Tigers’ promotion hero Caleb Folan may have not played for the team for neigh on a decade, but a recent interview with the ex-Hull City striker revealed why he chose to celebrate his late goal against Colchester United by putting his hands to his face and pretending to sleep.
Folan spoke to the hosts of Tigers Tigers Blah Blah Blah (below) – a fledgeling Independent Hull City Podcast that has featured numerous ex-players – and admitted it was a story he’d never spoke about at length.
YouTube: Caleb Folan!
In the interview, Folan says, “I’ve never told this story, ever!”
“You’re going to laugh at this, it’s a funny story… After the previous game (Southampton at home), Paul Duffen (then Chairman) came into the changing room. We’d had a good result, and he’d go round to each of the lads, shake their hand and whatnot, have a little chat.”
“He got round to me, and – it sounds so crazy when I say it – he asked me what I was up to that night: are you out for a drink?” Folan revealed that Duffen often stayed over in Leeds, which is where Folan himself lived. “I said yeah, I might be out for a drink, might see you out!” This was before Phil Brown then told the players to report for training the next day, and specifically not to go out – an instruction that the striker failed to heed.
Folan continues, “I then went out that night for a few drinks… I walked into the bar, and I saw bloody Duffen! Duffen’s at the bar! His first words were, ‘Are you not supposed to be in tomorrow?’ I said, Oh, I think the lads are in, but I’m not in tomorrow…I didn’t know what to say so I just said that!”
After a brief exchange, Folan recounts that his Chairman may have bought him “one too many drinks” that night, which culminated in him sleeping in, and missing training the next day.
He recalls, “In the morning, my phone is pinging and it’s what I think is my alarm. So I’m just reaching over and I’m just snoozing it. Then, the third time I’ve done it, I realised it wasn’t my alarm clock – it was my phone ringing! It was Brian Horton! I’ve answered it, and he’s just raging down the phone. I’ve looked at the time, and it’s half 10… and I’m like… you’re kidding me! I’ve slept in! He’s hammered me on the phone… I’m like, look, I’m sorry. I’ve gone out!”
He then reveals he had to wait for a call from Phil Brown, and although another severe grilling didn’t come, he found himself dropped for the game away at Colchester. After coming on as a substitute late on, Dean Marney passed the ball through to the on-rushing Folan, who rounded the goalkeeper and finished the game, putting City 3-1 up on the night.
“First thing I could think of is just putting my arms up… celebrating with my hands on my ear like I’m going to sleep – and no-one knew what that meant at the time. But it was because I slept in!”
Folan was pivotal in Hull’s charge for promotion in the 2007/08 season, but became very much the forgotten man during the two seasons The Tigers spent in the Premier League from 2008-2010. Despite this, the revelation by the striker proves that sometimes, there is a little more to celebrations that meet the eye.
