01: Chelsea 2 - 1 Hull City - 15/08/2009

It feels like there are a thousand consolations one can take from defeat, especially a defeat so telegraphed as that of Hull City away at Chelsea. Whether any of these consolations will help ease the pain of such a dramaticlly late defeat is entirely another matter.

The Tigers were magnificent, and nobody can deny this, even the most blinkered of Londoners who have Blue Is The Colour as their ringtone and Didier Drogba screaming "disgrace!" as a text alert. Drogba himself scored both of Chelsea's goals, both of which came from the more dubious direction of footballing fate. And the winner was two minutes into a colossal and way overcalculated six minutes of injury time, just when enough seemed to have been done by City to earn an unexpected, brilliant point.

And displays like this, assuming City have the character to shrug aside the disappointment and re-attain their focus, will stand them in good stead for the games and the whole campaign ahead.

Phil Brown picked a 4-5-1 which mixed the obvious with the totally inexplicable, courtesy of the appearance of Caleb Folan on the teamsheet as a lone striker. Jozy Altidore's struggle with the bureaucrats allocating visas ruled him out, but there was still Kamel Ghilas and Daniel Cousin surely ahead of Folan in the pecking order. Yet the gawky part-Irishman with a limited awareness of the offside law was picked - and duly lasted the whole 90 minutes, playing a rare blinder.

Debuts were handed to Steven Mouyokolo, incongruously put in at right back, and Stephen Hunt, who was given his standard wide left berth and thrived on the ruthless booing he received throughout from the Chelsea fans who think somehow that he deliberately kneed Petr Cech in the skull three years ago. Seyi Olofinjana stood giantly alongside George Boateng and Dean Marney in central midfield, while Ghilas had to make do with the bench, alongside Cousin and other attacking options Geovanni and Nick Barmby.

In blazing west London sunshine which made the new amber shirts gleam to almost Wolves-esque old gold proportions, City started the game on the back foot. Anxious to please new gaffer Carlo Ancelotti, a swift break was embarked upon but Drogba volleyed Michael Essien's cross a long way wide. Frank Lampard then swerved in and out of attempts to de-shin him before finding the same centre forward, who again forgot where the goal was with a handsomely off-target shot.

Jon Obi Mikel then shot wide from distance before City began to find some rhythm and settle into the game. Bernard Mendy, gratifyingly elected for the midfield instead of the defence, made good room on his flank to give skipper Boateng time and room for a shot which was delivered with the outside of his right foot and flashed just wide.

It calmed everyone's nerves, and City were buoyed by this chance and the encouragement from the Shed End where the Tiger Nation were in excellent voice. Boateng led by example, making himself available for every ball and leading a smart and intricate passing move which ended when Marney headed Hunt's cross over the bar.

John Terry skied a header from Florent Malouda's corner but it was City who were beginning to exercise some control on the game. Hunt, inspired like all scoundrel footballers by the catcalls from his detractors, forced a corner which Marney swung in dangerously, and Cech was fortunate to heel Boateng's low drive up and over the top.

Michael Turner, imperious and flawless as always, got a sturdy and timely block on an Essien drive before City broke again, forcing a free kick in a wide position. Marney took it and Chelsea struggled to deal with it, allowing Boateng another shot which Cech went down to save, only for a defender to ricochet it into Hunt's path as the keeper threw himself to the ground. The debutant had time and room to steer a shot into the net and silence the many while sending the few into hysterics.

It wasn't undeserved at all but it did knock some sense into a lethargic Chelsea, who seemed to concur with their arrogant supporters' view that turning up as all that was required to get three points on the opening day. Within fewer than ten minutes, they were level as Anthony Gardner, sold down the river by Marney's underhit pass, gave away a dodgy looking free kick on the edge of the box which Drogba steered with nonchalance and irritating skill into Boaz Myhill's left corner.

