COLCHESTER United were keeping quiet over the Phil Parkinson saga last night, understandably waiting for the legal proceedings to run their course, but Hull City chairman Adam Pearson remains an agitated man.

By Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United were keeping quiet over the Phil Parkinson saga last night, understandably waiting for the legal proceedings to run their course, but Hull City chairman Adam Pearson remains an agitated man.

While the U's were issuing a formal statement, effectively urging supporters to be patient, the Tigers were continuing to voice their frustrations at the compensation package demanded by U's chairman Peter Heard.

Parkinson resigned as Colchester boss on June 14, less than a month after guiding them into the Championship for the first time in their history, and poignantly just 24 hours after former Hull boss Peter Taylor was officially appointed the new manager at Crystal Palace.

It was a poorly-kept secret that fellow Championship club Hull wanted to appoint Parkinson to the KC Stadium hot-seat, but the U's reacted by rejecting the resignation and also gaining a temporary High Court injunction preventing other clubs from talking to their manager - the 38-year-old still has a year left on his contract.

Pearson is believed to have made two offers of compensation to Colchester, for the loss of their manager. The first one was £150,000, and the second was increased to £250,000. Both were turned down, with the U's allegedly wanting £500,000 plus legal costs, amounting to a total of £600,000.

The U's released this statement yesterday: “Discussions are continuing on the current managerial situation at Colchester United.

“We are conscious of the desire of many fans for further information but, due to the sensitive nature of the ongoing proceedings, we are unable to comment any further at this time.

“We will, where appropriate and as advised by our legal team, be issuing further statements as things develop.”

There were developments on the managerial front at Hull yesterday, with Frank Barlow appointed the caretaker manager. He had been the assistant boss at Nottingham Forest.

Barlow is set to stay in charge until the Parkinson situation is resolved, when he is then expected to be the No. 2.

Meanwhile, chairman Pearson told the Hull Daily Mail of his latest frustrations.

He said: “They (Colchester United) asked us to come back with another offer of compensation and we then generously offered £250,000.

“That equates to five times Mr Parkinson's current salary which, in terms of compensation, is completely unheard of at this level.

“We have since heard back that this offer was rejected and now they have asked for £500,000 plus £100,000 in costs.

“It is quite ludicrous,” concluded the City chairman.