Hull City and West Brom The Premier League Show

Welcome to the Premier League Show. This week we've travelled east

to Kingston-upon-Hull - the 2017 UK City of Culture and home

to Hull City AFC. The Tigers spent the first 104 years

of their existence outside of English football's top-flight.

In 2008, all that changed as they were promoted

to the Premier League. Since then, it's been

a rollercoaster both on and off the pitch with two relegations

and two subsequent promotions back to the promised land.

This week, we go behind the scenes as the club attempts

to find its feet under new boss, Marco Silva.

Also coming up, Adrian Chiles visits his beloved Baggies to talk

management with Tony Pulis. We speak to Stoke's Peter Crouch

as he closes in on a century of Premier League goals,

Nathan Caton explores the perils of aocial media - and we catch up

with all the big stories from the last seven days.

Like Hull, West Brom established a reputation for bouncing

between the top two divisions but since the turn of the decade

they've established themselves as a Premier League fixture

and currently sit in 8th place. We sent Adrian Chiles back

to his spiritual home to get all nostalgic with Tony Pulis.

Can we turn it on? Yeah, yeah. The success and appeal of these

clubs to their supporters depends on the team, so the 15 men comprising

the first team of West Bromwich Albion prepare for the match at the

end of the week. , arm, harder! It was a fly on the wall documentary

about West Brom in 1962 when Bobby Robson and Don Howe were playing

here. That's Bobby, is it? The chat in the dressing room is usually

about players, cars, money, things that have status. Nothing's changed

then! CHUCKLES

All of them have got shirts and ties on.

What is your emotional response when you see your predecessor from more

than half a century ago, when you see those clips on there? Everything

has changed, Adrian. If you look at life in general, if you went back to

the steelworks or the docks in that period, life has moved on

dramatically. Over the last month there has been a

deterioration in the play of certain individuals.

The big thing that really stuck with me was the meeting that he had with

the players and told everybody that he was making changes. Whereas

today, I'd never walk in the dressing room and say this is the

team at the reason why I'm doing it is because of this, that and the

other. Could always try and make it a more personal thing. We've got a

couple of pictures of you. CHUCKLES

If someday when you are this age gives you a new car or money, how

would you end up as a different player, manager or person? What do

you suspect? If I go back to when I was 16 and jumping on the train in

Newport and pulling out of Newport station, I was one of eight people

in a small terraced house down near the docks. I wanted never to go back

home. I wanted to make this my life and I promised I would do everything

I possibly could to stay in this sport that I had loved ever since I

can remember. The academy setup in England is

absolutely fantastic. Better than most countries in the world. The

problem we've got is that technically I think the players are

better now than they ever have been but we've never had it right in

respect of playing the games. It's OK being technically good enough but

I am a manager and I have to win games so the players who come into

my team have to be winners. They have to know how to win and learn

how to win. Because if they don't you start losing and your job would

be at risk. Isn't that taught to them? Not at all, the big problem we

have is these kids are sent out at a young age and they should be sent

out to learn that whether it is down at the bottom of the road playing in

the third division or non-league football, that manager and those

supporters, whether it's 500 or 600 people turn up, they want to see

their team turn up on a Saturday. They don't want to see a kid just

run around and be technically good, they want him to be technically good

in leading that team to winning the. I think we miss

that out of the time we ask them to give something back they don't know

how to because all they have done is take.

Once a week the Albion's directors meet to deliberate on the club's

policy. Once a week? Archie, I'd like to hear your views of last

Saturday's match for the benefit of the directors.

I don't like board meetings. I think if I've got an owner, if it is the

chairman, if I can have 20 minutes with him rather than being in an

office with a committee of everybody asking questions, it suits me much

better. I think you have to understand that they will sometimes

cut across new in the way you believe things should work. You're

almost managing up as much as you're managing down. And when things are

going badly it must feel like you are fighting absolutely everybody?

LAUGHTER You will always face the supporters

in some shape or form. Every week you are in front of the shareholders

and if they don't like what they are seeing they let you know. I accept

that is part of it and you have to deal with it. Frank Skinner and I

sit right behind you. You are the one that shouts at me all of the

time! Frank shouts at you sometimes. CHUCKLES

I'd been encouraged from a very, very young age to learn my trade,

not just playing but coaching and listening to people. The systems you

have learned, have they set you in good stead for what you play now?

