It doesn’t give me much pleasure to write this blog. As I’m sure a lot of you will have felt the similar pain Friday night. I hope Tim Walter turns it around, I really do, but if (and it’s a fairly big if) he loses two or three more on the bounce, we all know he’s bang in trouble. The biggest two problems for me are that 1. We just don’t really look enough like scoring and 2. We are exposing ourselves into very avoidable counter attack positions, with seemingly very little upside in return. I’m also not sure a “big man” like Bedia up top is going to work either, with the other players and style it doesn’t (albeit at this early stage) seem like a match to me. I think we need a Craig Fagan type, a hunter of lost causes, pressing and running and being relentless. The culture change seems to have been big and I think perhaps there’s not a total buy in to TW’s philosophy at present…but as I often say here… I’m just a fan. I hope the bigger picture is that Walter now has something like the squad he wanted and it begins to take shape. He’s a likeable man, and there’s signs it’s getting there sometimes, however the fact by far our best player has been our right back (as much as I adore Lewie) isn’t a great sign. We look like an admirable runner up, which in the Championship can quickly hurt you. Alfie Gilchrist’s horrendous challenge was screaming for a “Honeyman” to get hold of him and entice the obvious red card. Walter went mad, Kasey Palmer had a moan, that was it. This isn’t the league to be either passive or naive in, and right now, we look both.
Anywho… whilst I was wondering about how long Timmy boy has left unless we pick up some big wins, it made me look at other times we’ve pressed the ejector seat before or around the end of the calendar year (during my fandom) and if it was fair, or if it lead to better things… I hope you enjoy it and as ever, send all your hate tweets to @thelikesofhull on Twitter.
Colin Appleton (October 1989, 16 games in)
Never go back…
There’s been a few players that defy that rule (Peter Skipper, Keith Edwards, Dean Windass) but no modern manager. By the time Colin Appleton came back to the club in May of 1989, so much had changed. The feel good era of 1982-85 was long past and he didn’t have the same sort of young squad who were eager to climb the leagues. Don Robinson had drummed out the brilliant Brian Horton who then wouldn’t come back after his buyers remorse and Eddie Gray proved to be no more than a sticking patch over a growing wound.
Don turned to his old friend that had overseen the first revolution after he had taken over in 1982, probably yearning for those days when anything seemed possible. After leaving City in 1984, after missing out on promotion by goal difference to the second tier, Appleton had a short stint in Swansea where he couldn’t turn around their demise and only lasted 18 games. He later went to Exeter City.
It would very much mirror the Swansea failure again five years later, zero wins in the league and one miserly league cup win later Don pulled the trigger on Colin. It was a wretched start to the season, with a string of draws (sounds familiar) and several tight defeats, some offered hope (a notable 1-1 draw against West Ham) whereas others were somewhat embarrassing like losing to Bournemouth away and being dumped out of the league cup by Grimsby Town.
Did it work?
In a word yes. In came chain smoking, tea cup chucking lunatic Stan Ternant, and City had a surge straight away, beating Bradford away and then winning 4 in a row across the festive period. When the wobbles set in again a remarkable run of six wins out of seven in April and May got us over the line. Probably an underrated turnaround, perhaps forgotten as Ternant would not repeat the feat, his awful start to the next season was to follow.
Mark Hateley (November 1998 18 league games in)
PLC. Please leave club.
Hateley wasn’t just an astonishing failure as City manager, he actually did it by spending more than the average Division 4 manager, not least on himself (who he put on penalties as he had a goal bonus) and several of his friends or contacts from Scotland who he brought in. Sure, it wasn’t all roses in the garden, but we genuinely had no right being quite as bad as we were.
Take stock for a moment that we had David Brown, who was a good finisher at that level, Neil Mann, who was arguably the best left sided player in the league, David D’Auria who had been Scunthorpe’s best midfielder for several years, Mike Edwards, Mark Greaves, the underrated Brian McGinty… we weren’t THAT bad. And boy… were we bad.
3 wins in his first 18 league games, featured a miracle to beat Peterborough at home 1-0 (they battered us in every aspect but the score) and a similarly iffy 2-1 away win at fellow spudguns Scarborough in a game the weather won in reality. His contract terms and the lazy arrogance of tennis prat David Lloyd were the only reason he survived a turgid and embarrassing season one, so the bullet was well and truly overdue by the November of season two.
Did it work?
Did it ever! Warren Joyce was transformed from empty stand celebrating Dolan-ite, to miracle worker and he brought in some heavyweight scrappers. Add the names we had to the likes of Jon Whitney, Gary Brabin, Andy Oakes and Colin Alcide and we essentially assaulted our way to safety. Just one loss from March 13th to the 1st of May would occur and by the time we beat Torquay and a very tubby and tired Neville Southall in the game before last, we were already safe. New owners the Sheffield Stealers were still seen as lovely people and we prepared for our imminent promotion the next season (mmm…)
Jan Molby (October 2002, 12 league games in)
Bye bye belly boy.
This was a strange one and a tenure which still confuses me now. On one hand Molby brought in some good players (Elliott, Green and Ashbee) he also brought in some shockers (Greg Strong anyone? Or the perma-crocked Richard Appleby) and he was another great example of not being impressed by a manager, just because they paggered us. (which he did with aplomb the year before for Kidderminster)
It just felt snake bitten, from the opening day last minute equaliser we let in against Southend, (after Ash was sent off on his debut) to the inevitable final loss against his old club, nothing seemed quite right. There was the odd flash (Shaun Smith’s wonder free kick leading us to a win at Cambridge United) but again, it has to be said, we had a ton, a real ton of talent and two wins in twelve was woeful.
