I recall Phil Brown saying that when he went in to Hull...

his priority was to address their defensive problems. Once that was achieved he moved up the field addressing and strengthening the other positions.

It's what Hughton did. He realised the limitations of quality elsewhere, but the thought process was that if we shore up the defence, then we give ourselves more of a chance of achieving enough points to stay in the Prem. that's why many viewed his tactics as negative. It wasn't pretty, and deathly dull at times, but ultimately effective in keeping us in the Prem.

As for Hooper. There was always money to spend in January... and chances were it was a fair proportion of the playing budget should it be needed to address specific issues like we did with a prolific striker. CH tried to put all his eggs in one basket. So when Hooper didn't come off (and Kamara came in), the money was still there to invest in a quality striker like RvW.

Posted By: Jim Nasium, Jul 20, 10:49:12