What Adam Pearson's Return Means to Phil Brown and Hull City

Carolina Tiger — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:31:19 -0500

It's been three weeks now since Paul Duffen resigned from his position as chairman of Hull City, following the release of the club's finances. In his place came Adam Pearson, seen as a returning messiah by many fans.

Pearson is the man who turned around the Tigers' fortunes and dragged the club into the 21st Century with its head held high. Prior to his arrival, the club had languished as perennial underachievers for much of its long history, lurching from one disastrous situation to another with a few high spots along the way.

Pearson bought the club for next to nothing in 2001 and helped orchestrate the move from the crumbling and dilapidated Boothferry Park to the shinny new all-seater Kingston Communications Stadium.

Pearson wasn't afraid to wield the axe if he thought a manager wasn't working out right, as Brian Little found out after he was sacked despite taking the Tigers to the Third Division playoffs—an action Pearson would go on record that he regretted for not giving Little more time.

However, after some faltering steps in the early days, Pearson found his grove, and so did the Tigers under manager Peter Taylor. Pearson was loyal and hardworking, helping to forge an excellent working relationship with Taylor that allowed the club to gain back-to-back promotions, leaving the Tigers in the Championship.

However, despite this, Taylor expressed interest in pastures new at his old club, Crystal Palace. Pearson felt betrayed and let Taylor know this, ultimately leading to Taylor leaving the club that had restore his reputation in the game.

After another failed managerial appointment in the form of Phil Parkinson, Pearson appointed Phil Brown as Parkinson's assistant to give him some experience to help guide him.

During this period Pearson saw that he had taken the Tigers as far as he could. He didn't have the financial backing to make a real and sustainable push from Championship relegation battlers unless he could get more money into the club.

He managed to do this in the form of Russell Bartlett, who had looked at buying West Ham but had found the asking price too high. So it was that Pearson sold Hull City to Bartlett for £10 million.

His last act before handing over the reigns to new Chairman Paul Duffen was to promote Brown from assistant to Hull City's full-time manager.

The new regime helped to bring about the unthinkable for Hull City fans, promotion to the Premiership, and survival for another season. However, after all of Pearson's prudence and emphasis on financial sustainability, that soon disappeared under Duffen's tenure.

So after a fantastic 2008, the year 2009 was a complete disaster, culminating in the return of Pearson this month, but where does that leave Brown?

Pearson was in discussions with Bartlett about taking the executive chairman's position prior to the away fixture at Turf Moor, Burnley, and was in the director's box watching the display. Unfortunately for the Tigers, despite a valiant and spirited display, they were undone by a shocking display form the ref.

However, the performance from Brown's Tigers was enough for Pearson to let Brown keep his job, at least for another week. Stoke City traveled to the KC the following week, and Brown's players did not disappoint. An emphatic display from the team, led by fit again Jimmy Bullard, saw Hull control the game for all most all of the 90 minutes, beating the Potters 2-1.

The last two performances have left Pearson with a reasonably easy scenario to handle. Brown's handling of the team and the performances have meant that Pearson can leave well alone and concentrate on getting the club back on the right financial track.

It also appears that he has told Brown to control his media appearances. Prior to Pearson's return, Brown has had a number of foot-in-mouth situations that have left the club as the hunting ground for the story-hungry media.

The handling of the media after the Stoke City victory by the club's assistant manager, Brian Horton, would appear to be the result of Pearson's direct interjection. This will allow Brown to focus his attention on the team and take the target off his back that the media have firmly attached.

If the result of the Stoke game had been different, or at least the display had been as lacklustre as some of the club's recent outings, then Pearson would have had to have addressed Brown's recent failings on the field. There have been rumours circulating that Darren Ferguson left Peterborough because of interest from the Tigers.

This rumour seems hard to believe. When Pearson appointed Parkinson after the debacle of Peter Taylor's switch to Crystal Palace, Pearson set his standard to a new up-and-coming manager that was supposed to be the one to take the club to the next level. That didn't happen, and it would seem quite hard to believe that he would let lightning strike twice.

Pearson has not been in charge very long, and it is still too soon to say whether he will stick with Brown as manager in the long term, but the Tigers have an overbloated roster either way. However, the players that are available if fully fit are more than capable of keeping the club in the Premiership, and Pearson knows this.

He also knows that you don't become a bad manager overnight. By making Brown take more of a back seat at press conferences and post-match interviews, he can concentrate on the team's on-field actions. It will once again allow the name of Hull City to be on the forefront, not Phil Brown's.

Ultimately, it does not matter what happens behind the scenes with the new regime. For Brown and Hull City's survival, it is vitally important that the players remain fully fit and the performances on the field remain 100 percent committed.

If that happens, Adam Pearson, Phil Brown, and Hull City fans will be happy.

Read more Hull City news on BleacherReport.com

Hull City Go to the World Cup

Carolina Tiger — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:25:17 -0500

When I was a kid watching the Tigers, there was not much to cheer for in the way of Hull City players in the World Cup finals. The Tigers' teams were usually made up of low-level British players with no chance of anyone playing for Scotland or Eire, let alone England.

The Tigers have had some England and Scottish internationals, but usually after they have finished their international careers—most notably Hull City legend Raich Carter, who played for England in the post-war years. However, when he was leading the Tigers as our player-manager, his international career was a thing of the past.

Our most high profile internationals of recent history are Theodore Whitmore and Ian Goodison, who sprung to fame after representing Jamaica's "Reggae Boyz" at France 1998, a year before joining Hull City. Unfortunately they weren't Tigers at the time of the Reggae Boyz' finest hour.

However, we would on occasion have current Welsh internationals or Northern Ireland internationals, but nobody that actually played during a World Cup finals. The only player that springs to mind as a Hull City player to actually be a currently serving player during a World Cup is Manuel Rui Marques .

Rui Marques was on loan with the Tigers from Leeds United when he represented Angola in the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany. With the South Africa 2010 World Cup Finals, the Tigers actually have currently serving players that will be ever present in their national teams.

From the current squad, the Tigers have Jozy Altidore representing the United States of America, Richard Garcia of Australia and Seyi Olofinjana from Nigeria, but there is still the possibility that Algeria's Kamel Ghilas could make the World Cup finals if they can beat Egypt in a playoff game.

The club's Republic of Ireland trifecta of Kevin Kilbane, Stephen Hunt and Paul McShane will have to overcome the loss to international giant France when they play them in Paris to qualify for South Africa.

Hull City's current squad of players is a far cry from the championship playoff winning squad of two years ago that had only two known British players in Jay Jay Okocha and Richard Garcia. Currently the club has players from 16 different nations and from every continent.

How things change in football. It is a testament to the international nature of the English Premiership that clubs need to scour the globe for players to stay in the World's favourite league.

So too for the Tigers, who will have a few representatives in the World's favourite football competition—the World Cup—for the first time in the club's history.

Read more Hull City news on BleacherReport.com

Bleacher Report - Hull City

What Adam Pearson's Return Means to Phil Brown and Hull City

Hull City Go to the World Cup