EPL Talk » Hull City

What A Difference A Year Makes At White Hart Lane

Paul Bestall — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:01:34 +0000

With the season starting slightly earlier this year due to the World Cup, most teams in the Premiership have played 8 league games already. Last season, the 8th round of matches was played two weeks later, on the weekend of October 18th/19th. By the end of it, Tottenham were staring up at every other team in the league with a lowly 2 points. A 2-1 loss against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium had left Spurs trailing Newcastle by 4 points and Stoke and Fulham by 5.

A club in disarray, the fans in despair, the players lacking leadership on or off the pitch, things were not looking good. Not since 1988* had Tottenham propped up the table, ironically on Halloween. That season was to shadow a remarkable turn around in events at White Hart Lane as the week continued to get worse as Udinese beat Spurs on the Thursday 2-0 with a implosion in the last 15 minutes. Juande Ramos cut a depressed figure on the touchline in Udine, a man completely at a loss to explain what was happening or it seemed able to arrest the decline.

Daniel Levy’s reign as chairman had seen plenty of ups and downs during the course of the 7 years that had led to this point. Ramos was supposed to be the marquee managerial signing to move Spurs onwards from the work of the underrated and under appreciated Martin Jol. It was fast becoming a disaster of epic proportions as the club lurched from crisis to crisis. After 5 managers in that time, Levy was under enormous pressure to finally deliver, yet here they were, bottom of the league, winless, shapeless and facing relegation.

After the defeat in Italy, Ramos made the usual “We can play our way out of trouble” statements, but they rang hollow in the ears of the Spurs fans. Other than a well deserved point at Stamford Bridge, there had been nothing to cling to in the way of optimism. No-one else could see where the win was going to come from, the team looked beyond help. On Saturday, October 25th as the fans prepared for another inevitable defeat the next day against Bolton, things couldn’t get much worse.

As Match of the Day finished, I flicked over to Sky Sports News, just to see if perhaps anything at all had happened. As the image flicked on, the newsfeed at the bottom of the screen suddenly went in to to overdrive. “Tottenham have sacked Juande Ramos, Gus Poyet and Daniel Comolli with immediate effect…..Harry Redknapp has been confirmed as the new manager of Spurs …. Discussion with Redknapp next on Sky Sports News.” Then the adverts kicked in. Damn it!

I’d had a drink, who wouldn’t when you’re team was bottom of the league and playing like Worksop Town. I rewound the pictures and watched it again. Yep, still said the same. I shot to the PC, went on the BBC football site. It was the top story, Breaking News. The I checked the Guardian, yep, same there. It was true. I ran to the bedroom and woke my better half up, she told me to stop winding her up. I insisted it was true, and probably to simply placate me, she got up and went downstairs with me to see for herself.

Chelsea fans don’t believe a lot, though living with a Spurs fan means you get used to false dawns on a seasonal basis. Sitting down, SSN burst in to life once more, BOOOOOOOOOM went the special effects, WHOOOOOOOOOOSH went the graphics and then it was confirmed by the presenters clearly excited that people would actually be watching for once late on a Saturday night. Redknapp was indeed the new manager of Spurs. I let out a hearty cheer! My other half wasn’t impressed at all, ” Oh no, I’ve always really liked Harry. What has he done that for!” Time for another drink I decided, my despair transformed in minutes to optimism! Ah the joy’s of football eh!

As managerial announcements go, for me, its quite possibly one of the oddest I’ve ever come across, late on a Saturday night, less than 24 hours before a team is due to play a match. I bet every newspaper editor was cursing Levy throughout the United Kingdom. Yet, in the 38 League games Redknapp has managed Spurs in now, his record reads Played 38, Won 19, Drawn 8 Lost 11.With this season’s excellent start, Redknapp has assured that for the first time in 4 seasons, Spurs are not playing catch up after a slow start. 16 points from 8 games is Tottenham’s best ever start to a Premiership season.

