AP article from yesterday......... The Tigers head to Brighton & Hove Albion today firmly in the promotion hunt after a six-game unbeaten run that meant the East Riding club spent the international break sitting in the play-off places. Such a lofty standing contrasted sharply with exactly a year ago when City went into the 11th game of the season sitting 16th in the Championship table. Within a month, Hull had slipped even further down into the relegation zone as the financial problems mounted at the KC Stadium following demotion from the Premier League. The Allam family takeover, agreed in early November but not finalised until the following month, ensured City survived and since then the club has thrived with last seasonâs 11th place finish giving way this time around to a promotion challenge. Hullâs chances of returning to the top flight will receive a serious examination in todayâs tea-time kick-off at the Amex Stadium when they take on Brighton, who have spent the break sitting one place and two points above Pearsonâs men. Regardless of the score, however, head of football operations Adam Pearson is full of praise for his namesake. He said: âNigel Pearson has done a fantastic job, first in steadying the ship at what was a difficult time due to the debt owed when Hull City were relegated from the Premier League and then in building a decent squad. âI have been at two clubs who had to cope with relegation from the Premier League and it is not easy. At Derby, I remember clearly just what a battle it was to see the wood for the trees. It cost Paul Jewell, a good manager, his job. âThe problem was Derby had gone down in horrendous shape. The club was struggling, though probably not to the extent Hull were when they went down. âThe squad had to be pruned and, luckily, Kenny Miller and Robbie Earnshaw were sold for big sums. That under-pinned everything. âThat first year after Derby had come down was very difficult. We tried to crank it up but it was a struggle. The managers that take on that task in the first year after relegation from the Premier League have a tough job. âThe only time it is different is if a club can keep their squad intact, as Newcastle United did. âThe whole pruning process is difficult. The players know a club canât afford them and they donât want to be there. âYou donât particularly want them there and the whole atmosphere is not good. It is almost like a hangover, with the battle being to try and win enough points to stay up while sorting out the finances.â Hullâs relegation came two years after Derbyâs own demotion and was followed by the surprise move made by Nigel Pearson, who opted to swap Leicester City â a club he had just led to the Championship play-offs â for the KC Stadium despite the ruinous state of the Tigersâ finances. Pearson quickly set about his task, moving on as many of the high-earners as possible in an attempt to free up finances to re-model the squad. Only one transfer fee â the £50,000 Arsenal banked for Jay Simpson â was paid during that first transfer window and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Hull initially struggled. One win from the opening five games, a run that included a trip to Doncaster Rovers that the new manager missed following a health scare at the team hotel, meant the pressure was on but Pearson was able to plot a path through the clubâs troubles and ensure they were competitive at the time of the Allamsâ rescue. Since then, Cityâs fortunes have soared and Adam Pearson said: âHull went through the same process as Derby did two years earlier and Nigel did a great job to guide the team through. âWhat I have really liked is how Nigel has managed in an unbelievably non-fussy way at a time when the turnover of players has been huge. âI remember playing Doncaster last year, the game he missed through illness. Our team was a rag-bag outfit, full of players who didnât want to be there. âWe had so many we needed to get out, while the manager wanted to bring his own players in. But it was always going to take time. âThe key is getting through that first year of transition still intact as a club. If you donât then the whole place is in freefall. Luckily for Hull, Nigel was strong enough to bring us through it.â
Another reminder for those still being negative http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/26/hull-city-administration-relegation
Ah yes, I remember when that stupid **** sacked Brown, appointed Dowie and got us relegated. Thanks for the reminder Febbos.
The board sacked Brownie(which didn't include AP), he did appoint Dowie, but ultimately, the **** players that Brownie signed got us relegated.
Are you the silly **** that posts on the Hull Daily Mail forum as James Lodge? You are ? I thought so. What gave it away was the constant stream of ****e that you post under both of your names.
