It's that time of year when Brown's sensational half-time dressing down of his team does the rounds once again
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
11:00, 25 Dec 2025
Phil Brown delivers his half-time team talk on the Manchester City pitch on Boxing Day 2008
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Phil Brown delivers his half-time team talk on the Manchester City pitch on Boxing Day 2008(Image: ANDREW YATES/AFP via Getty Images)
Phil Brown admits Jimmy Bullard's recreation of his infamous half-time team talk at Manchester City back in 2008 put a smile on his face.
It was a Boxing Day afternoon at the Etihad Stadium with City 4-0 down at the break, and Brown gave a very public dressing down to his players on the pitch in front of 3,000 away fans.
City went on to draw the second half 1-1, losing 5-1, but those scenes have become the stuff of legend in the years since, and with Boxing Day on the horizon once again, Brown has been giving a fresh insight into those events.
“During the Boxing Day match there were two players that went out on the lash on Christmas Day and came in, in no fit state to play against Manchester City," Brown said on Call Yourself A Fan, sponsored by Coral. "Bearing in mind I made two changes at half-time, you can probably guess who they were, we made the substitutions, and we drew the second half 1-1.”
Just under 12 months later, when the two sides met in Manchester again, Bullard's reposte was comical as he celebrated his equaliser in a 1-1 draw by mimicking Brown's famous moment, something the ex-City boss admits was superb.
“They’d obviously planned the celebration so after Jimmy scored he had to curtail his celebrations," Brown continued. "When they were doing that, I didn’t really pay much attention to it, but when I got into the staff changing rooms, and all I could hear was laughing going on, and they were watching the half-time team talk on a video, they didn't want to make eye contact. I've gone in and said, 'Absolutely brilliant, Jimmy, fantastic. I couldn't ask for anything better."
Now manager of non-league outfit Peterborough Sports, a part-time club playing in National League South, Brown admits he's mellowed a lot compared to what he was like in the Premier League dugout during his time with the Tigers.
“I’m a lot more mellow now. I’d fly off the handle every so often, but with my role now being non-league, you’ve got to cut people more slack. If I was more mellow back in the day, I’d have been a better manager, but it's difficult when you are paying people £50,000 a week. Once they step over the line, you want to rip their heads off but, you can’t do that!”
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