Colin Young traces the recent fortunes of Hull City, now generating a fan following in Turkey
A Turkish revolution is taking place on the banks of the Humber, and it has pushed once doomed Hull City into a clear path to the Premier League.
This weekend, Hull manager Sergej Jakirović heads back to East Yorkshire after enjoying his own international break in Bosnia-Herzegovina, relaxing with family and friends in his home town of Mostar.
Before Jakirović flew home, the Tigers lay fifth in the Championship, having gained 16 points from their last seven games. When asked to give marks out of ten for his own and his team’s efforts so far, Jakirović replied: “Seven. Because we have a lot of places where we can improve. I think that we can play even better”.
That’s good news for Hull fans. whose team only escaped relegation to League One on the last day of last season on goal difference. The Tigers last experienced Premier League football in 2017.
In between, months before his death, unpopular Egyptian owner Assem Allam sold the club to football-mad Turkish media mogul Acun Ilicali.
After lengthy negotiations, the deal was sealed on January 19, 2022, an hour before a home victory over Blackburn Rovers and a cacophony of pre-match fireworks. Acun Ilicali is not a man to do things by halves.
He has since appointed five permanent managers, flirted with play-offs and relegation, and taken fans on holiday to Turkey on a Hull City-branded aircraft through club sponsors Corendon Airlines. He has also been hit by a transfer-fee restriction for breaching EFL rules.
Nonetheless, Ilicali clearly has serious ambitions for the club which has only played five seasons in the English top flight since 1905 – all in the Premier League era.
This week, he said: “Today marks a very special day for me. It has been four years since we publicly announced the start of the process to acquire our beloved club, Hull City. That moment marked the beginning of a truly meaningful chapter in my life”.
“Over these four years, together with our players, technical staff, fans and sponsors, we have built a strong sense of unity; a united family spirit. We have shared joyful and challenging times, yet through it all, we have always remained one family, united under one dream. Every second of this journey has been a source of pride and happiness for me.”
“I am proud to see that, four years on, our team stands within the play-off places. With six of our injured players soon returning, I am hoping we will finish this season in a strong position. Up the Tigers!”
Hull’s Turkish connection is not limited the club’s passionate owner. Among the scorers in a recent knife-edge 3-2 win over Portsmouth was striker Enis Destan. It was his first goal for the club since he joined on a free transfer from Trabzonspor in the summer. He is the fourth Turk to come to Hull, after Abdülkadir Ömür, Ozan Tufan and Dogukan Sinik.
Speaking after the game, Destan told Libero: “We have Turkish fans following us now, thanks to the owner and the players, which is great. When the owner called me, he talked about Hull City and England. I realised I had to go to England because this was my big chance; I’m 23 and if I don’t go now, I don’t know when the chance would come again”.
“I’m enjoying life. It’s quiet here, I like it. I go for walks, drink coffee. I’m feeling good.”
Manager Jakirović also came to Hull by way of Turkey. This much-travelled former centre-back played for 20 clubs across Central & Eastern Europe in a 20-year career, and five times for his country. After four lower-level jobs as a coach, he took Dinamo Zagreb to the Champions League group phase last year, only to be sacked after their record 9-2 defeat to Bayern Munich.
His next posting was Super Lig club Kayserispor, where he came to the attention of lifelong Fenerbahce fan Ilicali. After guiding them away from relegation last season, he resigned. Unhappy Kayserispor fans threw bottles at him in his final game. Three days later he was unveiled as Hull’s new head coach.
And Jakirović is clearly relishing the challenge, although he has noticed considerable differences between England’s second division and Turkey’s top flight: “There need to be challenges, but I think referees also need to protect the players. Maybe this is the reason why sometimes we have so many injured players, because right now when I look at the team sheet, there are between five and ten men out”.
The Herzegovinian now returns from Mostar to find six key players coming back from injury, all of whom could all be available for the upcoming visit to QPR, including equal top scorer Oli McBurnie.
The former Scotland international shares the honour with Leeds loanee Joe Gelhardt. Jakirović revealed he told Ilicali he had to keep the former England U-20 striker for a second loan spell at the club if he was to take the job. That 3-2 comeback win over Portsmouth was settled by Gelhardt’s fifth goal in six games.
Hull are currently trading under a transfer embargo and can only arrange free transfers and loans. “For a whole month,” Jakirović told Libero, “I begged the chairman to do everything to bring him here again because Joe likes this club, really happy to play here, and especially in our situation when we are under embargo.
“He is a very, very different player, no matter where he plays. On the flank, number eight, number ten, right wing. And he’s only young and can only get better.”
The Hull boss is hoping Gelhardt will not be recalled by his Premier League club when the transfer window re-opens in January.
“There’s not a lot of players who come to us,“ admitted Jakirović. “I spoke with a lot of players this summer and some chose other clubs, even though I explained to them that I will be fielding a good team. ‘We will be good’, I told them.”
And Hull have been more than good, despite the embargo. The Portsmouth win was their fifth so far at the MKM Stadium during this campaign, which matches the total across the whole of last season.
Acun Ilicali would do well to prepare the fireworks – and not just in East Yorkshire.
QPR v Hull City, Loftus Road, London W12 7PJ. Saturday, November 22, 3pm