No Spurs fan thinks that we’ll win the League, or finish in the top 4, but after the year of hell that was the Ramos era, it’s a whole lot better. The oddity of Ramos’ tenure, Spurs won the League Cup, their first trophy in 9 seasons and a 5-1 victory against Arsenal, yet it will always be viewed as a dreadful year. Two shots of sunlight do not make a summer, but at least Harry’s got Spurs fans smiling again.

There is still plenty of work to do at Tottenham, the centre half issue needs resolving due the injuries King and Woodgate now have. The midfield have to learn to be able to play without Modric against big teams and not let Palacios do all the running, Keane needs to keep performing as he did against Burnley and Hull City. Defoe needs keep running and not get downhearted and the players outside the first 11 need to knuckle down and try and force themselves into Redknapps plans rather than whining to the media. Then maybe a top six place wouldn’t be out of the question, anything else would be a bonus.

*Spurs became the first team to be bottom of the First Division on Halloween in 1988 and not be relegated, actually finishing 6th as Gascoigne and Waddle combined to drag them up the table. The following season saw Spurs finish 3rd with Lineker joining the team as Waddle went to Marseille.

Two Wins In A Calendar Year Isn’t Mischief Making

Paul Bestall — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:02:10 +0000

Hull City Chairman Paul Duffen has ridden to the defence of his beleaguered, battered and bruised manager after another capitulation on Saturday saw Hull brushed aside 6-1 at Anfield. 7 games into the season and Hull City have just 4 points, with a solitary win against Bolton and a point gained away at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Since the turn of the year, Hull have now played 24 Premiership games, winning just two, and losing 17.

Now that’s not relegation form, that’s dead and buried form. 11 points from a possible 72 is an astounding return and one that beggars belief. Already this season they’ve conceded more than 4 goals in three different matches and that for me sets alarm bells ringing. I’m completely at a loss as to how Brown can address this dreadful run of form. It’s not the worst Premiership record, as recent history will testify with Derby County’s year of hell probably cemented in the record books for some time to come, but surely someone at Hull City must be worried.

Now, I’m still surprised as to how far Phil Browns star has faded since the Tigers burst on to the Premiership scene last year. People seem to be enjoying Hull getting mauled every week so they get to see Browns saddened face after every match. I’m not one of them, I actually really feel for Brown and the Hull fans. When you’re facing what appears such an insurmountable task, even little hiccups seem like mountains in the black light of football induced depression.

It makes you face every game with a level of pessimism that even the Grim Reaper may think a tad depressing. Going to a match begins to resemble spending two hours on death row, where even the prospect of contracting the black death seems preferable to watching your team get stuffed once again.

Fair play to Hull City’s chairman, he stopped short of giving the dreaded vote of confidence, but even Brown must realise something has to give eventually. I’m certainly not advocating any manager getting sacked, especially one that has taken a club to a level they have never been to before but sometimes you have to hold your hands up, say enough is enough and walk away. The chairman’s statement included one of those comments were you think Hmmmmm.

“Only a few points separate us from the middle of the league, and I am really pleased with the signs I see developing in the squad” Now it’s easy to be churlish about a Chairman when he comes out with a statement like that. Is it damage limitation? Is it spin? Is it delusion? Or is it a manager receiving a level of support that should be applauded.Duffen knows that Hull City are in the Premiership more or less due to Brown’s skills as a manager.

All the additional revenue, coverage and publicity is down to a manager taking an unfancied team in to the Premiership. Moments like this don’t come around very often and after 104 years of trying, you tend to give the man who got you there a little more support than perhaps other club chairman may do. Bigger clubs than Hull City have treated better managers worse than the support Phil Brown is currently getting.

Hull are about to embark on a run of six games that will show everyone exactly where Hull City are in the scheme of things. A run of 4 home games against Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth, Stoke City and West Ham United book ending away games at Fulham and Burnley will offer us an exact dissection of Hull City in the scheme of things. Once that run is over, things may look a whole lot rosier than they currently do at the K.C. Stadium. I just hope Phil Brown doesn’t get the karaoke machine out!

