PB on Deano (MD = Matt Dean)

PB: Well I was quite shocked by the revelations at first. I was walking the dogs on Sunday morning with the family and I got a phone call saying, well I was doing some work with Dean today which was gonna be late kick-off on BBC, and unfortunately they were saying that Dean couldn’t do it because of the revelations in the People. Obviously I then tried to get a newspaper and found out that he’d tried to kill himself on a couple of occasions in the last week which, it shocked me and shocked the footballing world and thank god that after the Gary Speed situation, that Deano didn’t succeed because he’s a character that’ll be remembered in the folklore of the history of Hull City, not just Hull City the football club, the city itself. He’s a great character and someone that I had the pleasure of working with in the latter stages of his career and in my career as manager of Hull City. I was very, very shocked. Knowing full well that the lad is a fighter, a battler. Knowing full well that the lad has come through highs and lows of his footballing career, I’ve no doubt that he’ll eventually win this battle with depression that he’s going through at the moment.

MD: Have you spoken to him, Phil?

PB: No I haven’t. That’s one of the things I was hoping to do today but that’s not (been) the case. But I’ll be calling him in the next couple of days. He must have a million things going on in his brains at the moment and I’ll wait ‘til, hopefully, things have settled down a wee bit and I’ll put a call in. But that’s something I actually said on Sky. They were talking about “Do we do enough in the game of football to help people that are suffering from addictions, gambling addictions, drink addictions, depression?” all the things that a lot of people seem to attach to football players. But it’s not just footballers, it’s sportsmen in general. We do ply ourselves and put ourselves through physical pressures on a daily basis and no-one actually sees the mental pressures that you go through and once that tap has been turned off, as far as Dean’s concerned I’m talking about his career now, how does he deal with that, how does he cope with that? I think communication lines must be kept open with regards to himself (and) his colleagues, his former colleagues, football clubs that he’s been involved with. There should be liaison officers that speak to past and present players. LMA, PF, Football Association, Coaches association, everybody should be doing their utmost to try and involve and help people who have gone through their careers and are now out the other end and have got the real world to deal with.

MD: As things stand, Phil, does the game do enough for ex-pros?

PB: Not really. I think we could do more, quite simply. But again, I said yesterday, no-one knows what goes on behind closed doors and no-one knows what goes on behind the whites of peoples eyes. No-one knows what’s going on in the brains, the mentality of that individual. None more so than the massive, massive stature of the presenters, I’m talking about people like Gary Speed who was on TV and all of a sudden did what he did and Alan Shearer, one of his best friends didn’t understand how, why, wherefore, what came about? And it is something of a mystery. Mental illness is something of a mystery to many people. Yes, when you’ve been through the pressures of playing football, or playing any kind of a sport, and then you have to readjust your schedule to normal life, that’s a difficult, difficult part. I think to a certain extent the TV, I’m talking about Sky now, I’m talking about the TV cameras, helping Dean when he finished his playing career just to feed that ego to a certain extent, keeping his level of profile up to a level so that he’s mentally, he still feels of worth and that’s a key factor you know.

MD: You managed him, obviously, for quite some time, you know him mentally. Did you see any signs that he had a fragile mental nature?

