After 20 Premier League games, Hull City sat comfortably in mid-table with relagation seeming totally out of the equation. After 34 games, Hull now find themselves in serious danger of going straight back down to the Championship. Phil Brown's men are now lying 17th, just three points above the drop and with Manchester United and Aston Villa still to come, you would have to fancy them to go down.So when and where did it all go wrong for the Tigers?
Well the simple answer to that would be the 26th of December 2008 at the City of Manchester stadium. After Hull conceded four first half goals against Mark Hughes' Manchester City, Phil Brown decided to humiliate his players by keeping them out on the pitch for the half-time team talk. Hull went on to lose the game 5-1 and since then, they have won just one Premier League game.
At the time Brown said this : "It was the right thing to do, there is no doubt about it. I have got no regrets about it whatsoever. I am fully sure Brown regrets the decision now. It may have seemed like the right thing to do at the time, however his decision has no doubt had a negative affect on the squad.
As much as I would love to say that Hull will avoid the drop, I just can't. With sides like Newcastle and Middlesbrough still below them, I feel it's inevitable that one of those side's will get ahead of Hull. During the opening half of the season, I must admit I really liked Phil Brown's attitude. I thought he was a massive breath of fresh air for the top flight of English football, however as time has gone on his attitude seems to have got worse as his side have slipped down the table.
What do you think? Was this the moment that ruined Hull City's season? Can Hull manage to avoid the drop? Comments below please.
