Acun Ilicali "worry" raised as Hull City future prediction is made | OneFootball

FLW's Tigers fan pundit believes that Ilicali will stay at the club for a while yet

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has been praised for his focus on increasing the club's profile and transparency with supporters, while FLW's Tigers fan pundit believes that he is in for the long haul at the MKM Stadium.

Turkish entrepreneur Ilicali became the Tigers' owner and chairman in January 2022, as he took over from Assem Allam and assumed sole ownership through his television production company ACUNMEDYA.

The 55-year-old is a high-profile public figure in his home country, after making his name as a TV broadcaster and media mogul. He has also previously owned shares in Dutch team Fortuna Sittard and Irish club Shelbourne, while he is currently vice-chairman of Turkish giants and boyhood club Fenerbahçe alongside his role at Hull.

Tigers fan pundit offers 'very aware' Acun Ilicali verdict

Ilicali is yet to oversee any proper progress from the Tigers on the pitch since he took charge, but the general atmosphere and profile of the club has certainly improved due to his style of ownership.

His decisions regarding transfers and managerial appointments can certainly be questioned, though, especially after Tim Walter's failure at the club earlier in this season, which has ultimately led them to their current struggle near the bottom of the second-tier.

The Tigers' most recent financial accounts did not make for great reading, with a pre-tax loss of £18.8 million, mainly due to a significant rise in wages and a decrease in profit from player sales. Their revenue did increase by 17% from the previous year though, with commercial, matchday and broadcasting revenue all going up.

It is clear that Ilicali has the right ideas about how to run a club like Hull, but on-pitch fortunes need to follow for him to be deemed a definite success at the MKM Stadium. Tigers fan pundit, Ryan Frankish, admires the Turkish owner for how wise he is with money and his transparency with their fans, and believes that he is in it for the long haul, given how much he has already invested into the club.

“I’d like to think that (Acun Ilicali) is in it for the long haul,” Ryan told FLW.

“He’s spending money, but he is also very, very, very aware of the long-term growth of the club, in terms of getting more people into the stadium.

“We normally get above 20k attendance now, even when we aren’t doing well. Over the whole of this season (our form) hasn’t been great, and the attendances are still great.

“He’s still continuously spending money, but being very aware of FFP (financial fair play), which, when you see a lot of these flash in the pan owners who come, spend a load, get in trouble and leave, it just doesn’t seem like that.

“He seems very open with the fans. When he does a Q&A with the fanbase, he always highlights how he has long-term plans for the club, and always airs out these plans so it is more of a diagram for fans rather than just a sentence.

“So I do (think he is in it for the long haul). It’s whether he continues to back this up, but so far I don't think there is any reason to doubt what he says in terms of his long-term plans.

“The only thing I worry about is how involved he gets at Fenerbahçe, because that came as a detriment to our transfer window at the start of this season. That’s the only thing for me.”

Hull's Championship survival will determine sentiment towards Ilicali

It is clear that Ilicali's heart is in the right place when it comes to the Tigers, but his desire to achieve instant success has also arguably been a stumbling block for the club's progress over the last few years.

Hull finished seventh in the Championship last season under Liam Rosenior, with a good squad that relied heavily on loanees to help them in their push for a play-off finish. That was their highest finish since relegation from the Premier League in 2017, yet Rosenior was sacked due to his differing opinions on their style of football with chairman Ilicali.

Nearly a year later, and the Turkish owner must surely regret his decision. Tim Walter was hired ahead of this term with the challenge of improving the team and making a real charge for promotion, yet he was unable to implement his style properly and was sacked in November after just 18 games in charge, with the club in the bottom three.

Reading boss Ruben Selles was snapped up by the Tigers to become their new head-coach just a month later, and while he has been unable to lead them away from danger, the consensus among supporters is that the majority of the blame would not lie with him if the club were to be relegated this season.

Instead, lots of Hull fans' anger would no doubt be directed at Ilicali. They have suffered a drastic fall-off this season, and he has been the main constant in making the decisions at the top.

The 55-year-old has put his full faith into Selles and him being the right man for the job, and now needs to hope that they are able to survive the drop, or opinions could soon begin to change on his style of ownership and whether he should stay as their owner for much longer.