Hull City’s first Premier League manager no longer holds that position. While his departure may bring relief to some,  there is nonetheless great sadness that it has ended this way. Looking beyond recent frustrations, consider Phil Brown’s achievements… In his first six months he saved us from relegation, the next year he achieved what many City fans thought would never be achieved, promotion to the Premier League, via a first ever trip to the national stadium. In our inaugural Premier League campaign we grabbed the world’s attention, fearlessly taking on some of the global game’s biggest teams.

Sure, the latter half of the season proved gut wrenching as we fought the drop, but ultimately we retained top tier status despite being tipped by the majority of pundits to make Derby’s record low season long points tally look relatively respectable. All of these things happened on Phil Brown’s watch, and though the media will recall the permatan, the public team talk and karaoke, ultimately we will remember helping relegate Leeds, Wembley, winning at the Emirates and mixing it with the big boys. When the dust settles, history will remember Phil Brown’s tenure at Hull City favourably.

Here we consider the highs and lows of Brown Phil’s reign, noting the defining games, words and looks of the most successful manager in Tigers history.

Defining games

Cardiff 0 Tigers 1, 28th April 2007
The game that secured Phil Brown the permanent job after replacing Phil Parkinson on an interim basis. City were strong candidates for relegation from the Championship when he arrived, at one point propping up the second tier, but Brown engineered a remarkable turnaround. He did what Peter Taylor had stubbornly refused to do and brought Dean Windass home, and the loan move paid handsome dividends. Deano fired in 8 goals, including the winner at Ninian Park that effectively guaranteed survival and condemned Leeds to the drop. Brown wasn’t confirmed permanent manager for another month, but after this game a new contract was just a formality.

Tigers 1 Bristol City 0, 24th May 2008
A year later and Brown had gone from keeping us up to taking us up, making history as the manager who took the Tigers into the top flight for the first time in 104 years. Once again he owed much to Dean Windass, who fired in the play off final winner at Wembley, but Brown’s most important move of 2007/2008 was the loan signing of the man who set up Deano’s volleyed goal, Fraizer Campbell. Regardless of recent frustrations, Phil Brown will always be remembered as the man who masterminded City’s ascent to the Premier League, and gave 40,000 Hullensians an unforgettable day out at Wembley.

Arsenal 1 Tigers 2, 27th September 2008
The concept of City being in the Premier League was surreal enough, but the sight of City beating Arsenal on their own patch truly warped the boundaries of reality. Brown’s decision to play three up front and take the game to the Gunners proved that there is a fine line that divides genius and lunacy. The Tiger Nation was still marvelling at Geovanni’s stunning equaliser when Daniel Cousin headed us in front, setting up a frantic finale that saw City cling on to perhaps the most improbable scoreline in club history.

Manchester City 5 Tigers 1. 26th December 2008
The tabloid press claim this was the point it all went wrong for City in 2008/2009, ignoring the 4-1 home defeat to Sunderland a week earlier, but Boxing Day was pivotal, it was when the tabloid press turned on Phil Brown. Three months previous he was hailed a tactical genius, but now he was a buffoon, and his decision to conduct the halftime team talk on the Eastlands pitch was and still is incessantly scorned by pundits. Several players have since stated that the public dressing down wasn’t a significant factor in our slide down the table, but it gave the media a convenient visual cliché of decline.

Tigers 0 Manchester United 1, 24th May 2009
Even though Manchester United were resting key players for the Champions League final, a favourable result against the newly crowned Premier League champions’ reserves was always unlikely. City needed to at least match Newcastle’s last day result to remain in the Premier League, and thankfully the Geordies went down 1-0 to Aston Villa, rendering our same score defeat by United’s kids immaterial. Keeping Hull City in the Premier League was a remarkable achievement and naturally warranted much rejoicing, though the media chose not to see it that way and lampooned Phil Brown for his celebratory karaoke. He was right though, this was the best trip we’d ever been on.

Tigers 0 Portsmouth 0, 24th October 2009
The Tiger Nation had been remarkably patient with Phil Brown during a period that saw City win just three games in 32 matches. However an uninspired and more worryingly unambitious performance in a 0-0 draw with bottom side Portsmouth (arguably the poorest Premier League game ever played) prompted vocalised derision from some of the KC Stadium crowd. For the first time it was clear that Phil Brown was losing support in the stands.

Tigers 1 Arsenal 2, 13th March 2010
A win against Stoke on Remembrance Sunday bought him time with the returning Adam Pearson, and in February improbable back to back home results, a 1-1  draw with Chelsea and a 2-1 win over Manchester City, looked to have turned our season around. However, a disastrous run of four defeats left us 19th with 9 games left and proved Brown’s undoing. It wasn’t so much the performance against Arsenal that led to his departure, the lads put in a spirited shift and were slightly hard done by to not get a point, but another loss combined with feeble showings at Blackburn, West Ham and Everton evidently convinced the chairman that he wasn’t the man to keep us up a second year running.

