Phil Brown has been sacked. © Getty Images

It could only happen to Phil Brown. Just a day or so after a battling performance against Arsenal almost netted a valuable point for Hull, he is relieved of his duties just when nobody expects it.

Battling of a different kind (between his players Jimmy Bullard and Nicky Barmby), took all the headlines as they scrapped in front of the Women’s Institute last week, but now ‘Phil Orange’, as he has become known in some press circles, will take the attention away from his side’s off-pitch misdemeanours.

It is a decision that the Hull board have put down to their hopes for Premier League survival. But perhaps there is something deeper here about his handling of his players? Certainly, if Hull were going to make a decision based on their results, then choosing the end of October would have given them a fighting chance.

Rumours persisted that Brown had actually been sacked back then, but they came to nothing as his friend and former colleague Adam Pearson was installed in the Tigers’ boardroom. Now Pearson has opted to pull the trigger, but the timing is odd.

Yes, Hull have won just five of their 29 Premier League games this season and have looked like relegation candidates all season, but that cannot be seen as much of a surprise given their dismal run at the end of last campaign.

If anything, the club had actually been on the up of late, with their vitally important home form seeing an improvement that yielded just a single defeat in their last ten games at the KC Stadium before the visit of Arsenal.

Now, a new man must come in and make an immediate impact. Having to win over the dressing-room, adapt to new surroundings and ensure that the results on the pitch are enough to keep the club in the Premier League and it may be a task too far.

Hull have missed the boat. If they wanted to affect a change at the club, then before Christmas would have been the time. In acting so late, it may be that the Tigers have just released their only chance of staying up.