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Phil Brown given the elbow


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Bookies have suspended betting on the next Premier League manager to be sacked following speculation Phil Brown is on the verge of leaving Hull City. Brown has been under pressure following a poor start to the season which sees City lie third bottom of the table after 11 games, with just eight points.It follows a dreadful run at the end of last season, which only saw the Tigers achieve safety thanks to Newcastle's final day capitulation.The club are refusing to comment on rumours Brown has left his post at the KC Stadium but leading bookmakers have reacted to the speculation by taking down their next manager to go market. Sky Bet are already offering odds on the next permanent Hull City manager with Alan Curbishley and Gareth Southgate already installed as the joint 5/1 favourites.A 0-0 draw against Portsmouth at the weekend saw a number of fans vocalise their frustration, although chairman Paul Duffen has remained ever supportive of Brown in public.Amid mounting speculation over the Hull manager's future, former striker Dean Windass called for Brown to "get moved on".Windass, who left Hull in January after scoring the play-off goal that sent the Tigers to the top flight, told talkSPORT magazine: "I think sometimes you need a fresh change. Phil's done a fantastic job since he's been there but I think it's time that he should get moved on and bring somebody else in."Windass, questioning whether the club can stay up this season, added: "It's going to be difficult. They're not getting results and they're struggling to score goals at the moment."They need a 10-15 goal-a-year striker to get away from the bottom of the table. They've got a little mini-league at the moment and it's important they win games against teams in and around their league."Brown gave an interview to the Hull Daily Mail on Tuesday insisting he would not quit the club, although rumours have started spreading about his future.There have also been concerns about the club's long-term financial position, stemming from accounts being published covering the year ending July 2008.In that 12 months Hull made a loss of nearly £10million as they won promotion to the Premier League via Windass' goal at Wembley.This does not include any figures from the club's first season in the top tier of English football, and the directors remain confident the next set of results will be much more positive.

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The Guardian, Wednesday 28 October 2009Hull City have been warned their uncertain financial position threatens the club's "ability to continue as a going concern". The club's accounts, filed five months late to Companies House, say that in the event of relegation the Premier League club will need to generate a £23m surplus just to meet their existing liabilities.The grim forecast from the club's accountants, Deloitte, emphasises the need for a financial overhaul during the next 12 months to safeguard Hull's future. Although the figures for their first season in the top flight will not be available until next year, the independent auditors' report, with its stark warning, does cover the club's current financial situation.In the accounts for the year ending 2008, which were due on 31 May but only filed this month, the club made a £9,764,850 loss during a period that culminated in winning promotion to the Premier League.Most telling, though, is Deloitte's prediction that Hull will need to raise an additional £16m should they retain their Premier League status this season and a further £7m again if the club, currently ensconced in the bottom three, slip back into the Championship.The report proposes that Hull might seek to recover those sums through a combination of player trading, commercial activities and/or a cash injection. However, Hull have already sold their best player, Michael Turner, who joined Sunderland for around £6m this summer, and there are few other significant assets within Phil Brown's struggling squad.It is significant that the auditors, in these latest accounts, do not suggest that the Essex-based property investor Russell Bartlett, who took over from Adam Pearson in 2007, will invest further in the club to make up the shortfall, as often is the case with football benefactors."These forecasts demonstrate that in order to operate within the company's finance facilities Hull City AFC will need to generate a surplus £23m during the next 12 months through player trading, match day and commercial income and/or through additional finance raising," the report said."In the event that the club retains Premier League status for the 2010-11 season, the additional funding required for the 12-month period will be in the region of £16m. This is reduced as a result of the guaranteed level of Premier League distributions that will be received ..."As is common with all football clubs, Hull City AFC will make player purchases and sales during the course of the season to manage the company's cash flow as and when required. The directors acknowledge that player purchases and sales are uncertain in terms of timing and quantum and some uncertainty exists over the availability and quantum of additional facilities should such be required."These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."Although Hull supporters might point to the pot of gold that accompanies winning promotion to the Premier League as a reason to believe the accounts for the year ending 31 May 2009 will be more encouraging, much of the money is likely to have been swallowed up in salaries and transfer fees. Paul Duffen, the Hull chairman, claimed last month that the club had spent £19m buying players in January and the summer, while receiving at most £10m from the sales of Turner and Sam Ricketts to Bolton Wanderers.Duffen also said at that point that "there are no problems here, the club is properly financed" when questioned about why the accounts had not previously been filed with Companies House.He went on to say: "We are in discussions with our auditors about the wording of the notes to the accounts." No one at Hull City was available to make any comment last night.

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