Myhill then held on to a low Essien drive to his left and had to deal with a further effort from Drogba as the hosts aimed to take the lead prior to half time. City had to regroup a little when Marney, industrious as ever despite a couple of typically underconfident moments on the ball, stretched a little too awkwardly towards a loose ball and seemed to twist a knee. He tried to continue but couldn't, and Barmby replaced him.

Olofinjana, an imposing and fearless figure who gave Lampard as much hell as he could, belted a shot too high after Mouyokolo's long throw was cleared in his direction. Chelsea had one last go at the other end, with again Myhill clinging on to an Essien shot. A 1-1 half time score was fair and warmly received from one corner of the stadium.

Chelsea bought Michael Ballack on for the pointlessly defensive Mikel as the second half got underway in real anticipation. Memories of last season's awesome defensive display at the Bridge which earned the Tigers a goalless draw and Luiz Felipe Scolari his cards were ripe in the minds of the Tiger Nation once again.

However, Chelsea clearly meant business from the moment the game restarted, with Myhill making an astute stop from Nicolas Anelka after Drogba had outmuscled Turner and set his partner free. City attempted to defend through possession but upon forcing a corner, the delivery played into a counter-attacker's hands and Mendy ended up making a stunning last-ditch challenge on the breaking Ricardo Carvalho with many defenders out of the equation.

Lampard hit the side netting with a low shot before a remarkable passage of play tested the new-look City rearguard to its very limits, and they passed it magnificently. Andy Dawson replicated his wonder tackle on Theo Walcott last season by robbing Anelka in the six yard box with Myhill exposed, then Turner and Olofinjana threw their bodies in the way of shots almost beyond the call of duty before Myhill blocked follow-up drive. Drogba then broke on the right of the box to make room for a vicious drive which Myhill batted away wonderfully.

It was inspiring, unreproducable heroism from City. The defence was being what it needed to be and it was just so thrilling to witness. It won't be Chelsea every week, so performances at the back like this against allegedly weaker teams from Turner and Gardner, with Olofinjana screening things ahead of them (and giving Ian Ashbee much food for thought as he battles back from injury).

At the other end, there was still room for optimism. Hunt whizzed in a cross which Cech had to collect above his head as Folan closed in, then the same two combined to give Boateng half a sight of goal but the exceptional City midfielder took too long to tee up the chance and was relieved of the ball without testing Cech.

Hunt was booed loudly off the park as Brown slung Ghilas on his place, so the Tiger Nation responded with extra noisy and exuberant cheering for City's goalscorer, acknowledged enthusiastically by the new boy. Ghilas played in Hunt's role initially and was soon put through in decent space but Terry got a crucial foot in as the cross approached an unmarked Folan in the area.

Essien fired a very speculative shot wide, then Myhill got down well at his near post to deny Jose Bosingwa. Geovanni was then introduced for the tiring but unusually disciplined Mendy, with Brown evidently deciding that the defence was doing fine and didn't need reinforcing, and therefore the last alteration may as well signal an intent to win the match. Ghilas adopted a more central role with Barmby spreading wide, allowing room for the Brazilian to influence things from the centre of the park.

Ballack fired a shot very high over the bar and then fellow subs Deco and Salomon Kalou combined dangerously, but the latter's header was off target. Drogba had a shot blocked as the injury time board signalled a ludicrous six minutes - six minutes that undoubtedly gave Chelsea a boost that they would still be able to win the game.

Heaven only knows where those minutes came from. There was a pause for Gardner and Cech to receive treatment midway through the second half but it didn't warrant six minutes, while the delay over Marney was in the first half. The referee, Alan Wiley, will never be required to explain just why he and his team added so many extra minutes on to the game, which is a pity as many of us are dying to know. Fewer than two of them had passed when the inevitable happened.

