ground. The local newspaper suffered from this with some frequency.

He has similarly a scarce need for self-survival when dealing with failing managers, readily taking his share of the blame for appointing men whom he then needed (rightly) to sack three months later. This happened twice, and neither were up to the task. Pearson got rid with regret for them and himself but none whatsoever for the club as he had got the decision right, correcting his own mistakes in doing so and taking his share of responsibility. So, irrespective of what happens against Stoke, it will come as no surprise if Pearson warmly shakes Brown's hand the next morning while chillingly pulling a severance cheque out of his back pocket at the same time.

Brown may well see this coming. Pearson has offered only a qualified assurance in public, stating that Brown will take training and select the squad for Stoke's visit on Sunday. He also, however, claims to be unable to make any big decisions until he has looked at the books and generally taken in the state of the club he rebuilt from (almost literally) nothing. He has time to do this with reasonable thoroughness thanks to the break in fixtures and if Brown has to go after the Stoke game, there will be ample time to get his successor appointed and on the training ground in good time for West Ham United's visit to the KC on November 21st.

What Pearson has said to Brown in private we'll never know. Brown's comment after defeat to Burnley on Saturday -that he expects to be in charge of Hull City in the Premier League next season - sounded like a hollow spot of bravado. You can't blame Brown (on this occasion) for talking himself up because his security blanket has gone from the boardroom and replaced by someone who will back the right man all the way but quickly jettison the wrong one, putting personal relationships firmly to the side. Brown has to prove himself as the right man all over again, but with Pearson needing to cut costs and possessing the attitude that the fans matter most in all this, the manager may not have time to do that.

Meanwhile, this week Brown remains with his squad and Pearson can begin his second grand plan for Hull City. His record when it comes to running the club, financially and structurally, is immaculate, and that he is a rare hero of the Tigers' boardroom (the three regimes that preceded him when he took over eight years ago were one of incompetent, spiteful or bent) will guarantee him the unconditional trust of every City supporter, whatever he decides to do. What will be will be.

11: Burnley 2 - 0 Hull City - 31/10/2009

Phil Brown told anyone brandishing a microphone or pen after this rotten defeat that he expects to be manager of Hull City in the Premier League next season. This sounds fanciful, even by his standards. Right now, neither being in the Premier League nor having Brown there as figurehead seems plausible in the slightest.

The City gaffer is playing the indignantly determined card right now, following his prickly press conference in midweek and the disappearance of Paul Duffen from his side. Ultimately, however, a manager can only rely on his results once his allies vanish, and results are poor.

There was optimism surrounding the visit to Burnley, but on reflection one can't comprehend why. Turf Moor is a fortress and City are winless away from home. For all the issues around the Tigers right now, those fantasists who thought this game was winnable were treating our hosts with the same disrespect that so many aimed our way a year ago.

Brown didn't ring the changes despite the total non-event of Portsmouth at the KC a week ago, though Matt Duke was needed in goal thanks to Boaz Myhill's ligament tweak and Kamel Ghilas was, mercifully, restored in place of Bernard Mendy. The big tactical switch involved Geovanni, who was deployed very deeply indeed as both distributor and protector. It didn't work, but Geovanni was blamelessly ineffective. There simply wasn't the brains in the team to know wher the best places where to run and the Brazilian often ended up doing it all on his own. Interest in Jimmy Bullard has gone entirely; the assumption is that he won't play until or unless we find out to the contrary.

Little of consequence in the opening 15 minutes, but it was spent more in defence than attack. Kamil Zayatte hurt himself with one brave headed clearance and partner Anthony Gardner also chucked himself in the way of stuff. We do seem to have a central defensive partnership to speak of. And boy do we need one.

Seyi Olofinjana, whose performance was beyond shocking, had one low drive from Ghilas' break and cross which Brian Jensen puched with ease, but City were fighting themselves already. Burnley were weaving and carving their way through opponents who had no real sense of direction and didn't seem to possess any urgency. And yet they are "one million per cent" behind their manager. Sorry, but that's not how it looked from up here.

Then the breakthrough for Burnley, which was nothing to do with City. This included Stephen Hunt who, despite being an adjacent postal district away from Tyrone Mears when the Burnley player did a dying swan act in the box, still was deemed by ludicrous referee Mike Jones to have committed a felon. It was obvious at one, live glance that no foul happened; replays branded the decision all the more monstrous. Graham Alexander put the kick to Duke's right, with the City custodian close but similarly nowhere near.

An utter scandal. Brown must be gutted. If he is going during the week ahead, then the last thing he wants on his record is defeat to a refereeing decision that beggars all belief. It's not fair, we wail. Wailing will do no good. But good refereeing decisions are acknowledged readily here, so highlighting a truly appalling one is fair game.

Mr Jones soon gave an equally baffling, but far less damaging, decision when he penalised Dean Marney for a foul and allowed Wade Elliott to fire a free kick goalwards. Gardner's knee, an expression so frequently writ it could be adopted as a medical condition, got in the way.

