Hull City legend Dean Windass has rubbished claims Phil Brown lost the players after his public halftime rant on the Eastlands pitch last season.

The Tigers return to Manchester City today for the first time since the infamous episode.

Windass, who was making his first start of the season that day, is dismissive of claims Brown's decision sparked the club's free-fall.

"I never thought of it that way. The players were disappointed because we were 4-0 down at half-time. Phil obviously took his frustrations out with what he did. But at that time the players didn't think that the gaffer was out of order.

"From my point of view I was disappointed the way that we were playing. It's like Wigan getting beaten 9-1, the players will be looking at themselves. If [the manager Roberto] Martínez would have taken them on the pitch at half-time the players wouldn't have thought, 'Oh the gaffer's out of order.' They'll be thinking, 'We've let the supporters down, I've let myself down, blah blah blah.'"

Windass, who left Hull in the summer and has now retired from playing, says the perception that Brown lost both the plot and his players was down to how the incident was viewed by the written press and television pundits.

"Until the media started going on about it the players didn't really give a toss," he said. "It was obviously when it came on Match of the Day and Alan Shearer and Alan Hansen were saying, 'Well, he'll lose the players now,' which I don't think he did," he told the Guardian.