Drogba made room down the left and chipped what was an intended cross over Myhill's hand and agonisingly into the far corner of the net. He took his shirt off in relief and glee, and the City players sank to their knees, distraught. Few of last season's defeats came in as cruel a manner as this, especially as unlike many of those reverses, City did not deserve to lose this one. Chelsea got out of jail and they know it. Ghilas had one chance in the remaining minutes which he swung on to the roof of the net, but the game was lost.

But there are all those consolations, as we look forward with real optimism to the visit of Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night before a full house at the KC. The debutants - especially Olofinjana - settled in immediately and were beyond impressive. We have our first choice central defence pairing in place again, a phenomenon all too rare last season. Folan has clearly been listening to advice for the first time and, although goals will be rare, may yet provide a further striking option for the season if and when the new forwards need to miss out. Mendy was responsible and positive and kept his head. Mouyokolo looked mature and settled (though he hasn't the distribution required of a full back) and comes with a handy long throw as part of the package. Myhill was magnificent. Boateng led by example and played superhumanly at times. The team looks focussed and fit.

Days like this rarely go your way. The law of sod will intercede just in time to rescue the status quo, and City suffered for it on this opening day. But they were superb and if they can eke out a healthy number of similar performances, they won't go far wrong.

Chelsea: Cech, A Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Bosingwa, Malouda (Deco 69), Mikel (Ballack 46), Lampard, Essien, Anelka (Kalou 79), Drogba. Subs not used: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Hutchinson, Sturridge.

Hull City: Myhill, Mouyokolo, Turner, Gardner, Dawson, Olofinjana, Marney (Barmby 44), Mendy (Geovanni 78), Boateng, Hunt (Ghilas 69), Folan. Subs not used: Duke, Zayatte, Halmosi, Cousin.

Let's do it

It is the evening before a new season commences, and as I look longingly at my ticket for Stamford Bridge and hope for an unlikely Tigers triumph, I'm also pondering my more realistic wishes for the season.

I wish for Michael Turner to stay with the club until at least January, rubberstamping even further his iconic status with us all and doing enough to give us more than a chance of maintaining a top flight place.

I wish for Turner to play for England while on our books this season. You can bet anything you like that the moment he joins someone 'bigger', he is called up.

I wish for Phil Brown to not lose his ferocious passion for what he believes to be right, but does so with just a little more decorum and dignity.

I wish for a right back of at least equal ability to Sam Ricketts to be recruited pretty quickly.

I wish for Away Direct to be re-introduced, and its abolition by the chairman acknowledged as a rare but clear faux-pas.

I wish for City not to be patronised by any journalist or pundit who can't see any wood for the trees and assumes that any good performance is a fluke and any poor display is the norm.

I wish for Jozy Altidore and Kamel Ghilas to score 20 goals between them.

I wish for Bryan Hughes to be purchased by Colchester United on or before August 31st.

I wish for Nicky Featherstone to be given the overdue loan move to a lower division club he so obviously needs and deserves.

I wish for victory over Stoke City. Twice. With clean sheets and everything.

I wish for Jimmy Bullard to get fit, stay fit and inspire us week by week.

I wish for a sponsorless version of our new shirt to be made available for adults, as well as kids.

I wish for a semi-final place at least in one, or even both, of the Cups.

I wish for a feeling of pride and gratitude at the end of the season, irrespective of where we finish.

Sign here...

Two more new signings have rolled into the KC Stadium, making the Tigers look suddenly gluttonous in the transfer market after a summer of famine.

Little is known immediately of striker Kamel Ghilas, an Algerian striker who nearly joined Blackburn Rovers last month and comes to the KC from Celta Vigo for £1.7 million. However, having looked worriedly upon the prospect of Caleb Folan and Daniel Cousin being our deeply unimpressive strikeforce for the season's start, now we have two new, hungry recruits in place to either partner one another or fight it out for the front line and take the goalgetting glory that nobody up front could achieve last year.

