Turnergate, part 1 (From Your Local Guardian)

Turnergate, part 1

4:55pm Thursday 5th November 2009

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Before this week, the only thing to get me het up about Hull City was their perma-tanned manager Phil Brown.

He should have built up huge amounts of goodwill for leading the Tigers to the top flight for the first time in their history and keeping them there at the first attempt. Turns out his public approval rating is on a par with MPs, bankers and Gary Glitter.

Brown has turned attention seeking into an art form, from his on-the-pitch team talk to his jaw-dropping rendition of Sloop John B at the KC Stadium.

Yet this petty dislike for one man may well have to be put to one side and replaced by a hatred far deeper, if it emerges that Hull have been up to no good in regards to what I am already calling Turnergate.

Brentford, in conjunction with Charlton Athletic, have asked the Football League to ask the Premier League to investigate the transfer of former Bees centre-half Michael Turner from Hull to Sunderland in the summer.

The Tigers deny any wrongdoing but, on the face of it, Brentford seem within their rights to ask the question.

Let us lay it out in simple terms. Turner was Hull’s most consistent player for three seasons, Brown repeatedly said he was loathe to lose his star asset and there was mounting speculation about a transfer with several interested clubs and valuations, ranging from the realistic (£6m) to the absurd (£12m).

When the transfer did go through and Turner signed for the Black Cats, Brentford and Charlton were rightly overjoyed, as both were set to share 33 per cent of the transfer fee.

But it appears neither club got the huge windfall they were expecting, as it turns out Hull let Turner go for £4m.

The club’s new chairman Adam Pearson says the only thing Hull are guilty of is not maximising the fee they received, but neither Brentford’s staff nor fans could be blamed if they are not satisfied with that explanation.

In a summer when a player with no Premier League experience in Roger Johnson is signed by Birmingham for £5m, it beggars belief that Hull, in huge financial trouble largely thanks to a mind-boggling wage bill of £38m, would be prepared to let Turner go for only £4m.

Throw into the mix the fact that, in the same week, Sunderland sold Hull Paul McShane apparently for a paltry £500,000 and the plot only gets thicker.

My gut feeling is Brentford will lose out big time and that is something we can ill afford.