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Phil Brown Relishing Hull City's Chelsea Challenge
The Tigers' boss is looking forward to tomorrow's game in west London, as well as the rest of the campaign...
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Aug 14, 2009 8:04:01 PM
Hull City begin their second season in England's top flight tomorrow with a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea, and manager Phil Brown is enjoying the build-up, not only to the challenge of tomorrow's game, but also to the rest of a season he and his players are eagerly anticipating.
"We've improved the squad by four or five players so far, and we still intend to bring one or two more in. Add that to a squad that survived in the Premier League last season then I'd say we're stronger and better prepared," he told Sky Sports News.
"We've got a massive test tomorrow at Stamford Bridge. It's never an easy place to go to. First game of the season. We're not in the transfer market for the Pirlos or the Zhirkovs or the bigger names.
"But we've certainly improved, where we're concerned anyway, and we' re looking forward to next season's challenge.
"We had a tremendous result at Stamford Bridge last year, and the one thing I will say is that the players hadn't any experience of that before we went to Stamford Bridge and got a 0-0 draw.
"Now they've got experience. Now they know what it looks like to go to a place like the Emirates, like Old Trafford, like Anfield and obviously like Stamford Bridge.
"We can go there with a game plan. We can go there and try and frustrate the home crowd, but we know full well that if Chelsea decide to turn up and bring the big guns out and decided to play the kind of football we know they can play then any team in the country will be at full stretch to try and prevent them.
"But we have a game plan. We're not frightened of the occasion.We're looking forward to the challenge of next season."
Brown managed to snap up Stephen Hunt and Kamel Ghilas this week, to add to the likes of Jozy Altidore as reinforcements. One more striker could be joining, as Brown revealed that the negotiations surrounding the £12 million bid for Real Madrid striker Alvaro Negredo could be tied up early next week.
"He will be an expensive signing for anybody, when you're going into the £12 million bracket. Our record signing is £5 million Jimmy Bullard, so it's a sign of intent," the City boss added.
"It's not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact that we're sitting round the table with representatives from Real Madrid, and certainly a player from Real Madrid, shows the sign of intent from the chairman, and hopefully from the manager.
"We're quite pleased with what we've done so far at our end. We're hoping to tie up loose ends at the Real Madrid end by close of play either on Monday or Tuesday."
As for how this season could pan out, Brown was hopeful his Tigers could move into the top half of the table, and he suspected that this could be the year in which the top four that has become established over the last decade or so might be disrupted.
"You're looking at the top four possibly being broken up this year," he mused. "I don't know but if it's not the top four then the next four will pretty much be the Evertons, the Aston Villas, the Man Cities, the Tottenhams, and then you've got around 12 teams below that.
"It's going to be a fascinating season again. We're looking to try and get somewhere near the top of that group of 12 teams, and if we can achieve that it will be a fabulous year."
Zack Wilson, Goal.com
"We've improved the squad by four or five players so far, and we still intend to bring one or two more in. Add that to a squad that survived in the Premier League last season then I'd say we're stronger and better prepared," he told Sky Sports News.
"We've got a massive test tomorrow at Stamford Bridge. It's never an easy place to go to. First game of the season. We're not in the transfer market for the Pirlos or the Zhirkovs or the bigger names.
"But we've certainly improved, where we're concerned anyway, and we' re looking forward to next season's challenge.
"We had a tremendous result at Stamford Bridge last year, and the one thing I will say is that the players hadn't any experience of that before we went to Stamford Bridge and got a 0-0 draw.
"Now they've got experience. Now they know what it looks like to go to a place like the Emirates, like Old Trafford, like Anfield and obviously like Stamford Bridge.
"We can go there with a game plan. We can go there and try and frustrate the home crowd, but we know full well that if Chelsea decide to turn up and bring the big guns out and decided to play the kind of football we know they can play then any team in the country will be at full stretch to try and prevent them.
"But we have a game plan. We're not frightened of the occasion.We're looking forward to the challenge of next season."
Brown managed to snap up Stephen Hunt and Kamel Ghilas this week, to add to the likes of Jozy Altidore as reinforcements. One more striker could be joining, as Brown revealed that the negotiations surrounding the £12 million bid for Real Madrid striker Alvaro Negredo could be tied up early next week.
"He will be an expensive signing for anybody, when you're going into the £12 million bracket. Our record signing is £5 million Jimmy Bullard, so it's a sign of intent," the City boss added.
"It's not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact that we're sitting round the table with representatives from Real Madrid, and certainly a player from Real Madrid, shows the sign of intent from the chairman, and hopefully from the manager.
"We're quite pleased with what we've done so far at our end. We're hoping to tie up loose ends at the Real Madrid end by close of play either on Monday or Tuesday."
As for how this season could pan out, Brown was hopeful his Tigers could move into the top half of the table, and he suspected that this could be the year in which the top four that has become established over the last decade or so might be disrupted.
"You're looking at the top four possibly being broken up this year," he mused. "I don't know but if it's not the top four then the next four will pretty much be the Evertons, the Aston Villas, the Man Cities, the Tottenhams, and then you've got around 12 teams below that.
"It's going to be a fascinating season again. We're looking to try and get somewhere near the top of that group of 12 teams, and if we can achieve that it will be a fabulous year."
Zack Wilson, Goal.com
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