Most City fans seem to be of the opinion that Tim Walter has “jumped the shark” and that he has mixed himself a cocktail of poor results, a baffling style, some odd selections then stirred it with a dash of fan criticism and there’s no going back. Can I say they are wrong? Probably not. Although the owner hasn’t pulled the trigger as I write, he’s hardly been banging the drum to say he’s not near the end either. Which would suggest Timmy Walts should probably get on Kayak and look at some flights from Manchester back to Germany in the next few days.
Could we all be wrong? Maybe. But if he does make the next game, then anything but a rousing performance in nine days at Luton will surely be the end for the shouty, cap wearing German and right now I don’t think there will be too many tears shed.
Fan wise, critical words aimed at Liam Rosenior on his exit have been miraculously taken back akin to the old Homer going back into the bush meme and the “well I’ll go home and away, love my club me” type posts have been particularly rare on socials of late. All this adds up to an overwhelming sense of apathy and anger in equal measure. The owners don’t tend to like to be seen as the bad guys, so you can’t help but imagine the end is near.
Which made me ponder dear reader. Who ever came back from the dead like T-Waltz needs to do? Who was persona non-grata and then (to quote Dumb and Dumber) “totally redeemed themselves”? Well I’ve documented three so that if Ze Gaffer was looking for hope, might just give him a little helping of it. Stranger things have happened. Just like it did to these folks.
Send your hate tweets to @thelikesofhull on X/Twitter before everyone pops off to Bluesky and I hope you enjoy it.
- Warren Joyce
Warren wasn’t a bad player, he was a centre mid that was fairly combative and when surrounded by some talent (which he was in his early run with us in Windass, Peacock, Linton Brown etc) he was also quite effective. However when we assembled the worst ever team in our history in the 95-98 era he was just another part of the abject failure that we witnessed. To make matter worse he famously celebrated a goal in front of an empty stand rather than with the protesting fans (who had every single right to protest and more) and that was him in the bin for me, and many others.
What followed was quite stunning. He stepped in to run the team as probably the most experienced player when Hateley was finally put in the ejector seat and whining div David Lloyd thankfully fucked off never to be seen again. It looked like your classic caretaker stint, but after the stunning win at Luton Town in the FA Cup, he bought himself a bit of time, and was able to call in the experienced Jon McGovern to help. The new owners including then Tom Belton gave him the ability to bring in a few players and the rest is history.
The Great Escape was more uplifting than young ‘uns these days can understand, not only had we lost any hope to survive in the league, we’d lost a lot of hope we’d survive as a club. Joycey galvanised an unlikely group of lads who gave everyone hope again, who produced basically play off form to get us out of the bottom 2. It was glorious. It was unexpected and it was life affirming. We weren’t dead, we were bigger than anyone thought we were and we were united in the cause again.
Just a year after this the dodgy, tax evading cretins released Warren from his role after a largely inoffensive mid-table season. But the once maligned figure of Warren Joyce wouldn’t ever be seen negatively again. He really did totally redeem himself.
2. Fraizer Campbell
There’s not really a ton of managers that totally redeemed themselves for a reason, for most, when it’s done, it’s done, there’s no going back, no turning things around. I’ve got one more in the locker but even then it’s a one that will split fans..
What won’t split fans is that Fraizer went from loved to hated, to quite like again and that it was quite the journey. I don’t need to regale you with the first stint, the goals, that assist, the endless work rate. I think he’s low key slept on for that first promotion. I think take out Fraizer Campbell and we probably don’t even get into the playoffs at all. He was endless problems for the opposition with his clever distribution, quick pace, counter attacking skill and goals. He was clearly a Premier League talent and very few Champ teams had the answers to him.
That summer he played a kind of contract footsy with City but didn’t commit and ended up as a make weight in the Berbatov deal to Man U, which meant inevitably he was a bench dweller. Well at least he got a good view of Geo’s incredible free kick that season. But it was a wasted year for him. City reportedly bid for him in that summer and again the next but both times young Fraizer chose other deals and he joined pink seated, blue drink consumers Sunderland following his Spurs stint, clearly not based on the nightlife or local sightseeing tours.
Listen this happens in football but FC then seemed to double down by being a prized bell end on the pitch against us. Never clearer than when he jumped on the back of a non celebrating and respectful Michael Turner when he scored against us and then sought the home fans out after scoring for Cardiff in what would be a promotion decider years later. Were City fans a tad sensitive? Maybe, but like a wrestling heel, Fraizer seemed to absolutely be delighted to poke the bear of our fan base. And boy did they let him know in return.
Then the unlikely return, in 2017 Fraizer signed a two year deal with City again. He wasn’t quite the same player he once was, but his work rate and passion had not diminished. He was a great role model for the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Harry Wilson and he chipped in with several key goals. It wasn’t a particularly good time to be a City fan and I felt there was comfort in watching the returning former prodigy. He felt like he’d come home, and the City fans took him back into their hearts. Full redemption? Maybe not quite, but by the time he quietly exited two years later, he did so on infinitely better terms than when he first left.
3. Grant McCann
I did say the last one would split you.
But the very fact there’s a split tells you how far he came. Grant McCann was every bit as despised as Terry Dolan, with his argumentative approach to interviews, his rigidity in his style and seeming inability to reflect upon any of his own contributions to the single biggest mid season collapse we ever witnessed.
Again I’m not going to tell you a very recent history lesson as it’s pretty fresh in the memory, but probably only Covid and the restrictions that came with it kept him safe out and about around Hull. Such was the level of anger about the humiliating end to the 2019-20 season. Even now I’ll have a couple of people pop up on the Twitter feed to say how he didn’t do anything to turn things round at all, but I think personally that misses the point.
We weren’t more than third or fourth favourites to go up in 2020-21 but we won the title and did it in the most surreal of circumstances. City were a source of hope and happiness where society had none and I for one won’t forget the positivity it brought me during the hardest of times. Players emerged from the title win like George Honeyman, Lewie Coyle and Keane Lewis Potter that would put a smile on anyone’s face even now, the players as much as Grant McCann also redeemed themselves that year.
I think that he also made a much better fist of the Championship the second time around and we were safely in lower mid-table when the new owners chose to go with their new man. We were no longer the hot mess we were just two years later. I almost enjoy the fact that it was someone so unlikely that delivered our first league title win in some forty years. It serves as a reminder that even in the most unlikely of circumstances, people can redeem themselves and be remembered in a different light. I told people in this off season Donny would go up, and I think they will. World class gaffer? Maybe not, but I think he significantly redeemed what would have been an utterly horrendous legacy with the eighteen months that followed.
Thanks for reading, keep the faith everyone. UTT.