KARL OYSTON'S STRONG BOND
Chairman loves to join us on team outings
HULL CITY'S team-bonding session didn't go so well last week but I've been on a fair few of similar outings over the years.
We have been on loads of different bonding sessions at Blackpool and that's probably why we have such a good team spirit.
The unusual thing is that our chairman, Karl Oyston, likes to be in the thick of the action¿you will already know this if you watched Soccer AM a couple of weeks ago and saw him with his crown on.
We have been go-karting and clay pigeon shooting this season - both things Mr Oyston excels in.
In the shooting, he only missed one out of 50 shots. His closest rival was Claus Jorgensen who had the advantage of serving in the army when he was younger. The rest of us averaged about 20.
It was a different story on the go-kart track. As usual, all the big lads were struggling along slowly but somehow Mr Oyston's kart seemed a lot faster than anyone else's - very suspicious!
Morale
The only way we could stop him winning was to ram into him at every opportunity. He wasn't very happy about it but the players certainly bonded!
When I was at Stockport, Carlton Palmer would try to improve morale after a defeat by stopping the coach on the way home and buying everyone a couple of pints.
I might mention that to our boss Simon Grayson.
Iain Dowie at Oldham had some great ways of building team spirit. We once went paint-balling on the moors in the middle of winter.
Dowie was on the opposite team to me and, judging by his tactical planning, he must have always harboured dreams of being in the military. I was working my way through the snow, all nice and quiet, when all hell broke loose and Dowie ambushed me.
Impress
The result was severe bruising all down my backside.
After our shocking performance against Preston on Sunday, we were in first thing Monday morning to watch the game.
I thought it was bad when I was playing in it, but it was even worse watching it back on the big screen.
I feel sorry for our fans because there's nothing worse than losing a derby game. I'm a Manchester City fan so I'm used to it.
The gaffer has said that all the places in the team are up for grabs this week so everyone has been flying around in training trying to impress.
This article has 2 comments
Ben was one of the few players to come out of the derby with any credit which made it all the more surprising that he missed out on the Wolves game. We certainly missed him. Steve Kabba looked either unfit or disinterested against Wolves (maybe both) - lets hope Ben gets his place back against the MASSIVE owls on Tuesday night.
By Dave. Posted November 24 2008 at 10:00 AM.
"there's nothing worse than losing a derby game"
Yes there is- losing a derby game and travelling 600 miles round trip to see the defeat! To be fair you weren't the worst performer by any means Ben, but it was disappointing.
By Mike. Posted November 23 2008 at 11:46 PM.