PB: I don’t think it was fragile, I think it was more the fact that he courted controversy. That meant to be, whether verbally, physically, mentally, whatever, that meant to me that he enjoyed living life on the edge and that’s the way he played football and that’s the only way Dean could play. You ask Dean to play it safe and he wouldn’t be the same player. I think the strength of character of the changing room that we had at Hull City at the time could handle Dean but maybe he’s been in changing rooms that maybe they couldn’t handle Dean. Certain managers have admitted that they found him too much of a handful but I found him a pleasure to work with. He just wanted to be out there on the training ground, everyday was a bonus to him and maybe that was something to do with the age. Had you said to me handle Dean Windass at 23, 24, 25 that might’ve been a different ball game but as far as I was concerned, he seemed settled in his mind. I don’t think anyone that isn’t settled in yer mind could’ve played for Hull City and scored the goal that he scored at Wembley that day. Ok, afterwards he celebrated like a supporter. I always remember fondly him having a pint of Guinness with his corn flakes for breakfast the following day. Now that for me wasn’t a bad sign, it was a sign that “I’m gonna enjoy this moment because it could be my last greatest moment” but it wasn’t because he still played in the Premier League, albeit a bit part player in the first season in the Premier League, he still had a part to play. I thought Dean would have possibly gone on to mentor young lads at Hull City, not necessarily Hull City as a football club but in and around the game. He’s a guiding light to a lot of players that are playing non-league football that Dean did before he proceeded to play professional football so he’s an example to somebody out there and I think Dean imparting some of that knowledge and experience on them people could’ve been a way forward for him. Unfortunately the game, in Dean’s eyes, turned it’s back on him and consequently he’s gone down this line.

MD: Would you have liked to have seen the Tigers then find some occupation for him at the club in some way, shape or form?

PB: I don’t think that’s for me to say, Matt, I think that’s not my bag at the moment and I think if Hull City decide to do something where Dean’s concerned, hats off to them, but as far as I’m concerned they’re plying or ploughing all their efforts into trying to get the club back into the Premier League and good luck with that one as well. But where Dean’s concerned, there’s a lot of former players and they’ve got to be careful because there’s a lot of former players (who) have fallen on hard times and there’s a lot of examples out there and you can’t just start setting a precedence with somebody because of the recent cry for help.

Moves on later to PB’s time at Hull City:

PB: From minute one to even the moment when I was told I was no longer gonna be manager of Hull City, I enjoyed every moment of it. I felt as if I done my part as regards to the history of Hull City. I set myself a challenge to be the most successful manager at the football club and consequently brought in my assistant manager who was the former most successful manager at the football club and I think together, myself and Brian Horton, hopefully will go down in history where Hull’s concerned. Having said that, I do with them all the best, I hope Nicky has a long and fruitful career at the KC Stadium and I wish them all the best and hopefully they’ll get back in the Premier League. I enjoyed my time immensely. I’ve got so many good, fond memories of the football club. Unfortunately the way it finished was a disappointment to me personally. I still firmly believe that with 9 games to go, 4 or 5 of them were winnable, and I thought that if we won them 4 or 5 the points tally would be sufficient to keep us in the Premier League.

MD: Does that still eat away at you, Phil, do you still think about that a lot? Are you still a little bit bitter about it?

PB: Not bitter, not bitter at all. I think you can tell the way I’m talking to you that it does play on my brains, it plays on my mind the fact that the club is in the Championship and who knows? But that’s in hindsight and nobody can manage in hindsight so no, as I say, I wish them well in the future and I’ve got nothing but fond memories of my time at the KC stadium.

MD: How do you think Nick Barmby will do?

PB: I think Nick’s made for it, certainly the way this football club’s concerned. I look at the way he’s handled himself where the press is concerned, I look at the way he’s handled himself on the touchline, etc, etc, he’s won a number of games comfortably, he’s also won a number of games horribly, if you like, the hard way, winning it 1-0, like the one on Saturday. I don’t know how they played on Saturday but they were coming up against one of the form teams in the Championship in terms of free-scoring Peterborough but managed to keep the clean sheet, keep the back door shut and also had enough in Robert Koren, who I rate very, very highly, to win the game. He looks like he’s got off to a very good start in terms of his full career. I don’t know how long his caretaker role lasted. It seemed to last, form here where I’m sitting, it seemed to last and awful long time. It was obviously a big call where Nicky’s concerned, it’s a life changing experience going into management and he’d thought long and hard about it and hopefully, now that he’s made that decision, he’ll push on now.

MD: Sure. There are a couple of other loose ends I wanted to talk about, Phil, Jimmy Bullard’s a name that’s never far away from the club in terms of headlines. You brought him to the KC Stadium; tell us, Phil, what was he really like to manage?

