Ten years ago this week, Hull City parted company with Phil
Brown. He was undoubtedly, to that point, the most successful manager in the
club’s history.
Brown left an incredible legacy of unprecedented success but soured
by his abrasive personality and a year and a bit of horrendous results. Results
though, that came in the Premier League and when Brown took on the job in
December 2006 - City couldn’t have been farther from the Premier League if
they’d been playing on the moon.
Brown joined City initially as assistant manager to Phil
Parkinson. He’d served, with distinction, in a similar position under Sam
Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers for years before his first foray into management
at Derby County had gone to pot earlier in 2006.
Parkinson’s City side had won only four games in the
Championship as he struggled to reproduce whatever had made him successful with
Colchester United and his tenure ended after a 2-4 defeat at home to
Southampton.
Brown inherited a decent squad featuring a lot of the
players who’d served Peter Taylor with such distinction before his departure and
players Parkinson had been allowed to bring in at some expense – funded in part
by the sale of Leon Cort for a club record fee. Seven of the starting XI from
Parkinson’s final game played in the play-off final in 2008 (spoiler alert!) Myhill,
Ricketts, Turner, Ashbee and Barmby started while Marney and Fagan came on as
subs at Wembley.
The squad lacked know-how and a focal point up front with
Jon Parkin struggling. Brown saw the problem and signed Ray Parlour and Dean
Windass on loan. There were early signs of positive change despite a loss in
his first game at Plymouth. City hammered Cardiff at home, picked up a
creditable 0-0 at Leeds (when Michael Turner was restored to the side and
looked every inch the player he would become) and an enjoyable 2-1 win at
Hillsborough, through a Barmby brace, was one of three league wins on the
bounce after Christmas.
It wasn’t all plain-sailing. The 0-3 defeat at Barnsley
in mid-February was embarrassing and a couple of weeks later, it was topped by
a 2-5 defeat at home to Ipswich during which Danny Coles had one of the worst
games anyone has ever seen in black and amber. City were massively improved
though in ability and attitude. That dreadful defeat at Oakwell, for instance,
was followed by a gutsy and much deserved win over table-topping Birmingham at
the KC. City picked up nine wins under Brown, the last being the 1-0 victory at
Cardiff with Dean Windass’ goal securing Championship safety save for a
massively unlikely swing in goal difference.
Brown came from a working class background in South
Shields. He played most of his career at right-back serving unglamorous sides
Hartlepool, Halifax, Bolton and Blackpool. With his perma-tan and “interesting”
dress sense, he exuded confidence/arrogance, but underneath, he held values
similar to most supporters, had pride in where he came from and where he lived
and set about changing the mindset that we were little Hull - miles from
anywhere and going nowhere.
In the summer of 2007, Adam Pearson, feeling he’d taken
the club as far as he realistically could, sold up to Russell Bartlett and Paul
Duffen. Duffen had many faults (most of them mathematical) but like Brown, he
was determined to change the impression of the club. With the backing of the
new owners, Brown made shrewd signings, taking Richard Garcia and Wayne Brown
from Colchester and Henrik Pedersen after his release from Bolton. There were
grumblings from supporters about the lack of investment given the signings were
ones we could have made under Pearson. That started to change with the arrival
of the supremely talented Nigerian superstar Jay Jay Okocha and the acquisition
of Caleb Folan who became the club’s first million-pound signing from Wigan
Athletic.
The signing of Okocha was particularly important in changing
the perception and ambition of the club. He was long past his best, though
still utterly brilliant, but his reputation was as important as his impact on
the pitch, both to outsiders and the dressing room.
The start to the 2007/08 season was fairly unspectacular but
it started to turn in October with the loan signing of little-known young striker
Fraizer Campbell from Manchester United. Campbell scored twice on his home
debut against Barnsley and barring a terrible few days in December when Preston
and Southampton both stuffed us, City improved and started to ascend the league
table. Performances were becoming consistent as the team assembled by Brown gelled
and the attitude he fostered started to take hold in the squad.
Defeats became rare but plenty of draws meant City were
never quite in the play-off mix but were on the cusp. On the 23rd
February, almost a year to the day of that horrific defeat at Oakwell, City
travelled to league leaders and Champions-elect West Brom. Magnificent goals by
Campbell and Folan sealed a famous win that validated Brown’s belief in his
side. He said afterwards "We've shown we can come to places like this and
turn over a really good side.”
That match changed the course of City’s history - I’m
absolutely sure. It’s still amongst the most enjoyable games we’ve ever seen
outside the top-flight. Forgetting the play-offs, City won seven of their next
ten games, the last a rearranged game at Barnsley that swung automatic
promotion our way. In typical City fashion, that was then thrown away at
Sheffield United when we succumbed to ten men (Stephen Quinn scored for United)
and while it went down to the final day, we had to settle for the play-offs.
As a club, Hull City didn’t (and doesn’t) have a habit of
winning big games. Brown’s brash, bubbling side were a different level
altogether though and dismantled Watford over two-legs. Watford had been
promotion certs when we went there in October. By mid-May, they weren’t on the
same level as City and goals from Barmby and Windass, and a magnificent save by
Myhill, secured a 2-0 win in the sunshine at Vicarage Road. A 4-1 win at a
gleeful KC sealed the deal and a first ever trip to Wembley. You all know how
it ended. Windass. 1-0. Promotion. Premier League. History.