Stephen Hunt's arrival for about £3.5 million is less shrouded in mystery. As one of the more recognisable and controversial figures of Reading's brief rise to top flight status, the experience and guile of the Irish wideman will be a definite asset to a position which has caused any number of headaches, thanks to Peter Halmosi's demons, Kevin Kilbane's limitations and Craig Fagan's square-peggedness. Hunt will start at Chelsea and be the centre of attention thanks to his infamous history with Petr Cech.

The Tigers still need a right back, with either Bernard Mendy or Kamil Zayatte set to begin against Chelsea in a role neither are suited for, but suddenly the squad looks more rounded and talented, even though the very numbers need reducing before August is out, with a few of the more obvious spectators hopefully seeking to play football somewhere rather than sit on portly contracts.

The most important thing, however, is that Hull City now have centre forwards aplenty to select from. All we need now is to hope they are more the type who score goals at the first or second time of asking, rather than the type who run a lot, hold the ball up, spread play and uniformly find the crowd or the advertising hoardings every single time they are needed to do the main crux of their job.

Move over Carling

Southend United at home in the second round of the Carling Cup will not prise any trees out of the ground, but it's nice to get a rare home draw nonetheless.

Recently the two domestic Cups have dragged us to Watford, Plymouth and Swansea, among other distant places, and given that we rarely show any appetite for these games (last season's eventful FA Cup run was as much about facing teams on their knees or winning by accident than anything else), we can at least be seen to be making progress without racking up soaraway petrol and Ginsters bills.

Mind, it'll still be a seriously awful moment if, against a rotated Hull City side which includes Tony Warner, Bryan Hughes, Caleb Folan, Nicky Featherstone and Nathan Doyle, the League One side leaves the KC with a place in the next round. Let's be thankful for what we have.

Anyway, enough of that. Two more new signings are about to be confirmed and Chelsea is getting nearer...

From one to eleven

The team that Phil Brown should select for the opening game of the Premier League season, any further new signings permitting...

Goalkeeper: Boaz Myhill
This is assuming he is fit. The dislocated finger he suffered before the trip to China has kept him out of all subsequent pre-season activity, but word is that he would always be ready for Stamford Bridge, and risking him in any preceding game would be futile. If not, then Matt Duke is the shoo-in replacement.

Defence: Bernard Mendy, Michael Turner, Anthony Gardner, Andy Dawson
Dawson gets the nod ahead of Kevin Kilbane just because he is a consistent, specialist left back, although the Irishman could yet feature on the left of midfield. Kamil Zayatte and Steven Mouyokolo may feel put out by their absence from the centre of defence, but ultimately Turner and Gardner (assuming Turner isn't flogged to Liverpool for eight million quid this week) have to be the first choice duo. Mendy is the biggest worry, as he is a right back with little appetite or specialism in the role, and is only the first choice because Sam Ricketts hasn't been replaced and Nathan Doyle still puts his head in the clouds too much when required to do a sturdy defensive job.

Midfield: Dean Marney, Seyi Olofinjana, George Boateng, Geovanni, Craig Fagan
It is ostensibly a five-man midfield - we are playing Chelsea away, remember - although Geovanni will be given the roaming brief which will allow him to whizz around the lone centre forward as well as add an extra body - if not an especially defensively-minded one - to the central area of the park for the 90 per cent of the game when the home side will have possession. Marney remains a frustrating talent but has the energy to graft in a game like this, and with Mendy and Fagan required elsewhere and Richard Garcia injured, it is a spot of Hobson's choice. Fagan should be picked ahead of Kilbane wide on the left simply because he has the necessary attacking instincts, if not usually any form of delivery. Boateng and Olofinjana will both have an opportunity to prove to the manager that they are the best option until Ian Ashbee returns from injury. Who goes and stays when Jimmy Bullard comes back is another matter.

Forward: Jozy Altidore
This is assuming his work permit comes in. If it doesn't, then Daniel Cousin starts, or maybe Fagan can budge forward with Kilbane or Peter Halmosi taking the left-sided role. A formation like this simply doesn't accommodate the talents of Nick Barmby, but he would be our main asset on the bench. Caleb Folan? No, no, no.

