There is no handbook for how to run a Championship club, no magic formula for success in one of the most unpredictable leagues in world football.
Just ask Tan Kesler. He is Hull City‘s vice chairman and right-hand man of Turkish media magnate and Tigers owner Acun Ilicali.
It is a year since Ilicali’s Hull takeover and it has been 12 months of extremes in East Yorkshire. Thousands of coffees have been sunk, there have been late nights and early starts, 18 new players (with a 19th, Karl Darlow, to come soon), significant investment and, just before Christmas, an all-expenses-paid holiday to Antalya for 300 of the club’s fans.
The vision was that the Tigers’ aggressive, risk-taking, front-foot philosophy on and off the pitch would see them soaring in the Championship. Instead they are 16th, still waiting for lift off.
But here’s the most fascinating part of what is playing out at the MKM Stadium, and one with lessons for the rest of football at a time when the issue of bad ownership remains high on the agenda in the EFL. Through this rollercoaster year, owner Acun Ilicali and his team have retained the support and trust of Hull’s fans.
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Why is that? “When we took over a year ago the chairman had a vision,” Kesler explains to i.
“‘Why can’t we be the most committed to communication in England, if not the world?’ It’s ambitious but can it be achieved? Acun’s from a media background so it’s instinctive and natural for him to have an organisation that communicates.
“It was intentional to talk when things weren’t going well. We want to make sure our fans know what we’re doing and what’s not going right and when it’s not going right there are some key people who want to take accountability for it.”
Kesler details an “open door” policy in the organisation. He is big on “trust” among the players, management and staff.
“A lot of positive things have happened – attendances have gone up – but there have also been many things we need to take lessons from,” he admits.
“We listen. If you can’t listen to your organisation and your fans, you can’t achieve things with your vision.”
The mid-table league position is clearly a frustration but it is an improvement on the 20th place which cost Shota Arveladze his job at the end of September. They have learned some recruitment lessons.
“To establish a team culture takes time and we had some pain doing that,” he says.
“The Championship is a very demanding league. You need to be able to be robust to comply with the schedule, to play three matches a week sometimes. We factored that in but the beauty of football is you can’t measure all the risk.
“Next year everyone will know our idenity, the way we play and what to expect from us.”
A mid-season change of manager was not planned but Liam Rosenoir, a bright managerial talent who served his apprenticeship under Wayne Rooney at Derby last season, looks like a solid appointment.
“I love Liam, he’s very positive, very problem solving. He doesn’t create problems, he doesn’t give you ‘end of the world’ stories,” Kesler says.
“He’s a good leader and he immediately earned the player’s trust. He’s got a game plan I love and he sticks with it.
“He made sure we conceded less goals, our statistics changed dramatically. We enjoy the way we play now with the same boys but I’ve told him – and the chairman as well – now is the time to take risks so that the team can improve.
“I’m not saying he doesn’t take risks by the way but we’re the type of ownership that want our approach to be even more brave. He took over the club two days before Millwall – he is brave, don’t get me wrong. But we want him to bring in more calculated risks to improve our game.”
A year in what Kesler says is known abroad as the “suicide league” on account of the amount of money owners plunge into their clubs in pursuit of the promised land of the Premier League has convinced him of the case for reform of the parachute payment system.
The EFL and Premier League have been in talks for months about the ‘new deal for football’, which would see an end to relegated teams being paid vast amounts for three years to cushion the blow of going down. Instead money would be paid to Championship clubs on a sliding scale.
“Clubs should be sustainable,” Kesler says.
“At the moment, it’s a heavily owner driven league. Owners spend a crazy amount of money to compete and chase the Premier League dream. Is it sustainable? It’s very difficult. To compete with Premier League teams with parachute payments is madness.”
His answer is simple. “What needs to be done is the distribution of money needs to be more even, whether we take it out of the parachute payments or not,” Kesler says.
“We shouldn’t be taking out the competitive edge of the league by rewarding teams that get relegated. The revenue sharing system needs to be changed and we need to look into different revenue streams in terms of the TV rights. It’s one of the main arteries of clubs to survive or compete. It needs to be looked into and ventured out more.”
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