Ex-Premier League boss accuses 'imposter' players of trying to get him sacked

Former Premier League manager Phil Brown has aimed a remarkable scathing rant at his Kidderminister Harriers players, insisting they want him to be sacked.

Brown was made famous by his spell at Hull City, taking the Tigers up into the Premier League, before delivering a number of remarkable results in their first campaign in the top-flight. He has also had stints in charge of Southend, Preston North End and Swindon Town.

The Englishman was appointed Kidderminister boss in January 2024, though he was unable to save them from relegation to the National League North. This season has also been difficult with Saturday's defeat to Spennymoor Town seeing them drop out of the play-offs.

In the aftermath of that blow, Brown launched into his players, accusing them of trying to get him sacked. He insisted that they had let the club down with their performance, which led to their 10th defeat of the campaign.

“It was the overall understanding of the team, what was required to win again football. There’s a certain way of playing football, and there’s a certain way of wearing the shirt. The players out there wore it with no pride whatsoever, no ambition to try and win the game," Brown said.

“They looked like they were going through the motions, and that’s a representation of me. So it’s not a case of the changes I made that did that. These players I’ve been playing for me all season, and I’ve never seen anything like that.

“It was unrecognisable. There’s something going on in the changing room. I don’t know what it is. It was almost like they didn’t want me at the football club. They played that way. That’s the only way I can describe the performance – to get me out.

“I’d love for one of them to step up here in front of the camera and just say those words. I’m wasting my time trying to motivate them if they want me out of the club, and that’s the way they represented me here."

Mid-table Spennymoor went two up before Harrriers pulled one back with 10 minutes left. But the visitors added a third to put the game beyond reach, leading to Brown threatening to punish his players.

“They’ve made my life a misery, and consequently, because of that, I might as well make their life a misery, they’ll be in on Sunday, like naughty schoolboys that need educating," he added.

“I’ll stay at the helm as long as the chairman wants me because it’s the chairman that employs me. But the way the players represented us was just really not good enough for themselves, not good enough not just for the football club.

“It’s almost like they were imposters. And if that’s the case, then go and do another job, something else. I try to educate them. I try to give them everything with regards to the professional side of the game, as I know nearly 2,000 games as a player, coach and a manager.

“I’ve been sacked before – but I’ve never seen such a weird, lacklustre, no direction, kind of representation of Phil Brown, and I’m really I want to apologise to everybody that came to the game.

“It’s not acceptable to play football in that manner. I’ll level this to all the players when they come in. It was embarrassing. If it goes on like this for the rest of the season, the place will be empty, I wouldn’t pay to watch that.”

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