Liverpool Fans Believe In Fairytales As A Prince Rides To The Rescue

Paul Bestall — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:04:35 +0000

So could it be really true that the two most unpopular men in Anfield are looking to sell a 50% stake in the club to the Saudi Arabian Prince Faisal bin Fahd Abdullah al-Saud? The story started to leak late last night in the UK, which was quickly denied, (rather foolishly it now seems) but as today has progressed more news about the potential investor has come to light.

Now this story seems to have originated in the Saudi newspaper Al Riyadh yesterday in an interview given by the Prince. An eye watering amount of between £200-£350 million seems to be floating around on the news wires, a massive jump in Liverpool’s value since the Hicks and Gillett bought the club back in 2007 for £174 million. Quite what they’ve done to at least double the value of the club is beyond me but there you have it.

Now Prince Faisal bin Fahd Abdullah al-Saud was at Saturday’s demolition of Hull City, as he was finalising the deal that will see Liverpool opening four football academies in North Africa and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi’s love of football is well known and this is another major coup for the duo after the new shirt sponsorship deal was announced two weeks ago. An alleged £20 million per annum 4 year deal see’s Liverpool’s revenue jump up massively. So much for the global downturn!

The key point here is just how much of the club will the Prince be buying? The prospectus that was being touted around for investment earlier this year was chasing amounts of around £50 million for a minimal stake in Liverpool. It seems that by casting their fishing line out for clown fish, Hicks and Gillett may have accidentally and rather fortunately hooked a shark instead.

I have to say that those two have surprised me in the last couple of weeks, especially if this story is true. The levels of idiocy, infighting, the incredible amounts of money they’ve paid themselves through the club and the general destabilising effect these “owners” have had made me think that they’d lose at a game of texas hold em against a blind raccoon. It seems that for the moment, they can’t do wrong for doing right, which makes a pleasant change.

Most Liverpool fans, quite rightly have not been impressed with the new owners for quite a while and the list of issues has been covered plenty of times, so we’ll leave that well alone. Collectively, most Liverpool fans will be breathing a sigh of relief as they’ve gone from begging at RBS and Wachovia to refinance the loans used to buy the club to now being able to bathe in money.It also gets the dynamic duo one step closer to the exit door at Anfield, which cannot be a bad thing for all concerned.

I doubt the Prince will be looking to make this a long term partnership and Liverpool, regardless of your feelings towards them, are easily one of two clubs in English football that people from all over the world will have heard about. Owning Liverpool F.C. should be a license to print money, not lose it in the way Hicks & Gillett have managed!

By getting his foot in the door and probably buying half of each partners stake, the Prince raises his power immediately. When you’re faced with two men who clearly have fallen out, buying a football club off them should be a piece of cake or will it cause even more problems as 3 owners from completely different cultures try to come to a consensus when running the club?A buy out may the best for all concerned I think.

No doubt, it will bring a little more stability for Liverpool and their fans, but how long until Hicks or Gillett puts their foot in it again??

Burnley Already Upturn The Applecart

Paul Bestall — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:11:58 +0000

Admit it, after the lacklustre opening day game against Stoke City, you simply couldn’t see Burnley picking up anything from their next 2 games with Everton and Manchester United visiting Turf Moor. They were tough games, that most established Premiership sides wouldn’t be relishing to have back to back so how the Clarets fans must have felt, I can only imagine. However, a quick look at the league table shows the facts. Played 3, won 2, drawn 0, lost 1, Scored 2, Conceded 2.

What a delightful surprise Burnley have been already and I’m delighted to see just how well they’ve done. Of course, Manchester United bossed the game, but they couldn’t score. Chances came and went, a penalty was saved by the Beast in the Burnley net. Brian Jansen will break opposition strikers hearts throughout the rest of the season but it’s edifying to see Turf Moor rocking so early in the season. No one wants to see promoted teams hammered so soon but Burnley are loving it so far.

