Former Town loanee Jimmy Bullard’s Hull City career looks set to come to an end with the player set to meet with Tigers officials today with a view to settling his £45,000-a-week contract. Last season’s Blues Player of the Year has been suspended by Hull for the last month for an alleged indiscretion during their pre-season trip to Slovenia.
The terms of the expected settlement aren’t known with the Tigers having held a lengthy investigation into the still unclear allegations and with sacking the player reported to be one of the options looked at by the East Yorkshire club.
It’s more likely that Bullard and the club who he joined from Fulham for £5 million in 2009 will agree a pay-off on the two remaining years of his contract.
Whether Bullard’s changed situation will see Town’s interest renewed remains to be seen. Speaking last week, Blues boss Paul Jewell reiterated his earlier comments that a move was beyond the club’s financial capabilities, certainly while the 32-year-old was with Hull: "We’ve spoken to [Hull’s head of football operations] Adam Pearson a number of times over the summer and I’ve spoken to Jimmy.
"It’s something that we would love to have done but financially it’s out of our remit. We’d like to have had Lionel Messi but we couldn’t afford him and I think Jimmy might be on a little bit more money to honest!”
QPR have also been linked, although subsequent reports have claimed their interest has cooled.
Elsewhere, former Blues international scout Simon Hunt is set to be named sporting director at Blackburn Rovers. Ex-Town striker David Lowe joined the coaching staff at Ewood Park earlier in the summer.