Stoke City: Beattie could fire bullets to gun down Brown

HULL fans were beginning to look enviously at Stoke City as far back as February, when the then Tigers chairman Paul Duffen appeared on local radio in East Yorkshire.

One texter asked Duffen why Hull hadn't gone for James Beattie from Sheffield United, instead of allowing him to move to Stoke for £3.5 million in the January transfer window.

Duffen replied there was no need, because they had loaned Manucho from Manchester United – and he was better than Beattie.

Hmmmmm. The 26-year-old Angolan striker did score two goals for the Tigers, but made seven substitute appearances and only six Premier League starts.

He was deemed surplus to requirements by Manchester United this summer and is now at Real Valladolid in Spain.

Duffen is also looking for new challenges after resigning last week, having been unable to stop a slide which has left Hull one off the bottom of the Premier League with only eight points from 11 games.

The speculation is that manager Phil Brown could follow him out the door if the Tigers lose to Stoke at the KC Stadium on Sunday.

Brown's future has only been guaranteed up to the Stoke game by new chairman Adam Pearson, whose return to the KC Stadium from Derby County has been interpreted as bad news for Brown.

Brown was close to Duffen, even though it was Pearson who appointed him during a previous period with the Tigers.

However, the new chairman has already spoken about cutting the Hull squad from 36 players to 24 and trimming the £36 million wage bill – hardly a ringing endorsement of the manager's transfer policy.

In Brown's favour is the fact none of the names linked with the job have caught the imagination of home fans.

Alan Curbishley has been mentioned, as has Paul Jewell, who remains friends with Pearson from their time together at Derby.

Hull supporters have largely remained behind their team, particularly the hard core who go to away matches and presumably remember watching the Tigers in League Two only five years ago.

But major discontent was obvious for the first time during Hull's Premier League tenure when, during their last home game – a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth – Brown was bombarded with chants of "You don't know what you're doing".

Brown's hopes of buying more time have been boosted by the news Jimmy Bullard should be available to make his home debut on Sunday, 288 days after signing from Fulham for £5 million.

The 31-year-old is reportedly on £45,000 a week, but has been an expensive spectator since tearing a cruciate ligament in January.

Former Port Vale defender Anthony Gardener should also play, having only started 11 Premier League games because of injuries since his £2.5 million switch from Tottenham in the summer of 2008.

Midfielder Seyi Olofinjana, who signed from Stoke for about £3 million this summer, has yet to impress the Hull fans.

But they have been more critical of Ibrahima Sonko, who is on loan from Stoke until the end of the season, but has failed to settle in the centre of the defence.

Sonko isn't allowed to play against his parent club on Sunday, so centre-halves Gardner and Kamil Zayatte will have the task of handling Stoke's probable strike duo of Beattie and Ricardo Fuller.

Should Beattie add to his nine goals in 26 league games for Stoke, Duffen will have more egg on his face, but Brown could be out of a job.