Bullard even managed to corrupt a club legend who captained us in all 4 divisions to the point where he was fat as **** when he left and Preston fans consider him as one of their worst ever players.
Did anyone ever consider Bullard not a ****? He was a fantastic player, but just one of those I hated from the second he signed. His knee was already ****ed and he knew that full well. ****
Bullard came to us with a bad knee injury. And in the first game at West Ham, Ash gave him a hospital pass. Whoops. Great interview and insight. Bullard sounds like one of the many of the really talented players, down the years, at many clubs, didn't give a stuff. Probably because he considered himself to be the best of a mediocre bunch..
I was at West Ham that night, it was also the live match on SKY. Bullard was sub and City were getting walloped. I think we were already at least two down, and it could easily have been six, they hit the post three times, before Bullard was brought on in the second half. Bullard had history with one of the WHU players, we knew it and Brown must have known it too. Was it is Scott Parker who had crippled Bullard in a tackle at either Wigan or Fulham when he played for them? I think the bad blood came from a time when they both played in the same youth team? In virtually Bullard's first touch of the ball, and it was a poor pass from someone, Parker came steaming in and kicked Bullard six foot up into the air. It was a deliberate foul with intent to cause injury, and of course it did. I think Bullard was brought on because we were live on SKY, a case of 'look at our big signing'. We had a six pointer at home, was it WBA? on the Saturday and Bullards should have been kept in cotton wool for that one, it could even have been his home debut, so for me it was a poor managerial decision by Phil Brown at the time, as was the humilating half time team talk at Manchester City. And to add I disagree that our players were 'a mediocre bunch' at that time.
Hi UP...I too was there that night. I do recall Carlton Cole getting one of their goals. Maybe he got both, and they missed a pen. Or should I say Matt Duke pulled off a worldie. We could have played until midnight and never looked like scoring. Ashbee gave Bullard the 50/50 pass, actually it was more 40/60, though it looked a fair challenge to me, but I was miles away. I do recall walking back to the tube station, after the game, with one D. Pratt who, lets say, wasn't best pleased with Ian Ashbee's contribution. Called him a few choice names. The sit down half-time team talk at Man City occurred during the Christmas fixtures. Many City fans there actually clapped and cheered as Brown went around the team, pointing his finger. In hindsight a terrible humiliating thing to do, and perhaps Horton should have been consulted before he did it. If so I doubt if it would have happened. Spare of the moment decision. With reference to mediocre bunch of players. I wasn't just referring to City, but other clubs as well. Maybe in hindsight City wasn't such a good example and I take that back to some degree.
I remember well the moment I heard the news on RH that we'd signed Bullard. I was over the moon, almost in disbelief that 'little old 'ull' had pulled off such a coup. I thought that was our PL future sealed. How wrong was I. As others have said, utter ****. Fair play to Stephen Hunt. Gave his all on the pitch, later stories have showed that he also tried to help the cause off the pitch too, and always speaks well of us. We had something special for a while with our Irish clan.
He said at a golf tournament in Loughton that he was surprised city signed him for that money and took the risk on him. His doctor had told him that his career was over, so coming to Hull was one last big pay day and he didn't want to destroy his leg completely by running or training too hard... **** for the club, but probably most of us would do the same. Ashbee was in his early 30s(?) and an adult man, so entirely responsible for himself getting dragged down with Bullard at that time...
Don’t get me wrong, I too think Ashbee is 100% responsible for his own actions when Bullard was here. Ash will always be a club legend but he’s a bit of a **** himself as a person.
That is what annoyed me the most, how Bullard seemed to have a bad influence on Ash, also Tom Carney if I remember correctly at the time. He was a total twat.
Probably so. However, that doesn't excuse his acting like a **** whilst the club were paying him a relative fortune. Anyone with anything about them would have at least made a bit of effort to 'give back' (to the squad, the youth, the club, the community, etc). As far as I am aware he did nothing but take the piss. **** (and I really don't like using that word)