The Jozy and Seyi show

The double signing of Jozy Altidore and Seyi Olofinjana brings to an end a most frustrating period of transfer inactivity for Hull City, which has frustrated the management and worried the supporters.

Whether it was Fraizer Campbell asking to go on holiday first, or the execrable Darren Bent telling the world via Twitter his plans, the Tigers' inability to get new signatures on contracts over the summer had become its own soap opera, and not one that looked like having any happy endings.

Indeed, it was the absence of any fresh blood more than any other reason that has made the pundits and observers predict relegation for City this season. You can expect that anyone whose opinions on Premier League football are deemed worthy of publication will have said the Tigers will fall in 2010. The wretched run at the end of last season and the continued myth about Phil Brown's influence over the players following that team talk are incidental factors now.

But, while more bodies are still needed, the arrival of these two players is a start. A protracted start, but a start all the same. Altidore, who has joined initially on loan, is an unknown quantity to many but his performances in the summer Confederations Cup for the USA are as good a place as any to begin the exultations, and he is a good finisher. Whether he can find the time and room against some of the world's finest defenders to get those finishes in is something we can only wait to find out. But at least now Hull City have a centre forward to select who may, through his newbie status as much as anything else, garner a level of expectation which Caleb Folan can only dream of.

Olofinjana's signing from Stoke City was as vital as Altidore's, if not as exciting, although a four million pound deal isn't to be sniffed at. With the considerable influence of Ian Ashbee missing from the middle of the park for the first few weeks of the new season, the Nigerian's arrival at the KC is timely and reassuring. Should Brown decide, until Ashbee and Jimmy Bullard are fit, to revive the 4-3-3 squeezy midfield system that worked so exquisitely last autumn, then Olofinjana can provide the bite and grit that Ashbee contributes so naturally, allowing other midfielders to run with the ball (Dean Marney) or carefully distribute it from an authoritative position (George Boateng). The Ashbee-Boateng-Marney axis worked so immaculately for so long last season, and may be allowed to do so again with Olofinjana's acquisition. This may be especially so given that our three right-sided midfielders are in disposed - Richard Garcia and Craig Fagan are injured, while Bernard Mendy still seems likely to replace the departed Sam Ricketts at right back. Brown may decide to adopt a narrower formation because he has, directly via his squad, no width to speak of.

The chairman and manager promise more signings before the window closes, and one hopes an orthodox right back and another centre forward is among them. With these new faces in place, and important figures to come back from injury as the autumn approaches, maybe the future isn't as bleak as some, if not most, had begun to make out. A start has finally been made on building a team that seriously needs it.

China in your hand

Hull City are in China now, preparing for their first of two games in the flesh-pressing Barclays Asia Trophy. It's been known for months that the Tigers would be in the Far East for this mini-tournament, but right now one can't help but wish they weren't.

Aside from promoting the club name (which isn't a bad thing at all as a Premier League club; may as well make hay while the sun shines), this involvement in China will surely only serve as a hindrance to the club's ever more urgent need to get new bodies into the first team squad after a frustrating and supremely anger-inducing transfer window so far.

Nobody, and I include both Paul Duffen and Phil Brown in this, would have expected to travel halfway across the world, to the heat and smog of communist China, with a squad dented quite so substantially thanks to departures, injuries and a complete lack of fresh faces. Aside from Steven Mouyokolo, who was a January signing anyway, nobody new has been added. What feels like a thousand centre forwards have said no, while the hoped-for recruitment of extra midfield strength and - after the saddening sale of Sam Ricketts - a good full back, simply hasn't happened.

More than ever Brown needs to be chatting up fellow managers and sweet-talking agents and players whose services he has been granted permission to pursue. As he rightly says, he can do this by telephone in China, but it isn't the same. Being so impersonal and distant, figuratively and literally, from the object of his desire could act solely as a handicap to the progress in the market City desperately need to make. Four or five days of being stranded on the opposite side of the world may be enough to make a targeted player, reliant on feeling his ego swell, decide he isn't loved enough and join Portsmouth or Wolves instead.

