Andy Booth column: Burnley, Hull and Chris Gayle

May 15 2009 by Mel Booth, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

I FEAR Hull City are under enormous pressure to stay in the Premiership.

They’ve had a shocking run since that infamous match at Manchester City on Boxing Day when Phil Brown had the team sitting out on the pitch during half time.

In the first part of the season they were going great guns and powering along in the top six, but since that day, when they were 4-0 down at half time and lost 5-1 in the end, they don’t seem to have recovered.

I’m not saying things have gone wrong entirely because of what the manager did that day, but I don’t think there was any reason for him to embarrass the players in that way, in front of their own fans and the whole country.

They had been going really well and were having a bad off day, but by taking out his frustration in such a public way probably upset people more than he realised and they have steadily dropped right into trouble.

Newcastle, having got the bonus of that win against Middlesbrough, will probably now have the incentive to survive and, while West Brom have done ever so well to stay in the hunt, I think they will go down with Boro and Hull.

It hasn’t been the greatest of seasons for Newcastle and it’s taken a while for the Alan Shearer effect to pay off, but they do have people back who can score, and that should enable them to reach safety.