Well, we had a wonderful set up in England. I think it was better than

anywhere in the world where we used to have a week with senior coaches

coming along and learning from Don Howe, Bobby Robson, Dave Sexton, I

haven't moved to far-away from the basics that I learned at that time.

The basics being what? Setting your team are properly, making sure you

play to the strengths you have got, not trying to do anything you can't

achieve, football is a simple game and the important thing as a manager

is trying to get the best out of the group of players you have got, not

trying to justify what maybe other people want from that football team.

But actually accepting what they are and what they are about and getting

the best you can out of them. Is it important for you to be liked

by the players? There will be at least half of the squad who hate you

because you are not picking them. The most important thing is to be

honest and straight with them. If you try and be clever eventually you

will spin round and they will catch you out. It's difficult because you

know it will hurt their feelings but you have to do it, that's your job.

My thoughts have always been, be as straight to them as you possibly can

whether they like it or not and wonder if they walk away they will

say I didn't like him but he was a straight fellow and a straight

hitter. Tony Pulis has this morning been

confirmed as West Brom's new head coach. It's the right club at the

right time, I've got a decent record of helping places turnround.

Being marked down as the defending I wrote, ten behind the ball, you

don't need possession and all that, do you get fed up of all that? That

is one thing I don't give a dam about, we can sit down and have a

drink together and you don't really know me and I don't really know you

and the supporters don't know really what I'm like. I have got a plan, it

has been a short-term plan, and it was to shake the dressing room up a

little bit and get rid of quite a few players which we have managed to

do and bring a little bit more quality in as we go along. Over the

next year, two years, is to have good windows and sign players. Maybe

not the numbers this club has signed before but a little bit more

quality. I believe that we've got some exceptional young players at

the football club. The aim is to bring real top-quality players in

like Evans, good professionals like Fletcher, you know, people of that

ilk. And then hopefully over the next year or two the younger players

will learn from those and eventually take those players' places come and

bring those kids who are local lads in through the team and have a real

good team and a good structure in respect of age. Because that's

important. Is possible to be adventurous and defend corners,

effectively? Is that really possible?

LAUGHTER Yes!

LAUGHTER Were you watching this? I wasn't

quite born then! Do you think looking at this club, you never own

a club, you just look after it for the next generation? The thing I've

always try to do and hopefully I've done it at most of the clubs I've

been at, I always want to leave the club better than when I came in. You

are just a custodian of it really. The most important thing is when I

leave people can say he didn't do a bad job.

I think we could let those two chat for hours.

I'm here in leafy Cottingham, just outside of Hull,

where Hull City's first team train and today they've

allowed us in to watch. At the end of last season,

the Tigers won the Championship Play-Off Final and there

was jubilation as they returned to the Premier League.

But things soon turned sour with the departure of manager

Steve Bruce in the summer citing a lack of transfer investment

from the club's owners. The season so far has been a battle.

The opening day is normally one full of optimism but it's in short supply

in Hull, no new signings, no permanent manager, surely the most

scrambling Bulldogs ever to a top-flight season.

# You hold me down in the best way # COMMENTATOR: A famous win for Hull

City. Stunning result this, what a story they are. What more does he

have to do to get the job? Hopefully it will continue.

Sanchez. The hole recovery is a short lived one. What an absolute

screamer. -- the Hull. Mick Phelan is now the head coach on a full-time

basis. COMMENTATOR: They are punished yet

again. We have to realise we are in the big league. If you sell your

house and the roof is leaking you fix it. The roof is leaking, Assem

Allam. Hull City began in 2016 dreaming of a return to the Premier

League and they end the year fearing an all too speedy return to be

Championship. Mike Phelan has been sacked as the

head coach of Hull. Hull City have appointed Marco Silva

as their new manager. COMMENTATOR: Hull City have the

equaliser through Hernandez. What a shot! Maybe, just maybe the great

escape is on. # You'll keep on saying it's all

right # Thank you for doing this.

Marco, welcome to the Premier League Show.

