Footy Speak

Forget Chelsea vs United on the pitch – a game which both teams seemed happy to draw until a dodgy set-piece – there were far more entertaining matters taking place off the pitch.

Just what is this guy playing at?!

The return of Adam Pearson as chairman at Hull City sparked some head-scratching news this week, as the cash-strapped Tigers were outed big time for their shoddy business sense.

Pearson announced his surprise that the club earned just £2.8m from the summer sale of star defender Michael Turner, who was valued at over £10m at the time. Sunderland paid £4m for the centre-half, with his previous clubs Brentford and Charlton receiving a share of £1.2m in sell-on payments.

Turner has been in excellent form for the Black Cats this season, whilst Hull have severely missed his presence, leading to bemusement at how such a player could leave for a paltry fee. It can be said that the player wanted to leave, yet Sunderland aren’t renowned for being particularly frugal; it’s not just Pearson who finds it bizarre that Hull couldn’t extract more money for their prized asset.

Rumours are spreading across the net that Hull have ditched manager Phil Brown.

Sky Sports’ roaming reporter Andy Burton broke the news on his Twitter page earlier this afternoon, with the tweet:

“Think Phil Brown has left Hull. To be confirmed though…”

Now the Daily Mail are onto it, as betting sites suspend their manager markets in fear of fans cashing in on Mr. Fake Bake’s potential demise…

Just when the 2008 FA Cup winners thought it couldn’t get much worse, the Premier League authorities stick the boot in further.

Paul Hart was hoping to sign free agent Eugen Bopp today (yes, I know) but the League have intervened as the south-coast club still owe transfer fees to fellow Premier League outfits. The club are now banned from signing any players until the matter is resolved. Pompey currently sit in bottom place with one victory in 10 matches.

“We can confirm that there is an embargo on Portsmouth registering any new players,” said Premier League spokesman Dan Johnson.

“This concerns unpaid money to other clubs and it is in the process of being sorted,” confirmed club spokesman Gary Double. “We are confident the situation will be sorted by the end of the week.”

The transfers involved are believed to be Lassana Diarra’s move from Arsenal in January 2008 and Glen Johnson’s signing from Chelsea in August 2007.

Both players have since left the club, Diarra moving to Real Madrid and Johnson to Liverpool.