Nick Barmby Appointed Permanent Hull Manager

Nick Barmby has been appointed Hull City manager on a permanent basis. The 37-year-old originally took caretaker charge of The Tigers back in November following Nigel Pearson's decision to depart and take charge of Leicester. Barmby has since steered the club into the Championship top six and also guided them into the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Barmby has spoken of his joy at the announcement and revealed that it is a great honour to become manager of his hometown club. He has now officially called time on his playing career and is relishing the challenge of getting Hull back into the Premier League. Barmby won six and lost five of the 11 matches he has been in caretaker charge of. Originally there were concerns that he wasn't yet ready for the job but he has proved that he is worthy manager. He got off to a fantastic start winning five of his first seven games, before losing three matches on the spin. However, following Hull's confidence boosting 3-1 victory over Ipswich Town in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, he was rewarded with a permanent deal.

Barmby has managed to move the club up to 6^th in the Championship and there is now a buzz around the KC Stadium that the club has every chance of returning to England's top flight. Hull are currently priced at 7/1 with Paddy Power to get promoted at the end of the season.

Hull's reward for beating Ipswich in the cup is a home tie against League Two side Crawley Town in the fourth round. Next up though is a league match at home to Peterborough on Saturday. Hull are the odds-on 5/6 favourites for the win, with Posh priced at 10/3 and a draw at 12/5.

Odds provided by Paddy Power.