Marney, his usual busy but unproductive self, sent Ghilas away on a rare foray as City countered, but the cross was too close to Jensen as Marney steamed in for the header, and keeper beat midfielder easily.

Foppish wideman Chris Eagles then broke the offside trap and hared down the inside right channel, destroying a real chance by mislaying the pullback to Robbie Blake, whose control toughened the chance and eventually the ball finished on the roof of Duke's net.

Andre Bikey then headed wide a corner that City only condeded because Duke and the angry Gardner didn't talk to one another properly. Not good. Not also an indication that the players feel their manager's pain and need to remedy it. City are playing dreadfully.

Duke saved from a short corner routine that allowed Elliott to smack a shot at the City keeper's near post, then the same player just missed a gilt-edged rebound after Duke beat out Eagles' effort on the run. Burnley looked ready to increase their lead; that they didn't by half time is of little credit to the Tigers.

Two minutes were added and then the whistle sounded. It was fortunate that City only trailed thanks to a bad refereeing decision, but depressing that it should have been a good deal bigger a deficit. Still, there was the chance that a cure could be found for such a stunted display through Brown's team talk or, more hopefully, Brian Horton's.

City re-emerged with a fresh will to win. It was brief but exciting. It was also fruitless. Olofinjana should have had a shot from a fabulous position after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink put him clear, but was scared by the prospect and fed the wider Ghilas, who was still with the goal in his sights but more angularly, and Jensen beat out the drive. Why Olofinjana didn't have a pop is anyone's guess.

Burnley responded to this mega let-off, and Elliott headed a Blake corner wide. City were ascendant though, and Brown decided some raw pace was required, with Altidore replacing the hardworking Vennegoor of Hesselink and then, more riskily, Mendy coming on for Paul McShane.

McShane was peeved, chucking his water bottle away in disgust at something (there's another opportunity to isolate a player who doesn't live up to standards, should the new chairman give him chance). The risk was worth taking, as although Mendy's performances of late have stunk to highest heaven, as a substitute he can turn a wearying match or at least add some extra fizz. The main problem was that he was coming on as a full back and not as a winger, and therefore a hole would be left at the back when he did forge ahead with the ball.

Hunt attacked down the left and laid the chance on for Marney, whose shot seemed on target but was blocked by a flailing Burnley body, with a few half-hearted appeals for handball. Mendy then made a superb, shimmying run from deep and got a shot in from the edge of the box which Jensen needed to collect at the second try.

Then the real killer blow. Hunt was tripped on the edge of the area (and Altidore was foolishly booked for protesting even after the foul was given) and Geovanni, whose free kicks have not been up to anything recently, flighted a radiant, extra-special shot over the wall and in via Jensen's hand and a post. Several seconds of wild celebration followed before we realised the goal had been chalked off by Mr Jones for alleged pushing in the wall. Replays again suggest he was crazy.

Geovanni certainly went crazy, throwing a tantrum which earned a yellow card and then, head gone entirely, he took the ankles of a Burnley player two minutes later and saw a second yellow. He trooped off the field and took City's remaining hopes of a gritty point with him.

Instantly, Hunt was withdrawn for Nick Barmby but no difference would be made at all. City made another chance thanks to Zayatte's endeavour and Altidore's decent cross, but a defensive head beat a quartet of City heads all seemingly determined to get the killer final touch. Moments later, Burnley exploited a chasm in the City midfield and the admirable Alexander thrashed in a shot from distance. The game was up and, maybe for a certain manager, time was up.

Burnley nearly had a third when sub Fernando Guerrero shot too late from a promising position on the left hand side, and Andy Dawson struck the post with an injury time shot as City pressed for something, anything. The final whistle was not greeted warmly by the Tiger Nation to say the least, and while the referee was key to this defeat, few involved in the Tigers' camp should feel satisfied with their own contribution.

So is this it for Brown? The gut feeling is that he will go, though equally there are rumblings that he will be given a stay of execution by a prioritising Adam Pearson, who inherits accounts that need urgent surgery. Brown may stay a little longer despite himself, not because of himself, and that's not healthy at all for anyone involved, especially as Stoke City, the club that has the fewest feelings for Brown of anyone, are next at the KC. Let's find out what Monday has to bring.

Burnley: Jensen, Mears, Carlisle, Caldwell, Jordan, Alexander, Bikey, Elliott, Blake (McDonald 72), Eagles (Guerrero 85), Fletcher (Nugent 78). Subs not used: Penny, Duff, Gudjonsson, Thompson.

Hull City: Duke, McShane (Mendy 59), Dawson, Zayatte, Gardner, Olofinjana, Marney, Hunt (Barmby 70), Ghilas, Geovanni, Vennegoor of Hesselink (Altidore 58). Subs not used: Warner, Mouyokolo, Garcia, Kilbane.