To Hull and back

02 May 2009 17:56
Aston Villa v Hull CitySunday, kick-off: 8pmTV: Setanta Sports 1 [LNB]1 Aug 16: Hull 2 Fulham 1 Hull are the only Premier League club to have won every game. Phil Brown, their combative manager, who takes to strutting along the touchline, is roundly acclaimed as an alchemist of the technical area – having inspired victory with three late substitutions. Brown identifies strong belief and fitness as his team's signature qualities. [LNB] Related ArticlesBrown seeks an edgeFerdinand: Slurs inspired usPredict scores and resultsLiverpool eke out scrappy winGianluca Vialli leads the field for QPR jobSt Helens forward Nick Fozzard set to return for Wigan Super League clash2 Sept 27: Arsenal 1 Hull 2 Brown is effusive about the importance of Geovanni, the flamboyant Brazilian whom he insists was not given a fair showing at Manchester City, and on this evidence you can see why. The midfielder's sublime 30-yard drive sets Hull on their way to a remarkable coup, toppling Arsenal at the Emirates, and Brown dares to dream. The crowning moment of his career, achieved in no small part by his attack-minded ploy of playing Geovanni behind the front two. [LNB]3 Oct 5: Tottenham 0 Hull 1 The inversion of the old order continues: while Spurs plumb uncharted depths under the hapless Juande Ramos, Hull go third. A pinpoint free-kick, again by Geovanni, is all it takes to turn the hierarchy upside down and to invite Brown to wax lyrical about his players' extraordinary resolve, and defensive doughtiness. [LNB]4 Oct 19: Hull 1 West Ham 0 Remember the Housemartins album of 1986, London 0 Hull 4? The title is invoked in the wake of this, which completes a remarkable four-part humbling of the Premier League's metropolitan elite. The ramifications of Hull's rise are spreading beyond the KC Stadium. A city inured to being at the foot of league tables, whether in education or employment, is experiencing a sense of renewal. Brown is credited with having engineered the renaissance – although he promises to prevent the place from getting too carried away. The message is plainly aimed at his players, who celebrate this win with a dressing-room jig. [LNB]5 Dec 26: Man City 5 Hull 1 The beginning of the fall, and perceptions of Brown change overnight from the master tactician to mini-tyrant. Driven mad by his team's dismal first-half display, he decides to humiliate the players in public. He says he is doing it for the fans, but the impression is that he is more interested in buttressing his own authority. [LNB]6 Jan 17: Hull 1 Arsenal 3 For the first time the fear of relegation can be discerned as he flatly refuses to respond to an innocuous question about whether the r-word has yet been mentioned in the camp. He is too incensed by a tackle by Kolo Toure on Manucho to think straight. Much gnashing of teeth about victimisation by the men in black, a giveaway sign that the manager is losing the psychological battle. [LNB]7 Mar 1: Hull 1 Blackburn 2Pressure from outside finally produces trouble on the inside. Geovanni expresses displeasure at being substituted and Brown gives the Brazilian a none-too-subtle reminder about his place in the pecking order. Geovanni, in uppity manager-speak, is not bigger than the football club. Four days later, Geovanni is back at Fulham and Hull, for the first time in three months in the Premier League, win. [LNB]8 Apr 18: Sunderland 2 Hull 1 More peculiar motivational thinking: Brown proclaims Sunderland, his hometown club, a spent force, whereupon Ricky Sbragia, the affronted opposing manager, promptly hits the photocopier. Sunderland prevail, roused by Brown's assertion (justified, it might be said) that the Wearsiders' commitment of £80 million to avoid relegation is rather extravagant. [LNB] 

Source: Telegraph