Everybody looks happy and relaxed this morning. What was the mood like

when you arrived at the club? We have had a difficult two months and

in the last couple of weeks we have won two games, the players are more

happy and the atmosphere is different and that's important for

the work. Incredible start. You must think you can save this club. It is

our job to change some things, we don't have a lot of time, only six

training sessions but we try to pass on the most important thing for the

players step-by-step and they understand. They are starting to

understand and believe more and it's important in this situation. It's

impossible to change everything in one week, two weeks, one month, but

we will try and do it step-by-step and pay attention to the most

important things. You have had success in Europe and when you came

here people didn't know as much about you, perhaps, even though you

have had that success. Do you feel extra pressure or is it good coming

under the radar because you are almost an unknown quantity? The

pressure is always with me. When I started 34 years old as a football

coach the pressure always stays with me. Day by day, with my players, in

training, I like to work with pressure. It's not a problem. You

have a big job this week, how do you stop a team like Chelsea? Until now

they did a fantastic season. Very good squad, and a very good coach

also. It's a big challenge for us. We will be competitive, sure. We

will believe in our team and see what happens on Sunday. It's the

most important because it's the next, not because it is Chelsea,

it's the next game for us and so it's the most important. I can see

your influence has already spread into the canteen because I asked the

chef what the menu was today and he's joking but it is piri piri

because of the gaffer. He's joking! No, you've got a piri piri checking

waiting in there for you. Good luck and enjoy your lunch.

Stoke City's Peter Crouch is chasing a record -

his header against Sunderland last weekend was his 99th

Premier League goal. Can he make it a century against

Manchester United this Saturday? He's been talking to Pat Murphy.

Peter Crouch gets the 50th goal of his career...

Peter Crouch's 99th Premier League goal.

When you get your 100th will you resurrect the robot? People say if

you get the 100th you have to do it. I am sure I'll dust it off at some

stage. We can take that as a yes? Maybe! What was the best goal? The

goal for Tottenham, that was an amazing feeling. Because of the

sheer technique of the goal. What a feeling? Against Bolton on New

Year's Day for Liverpool. And there has been obviously the goal for

Stoke against Man City, which was probably the best goal I scored. Oh,

what a goal! Tell me about that card that you give out to people - you

saw it on social media about being six foot seven. People ask me how

the weather is up there. Do I play basketball? I had a couple of cards

fitted to give out when these questions are arise. What do say

they? Yes I am six foot seven. I don't play basketball and I am glad

we had this conversation. I think people take it all seriously. It is

nice to engage with the fans. It is a good bit of fun!

And you can see more of that interview on Football Focus

on Saturday at 12pm on BBC One. Good luck, Crouchy!

There was a time when the only interaction fans had with players

was an autograph after the game but things have moved

on in the digital age - and not necessarily for the better -

We sent Nathan Caton to delve into the murky

world of social media. MUSIC Isn't social media great?

There are so many things you can do! Talk to your friends, meet new

people, see if they are still single and put on weight... No, no, I don't

do that! I just know people who do! For footballers, one great thing

about social media is they get to connect to the fans off the pitch.

We get to learn more about them. For example, from social media we have

learnted that Huth is not just a Premier League champion but the

champion of banter. Let's all welcome Jon to twitter and

congratulate him on learning to write!

What would you do if he committed a crime? Make him watch a West Brom

game? Yeah, that's right Wayne Rooney

tweeted himself offering a fight! Madness! On second thoughts, maybe

not a bad idea. We all know what happened when he tried fighting

someone else! Social media gives us an insight into who the players are.

Including those who tweet normal stuff - such as Victor Wanyama. Some

use it to vent their frustration, such as Diego Costa. If I was 20 and

had a face of a 58-year-old I would be constantly angry too. The

angriest has to be Joey Barton. Ouch! I don't think he will play for

Burnley any time soon! Speaking of Burnley, how about this?

It probably wasn't his fault. It was probably the people who look after

his profile. A lot don't run them on twitter. If they do, they have

someone telling them what to say. Isn't that right?

There have been some hiccups but some have been landed in hot water.

Make sure you watch everything precisely, even you are one of the

best players on the planet... You can't say that, man! Your name

will go from the back of your shirt to the top of a register! So I guess

what I am trying to say is social media is a great tool, but has to be

used correctly. What you put out there stays out there. And you

cannot get it back, no matter how it might be... Like all these... Me!

Hey, why is my picture there? Thank you. Watching Nathan there on

social media and footballers finding themselves in sticky situations.

Have you found yourself doing that on social media? I've not had

anything that's that bad really. During the summer when we only had a

few players I tweeted a picture of the Hull City squad photo there and

were only nine of us in it. Because it was retweeted by a number of

papers and things like that, our coach said, you lot are causing a

story. It was only a joke that people picked up and saw it as... If

you don't write "this is a joke! " I think a lot of our fans saw it in

good light and it made them smile at a tough time for the club.