Brown master-minded that promotion along with Brian
Horton, whom he wisely brought back to Hull to serve as his number two, and
Steve Parkin. He coached and improved the players he inherited who wanted to be
part of it. He made intelligent signings. He built the spine of a team with
leaders in Brown, Ashbee and Windass who had guile, bravery and class. He
encouraged a team spirit and a winning mentality that is unmatched to this day.
City went into the Premier League on the crest of a wave.
The place was buzzing. Brown was backed in signing players like Geovanni,
George Boateng, Daniel Cousin and Marlon King who were a class above what we
had. In fairness, he also signed Bernard Mendy, Peter Halmosi, Antony Gardner,
Tony Warner, and numerous other signings who, with few exceptions, were only a
drain on the wage bill. Where the money came from wasn’t particularly a worry
as fans rode along on the wave. After the unprecedented success, there was a
(naïve) trust that Duffen knew what he was doing and finances were far from
anyone’s thoughts when Hull hosted its first ever top-flight game, and win, as
City turned over Fulham 2-1 despite Seol’s opening goal. Geovanni and Folan wrote
themselves into Hull City folklore that day.
The Tigers settled brilliantly into life in the Premier
League with the sobering hammering by Wigan the only negative. We picked up
creditable points against Blackburn and Everton while turning over Newcastle at
St James Park 2-1 – our first away win. You’d have been forgiven for thinking
that would be as good as it got but on 27th September, City went to
Arsenal and won 2-1 again. Brown set up with a front three of King, Cousin and
Geovanni at the Emirates, in what looked a suicidal decision but turned out to
be a tactical masterstroke. Geovanni scored one of the best goals in our
history to equalise Paul McShane’s own goal before Cousin flicked in a corner
at the near-post and City fans experienced a joy unknown to man before or since.
Whatever the combination of sheer ecstasy and disbelief equates to – that was
the corner of the Emirates that Saturday night.
That was the first of four successive wins. City repeated
the trick the following Sunday, winning at Arsenal’s great rivals Spurs thanks
to another Geovanni wonder-goal before a Michael Turner header beat West Ham at
the KC and we thrashed WBA away again. The Tigers went joint-top of the Premier
League. For a bit anyway.
Things started to turn with a six-match winless run
following that victory at the Hawthorns but it wasn’t all that gloomy. Chelsea
outclassed us but we gave Man United a hell of a fright in a 3-4 defeat at Old
Trafford. Defeat to a savvy Bolton side was sobering while draws with the newly-rich
Man City, Portsmouth and Stoke were hard earned. A win over Middlesbrough followed
and then City led 2-0 against Liverpool at Anfield before being pegged back for
another very creditable draw.
The period from WBA away in February to that day at
Anfield in December is as good as we will ever experience as City fans. It
deserves to be remembered in all its glory. Phil Brown deserves to be revered
for over-seeing that period of utter, utter joy.
It was all downhill from there, as all fans know. Brown
and Duffen started to talk about City qualifying for Europe which made
everyone’s skin crawl. Brown had changed the mindset of everyone involved with
the club but that was a step too far. He enjoyed the limelight too much. The
attention played to his brash character and he and his team forgot the
principles behind their success. Sheer bloody-mindedness, incredibly hard work
and togetherness.
You can point to the hammering at Manchester City on Boxing
day and Brown’s ridiculous team talk on the pitch at half time as the turning
point but it was always coming because the values had been lost. The group of
players had been watered down with characters not fit to take the shirt off the
ones who’d got us where we were. Brown signed Jimmy Bullard for £5m in January
- huge money to Hull City – and he was immediately injured which didn’t help.
He would have been earning more than anyone else in the squad and far more than
the players who’d achieved promotion. It was another hammer-blow to the morale
of the group.
City never really recovered. The unravelling of the
financial situation due to Duffen’s inexperience with football accounting was
the death knell. City survived in the Premier League by the skin of our teeth
and due only to the greater incompetence of Newcastle United. We’d won one of twenty-two
league games with a decent FA Cup run papering over some cracks.
Recruitment the following summer was haphazard. The
financial problems forced the sale of Michael Turner, the heart of City’s
defence, while “football decisions” apparently led to the sale of Sam Ricketts.
The replacements were inadequate and save for the outstanding Stephen Hunt, all
of the recruitment was a gamble. It didn’t pay off. City won two of the first
ten league games. Adam Pearson returned to the club to replace Duffen whose financial
“incompetence” (to avoid being litigious) had caught up with him. The rumour-mill
suggested Burnley away would be Brown’s last game in charge. City suffered an
unfair defeat at Turf Moor but perhaps the manner of the performance saved
Brown when it really shouldn’t have.
A brief Jimmy Bullard inspired act of defiance that
autumn brough two wins and two draws. But then Bullard was injured again at
Villa Park and City’s season never recovered. In early February we beat Man
City and drew with Chelsea. The last good memories under Brown. Four defeats
later, he was done. And so were City. It was too little, too late and the inevitability
of relegation scared off any potentially decent replacements. Brown maintains,
years later, that he would have kept us up. Respectfully, he’s wrong. We were
doomed and, while Duffen’s financial mismanagement is culpable, Brown is
equally to blame.
Does the subsequent collapse overshadow Brown’ achievements?
Absolutely not. The rise was the most enjoyable period in living memory and
perhaps, objectively, in the club’s history. It certainly made history, but it
did so unexpectedly given the situation Brown inherited from Phil Parkinson. No
one in their right mind thought that Hull City could be a Premier League club.
Phil Brown did though. Every orange inch of him believed the
impossible was possible.
Then he proved it.
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