As the old saying goes, “Time heals all wounds”—except, it seems, for Phil Brown, former manager of Hull City.

Even years after a highly controversial spat with Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas, Phil Brown appears unable to let go. This long-standing grudge resurfaced in a recent interview with the ‘Undr The Cosh’ Podcast.

Perhaps in a bid to remain relevant, Brown insists on rekindling his version of events from a contentious encounter between Fabregas and his Hull City squad from the 2008/09 season.

During that time, allegations were thrown that Fabregas had spat at assistant Brian Horton in the tunnel following Arsenal’s 2-1 win against Hull City in the FA Cup.

Fabregas vigorously denied the accusation and was subsequently cleared.

Yet, the incident still haunts Brown, who recently shared his lingering resentment over the matter.

So, what exactly is the Geordie boss fixated on?

In a recent podcast, he talked at length about his version of the events that unfolded at the Emirates Stadium.

Brown continues to emphasise a perceived bias against his team in favour of Arsenal, a ludicrous notion, especially under Arsene Wenger.

“Cesc Fabregas, and I think he was a fabulous player, he spat at Brian Horton coming off the field of play,” he began.

“He gobbed at him.

“I don’t want to drag up old rubbish but it should’ve been dealt with better and it wasn’t. It was dealt with like the FA deal with big boys against little boys, and that’s what I felt. I felt like Arsenal were special and we weren’t so it was brushed under the carpet.

“It’s sad really because I know, listen, I’m not lying, Brian Horton would stand here he’d say exactly the same; if you’ve got Arsene Wenger here, if he said something different, he would go down in my estimation because honestly that’s what he did.

“We had a tunnel situation Jon, when you go off at Arsenal the tunnel actually comes out of the stand and it comes onto the pitch to a certain extent, maybe a yard on the pitch, so when you disappear under it CCTV footage is lost.

“So we’re now under this and he’s just gone ‘bosh’ and I’ve gone ‘seriously?’ I turned to Brian and I said ‘have I just witnessed what I’ve just witnessed?

“I couldn’t believe my eyes! One of the legends.

“He had a snood on, a hoodie or whatever it was but he wasn’t playing in the game, it was a FA Cup game, I think it was a quarter-final or a semi-final something like that.

“We were doing well and we got beaten – and we’d gave a good account of ourselves – by an offside goal, beat us.

“And it was offside, I’m not going back on old stuff but Fabregas to do that, he came on the pitch and when I looked at him, I didn’t recognise him. I thought ‘who is this kid?’

“I thought a supporter had ran on the pitch!

“Hat down and he’s got this puffer jacket on, and we’ve gone across to the Hull fans giving it plenty and what have you and as we’re walking off, he’s barged into the fitness coach and I thought ‘oh, that’s risky’.

“The fitness coach used to work in the jail at Leeds prison, I thought ‘hello, I’ve got to get a hold of Rushy, calm yourself down, because even if it was a supporter, just calm yourself down’.

“And I’ve gone, ‘I can’t believe it, it’s Cesc Fabregas’, and then it carried on in the tunnel and the rest is history.”

Some of you might remember, at the time, Brown was obsessed with Fabregas and his puffer jacket, perhaps even more so than the alleged spit.

Brown, now 64, is currently unemployed after leaving Barrow in 2022 after just nine games.

Since leaving Hull in 2010, Brown has managed Preston (51 games), Southend Town (250), Swindon Town (32), Pune City (8), Hyderabad (12), and Southend United (16).

Over his career, Brown faced Arsenal five times, losing four. His one win, a 2-1 at the Emirates, served to inflate his own sense of self which was, for a time, unbearably smug.

That, however, was the high point of his managerial career, it seems.

The focus on this episode by Brown acts as a curious contrast to the more typically celebrated narrative of Fabregas’s career.

The ex-Spanish international long ago moved on and is now embarking on his own managerial career, taking charge of youth teams at Serie B side Como.

Meanwhile, the Hull City ex-boss continues to dwell on past grievances.

It’s an episode that raises questions not just about the incident itself, but also about the art of letting go—or Brown’s inability to do so.