City’s long wait for successive victories finally came to an end at St Andrew’s
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic has claimed he was told to “f^^k off” by Birmingham City boss Chris Davies after a melee marred the Tigers’ stunning 3-2 win at St Andrew’s, with the pair not shaking hands at full-time. The claim, strongly denied by Davies, diverted attention away from a great afternoon for the Tigers.
A Jack Robinson own goal, a superb Regan Slater header and a late Joe Gelhardt strike had City 3-1 up after Jay Stansfield had pulled the hosts level, and then he slammed in a stoppage-time penalty to create added drama in what was a breathless encounter – Robinson was also given a straight red card for foul and abusive language.
Just before the break, however, tempers flared when Kyle Joseph and Marc Leonard clashed in front of the benches which sparked a huge melee with staff from both teams coming together.
A flurry of bookings followed as referee Ruebyn Ricardo struggled to keep a lid on what turned into a feisty, dramatic affair, which City ended up on the right side of.
The City boss has also claimed he was told to ‘f^^k off back to Croatia’ by a member of the Blues’ security staff, and says he was booked by the referee for suggesting a Birmingham player should have been cautioned which now means he will watch Tuesday night’s clash with Leicester City from the MKM Stadium stands after collecting three bookings.
“I was in my technical space all the time, and they came to us, so if you leave your technical space, it’s immediately a yellow card,” he told Hull Live.
“And I got a yellow card because I showed (waves imaginary card) for this very hard foul on Kyle Joseph. This is the edge of the red card because it’s on purpose.
“Then I asked, Chris, ‘Why did you come to my technical space?’ and he said to me, ‘F word you’. Some securities too (said) that I go to Croatia.
“I’m very happy with that because I’m very, very hard born. I’m not afraid of anyone, and I’m doing my job in this country. I respect this country, and I will never say something like this, so this is disrespectful to me. I didn’t even shake hands (with Davies), which is for me a disaster, but OK, I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.
“Yes, it’s disappointing, but OK. I’m from Croatia. I’m born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I live now in Croatia, so I’m used to it and everything.
“I don’t have a problem with that. I will not say anything officially. That I report something, no way, because it’s football, it’s emotions, it’s stress, it’s a very high pulse, but for me manager to manager because it’s normal in this country.
“I like this very much that after the game you can drink a beer, like with Frank Lampard, like with Chris Wilder, like normal, so I can forget now somebody, but for me, take three points and go home. Thank you very much.”
For his part, Blues boss Davies denied he said that to the Croatian. Hull Live spoke to Regan Slater at St Andrew’s, and he reiterated the accusation about Davies’ comments, saying he too heard the offensive remark. It’s understood, at this stage, the club are not expecting to take any further action.
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