It’s been a meteoric rise for Hull, traditionally a sleepy rugby town [‘use of degrading cliché, check’]. Few would have expected them to stay up this season let alone challenge at the top, which could be because their midfield consists of Nicky Barmby and Jay Jay Okocha – who share a combined age of 197.

Yet under Phil Brown, whose teeth are whiter than Casper the Ghost they have gone from a Championship side with lots of money to being a Championship side with lots of money who are actually quite good and in pole position going into the play-offs.

They narrowly missed out on automatic promotion last weekend as Stoke sneaked through at their expense, but in Frazier Campbell and Dean Windass they have one of the oddest, if not prolific strike partnerships in English football. Between them they have 26 goals between them, but it’s the unlikeliest match up since Peter Crouch and Abigail Clancy.

Campbell, who stands at a surprising 5’8” (he looks like a midget on TV) and before this season, had only played two professional games in his Manchester United career, has been inspirational with 15 goals. Windass meanwhile, the striker who’s been around longer than Corrie and who has more tattoos than David Beckham, has defied the odds with 11 strikes on target.

The duo will need to be on form to get past the likes of Watford’s Danny Shittu this afternoon, but whatever the outcome Campbell has done enough to suggest he has a bright future ahead of him. For Dean Windass, well, he’ll probably still be playing in 2025!

<<back to diary home