Hull boss sparks controversy after urging Tigers followers to be more like Portsmouth support

The Tigers were booed off on Saturday following a 1-1 draw in which they were fortunate to escape defeat.

The stalemate stretched Hull’s winless run to five matches, while their disappointing second-half performance against the Championship’s bottom club added to the vocal unrest.

In contrast, the noisy 2,106 travelling faithful stood by their team throughout, even during a poor first half in which they struggled to get possession and trailed 1-0.

That non-stop backing earned plenty of positive recognition from Hull followers on social media afterwards - and was also mentioned by their German head coach.

Although Walter’s comments have not gone down well with Tigers supporters.

The former Hamburger SV and Stuttgart manager told BBC Radio Humberside: ‘I heard the reaction from Portsmouth (fans) and they kept going all the time, also when they were behind.

‘So maybe we have to work more together and they (Hull fans) can help us as well because sometimes you have bad situations and you are down and you need maybe a push from the fans. That is what I expected to be honest and that’s what we can do even more.

‘I try to push them, but they can help us. They can help us, we can’t do everything right but we try to do, and it’s a young team and it’s a young squad, and we are new together.

‘All we need is a bit of support from the stands, not if we are scoring a goal. Also if it’s maybe not on our side, we need their support.

‘I understand they are angry about things sometimes, but all we can expect is support. It’s (needed) from both sides (team and fans) and that’s what we need.’

Saturday could have been even worse for the under-fire boss, who arrived as Liam Rosenior’s replacement in May.

During a second half labelled as the Blues’ best 45 minutes of the season by John Mousinho, Josh Murphy levelled before Callum Lang agonisingly struck the bar in stoppage-time for what would have been a winner.

And, as his Radio Humberside interview progressed, Walter became tetchy as he suddenly attempted to move away from his comments on the Hull support.

He added: ‘You can turn it like you want to, we can talk about now, let’s talk about the game, let’s talk about the game. Let’s talk about the game.

‘I don’t want to talk about anything else, we can talk about the game even more. Not about the supporters.

‘We have to talk about situations in the game or something like that, but not about the supporters.’