There is every good intention within the trip to China and many of the players will enjoy the experience of playing for a madcap crowd who have been allowed in more enlightened political times to embrace something which is as westernised in its appraoch as most things associated with big, bad capitalist instinct. But maybe a week ago, the sanest thing to do in these trying circumstances to please fans, players and locals was for the squad to go under Brian Horton's stewardship while Brown stayed behind and got on with his primary role during the close-season - persuading footballers to join Hull City. It's going to be hard to do that in a place so unfamiliar and with so much else to occupy his attentions.

Grand Sam

Sam, you'll be sorely missed. Thank you for the effort, the crosses, the consistency, the brilliant late clearance at Wembley and for simply being the best in your position we've ever had. Good luck.

About Turner

Just as his hallowed, worshipped name seemed to have escaped the summer speculation, Michael Turner's future at Hull City has become slightly precarious.

Phil Brown has revealed in one of his press briefings that he has had a couple of inquiries about Turner. These have been turned down, flat. Well, that's certainly good. And it's not good, but also unpreventable, that other clubs have got their beady eye on our prized defender. What isn't good and was unpreventable was Brown making this issue public.

Why has he done this? He can't surely need or prefer the money to such an accomplished central defender. Given the lack of summer acquisitions, despite bids of magnitude going in left, right and centre, the budget allocated by the chairman remains intact. So even though one would hope for an eight-figure fee in exchange for the great man if and when he does depart our patch, it's not as if the money is vital. There is money in the bank and a stack of it burns a hole in Brown's pocket. There's no point in adding to it if you're struggling to use it.

So why else could he have done it? Well, maybe he has one eye on Manchester City's situation and is taking the risk of slightly unsettling Turner in the hope that Mark Hughes may see him as the central defender his gargantuan plan requires but can't get. Thanks to a swathe of fresh purchases, Hughes suddenly has ten centre forwards and City need at least two, probably three. Hughes wants Joleon Lescott but can't get him, so maybe Brown is teasing Hughes with Turner in the hope of getting a couple of decent strikers to travel the opposite way, with still a few quids thrown in on top. And maybe Richard Dunne, too. But this ambitious intention could backfire spectacularly. All Manchester City would need to do is declare their lack of interest in Turner and Brown ends up with no new signings and a deeply browned off centre back requiring an explanation.

Brown is media-friendly, but one hopes he learned from some of his outbursts and moments of preening last season which saw our club nosedive in neutral popularity. By the end of the season, people wanted the Tigers relegated just to get shut of Brown from the top division. Two wins in 29 games suggests that City survived despite Brown, not because of him. While it remains a crazy idea to consider replacing him - he got us up, and then we stayed there, come on! - one key lesson we needed to learn from a turbulent opening year was that it was never about the manager as much as the manager eventually seemed to think. Yet the manager has now made more headlines out of giving the media something to gnaw on, potentially upsetting his star asset in the process.

If Turner, as unassuming and likeable a personality as City has ever had, on top of being our finest ever defender, gets his back put up by Brown's cosy words, then City fans will be apoplectic.

Striker pose

Boyhood Dreams has arrived back from holiday today and has to cope with the news that seemingly nobody wants to join Hull City.

This isn't a fresh revelation, as anyone who remembers the number of players who turned us down in the 1990s because we were skint and rubbish will attest. However, when you have just stayed in the Premier League by a pipe-cleaner's width and urgently need reinforcements, only to see every viable target thumb their nose your way and hook up with somebody else, it becomes a worry.

But let us not forget that it is still the middle of July and a whole month still separates us from the new season beginning, while a further two weeks can be grafted on before the transfer window closes. During this time, City will begin their pre-season campaign - today, actually - and get some international exposure, complete with new kit, when they go to China for the Barclays Premier Asia trophy.

