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'Odd' - Mason Burstow's damning indictment of Tim Walter's Hull City era

Hull City's Mason Burstow scored his first goal of the season at Middlesbrough
-Credit: (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)


Mason Burstow has given an insight into what life was like under former head coach Tim Walter behind the scenes at Hull City.

Walter's relationship with some of his players has become clearer since his sacking last Wednesday, and the summer signing has highlighted the strain between the pair, with Burstow admitting his way of operating was odd and left him feeling let down and not supported.

The 21-year-old, who arrived from Chelsea in August, struggled for minutes under Walter, who then publicly criticised him and suggested he was better as a winger rather than a number nine, Burstow's preferred position.

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Burstow made his mark on Saturday despite City losing 3-1 at Middlesbrough. coming off the bench to score his first Tigers goal just seconds after being introduced, and he'll hope it will be the start of a productive spell in a team who have struggled badly for goals.

"For me personally, it's been frustrating," he told Hull Live. "I would have liked to have played more and get more opportunities

"That's just the way it is. I've got that opportunity (at Boro), and I was able to make an impact on the pitch. Hopefully, from here on, I can continue to do that."

His comments, however, paint a picture that all was not well behind the scenes and that the players were struggling with Walter's methods but coming up against a man unwilling to listen to his players.

"It's odd, and I felt it was unnecessary," he explained. "I go into training every day and do my best and train well, so to hear it from my manager was a tough one to take, but it's one of the things. I can't impact; I just have got to keep doing what I do."

Despite criticising Burstow in the media but suggesting he wasn't a manager who criticised his players and one who had their back, Burstow says there was little interaction from the manager on the training field, suggesting the opposite was, in fact, the case behind closed doors.

"Not much, really, which was a difficult thing," he said when asked about private conversations. "I obviously had the meetings with him and tried to understand where the game time was going to come and what I could do to get more game time. He didn't really entertain it and didn't give me the chance to get my points across, which was difficult. I wasn't getting anything back, so you almost have the feeling of giving up and getting on with it yourself.

"First and foremost, he said he saw me more as a winger rather than a number nine, which caught me off guard at the start. I signed here as a nine, a long-term deal to be that, to be the number nine in the future.

"Playing on the wing, I'm happy to play wherever I could to get game time, but it's definitely more natural to me (playing up front). There were just a couple of tough conversations which I felt were unnecessary, but it is what it is."