Al fresco coaching
Hull City’s high-flying players should have stayed in bed on Boxing Day. Instead they travelled to Manchester for a Premier League match against City and found themselves trailing 4-0 at half-time. Manager Phil Brown decided that a bit of public-performance coaching was the best way to get his side back on track.
With Brown wearing his customary match-day headset, the scene was reminiscent of a motivational meeting in a call centre. Credit where it’s due, though. The on-pitch team talk seemed to sharpen minds. Hull were much-improved during the last 45 minutes, scoring one and conceding one. Of course, that still amounts to a 5-1 thrashing. But as a damage limitation exercise, the finger-wagging public ticking off Brown gave his players worked.