Perhaps in
today's trigger-happy world of football, we should not be in the least bit
surprised that Phil Brown has lost his job. Football is, as we are regularly
told, a results-based business and Hull City simply have not got the results they
need of late - four defeats in their last four games and just one win on their
last 16 tells its own tale.
But the
timing of Brown's sacking is odd - he was shown the exit door just two days
after his side, who had been reduced to 10 men, very nearly won a point against
Arsenal, the Premier League's best team on current form.
Hull
chairman Adam Pearson was clearly expecting Hull to get something from that one
and was so disappointed they failed to, he felt compelled to give Brown the heave-ho
on Monday.
Had they
not conceded that Nicklas Bendtner effort, would Brown still be in a job this
morning? Certainly it would seem harsh on him had his side clung on for a point
at the weekend.
It seems
unfair to have given him a game against Arsenal to prove himself. Surely a
better test of his and his team's mettle will come at the weekend against
Portsmouth - a must-win fixture if there ever was one.
Instead, that
unenviable task now falls to someone else, the identity of whom we will know by
tomorrow.
It all
leads ED to think there was something else, other than mere results, behind
Brown's dismissal.
Of course,
Brown was undermined in November last year when Pearson returned to the club to
replace Paul Duffen, one of Brown's staunchest supporters. Indeed, ever since
then, Brown seems to have been on borrowed time, which has been passing ever
quicker with each poor result.
But perhaps
the very public bust-up between Jimmy Bullard and Nicky Barmby - surely the least
vicious bust-up in the history of bust-ups, given how useless ED imagines both
men are in a fight - had something to do with Pearson's decision.
The pair's "unsavoury"
clash on a training excursion last week was unfortunately witnessed by a bunch
of elderly Women's Institute members. Aside from the understandable trauma suffered
by those poor women, the spat served to show that Brown's grip on his dressing
room has loosened.
Brown naturally
passed it off as the kind of incident he witnesses every day on the training
ground, but that he was let down - in public - by two of his most senior
players speaks volumes.
Whatever, Brown
leaves the Premier League - ED cannot imagine he will return to employment in
the top flight - having entertained with a combination of on-pitch half-time rollickings,
end of season karaoke singing, headsets, flat caps and an impressive perma-tan. Thanks for the memories, Phil.
- - -
'Crisis?
What crisis?' was the title of ED's post about Liverpool on Friday. A 4-1
pounding of Portsmouth - yes, okay it was only Pompey - went some way to backing
up that bold statement but, as tends to be the case with modern-day Liverpool,
every silver lining has a cloud.
This time that
cloud came in the form of Steven Gerrard's forearm smash on Michael Brown, although,
as with Stevie V's gesture towards referee Andre Marinner last week, the
incident is likely to go unpunished.
This time
is was small boy referee Stuart Attwell who saw but opted not to punish the
Liverpool skipper's apparent indiscretion.
Both Rafa
Benitez and Avram Grant went down the 'I haven't seen the incident yet' route, and
with a stern talking-to was deemed sufficient by the ref, Gerrard looks to have got away with losing his
cool once again.
Interesting
though to see him increasingly allowing his frustrations boil over on the pitch
after a miserable season. Surely he's not regretting turning down Chelsea's
mega-bucks offer a couple of summer's ago?
- - -
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I have, as I said before, three things
to do in my career - one is to come back to English football; another thing is
to win the Spanish championship, because no-one has won Italian, English and
Spanish titles; and another one, when I'm old, is to coach my national team.
But, for now, I would like to keep winning with Inter." Jose Mourinho has
a busy few years ahead of him.
AND ANOTHER: "Chelsea looked forward. I look forward.
They move on. I move on. I keep winning important things. They keep
winning...something. They won an FA Cup. The most important thing is the
relation we have. No regrets, no big problems. Just respect." Mourinho
just can't help having a sly dig at Chelsea.
FOREIGN VIEW: Brazilian team Flamengo, fearful of another
earthquake in Chile, will fly into Santiago just hours before Wednesday's Copa Libertadores
match with Universidad de Chile and leave right afterwards. "The less time
we spend on Chilean soil the better," Tinoco told Radio Brasil according
to Globo Sports.
COMING UP: Mourinho returns to Chelsea for the first
time since his departure in 2007 - we'll have live text commentary on the sparks
flying at Stamford Bridge from 19:45 tonight. Sevilla are also in action
against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League while Wigan take on Aston Villa in
the Premier League. We've got full coverage of both. There is also a full
Championship programme to enjoy tonight, plus games in League One and the SPL.