So far, Michael Owen has decided that Manchester United represents a marginally better option than Hull City; Marc Antoine Fortune has opted for familiarity at Celtic (by hooking up with Tony Mowbray again) rather than competitiveness at the KC Stadium, and Fraizer Campbell, most disappointingly of all, has gone to Sunderland after many weeks of procrastinated talks and whispers about the alleged certainty of his move, on a permanent basis, to the club that gave him a taste of Wembley glory.

Campbell's decision has caused anger among the unintelligent element of local support who keep the moderators busy on unofficial forums, who believe somehow that the player was being disloyal for choosing not to become a full-time Tigers player. Certainly one can feel despondent by Campbell electing to go to Sunderland, but one shouldn't have any fury to vent, nor be surprised. The amount of delay Campbell and his advisory father instilled in the move (initially via his England Under 21 commitments, then a family holiday after England's defeat in the final) was more than enough indication that the player's heart hadn't returned to the KC, and once he said no the binding deal with Manchester United to sell the player only to City was unravelled and Campbell promptly signed for Sunderland, a club with a proven manager, bigger stadium, more money for wages and more to purchase big-name players.

If consolation needs to be proffered, then it comes in the form of an absolute lack of guarantee that Campbell will be any good as a Premier League striker, and given the money that a flush Sunderland have paid and City previously offered, you would expect to purchase a goalscorer from whom a good strike rate was inevitable. Campbell's reputation is still maintained, predominantly, by his immense season with the Tigers in which he scored 15 goals and represented quite easily the most gifted young footballer ever to wear the sacred colours. Since he walked away from Wembley 14 months ago, his career has been about being not quite good enough for Manchester United, a reluctant acquisition for Tottenham Hotspur who, one regime change later, made him feel as necessary at White Hart Lane as he had previously been at Old Trafford thanks to the surge in centre forward purchases which shoved a glum Campbell back down the order.

Sunderland have, therefore, bought a completely unproven player and it may well be that Campbell doesn't even secure himself instant Premier League football when the new campaign kicks off. If he does start the season, he will have to shine quickly as there are ample other marksmen able and waiting to steal his place if the goals don't start coming. While much is made of centre forwards who can graft and contribute, ultimately only goals will win games and secure prizes and security, and Campbell will go to Sunderland under more pressure to score than he ever would have been at the KC. Goodwill alone would have given Campbell settling time with the Tigers but that will be absent entirely from the Stadium of Light.

Perhaps Campbell has gone to Sunderland for that reason; perhaps he is a character who doesn't want to be in a comfort zone, as he has rarely been in one in his career, and certainly never been in one in the Premier League. It would have been easy for him to become a Premier League striker in Hull City colours than it would at any of the 19 other top-flight clubs. Many would argue it would also have been sensible too. But he has made his red-and-white quilted bed, and it will be with interest, without any wish for gleeful posturing, that we wait to see how well he lies in it.

Meanwhile, Bobby Zamora has been on City's radar for a little while now, a striker who has flitted around clubs in his time but his place in history only exists at Brighton & Hove Albion, where his career began and where he is rightly regarded as a demi-god. Since his elevation to the highest level, his reputation has been more about teamwork and selflessness than goalscoring, and while at West Ham United he was unappreciated and at Tottenham Hotspur marginalised, he emerged from last season with credibility within a fine Fulham season, even though goals were rare. This shows the level of centre forward that the game values now - the industrious worker rather than the ruthless finisher, and it's the sort of centre forward City need.

City will never have a prolific centre forward for as long as they are in the top flight, simply because those players are fewer and further between and cost fortunes. The Tigers are chasing two, possibly even three, new strikers who, along with Daniel Cousin and backed by Geovanni and Nick Barmby, might get 15-20 goals between them and be prolific as an entity rather than an individual. Zamora is as good a target to start with as any.