He was the best manager Hull City had ever had. He saved them from relegation to League One (the old Third Division) and then, incredibly, took them to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history- where even more incredibly they reached the top three in the first half of the season. This season, despite a tough run of fixtures at the turn of the year, Phil Brown’s Hull had still managed to beat Man City and hold Chelsea. But after a last gasp defeat at home to Arsenal in March, Brown was sacked. At the time, Hull were by no means relegation certainties. His successor, Iain Dowie, a man who has flopped at most clubs he’s been with, won just one game out of nine (against a Fulham team going through the motions) and on Saturday- after their third successive home defeat, Hull were relegated.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of a worse decision in English football this year than the sacking of Phil Brown and his replacement by Iain Dowie.
And guess what, Brown may return as Hull manager. It’s a bit late now, Mr Pearson.
3 comments:
I agree with you. Hull had a good chance of staying up when Brown was still there (he may have got them two victories against the easy opposition that they have had under Dowie). Brown was hounded from the word go when he came into the Premiership, partly because he isn't a spin doctor, partly because he is too 'ordinary', so the media picked on him and tore him to shreds.
Dowie has to be one of the worst managers around; he talks a lot of fluffy nonsense, but has no idea what he's doing.
Hi Olching, good to hear from you.
i agree about Dowie- but the media seem to love him, regardless of how many times he flops. Brown by contrast, didn't get an easy ride from the media at all, they were eager to bring him down a peg.
I'm sure Brown wouldn't have lost 4-1 at home to Burnley, as Dowie did. That result was unforgiveable, given Burnley's terrible away record. And I think Brown would have picked up points in the vital home matches against Villa and Sunderland. You could see Brown's Hull drawing with Villa and beating Sunderland. Hull's home record under Brown was very solid this season- they beat Man City, held Chelsea- a great performance- and only lost to Arsenal 2-1 to a very late goal. Brown had some very tough fixtures to negotiate at the turn of the year but despite that, he kept Hull in contention. Dowie had some easy games, as you say, and only won one of them, and got a 0-0 draw at Birmingham, when a more adventurous approach could have brought a vital three points.
As I read your football post, I look forward to the World Cup. The USA simply can't do any worse than it did four years ago, unless it scores a number of own goals. While I'll be cheering for the USA when they play England, I may not be watching too closely.
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