Defining words

“I’m sure the chairman will make a decision sooner rather than later for everybody’s sake, I do want the job. It’s a great football club and a great opportunity for me.” 31st December 2006.  Making it clear he wants his spell as interim manager to become permanent as he takes over from Phil Parkinson.“

The whole Championship was looking at this game and we have disappointed everybody outside of Hull.” 18th March 2008. On City’s 3-1 win at Colchester which near guaranteed a play-off place.“

Success is a journey and not a destination and we’ve got a long way to go before we’re an established Premier League club but we gone to Wembley for the first time and we’ve managed to win.” 26th May 2008. Reflecting on promotion to the Premier League at the civic parade.

“Of course, you always worry about it going tits up. Then again, there was no expectation of us doing anything this season. We were the no-hopers just up for a brief visit. A magical mystery tour to Old Trafford, the Emirates and Anfield and then back to where we belonged. Now they say we’ve caught six out of seven sides at just the right time. Long may it continue!” 9th October 2008 Talking to The Sun after back to back wins in North London.“

It’s one step at a time. I’m not saying I should be the next England manager by any stretch of the imagination. But that was one of my ambitions as a 36-year-old, and at 49 it’s still one of my ambitions.” October 2008. City’s phenomenal start to the season generated ‘future England boss’ speculation.“

“I am proud and I am frustrated. I was disappointed at the way we conceded the goals. We threw everything at them. We gave them too much respect in the first half. It became feisty in the second half. I like that. We nearly embarrassed them.” 1st November 2008. Assessing the 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford.“

The first half performance wasn’t acceptable and I’m sure the fans realised that. I wasn’t being clever, but the fans needed to see that something was being done about it.” 26th December 2008. On the half-time team talk on the pitch at Eastlands.

“We’ve not been beaten by Arsenal, we’ve been beaten by the referee and the linesman. Mike Riley wouldn’t have the faintest idea how much that will cost us.” 17th March 2008. On the clearly offside winner that knocked City out of the FA Cup. He was fined £2,500 for that.

Brown Phil’s brown shoes
“Shoes? I’ve got 40 or 50 pairs – it’s terrible” Phil Brown once told the Hull Daily Mail. His best known pair are the, ahem, tan Oxfords he wore throughout the 2007-2008 promotion season. With black suits. Yes, yes, I know.

Err…naked
When Football League sponsors Coca Cola launched their ‘Buy a Player’ initiative, Phil Brown somewhat unwisely said he’d bare all if City fans raised over £100,000 by texting codes on Coke bottle wrappers to grab a slice of a £10M kitty for their club. Tiger Nationals raised £256, 000 and Brown kept his word, appearing sans-clothes  in City magazine, though a size 5 ball spared us the sight of the manager’s leathery nads and wanger.

Man with a tan
The media have an obsession with Phil Brown’s skin colouring, barely an article about the man is published without some reference to the ‘permatan’. It’s not just the red tops either, the supposedly quality broadsheets think it’s an essential prefix to Phil Brown’s name, the above depiction of Brown as Willy Wonka blending in with orange  skinned Oompa Loompas featured on the Guardian’s website. The man himself felt the need to defend his pigmentation, insisting he’s never been on a sunbed in his life, though Paul Duffen went a step too far when he opined that constant tan references “bordered on racism”. The knave.

Bearded brilliance
Grown in September 2008 to raise funds and awareness for testicular cancer charity Everyman (following goalkeeper Matt Duke’s battle with the disease), Brown’s goatee was sported during City’s phenomenal run of early season form. Some suggested it’s disappearance had a Samson-without-long-hair style effect on results, others used it as something else to have a pop about, such as the Independent’s Sam Wallace who described the facial hair as “laudable in its intentions but not really in keeping with the seriousness required for the job”. Meff.

Telesales headset
Only NFL head coaches have more conspicuous headsets in pro sports than those worn by Phil Brown and Brian Horton. After his rant about Cesc Fabregas’s post match behaviour, Mike Norrish of the Telegraph wrote: “Research has suggested that hands-free kits help users avoid the potentially mind-frying affects of mobile phone radiation. And if that’s true, then we’ll have to find another reason for Phil Brown’s post-match performance at the Emirates.”

Real men wear pink
The day after City’s season opening defeat at Chelsea, Phil Brown appeared on the Goals on Sunday sofa wearing this, err, attractive pink sweater. Actually, ‘wearing’ is stretching the meaning of the word, it was draped over his shoulders. There really is no defending that, Phil.