Source: Telegraph
Hull City players on £70000 bonus to survive
Phil Brown's team host Manchester United on 'Survival Sunday', and will stay up if they equal or better the Newcastle's result at Aston Villa.
A 1-1 draw at Bolton has revived the club's hopes after a seemingly unstoppable fall down the table since Christmas.
With a quarter of the season gone, Hull were third, above champions Manchester United.
Many critics have claimed Brown's decision to admonish his players on the pitch at half-time against Manchester City on Boxing Day was the start of their slide.
But George Boateng, the former Middlesbrough midfielder, insists that one incident cannot explain Hull's subsequent problems.
"I am not going to lie," said Boateng. "It was my first experience of having a meeting on the pitch and at half-time and I have been in the Premier League for a decade.
"It only affected us for a couple of games but, because we didn't get a much-needed win or point, losing started to become a habit.
"Slowly your confidence starts getting less and less and then it is very difficult to get a win.
"But I hope that, whatever happens on Sunday, people don't use that as an excuse to criticise Phil Brown.
"We have had 20 games after that and surely as a team you would think it cannot affect you."
