Nick Barmby Appointed Caretaker Manager at Hull City
by Jack Kitson / 16 November 2011, 10:12TweetNick Barmby has been appointed as caretaker manager of Hull City and is now the bookies favourite in the Next Hull City Manager Betting after the odds-on favourite Warren Joyce decided that he would remain as reserve coach at Manchester United. Former boss Joyce was widely expected to return to the club he managed between 1998 and 2000 but decided to remain in his current position at Man Utd. It has also been confirmed that Leicester City have finally appointed Nigel Pearson as their new manager after weeks of negotiations.
Barmby, a former England international, has been coaching at Hull since June 2010 and was originally being lined-up as an assistant to Joyce. However, Joyce declined the opportunity to manage his former club and as a result Barmby is not only caretaker manager but the favourite to succeed Pearson as Hull City manager. Questions will be raised about Barmby's lack of managerial experience as the transition from player to manager is not always smooth and history tells us it can be riddled with difficulties. However, Barmby is both a legend and fans' favourite at the club and will have learnt a lot since becoming a player-coach at the club. If handed the job permanently he will no doubt relish the challenge of trying to guide his home town back into the Premier League with Hull currently in a relatively good position in the table, just one point off the play-offs.
Barmby's first match in temporary charge will be a trip to out of form Derby County on Saturday. After a bright start to the season Derby have stuttered slightly with just one win in their last eight games. Hull haven't enjoyed the best of Novembers so far, losing two on the bounce, as the heavy speculation linking Pearson to Leicester has clearly had a negative effect on the team. Both Hull and Derby are locked on 24 points with the bookmakers finding it difficult to separate them in the betting, with Stan James pricing Hull as the narrow 6/4 favourites with Derby at 7/4, while a draw may be the way to go at 11/5.
Odds courtesy of Stan James.
