Players mobbing referees in simulated outrage with the object of getting a member of the opposition sent off could end up killing the goose laying those players all their lovely golden eggs, according to the Hull City manager, Steve Bruce.
For Nigel Pearson, on the other hand, fear of being mobbed by reporters seemed to be the overriding emotion following this uninspiring stalemate. The Leicester manager was the subject of some heavy-handed mockery in Saturday’s Sun newspaper regarding a tongue-in-cheek comment in the build-up about the possibility of the Foxes’ fortunes changing with this week’s new moon and he reacted unfortunately when one journalist used the phrase “waxing and waning”.
After dismissing the question and standing up to leave the press conference, Pearson was picked up on the microphone describing the journalist concerned as a “prick”. Afterwards he was more considered. “The players know we didn’t really do enough to win the game. I’d have liked to see us show a bit more intent and that’s disappointing because we have been playing pretty well.
“In some ways I could probably stomach us losing the game but being more positive trying to win it, than picking up a point but thinking we’d probably been a bit safe.” Courting more controversy was probably the last thing Pearson needed with his side locked in a relegation struggle. In December he told a supporter to “fuck off and die” and was banned from the dugout for one game and fined £10,000. Last month there was the curious incident of the touchline strangulation when he grasped Crystal Palace’s James McArthur by the throat.
Meanwhile wWere Bruce to be playing these days, one suspects the centre-half, who made many a clattering tackle, would have to either change his game completely or find another living. While this very average game was robustly contested there was hardly a bad challenge to be seen and it was hard to understand how five Hull players could be booked. Tom Huddlestone, up to that point by some margin the man of the match, was sent off for a second yellow, leaving the Tigers needing to batten down the hatches in the final 20 minutes.
One booking in particular, handed to Bruce’s son Alex after he clearly took the ball in a tackle on Riyad Mahrez, led to his father’s warning about players’ conduct.
“It’s not even a foul but [the referee] is influenced by the reaction of the players, which is creeping into our game. I keep being accused of being a dinosaur, and fair enough, but the reason why the Premier League earns billions is the spectacle of the honesty and integrity.
“We’re questioning it now with Chelsea in the European league, and when you see the antics with what goes on in Europe and all the rest of it I could take you to games when you’d be bored out of your pants because there’s no physicality in it.”
And if that happens in the Premier League, said Bruce, the next TV deal might be a lot less lucrative. “If we lose that, the honesty, then we’ll lose all the millions and billions of pounds that everybody’s enjoying at the minute because people around the world like to see it. I wouldn’t want any players of mine surrounding referees and asking for challenges to be sent off, and of course you have a word with them. They’re professional people who want to win, I understand that, but we don’t want to see the nonsense creeping in to our game.”
Alex Bruce accepted that some might accuse Hull of having a bit of previous, having angrily surrounded the referee in their recent home game against Queens Park Rangers. The ensuing fracas resulted in the Rangers captain, Joey Barton, being dismissed for a sly punch on Huddlestone.
“It does seem to be creeping into the game but Joey Barton will say we did it to try and get him sent off the other week,” said Bruce Jr. “It is something you don’t want to see but when you get to this stage of the season and emotions are running high anyone will do anything to try and gain an advantage.”
Had Hull’s Nikica Jelavic, in the first half, and Abel Hernández, in the final minutes, not missed gilt-edged opportunities to win the game Leicester’s chances of avoiding relegation would be even slimmer.
Man of the match Michael Dawson (Hull)
