Mike Phelan claims terms of his Hull contract keep changing

Hull caretaker boss Mike Phelan claims the terms of his contract keep changing as he appears no nearer to becoming the club's permanent manager.

Phelan will take charge of his seventh Barclays Premier League match on a temporary basis against Chelsea at the KCON Stadium on Saturday and continues to thrash out a deal to replace Steve Bruce.

The Tigers' owners, still in protracted takeover talks with several separate consortiums despite announcing they hoped to complete the sale of the club during the last international break, first offered Phelan a permanent contract two weeks ago.

"At one point last week I thought I had a deal done," Phelan said. "I mentioned that to you, that it was near enough done and over the line and now it has changed a little bit. So I have to consider the changes.

"My side of things are we're still talking and we'll continue to talk until we can resolve the situation. It's as simple as that.

"What needs to be resolved is the terms of the deal. It keeps changing.

"One minute I think I've got something and the club are happy with it and the next minute it changes.

"So it's just a case of thinking about all these new changes that are on the table and making a decision."

Phelan has the backing of both his players and the fans after the Tigers launched the season with back-to-back wins in the top flight.

He has also steered them into the fourth round of the EFL Cup following victory at Stoke, but three defeats in their last four league games - albeit to Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool - has halted early momentum.

The club refused to comment when approached by Press Association Sport about the latest developments regarding the club's takeover.

It is understood they are still in talks with three separate groups, a Chinese/American consortium headed by Chien Lee, who bought an 80 per cent stake in French club Nice in the summer, former chairman Adam Pearson, who is fronting a Hong Kong-based group and another Chinese consortium, which came close to completing a takeover last month.

That deal broke down at a late stage after the Premier League had begun its owners and directors' test, but the consortium, headed by a brother and sister partnership of Dai Yongge and Dai Xin Li, has not ended its interest.

"I don't know where the takeover is," Phelan added. "I don't know whether there is one or whether it's moved further forward or away, I don't know.

"I had a cup of coffee and a cake (with current owners the Allam family) on Tuesday, which was very good, very positive, really good signs. We were looking forward to our working relationship really moving forward.

"And then a couple of days later a couple of things changed and we're here now. "