That was the weekend that was: Prima donnas are not a Premiership preserve

STAN COLLYMORE, the disappearing Aston Villa striker, was not the only footballer apparently indulging in a spot of the prima donnas ahead of the weekend matches. At a somewhat different level, Hull City - bottom of the Third Division - reportedly discovered a Collymore of their own in the 35-year-old former Wimbledon and Sheffield United midfielder Glyn Hodges.

Hodges, who will be 36 in April, had been helping out his long-time mate, Dave Bassett, at Nottingham Forest but was released by the club at the beginning of the year and returned to Hull, the seventh of his eight League clubs.

He impressed in a second-string match against York reserves and seemed likely to win a new contract from manager Warren Joyce - until last Thursday. With Joyce away scouting, reserve coach Rod Arnold asked Hodges to turn out in another reserve match, against Chesterfield - a request that did not, it seems, go down well with Hodges, who had started the season in the Premiership.

Joyce's assistant, John McGovern, said he was stunned by Hodges' decision. "Basically, he told Rod he did not think he could gain anything from playing in the reserves. He refused to play."

Perhaps Hull should have seen it coming. After leaving Boothferry Park last year, when Bassett invited him to revive his top-level career, Hodges confessed he had become so disillusioned with life at the bottom he had been close to quitting.