Of course, the knockers will be queuing up to get the pessimism in as quickly as the pints of Moorhouse were probably going down yesterday around the town. Many a fan will have awoken fighting the effects of a Pendle Witches hangover, but still smiling like a Cheshire Cat. When you’ve just beaten the defending League Champions and then the most consistent side outside of the top 4 over the last 5 seasons, this feeling will take some beating.

No-one, other than Blackburn fans I suspect, would have taken any satisfaction if Burnley would have been hammered in the first 3 games. As Hull City showed last season, winning the play offs seems to see you hit the ground running when the season kicks off. Burnley are living the dream, teams like the Clarets aren’t supposed to get in to the top tier but thankfully football will always throw a spanner in the works.

Whilst Hull City beat Arsenal last season, the size of Burnley’s achievements shouldn’t be understated. Manchester United don’t lose to teams like Burnley, they always fashion something to save their skins but they couldn’t manage this time. The easy money was on Everton steam rollering Burnley after the opening day hammering Arsenal handed them at Goodison. That didn’t happen either.

I know people were saying this was going to be the most open Premiership but I don’t think anyone anticipated the start Coyle’s men have had. When the fans see the newly published fixture list in June, they all cast their eyes and begin to work out where the points will come from. I find it hard to believe that any fan of the Clarets would have gone for the last six points in a month of Sundays.

The addition of Andre Bikey adds a bit more steel to the backline, but this is no team of mugs. A smattering of experienced heads, fearless youth and canny international players gives Burnley more quality than people want to admit. Martin Patterson had Everton’s defence on the run and Wade Elliott has a classy range of passing. Tyrone Mears didn’t spend a year at Marseille for a laugh and Coyle did well to get him in.

Of course Burnley are going to have a blip, though god forbid it’s as bad as the one Hull City have finally put to bed. Of course, they rode their luck against United but they deserved the points against Everton. Yet this is what being a fan is all about. A visit to Chelsea beckons this weekend and it will be interesting to see just how they’ll hack it before they visit Anfield. Even with two defeats in the next two games, a return of 6 points from those first five fixtures will stand them in good stead for the remainder of the season. Keep smiling Clarets fans, I think more happy hangovers beckon this season.

Hold That Tiger: Altidore Sparks Hull Win

Dave Warner — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:54:11 +0000

Hull City manager had to wait three weeks to get young American striker Jozy Altidore into the lineup. Once he did, Tigers supporters had to wait only 28 seconds for him to have an impact.

With his first touch in the 61st minute, Altidore posted up in front of Bolton Wanderers defender Gary Cahill and lobbed the ball backwards over his head into an open area in front of goal, allowing Kamel Ghilas to run in and score the game-winning goal against the run of play. Bolton dominated possession and had twice as many shots as Hull, but they were left to curse their inability to finish today.

Altidore wasn’t finished there. In the 70th minute, a Ghilas interception sparked a blistering Hull counterattack. With the young American churning forward, Ghilas sent the ball wide to Geovanni, who lobbed a perfect pass into Altidore, who quickly gathered and lobbed Jussi Jaaskelainen, only to watch the ball bounce inches wide of the right-hand post. His first Premier League goal would have to wait.

Altidore’s impact on the game was clear. His presence immediately improved Hull City’s tempo and counterattack, and Bolton defenders often had to double-team him in the box to keep him in check. However, this also exposed Altidore’s biggest weakness on the day — his inability to use his teammates. Altidore was so eager to open his Premier League account that he missed opportunities to set up scoring opportunities for others. This is something that will need to be fixed on the training ground.

Nonetheless, Altidore played very well in combination with Ghilas and Geovanni today. That trio showed today that it has the potential to open up more than a few Premier League defenses. Whether that’s enough to get Hull City the 40 points it needs to survive relegation remains to be seen, but for now, it’s 3 down and 37 to go.

Altidore also showed he wouldn’t back down from anyone. In the 88th minute, Zat Knight got in Altidore’s face and jawed at him, sparking chants of “USA! USA!” from the KC Stadium crowd. Less than a minute later, Altidore muscled Knight off the ball and launched another late Hull counterattack. This young man is going to be very popular.