I nearly had a Peter Odemwingie deadline day moment at Hull City - Steve Bruce was raging

Shane Long played just 17 times for Hull City
-Credit: (Image: Matthew Ashton/AMA/AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)


The name Peter Odemwingie is synonymous with the excitement of a transfer deadline day after his failed move to QPR back in January 2013. He arrived at Loftus Road in front of the television cameras in a bid to push through a move from West Brom with no deal agreed between the two clubs, nor permission from the Baggies to travel to West London.

Little did we know, former Hull City striker Shane Long almost encountered a similar situation when he expected to make a move to the Tigers from Albion just six months later on deadline day in the summer of 2013.

Long, who did eventually join the Tigers from the Baggies in January 2014 when City paid a fee in the region of £7m for the then Republic of Ireland international, following closely on the back of their club-record deal to sign Nikica Jelavic from Everton, has opened up on that rather awkward fiasco.

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The forward says the deal ultimately fell through, which left the Tigers and Steve Bruce deeply unhappy, while his manager at The Hawthorns - Steve Clarke - knew little about what had been happening in the final hours of the window.

“I nearly had a Peter Odemwingie up there," Long told Ben Foster's Fozcast show. "West Brom signed Stephane Sessegnon from Sunderland and Hull wanted him as well. So for West Brom to get him, they said I could go to Hull. I found out and I was like, okay, if I'm not wanted here I want to go to Hull and play.

“I went up there to do the medical, meet everyone, and agree on everything. I actually drove into the training ground lying on the floor, because the Odemwingie thing happened six months before and I didn't want to be that guy. I hid but I thought that everything was going through.

“Then West Brom weren't answering the phone at 10pm. Then I got a call from the gaffer who said, 'Longy what are you doing'. I told him what had happened and he said you're not going anywhere. He didn't know anything about it.

“Hull were raging, because they had no time to get anyone else. I hid on the way out as I didn't want to be seen, and got back down and the gaffer apologised, saying he didn't know anything about it. Since then, I thought I don't want to be at the club. I wanted to do well because I am competitive, but the first chance I got to go I went, and signed for Hull.”