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Former Fulham midfielder
Jimmy Bullard |
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Former Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard has hit back at Fulham manager Roy Hodgson for claiming that the club was forced to sell the midfielder because of his excessive contract demands.
Bullard joined Hull in a £5m move on Friday, signing a four-and-a-half-year deal that, reports claimed, came close to doubling his wages to £45,000 a week. Hodgson said Fulham had withdrawn from contract talks due to "both his wage demands and the length of the contract he wanted ... had we conceded to his demands it would have created problems for us.''
But Bullard has now claimed he did not discuss specific wages or contract length with Fulham, and found Hodgson's comments "mind-boggling".
Bullard said: "I spoke in the summer. They said come back in November and we'll talk and that was it really. That's when it got held up and I knew where I stood. It made it easy for me. The only club that I knew of being interested was Hull. The rest was paper talk.
"I've heard a lot of talk about wages and demands and I can honestly say that I don't play football for money. I came up to Hull because of the ambitions and I want to play for a club that wants me, simple as that. I've never been interested in money.
"I wasn't asking for anything really. I was in contract talks but the talks only went as far as 'we're not going to offer you any sort of contract' so talking about years of contracts just wasn't there. That's what I was told so it [Hodgson's viewpoint] is a bit mind-boggling really.
"I went in and asked and they wouldn't give me a thought. It was a weird discussion. I was a bit upset that I never had the backing from the manager or the club."