Welcome to hell, sorry Hull.

"We lived the dream”

Is what former Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale now rather infamously stated as his Elland Road empire crumbled around him. We’ve all heard the stories of the expensive pet fish in the office and Seth Johnson’s ridiculous wages but the long and short of it was that Leeds borrowed too much money and built up too high a wage bill, with no guarantee of funds to service the debt let alone pay it off.

Their dramatic decline should have been seen as a lesson to other clubs thinking of putting that next big transfer on the plastic. In this time of austerity, sensible fiscal management is the order of the day.

Adam Pearson seems like the sort of chairman who would follow such a policy – he has his head screwed on. He left Hull two years ago with no debt, a million in the bank, and a new shiny stadium. He has returned this week to find all his good work undone through two years of financial anarchy.

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Mersey Misery

To say the past few weeks have been tough for Merseyside’s two Premier clubs is putting it lightly.

Something must have been put in the water round Liverpool way as players of both Liverpool and Everton have been dropping like flies. Those who remain have been charged with maintaining the same high standards, and you have to say they have flattered to deceive.

Liverpool, perhaps more infamously, have lost six out of their last seven, have dramatically reduced their Premier League title race odds, are staring Champions league elimination in the face and are out of the Carling Cup. Everton lie a lowly 14th place, were thumped 5-0 by Benfica in the Europa League and have also been comprehensively dispatched from the League Cup.

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Net closes in on Phil Brown

He was given a stay of execution by his new chairman but I still fear Phil Brown’s days are numbered.

Adam Pearson returned to the club two years after his departure, replacing Paul Duffen, who saw the club join the Premier League under his tenure but also accrue alarming levels of debt at the same time.

Pearson immediately backed Brown ahead of a crucial clash with Stoke next Sunday but refused to confirm whether he would stay on further, saying:


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