Then, like
clumsy cowboys, the Allams shot themselves in the foot. Nick Barmby was
suspended by the club. The Allams took offence to remarks he made in media
interviews after the Tigers trip to Portsmouth.
Barmby urged the owners to share his ambition and take the club to the next
level. In doing so, he also intimated that funding previously promised in the
January transfer window had not been provided. It wasn’t the wisest thing for
the manager to say whether it was true or not. The reaction of the owners was
baffling. Instead of sorting out the situation behind closed doors and forming
a united front, they suspended Nick Barmby.
Taking
personal feeling out of the equation and the fact that Nick is a club legend
and genuinely “one of our own” the owners had taken a manager they spent a
great deal of time convincing to take the job, a manager who’d provided
continuity after the mid-season departure of Nigel Pearson and a manger who the
players trusted and respected and dismissed him over a minor row. The
disciplinary and appeal processes were a charade. The owners’ damaged ego meant
their decision was made and was final. Nick Barmby’s stubborn nature meant he
was never going to accept a u-turn once he’d been wronged. If firing a local
legend as manager wasn’t a large enough public relations nightmare the Allams
also terminated the consultancy agreement with club saviour Adam Pearson. The
reasons have never been revealed and may well be valid (if rumours are to be
believed) but the statement that appeared on the club’s official website
stating only that Pearson’s agreement had been terminated “without
notice and without compensation” was vulgar.
While our
Championship rivals were busy preparing for the new season, trimming squads,
opening contract negotiations and starting player recruitment, Hull City
hit the pause button. It took a week for the owners to confirm the sacking and
another fortnight for the sham appeal process to conclude. It would be another
three weeks before a new manager took charge. The Allams shouldn’t be
criticised for taking their time making a crucial decision but for causing the
six week hold-up in the first place.
It was an excruciating six weeks for Tigers’ fans because, aside from
the dismay over the decisions being made, the whole saga took place in near
silence. An article appeared in the Hull
Daily Mail in early May which was so one sided it could have been written by
the Allams. Confirmation of Nick Barmby’s sacking and the end of the appeal
process were the only other communications between owners and fans in the six
weeks. And this at a time when the fans hadn’t received season ticket renewal
forms. Some may suggest it’s quite the noble act for the owners not to ask fans
to stump up the money for season tickets before slaying one of their favourite
sons. In the realms of the football business it’s extremely odd. The renewal
forms did eventually make it through with the still seething Tigers fans asked
to pay 15-20% more for season tickets, 150% if disabled. Those in the South
Stand were told that it was to become the football equivalent of a crèche
without any consultation. And all the while, the club didn’t have a manager,
the fans had no communication from the owners and the media, local and
national, threatened us with candidates such as Kevin Blackwell and Gary
Megson.
The Allam family saved Hull
City football club. They committed
over £50m to buying the club and paying off existing and future debts. That’s
FIFTY MILLION POUNDS. Their contribution to the football club must never be
under-stated and never taken for granted. Without the Allam family, Hull City
would exist as a lower division football club if it existed at all. The Allams
earned, and deserved, a lot of goodwill from the people in Hull
and East Yorkshire. In six weeks, they almost
wiped it out. They aren’t above valid criticism. Complaining that a man who’s
spent £50m on the football club won’t spend £3m on a new striker isn’t valid
criticism. Complaints over the treatment of Nick Barmby, the season ticket
fiasco and the lack of respect for the paying customers most certainly are.
The summer finally began moving in mid-June as Steve Bruce became the 38th
permanent Hull City manager. Bruce, best known for
captaining Manchester United to their first English league for 26 years (and
the first of many Premier League titles), has extensive experience in the
second tier having managed Sheffield United, Crystal Palace and Birmingham City
at this level winning two promotions with the latter. That experience of taking
a team up from the Championship was one of the key items on the Allams list of
qualities they wanted from the next manager. They don’t appear to be concerned
with appointing someone who’ll provide continuity and will play in the
attractive manner that Nigel Pearson established at the KC and Nick Barmby was
so keen to continue. In fact all the talk of continuity and of appointing
members of the coaching team who would remain in place should a manager up and
leave that the Allams were so keen to stress after Pearson left was forgotten.
Stuart Watkiss, Steve Wigley, Sean Rush and Kevin Kilbane have all followed
Barmby through the exit door.
Instead the reins have been handed over to Steve Bruce. He’s appointed
his own backroom staff. Steve Agnew left Middlesbrough to become Bruce’s
assistant manager while Bruce raided his old club Sunderland
to take on Keith Bertschin as first team coach and Stephen Clemence as
reserve team manager. While contrary to their original plan this is normal
practice for a football club. Bruce will be in charge. He’s an experienced and
well-travelled manager who’s enjoyed relative success at a number of clubs. He
had a reputation for spending lots of money which will be tested at Hull City
were funds are limited. He’s signed a number of expensive flops in his time as
a manager but has also unearthered some gems. He has a well-pencilled little
black book. He has contact with some of the biggest clubs in the country. He
has experience of scouting world wide. His teams play a reasonably attractive
style of football but one that is far more direct than we’ve been used to for
the past two seasons. He has a reputation of being more of a mentor than a
tactician. He’s old-school. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing. One
thing is for certain, it’s going to be a different season at the KC Stadium in
2012/13.
The summer hasn’t had a great
effect on season ticket renewals. Getting people through the gate could prove a
difficult challenge unless the Tigers roar on the pitch. Despite a steadily
growing number of transfer rumours, there have been no additions to the squad
as the players gather for pre-season. Steve Bruce’s only bit of business so far
has been to ratify the contract extension offered to Andy Dawson which is most
welcome. The squad looks a little thin at the moment and there are vultures
hovering around some of our prized assets. The Allams have been ambitious in
their choice of manager. That ambition will be tested further this summer by
the players we recruit and the players we retain. Some have opined that Steve
Bruce is “just a big name”. The football world outside of east Yorkshire disagrees. Despite finishing 8th in
the Championship in 2011/12 and appointing a “big name” manager, the Tigers are
less fancied than newly promoted Charlton and Huddersfield
to win promotion to the Premier League. Outsiders have under-rated our young
squad for over a year, so it’s not a complete surprise. It does suggest that
there is still plenty of work to be done if the Tigers are going to worry the
rest of the division this season.
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