Source: Daily_Mail
Sunderland 1 Hull 0: Furious Black Cats silence Brown
If Hull are relegated - and it is looking increasingly likely - then Phil Brown will have to reflect on why.
You would expect the half-time, on-pitch dressing down of players at Manchester City on Boxing Day to be in his thoughts. He was accused of losing his dressing room.
The general consensus is that he is probably the only manager in history who will try the idea.
Despite winning just once in 14 games since, Brown is still having none of it.
'I have no regrets,' he said. 'Ask me about it when we survive.'
The Hull manager's frank assessment of Sunderland's squad - in which he criticised the amount that had been spent on players - was published on matchday morning. It was easy motivation for Ricky Sbragia.
'It just annoyed me,' said Sbragia. 'There are too many managers who talk about other clubs and should concentrate on their own. But what it did was motivate the players. It was fantastic. It worked for me.
'We were thinking about what to say to them but I didn't really have to say anything else.'
Brown was restrained when he learned Djibril Cisse was offside before heading Andy Reid's cross beyond Boaz Myhill.
But his almost comical histrionics and badgering of patient fourth official Graham Laws endeared him to nobody, least of all the Sunderland bench.
'That's Phil,' said Sbragia. 'But I thought he was the fourth official.'
When Reid and Anton Ferdinand made their views known to Brown as they exited after sneaking three points through Cisse's 11th goal of the season, he seemed oblivious.
If Ferdinand had had his way, the cuttings Sbragia had plastered across the home dressing room might have made their way to the visitors' section, but he was persuaded that a message had already been delivered with the result.
Ferdinand added: 'It was a big motivation for me and it angered all of the lads when we saw it pinned on the wall.
'For someone who has not seen me play every week to make comments like that was a bit out of order. We came off with heads held high.'
Hull were the better side before the break and there was a marked improvement on the defeat at Middlesbrough.
Like his manager, George Boateng remains confident of staying up. He added: 'I don't think teams have written us off but I do think they are questioning if we have the bottle to survive.
'What pleases me is that all the lads showed they care and everyone is together. Other teams haven't got that.'
