Could this really be Phil Brown’s swansong as Hull City manager? The Tigers travel to Burnley tomorrow with much word spreading that the manager and his array of idiosyncrasies will be on their bike afterwards.

Although some sources report that only a “substantial” victory at Turf Moor will give Brown hope of clinging on to the role he has held for almost three years, it seems likely that the new executive chairman, the worst-kept secret that is Adam Pearson, will dismiss the City boss on Monday morning even if City score five, keep a clean sheet and get a first Premier League goal out of Dean Marney.

Nonetheless, one hopes that his charges achieve the substantial victory Brown apparently needs, not least because with or without a new manager the Tigers are in considerable bother as they travel to a side playing fearlessly and pretty much within the image of City a year ago. The strife has been hindered further by the news that Boaz Myhill is out with a medial ligament injury which he suffered in the dying seconds of last week’s abysmal goalless draw against Portsmouth. Matt Duke is likely to deputise.

Jimmy Bullard seems to have a thousand things wrong with him – from his dodgy knee playing up to shin gashes, from facial injuries suffered in a bout of fisticuffs to mental strains – and therefore it would be of no surprise at all if he is unavailable. The rest of the side is likely to change little, although Kamel Ghilas surely deserves a start on the simple grounds that he is better than anyone else, fit and seemingly willing to try a bit.

City’s last three visits to Turf Moor were memorable – a 1-0 win in Brown’s first full season thanks to Michael Turner’s late, late, oh so late goal; a gruesome 2-0 defeat under Phil Parkinson notable only for the final appearance of Alton Thelwell; and a 1-0 loss on a Friday night in Peter Taylor’s last season which mainly sticks in the memory for the Tiger Nation’s rousing chorus of “you can stick your f**king cameras up your arse” as the of-its-time Sky curse struck City again. We’ll let others remind you of the promotion-that-never-was trip in 1984. And events on Monday may make yet another trip to Burnley go down in club history…

A big one, this. Incontestably so. Phil Brown has suggested it’s “not a must win game“, and on balance he’s probably right – though draws at home to fellow strugglers cannot be viewed as particularly outstanding results. What seems certain is that defeat will lead to widespread querying of the manager’s position.

At least some of the omens are good. Jimmy Bullard is reportedly fit to make his first start for the Tigers, while captain Nick Barmby and perma-week-away Anthony Gardner could provide timely returns to fitness. Their class and experience were sorely missed during the miserable capitulation at Fulham on Monday night.

Portsmouth, bottom of the league despite reputedly playing better than their results suggest, will be without the banned Michael Brown and the injured trio of Papa Bouba Diop, Herman Hreidarsson and Richard Hughes. Their only points of the season came in a 1-0 win at Wolves – their other eight games have all been lost.

However, if we’re looking for brightness amid the gloom, one is that City’s home form has shown signs of being better than last season’s catastrophic record at the Circle. Should the Tigers beat Portsmouth in Hull for the first time since 1980 it’d read three wins from five, a very useful opening to the season.

All games at all levels are important, of course. Seasons rarely pivot on a single game played before the clocks go back. But tomorrow will offer plenty of clues about how 2009/10 is going to turn out. We await it eagerly…and not without nerves.