The breaking news on Monday morning is that Phil Brown has been put on gardening leave by his club, Hull City. The news comes just days after it was revealed that two of his players, Jimmy Bullard and Nick Barmby were seen fighting in front of the Women’s Institute by the River Humber last week.

It has yet to emerge whether the incident is directly related to Brown being relieved of his duties or whether it is Hull City’s Premier League form. The Tigers currently sit second bottom of the table having lost their last four games on the bounce and combined with the revelations about the bust up between players, the two incidents may have been the final straw for Brown who has been in charge at the KC Stadium since December 2006, during which time he guided the team to promotion and are now in their second season in the Premiership.

Assistant manager, Brian Horton, along with Steve Parkin will take charge of training and could be in charge of Saturday’s crucial relegation battle away at Portsmouth if the issue has not been resolved by then.

In the mean time, expect the bookmakers to be rubbing their hands as they prepare the next Hull manager odds ahead of what is sure to be popular market, especially at this stage of the season.

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