PB: Again, people think whatever they think off the field of play where Jimmy’s concerned. I thought he was an absolute pleasure to work with, a doddle actually but that’s just the way I am. The stronger, the more varied the characters are, the more interesting they are to manage. There’s nothing better than sitting down and listening to Jimmy talk. He’s a character, he can tell a story or two but I didn’t bring him for that reason, I brought him for one reason and one reason only, to take us to the next level. I thought we were very, very unfortunate with regards to the injury situation but that’s life and that’s history. I just said on Late Kick off, they (asked) “Was there ever a player that got away?”. The one that got away for me was Bobby Zamora. We invited him up from London and he jumped on a Hull Train. I met him at the train station, took him around the areas, showed him places where he could live, where he could fish, where he could house himself family wise. But at the same time, but at the same time very, very close to the finances but we couldn’t get over that financial barrier of Bobby Zamora’s wages and unfortunately we missed out and we replaced Bobby, if you think back with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Jozy Altidore and in hindsight, if I’d got Bobby, I wouldn’t have had to get the other two and I think we would have gone to the next level.

MD: Do you still speak to Jimmy?

PB: Yeah, very much so. I still speak with a lot of the players. Paul McShane, Richard Garcia, Andy Dawson. Nice to see them still doing well at the football club. Ian Ashbee obviously (who) I brought across to Preston North End. You still keep in touch with the people that achieved the success together that we achieved at Hull and, as I say, I’m a very proud man to have achieved that success.

MD: I know this is a difficult question for you, Phil, but I’d appreciate an honest answer. The Tigers accounts recently said that Jimmy’s claiming £2.5m following his sacking. Has he said to you that he expects to win the case?

PB: Again it’s nothing I can quote on where Jimmy’s concerned, legislation is legislation and if I get involved where that’s concerned, I’ll find myself in a little bit of hot water. As far as I’m concerned we brought Jimmy to the football club and in good faith, we paid him the wage that he was deserving at the time and unfortunately it went pear shaped, the fact that he got injured. Whatever business Hull City have with Jimmy Bullard is not for me to comment about.

MD: Sure. Well we respect that. We’ve not chatted to you since your departure form the KC. After it the club was on the brink, financially. How much did that surprise you?

PB: Again it’s something that I dare say the present incumbent will be talking long ad hard where the supporters are concerned to gain their confidence. As far as we were concerned myself, Paul Duffen ran the financial side of it, I was running the footballing side of it so if there’s financial problems at the football club, I can’t say it was nothing to do with me because I was the manager, of course I was…

MD: Did it surprise you though, Phil, when it all came out?

PB: It surprised me to the extent where Michael Turner was concerned what I was led to believe that the club was going to gain from the Michael Turner transfer to Sunderland was not what came out in the accounts so there was certain things in the accounts that did surprise me immensely but I did my time with Adam Pearson towards the end and I think there is one person that’ll tell you I wasn’t part and parcel of the financial situation as a football club, I wasn’t part and parcel of that demise so…

MD: I’m not suggesting by the way you are, Phil, or you were. What about the Michael Turner one? How much did you know about that when it was all going on? What stage did you realise, hang on a minute, we’ve been sold down the river here?

PB: Well, I was asked to sanction a deal to the extent of a financial return and I sanctioned the deal based on them finances. There was a lot more divulged where the public where concerned then meets the eye, I think, towards the end but at the time, I don’t think the public found out too much about the realities of it and unfortunately, I was in the same boat as the public.

MD: Do you still speak to Paul Duffen and Russell Bartlett?

PB: I still speak to people that I’ve been successful with and regardless of what you think of Hull City now and regardless of what you think of Hull City of the past, I think the success that we achieved was earned, on the football field, shall we say, in the right manner and yes, I still keep in contact with Paul Duffen and Russell Bartlett.

Questions about leaving Preston. Won’t bother with them.