Still bearing a grudge? It was nearly 2 years ago and we were going down anyway whether we kept Brownie or not. If we were struggling near the bottom (like Forest for example) then fair enough, I could understand your gripes with Pearson but seen as we're currently enjoying a 7 game unbeaten run, are in the top 6 and are playing better football than we saw last season then I can take nothing but bitterness from your post. Sacking Brownie at the time we did was a bizarre decision, but it was overdue and with the way things have gone since NP has been able to bring his own players in and the financial situation has settled down things have started looking up and we look a decent side. Goal scoring aside there's not a real lot you can pick fault with, and long may NP and the team continue to prove the doubters wrong with results and performances on the pitch
Someone should shoot that ****er, here's today's offering: by JamesLodgeMonday, October 17 2011, 9:12AM “"Nine goals in 11 Championship games reveals the most pressing need for improvement ----" Exactly - and when the dribble of goals dries up City will plummet down the table and the Tigers will be fighting against being relegated. The only trouble is that NP is not in the same league as Phil Brown (or Warren Joyce) and there will be NO "great escape".. AA/AP please sack NP now and give a new manager enough funds in January to get in 5 or 6 players and get rid of the rubbish we have now - most of it Leicester cast-offs.”
What an unbelievable pile of tripe! It's October 17th and we are 6th - at least until the mid-weeks - and this fool thinks NP should be sacked! Maybe so, if we plummet down the league and fall into relegation???? However, I can't see that happening; not with the current squad and its level of morale. Why doesn't the ****wit open his eyes, 'smell the coffee', and enjoy the progress for what it is?
I suggest that this clown reconsiders his definition of rubbish when it involves a team going on a 7 game unbeaten run, conceding 9 goals all season and sitting in the top 6. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this stuff is ****ing ridiculous! What the **** is this clown expecting, us to play like how Man City did at the weekend week in and week out?! He's chosen our main weakness which looks to be quickly being addressed and uses it as an anti-NP/were ****e campaign. It beggars belief.
http://www.hullcityafc.net/page/NewsDetail/0,,10338~2484441,00.html Just seen this posted on the City Facebook page, NP hitting back at the critics.
Can't say I blame him. He gets the "negative" tag because of the lack of goals but the guy goes into an away game against a top 6 rival with 2 attacking full backs, 2 wingers, 2 strikers and a creative central midfielder. How the hell is he negative? Our approach is to keep clean sheets, keep the ball and create chances. It's not at all negative.
After the Palace game the criticism of him being negative was probably justified, playing 4-5-1 at home to one of the poorer teams in the league isn't going to win you praise but we seem to be getting all the better all the time going forward, Koren's move into the middle seems to be instrumental in this and we just need the strikers to get their shooting boots on. Add to that we have Rosenior, Brady and Pusic who can come forward and attack then it's laughable to call that a negative team.
Even that's bollocks though. If you just read "4-5-1", then you can think negative but a midfield 5 that includes Evans, Cairney, Brady and Koren isn't at all negative. And even then he replaced the only defensive minded midfielder with a striker after 55 minutes. And it was coming off the back of a hiding at Leeds when we'd been murdered on the counter attack. He was finding a balance.
What a reminder! I didn/'t appreciate the job NP had done, all I looked at was perfomances on the field of play. After what you have reminded all of us should make us support him more than we have,or I have.
Does anyone know who in particular NP is refering to as being the critics, as on the HDM website apart from that idiot Lodge, the general feeling is positive?
Blunderside, the HDM, most of the idiots who call Blunderside and the fans that were moaning at every misplaced pass just a few weeks ago.
One thing is for certain, this young team is the foundation for some excitement in the future. I love watching this team. The build up play, and confidence in mid field is great, but the fact remains that this lot are hard to score against. We are bound to get ripped apart one day, but in doing so any team would have to sacrifice goals against them. Nigel Pearson should be adored by us fans. I believe it will happen. In his own way he has given me so back some of the pride that the previous lot lost. On the subject of the HDM resident self abuser.....No!!!! OLM can we stop using his real false name and like "the Scottish play" just refer him as ........(open to suggestions)