Players would later talk about the big Dane’s arrogance and lack of people skills, whilst his radio interviews did leave a major clue about his character. City fans used to the honesty and humility of Brian Little did not get the same treatment from the chip munching, medal flasher. Adam Pearson had seen enough come October and off he went.
Did it work?
Yes and no. Peter Taylor wasn’t an instant success and we didn’t march up the table to any great degree (13th was about right) but he would already have the foundations in place for the success we’d see in the next two seasons. Delaney, Burgess, Walters etc were ready.
Phil Parkinson (December 2006, 21 league games in)
Ice baths weren’t nice baths.
A little like Molby, Parky got the green light because Colchester looked really good against City. A little like Molby, this wasn’t an indication he could do the same with us. Parkinson did carry the cross of taking over a very well liked manager in Peter Taylor, who had gathered a strong squad, but maybe also some strong characters, who weren’t fans of Phil Parkinson and his fitness and training methods.
Whether it was top level players like Barmby, or more traditional EFL lads like Ashbee or Parkin, they weren’t mad for ice baths or diets, and the 4 wins in twenty one reflected this. Again you could point to some good recruitment (Forster, Ricketts and Turner) but if you ever wanted to see a team that weren’t playing for their manager, seek out Colchester United 5 Hull City 1. It could and should have been 10, and the players simply downed tools and refused to do what Parkinson wanted. Craig Fagan came to apologise, Bo Myhill turned to the fans as he ignored an unmarked full back in space for the fifth time to say “I’m sorry, it’s what I’m told to do”
One more paggering by Southampton at home was enough, Parky was out at the start of December. He’s gone on to do some good things since, (promoted at Bradford and Wrexham twice) but also players have spoken about a slippery exterior to him, that’s difficult to warm to.
Did it work?
Yes, absolutely. Phil Brown took over (some might say he did an inside job getting the job in the first place) kept us up against all odds, re-signed Dean Windass, who scored at Cardiff second to last game, to secure survival, sending a small club in North Yorkshire to a level that suited them more.
Leonid Slutsky (December 2017, 20 league games in)
From Russia with losses.
Poor old Lenny. He loved Hull bless him and I’m not sure that many people could have turned around the loony bin we were in 2017. Relegation the year before, a fanbase full of anger and frustration and an ownership tone deaf to their cries.
Everyone that could be sold was (Robertson, Maguire and Clucas most notably) and in a slight defence of the club, plenty was spent to replace them (decent money spent on Nouha Dicko, Jon Toral, Jackson Irvine, Kevin Stewart etc). It just wasn’t happening. There were some fun wins (6-1 at home to Birmingham, 4-1 at home to Burton) but the expectation of play-offs was nowhere near at all. And despite an equaliser deep into injury time by Old Snakey Dawson at Massive Wednesday, the writing was on the wall. Fun Lenny would only see one Hull fair, lovely guy, but maybe not the man for what was a huge job.
Did it work?
I mean… yes to be honest. Nigel Adkins might have been about as unsexy an appointment as you could imagine, but he brought a stoic quality to what had been a very lightweight team. We’d sit comfy in eighteenth, despite shipping a whopping seventy goals, that’s also what we scored. It wasn’t a great long term vision though and delayed our inevitable demise by a year or two.
Shota Arveladze (September 2022, 11 games)
Shota to pieces.
Shota wasn’t the right man. A nice man? Probably? But he was comfortable for the new owners, as they knew him and his appointment meant that they were probably recruiting rather than him. He did ok after Grant McCann had gone and we stayed up easily. The new owners kick was in and Mr Lewis Potter was too much for anyone who wasn’t top Champ class in that run in.
Many many changes later and the 2022-23 season saw great expectations. A little like Hateley many moons before Shota’s wins were a tad on the fortuitous side. A late deflected beat Bristol City, and both Norwich and Coventry would feel short changed in tight wins that City pulled off.
Speaking of “off” at this point, that’s where the wheels went. We made QPR look like they had Pep as coach in a shambolic 3-1 loss, got bullied by Sheffield United at home 2-0 and then on Sky the worst was to come. Swansea were given goals like we’d began some sort of championship charity to save other teams and 3-0 flattered us.
Shota got the old shepherd’s crook after a 2-0 defeat at home to Luton and that was that. Lovely fella, but in all realities, out of his depth at all levels.
Did it work?
Yep. Liam Rosenior came in, sorted the leaky defence, took us to mid-table and galvanised the fan base once again. We weren’t necessarily super exiting, but we were extremely competent and no longer tried to play like Bobby Moore’s allied team in escape to victory.
Conclusion.
More cases of it being successful than not, pulling the trigger whilst the leaves fall historically. Timmy boy needs a win or two and soon, or I could be writing an appendix to this next year. Football really isn’t fair at times, in gaffers like Parkinson and Slutsky, we had some proven and established talent. It just doesn’t mean that it’s going to work I’m afraid. Timing is the biggest factor.
Let’s hope it ends well this time.
Thanks for reading UTT.