Hull City's Craig Fagan has no intention of taunting Wayne Bridge

Posted Saturday, February 06, 2010 by theguardian.com

Hull City's Craig Fagan has no intention of taunting Wayne Bridge
Wayne Bridge could make his return to action with Manchester City at Hull today.

The Hull City forward Craig Fagan has vowed not to "cross the line" by taunting Wayne Bridge about his recent off-field turmoil should the pair go up against each other today.

The England left-back Bridge is expected to return to the Manchester City side for the visit to the KC Stadium following a spell out injured, during which allegations surfaced of an affair between his former partner and ex-Chelsea team-mate John Terry.

Should he play on Humberside, Bridge could well be up against Fagan, provided the Tigers' forward keeps his place on the right wing. Fagan, however, says he would not dare use the recent off-field headlines to gain a psychological advantage over the defender.

"At the end of the day he's going to be in the spotlight but I'm sure his manager wouldn't put him in if he wasn't 100% right," said Fagan. "Obviously I don't want to get involved in any of that.

"I wouldn't even dare mention it to the guy, to be honest. I think that's crossing the line a bit. If he does play, then fair play to him."

Fagan also argued Rio Ferdinand's case after the Manchester United defender's suspension for elbowing him recently. Ferdinand is serving a four-game ban by the Football Association for apparently lashing out at Fagan at Old Trafford but the Hull striker doubts the England centre-half was being malicious.

"I was blocking him from marking Anthony Gardner and at the time I didn't think it was an elbow, I thought I just got pushed," said Fagan.

"It wasn't until the next day that I heard he was going in front of the FA so it was a bit bizarre. He gave me his shirt after the game and stuff like that, so I don't think there was any malice in it."

Fagan's role is one of a number of selection headaches for the Hull manager, Phil Brown, today, with the recent signing Amr Zaki pushing for a start up front and Seyi Olofinjana returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Brown is delighted to have a selection headache, however, particularly concerning the form of the 19-year-old midfielder Tom Cairney.

Cairney made his debut in last weekend's 2-2 draw with Wolves and impressed sufficiently to keep his place for Tuesday's game with Chelsea.

The Nottingham-born youngster produced another excellent performance in the 1-1 draw with Carlo Ancelotti's side and can have high hopes of starting again despite growing competition for places.

Though the club currently sit third from bottom in the Premier League, Brown believes the emergence of Cairney and the steady progress of fellow youngsters Liam Cooper and Mark Cullen is evidence of a positive future for the cash-strapped club.

The Hull manager said: "Tom Cairney, in the light of Jimmy Bullard's long-term injury and one or two falling by the wayside in terms of form and then Seyi Olofinjana going to the African Nations Cup, has grabbed his chance.

"It doesn't look like Tom needs his feet keeping on the ground. He looks like he's taking it all in his stride."

Brown will be without the forward Geovanni today after he suffered a minor medial ligament problem, though the Brazilian could return for the midweek trip to Blackburn.