Brown given another week to save his skin

PHIL BROWN has been given another week to prove he can breathe new life into Hull City by the club’s incoming chairman Adam Pearson.

The Tigers manager held talks with Pearson – who is due to take over from the sacked Paul Duffen today – before and after Saturday’s defeat to Burnley, with his future at the club topping the agenda.

There had been speculation that Pearson had already decided to fire Brown, an increasingly unpopular figure at the KC stadium, as early as this morning but those reports are understood to be mistaken. Instead, Pearson has decided to give Brown Saturday’s home against Stoke City to prove he is still the man to revive the club’s fortunes.

Brown has come in for heavy criticism from City supporters having overseen just three wins from the Tigers’ past 31 games, including this dismal defeat to Burnley, sealed by Graham Alexander’s brace and Geovanni’s harsh red card for two bookable offences. Asked what he thought Pearson, who was watching from the stands at Turf Moor, would have learned from yesterday’s game, he said: “He would have learned that he has a manager that is still at the helm and one that is willing to put his neck on the line for the cause.

“And that he also has a group of players that will do the same for the manager. The players are disappointed, not at themselves, not at me, maybe at something else.”

Confirming he had spoken to Pearson in person, Brown said: “Yes. It was before the game two days ago and before the game yesterday (Friday) and I’ll speak with him again after the game.”

Burnley manager Owen Coyle backed his former Bolton team-mate to show his qualities in the coming days and months. Coyle, who played alongside the then captain Brown at Bolton in the mid-1990s, said: “The last thing Browny will want is sympathy. He’s a personal friend of mine. I’ll see him now when I go back in.

“He was the captain at Bolton and has done a terrific job at Hull and again because he’s raised the bar in terms of expectation that’s the nature of the beast. Hull got into the Premier League and that’s down to him being in charge and bringing them on.”

Brown’s luck was in short supply on Saturday. Geovanni thought he had equalised with a well-struck free-kick mid-way through the second half, only for the goal to be disallowed for an infringement in the wall. Replays suggested the decision was harsh, but that is the way things are going for Brown just now.

REFEREE: Mike Jones (Cheshire) 4: Phil Brown was right to be aggrieved. Some bizarre decisions, not least Hull’s disallowed goal.

MATCH RATING: *** Low on quality but high in incident. Hull’s luck is out.