Quote: trys'r'us "He certainly wouldn't have been thrown in at the deep end in an uncomfortable position quite so often. I'm not sure how much effect that would have had on the opinion of many fans (who had already accepted that he was one of the best Hull-born players of all time, before he'd ever made a first team appearance), as he was never going to live up to the hype and expectations no matter how well and suitably he was introduced to the team.'"
Possibly not, but I think he may well have been more likely to receive praise than criticism if he had been able to be drip fed into the team. As it was, you rightly say he was thrown in at the deep end, and many of the fans seemed to demand he immediately became a direct replacement for what Cooke did for us, even though it had taken him a while to get to that level. He was pretty much asked to become a seasoned professional who could control a game for 80 minutes overnight, rather than being able to play a cameo role to keep learning and look promising, so it must have been much harder for him than some others.
I'm not trying to have a pop at anyone particularly here, it just strikes me that a lot of the fickle accusations actually ring true and perhaps it's about time people took that on board and maybe tried to be a bit more patient. We've again got a good crop coming through, and with something finally being done about quota abuse it would be nice for them to be allowed to blossom rather than being made to collapse under the pressure and ending up in the national leagues.
