Northern person abandoning Hull in the end? It almost happens! (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
near thing
'northern person abandoning hull in the end? it' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'almost happens' is the wordplay.
'almost' becomes 'near' (I've seen this before).
'happens' becomes 'thing' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'near'+'thing'='NEAR THING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for near thing that I've seen before include "Something that barely avoids failure or disaster" , "almost a disaster" , "Close call" , "dangerous" , "Narrow escape, missed by a small margin (4.5)" .)