We had the pleasure of speaking to the new coach. Did you know much

about him before he came to the club? He is obviously only a young

manager. He's recently only stepped out of playing the game, really. It

is a fresh approach rather than maybe getting a manager who has been

somewhere, got someone, failed and got sacked and it is bold by the

chairman and touch wood, it is going good so far. What you want with a

new manager in your position is that immediate bounce. He seems to have

had that impact on the pitch. A great result at the weekend. Has the

mood lifted? It has. It seems that the manager has come in. He could

have easily have taken a step back and waited to see, OK give it two

weeks, see what they can do, but from day one he was in the changing

room, physically dragging players across the pitch, I want you here

and you there. I think he's done his homework. I think he's watched all

the games on tape. He was talking about the last time we played

Bournemouth. This is what we done. You playing Chelsea as the second

league match, that away, that is going to be tough. Of course. The

game at the weekend was massive due to the fact we are playing Chelsea.

After that there is Liverpool... Welcome. They don't come much

tougher than that. What about the relationship between the fans and

the owners here? It appears to have been through a troubled time. How

does that affect you as players? I k not say it affects us. When you come

to the Swansea game and the FA Cup, there was a miniboycott, we only had

6,000 fans. The atmosphere was so dull. I cannot imagine for the

players on the pitch what it was like. The fans, firsts and foremost,

are with the players. Usually they are with us players.

Shall we look inside and see where all the prematch magic happens. Back

into the warm. That is what I meant! Shall we go and get warm. So, what

is this room here then? This is our warm-up room. Usually, I say

warm-up, usually lads are doing kick ups or something. Someone will

probably kick a ball at your head or something like that, unfortunately.

Has every ground you go to got a space like this? Most of the newer

ones do. When you go to the away changing room, there is usually

nothing. You usually do a stretch in the shower or something like that.

It is interesting. You have to find whatever space you can. The club

must have been delighted there was a stock of these tiles? I think they

got a detail after -- discount after the 80s. Has the atmosphere in here

changed? Did row have some sympathy for the predicament here? When Steve

Bruce had some problems, Mike said he wanted to take us forward. That

was a bold statement. We had 13 fit players and maybe no hope from the

outside, but he took the job. Started off OK. We could not sustain

it. As somebody who has been in the game for a long time now, been

around a little bit and seen other set ups, who are the other voices we

would hear here on match day? Daws, the captain. He is influential. He

speaks to whoever it need be. There are a few in here who have something

to say. You need the leaders right now? Whatever happens with the

management, the board. You have to go out there and get the result. It

will be an interesting few months? Hopefully happy. Shall we see what

else has been going on in the last seven days?

Schlupp is watching today. You don't feel it will be long before he

breaks into the side. Michael Keane... ... Alli scopes it

back to him. What a week for him! Who's the daddy? I am a new dad. A

good feeling. What a great way to finish the week off! There'd not be

a louder ovation today in memory of Graham Taylor.

And it is in from Giroud. Ramsey tries to shoot. Sanchez does.

Arsenal lead by 4-0. Was Sanchez OK when he came off?

Completely OK, he wanted to stay on. Carroll on the far side... Oh, that

is tremendous! Lovely! Extremely important three points. Under the

circumstances, in a very difficult week. So, brilliant! Costa left at

home after a row. He does not strike me as the kind of person who is

bothered by what people think. Alonso... Deflected 2-0 and Pedro

has surely sealed it for Chelsea... Using it to solve all the problems.

Never doing a press Conference, but I repeat, if there are other

problems. He beats Bravo and Everton have a

three-goal lead. And Lookman scored. 4-0.

I don't think football days get better than that, do they? No. I

don't think they ever will. Penalty to Liverpool! Pogba's

handball. Milner puts Liverpool in front. Ibrahimovic... In the net!

Ibrahimovic for Manchester United. Before we go, let's take a quick

look at the weekend's fixtures. Saturday begins with bottom club

Swansea City visiting Liverpool in the early kick-off.

There are five 3pm kick-offs including

Crystal Palace against Everton and Manchester United's

trip to Stoke. Faltering Manchester City

host in-form Tottenham in the evening game.

There are three games on Sunday with Hull's trip to league leader's

Chelsea rounding off the weekend. Best of luck against Chelsea. Which

will you wear? I think this purple one. Lovely! Thank you. And we're

off for a couple of weeks. If you miss anything on the show you can

catch up with the i player. Thank you to everybody at Hull. You have

made us feel very welcome. Have a good night. Goodbye.

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