Hull City’s rollercoaster has run out of track

Hull City supporters are used to riding the rollercoaster. Between 2014 and 2022 they watched their team change divisions six times and reach an FA Cup final, play in Europe and finish bottom of the Championship.

They protested against a deeply unpopular owner and welcomed a new one. Since the start of 2022, their club has had six different managers of six different nationalities. It is never dull.

This summer has not been fun. The sacking of Ruben Selles following survival from relegation, when that was presumably the aim having taken over a team bottom of the league, felt ludicrously harsh. It may not yet sting to see Selles get the Sheffield United job, but it will if he succeeds at Bramall Lane.

In Selles’ place, owner Acun Ilicali appointed Sergej Jakirovic, whose coaching history had been limited to eastern Europe – Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina – before a spell at Kayserispor in Turkey last season. On the evidence of the last fortnight, we should wish Jakirovic all the luck in the world.

It started with reports that Hull were close to agreeing the signing of Louie Barry from Aston Villa for a fee of £3.5m and had also bid £5m for Nottingham Forest’s Lewis O’Brien – both would have been excellent signings.

Ruben Selles was sacked at the end of last season (Photo: Getty)

At a fans forum last week, Ilicali reassured supporters that the club had no financial issues, although he accepted that they were spending too much money. Ilicali has invested heavily since his takeover, but promised that “I will not ask for all the loans” that he has made. 

So it was a cause of some shock that not only were those potential signings not happening, but Hull had received a three-window transfer ban for missing a payment to Villa for Barry’s loan and for a failure to pay local suppliers on time, with concerns from the EFL that other payments could be missed. The club’s official supporters trust issued a statement in which they expressed deep concern over the news.

For his part, Ilicali is seemingly bullish about the embargo and Hull’s hopes of winning an appeal (or at least having the sanction significantly reduced). Local journalist Barry Cooper has reported that Ilicali insists that players are actively interested in coming to the club and that he doesn’t see it as a significant problem if a one-window ban stays. Hull can recruit free transfers and fee-free loan deals.

Still, this has to impact Hull. Last season’s top league goalscorer only got six, and Joao Pedro has since left the club. Joe Gelhardt scored five, but his loan deal has ended. Abu Kamara is the only player in the current squad with more than three league goals last season and the last of those came in early March. 

Then there is the uncertainty surrounding Gustavo Puerta and Reda Laalaoiu, two permanent signings who were announced weeks ago but whose registration couldn’t be confirmed until 1 July. They reportedly remain unregistered as the embargo came into place a day earlier. There is work for Jakirovic to do that will be made far more difficult under the status quo.

But more than all of that is how this stuff threatens to break trust. With the EFL, who will understandably be watchful of other issues. With potential selling clubs, who may feel uneasy about entering into agreements that involve future payments even when Hull are re-permitted to conclude them. 

And with supporters. Although Ilicali can continue to insist that there are no significant issues – merely the odd misunderstanding – you cannot blame a fanbase that endured the Assem Allam years for getting pretty jumpy when their club becomes subject to any scrutiny.

Nobody wants to read an exclusive out of nowhere about their club being unable to sign players on the day the transfer window opens. Any owner must understand that once bitten fans live in subconscious fear of being hurt again.

Hull can’t really afford for the edges to fray here. They survived relegation to League One on goal difference last season. They won three league games before 21 December and scored 44 goals in 46 matches.

If the rot sets in in the autumn, they are unlikely to attract a manager of Selles’ aptitude. Hull supporters need to believe and they need to dispel any sense of unravelling. This is not the time for trouble.



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