Source: Team_Talk
Boateng lays blame at Brown's door
George Boateng has launched an astonishing attack on Hull boss Phil Brown after the Tigers' relegation was all but confirmed yesterday.[LNB] Brown was placed on gardening leave last month and chairman Adam Pearson drafted in Iain Dowie to take over the reins.[LNB]But Dowie could not turn around Hull's form, however Boateng laid the blame squarely at the door of Brown.[LNB]The Dutch midfielder was one of a number of players left out of the team for lengthy periods earlier this season but he traced the problems back to Boxing Day 2008, when Brown gave his half-time team talk on the pitch with Hull trailing Manchester City 4-0.[LNB]The Tigers have won only seven Premier League matches since then, and Boateng said: "I was left out for so many weeks, and that doesn't just count for me, it counts for Craig Fagan, for Caleb Folan, Bernard Mendy.[LNB]"There's been so many times where players were left out for non-football reasons and the best players didn't always play, which wasn't fair. It's been frustrating, I'm very angry.[LNB]"If I go back to December a year and a half ago when we played Manchester City away, that's when all the problems started. The team felt disrespected that day, the team didn't feel appreciated. We were sixth in the league, we'd lost two consecutive games and we didn't feel like we deserved to be treated like that at half-time, like a bunch of kids.[LNB]"Phil Brown asked me to come here. I had a year to go with Middlesbrough on better wages, I left that because Phil Brown needed an experienced Premier League midfielder.[LNB]"I didn't come here for money but then six months later, to be treated that way, I felt very disrespected. It had an effect on me, it had an effect on all the players. We covered it up but it took us a long time to recover from that.[LNB]"After Liverpool, Phil Brown sacked all the canteen people and we had to train for a week with no food. Those kind of things affect the team, the team doesn't feel appreciated by the manager."[LNB]Dowie has managed only one win from his seven games in charge and his appointment was not popular with a proportion of the Hull support, but Boateng had nothing but praise for the 45-year-old.[LNB]"When the new staff came in it gave us a bit of hope because before Iain Dowie came in we were not together, the squad were not behind Phil Brown," continued Boateng.[LNB]"It was very difficult because some of the players feared Phil Brown and some of the players felt under pressure under Phil Brown.[LNB]"Iain Dowie and his staff have done a tremendous job, it hurts me that we've only collected four points under them because they deserve a bit more success.[LNB]"Iain Dowie hasn't taken us down, we were down before Iain Dowie because Phil Brown made essential errors that caused us to lose many games."[LNB]Boateng also criticised Brown for his singing on the pitch after Hull avoided relegation last year, adding: "We survived only by luck. Do you see Alex Ferguson doing that? That's all you have to ask yourself. He's the best manager perhaps English football has ever had."[LNB]Boateng's contract runs out at the end of the season and the 34-year-old is hoping to secure a deal with another Premier League club for the next campaign.[LNB]He said: "I'm fit enough, my football is still up to the standard of the Premier League so I'm not going to retire. I want to play another year at least, but where? I'll think about it when I'm on holiday."[LNB]Reflecting on his experiences at Hull, Boateng added: "The last 18 months has been as hard for me as the last 12 years since I've been in England. I've been put through so many adversities that sometimes I said to my wife: 'Is it still worth it?"'[LNB]
