"Not sustainable" - Fan demand sent to Hull City owner Acun Ilicali | OneFootball

FLW's City fan pundit has issued his thoughts on what the Turkish owner should look to implement

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...

Acun Ilicali's tenure as owner of Hull City has been eventful to say the least.

After completing his takeover of the club back in January 2022, the expectation levels surrounding the club have seen a massive increase, as well as attendances at the MKM Stadium in the past two-and-a-half years.

However, not all has been smooth sailing, with City now onto their fourth manager of Ilicali's reign, as Tim Walter replaced Liam Rosenior in May, after the man who guided the club to its highest finish since 2017 was dismissed amid disagreements with the hierarchy in East Yorkshire.

Walter's start to life in English football has been mixed, with three wins, three draws and three defeats so far in the Championship, after the German oversaw a high amount of player turnover in the summer, with 17 new faces coming into the club.

With that in mind, Football League World spoke to our Hull fan pundit, Ant Northgraves, regarding any particular demands he currently has of the Turkish businessman at present.

Hull City urged to have consistency within their squad

Northgraves pointed to the vast amount of changes which have occurred at the club since Ilicali took over from the Allam family, but has pleaded that the Tigers have much more consistency and sustainability within the squad.

"One demand of the club's current owner... It would probably be to have a bit of consistency with the team and the personnel we've got," he began.

"We do seem to go through a complete rebuild every season, with massive amounts of players leaving and coming in."

"I feel like, as a club, it's not sustainable for long-term success to have a constant overhaul of the playing squad year upon year," Ant continued.

"I think there needs to be a consistent spine to the team that has players who have been there and done it with the club and understand the city, rather than having to rebuild and get used to new players, settle in to a new system and play catch-up every season."

"I just don't think that is a viable long-term solution," our fan pundit stated.

"In fairness, this summer, we did focus more on permanent signings and options-to-buy with the loans, so that those players should be here for the foreseeable future."

"We've recruited young and upcoming players that could be here for a long time and make us lots of money in the future, so I think we have started that process," he added.

Northgraves concluded: "Let's see what happens in January. Let's not have a massive amount of players leaving and coming in. The club needs to be settled I think, so let's have a couple of quiet transfer windows!"

Tim Walter will hope for eventual Hull City consistency and Acun Ilicali patience

Understandably, given the major influx of new additions and the loss of key players such as Jaden Philogene, Jacob Greaves and loanees in the form of Liam Delap, Fabio Carvalho and Tyler Morton among others, Hull's start to the season has been littered with inconsistency.

Three wins in succession, during which we saw the best of, and flaws within Walter's unique style, was followed up by a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Norwich City last weekend, with the Tigers sitting in 13th place at the time of the October international break.

Reports circulating prior to the first of those victories over Stoke City on September 20th claimed that Walter was already facing the sack should Hull have lost at the Bet365 Stadium.

Although Ilicali hasn't been afraid to make sweeping changes, Walter will be glad that Hull have shown glimpses of the damage they are capable of causing to opponents, and patience will be one of his key buzzwords at this moment in time.

New additions such as Mohamed Belloumi, Liam Millar and Oscar Zambrano, alongside Ivor Pandur, who made his debut for the club in August despite joining seven months previous, have all been impressive performers so far this campaign, showcasing that there is a future spine already at the German's disposal.

It was always going to be a tricky task for Hull to immediately better their performance under Rosenior, but to achieve long-term success, consistency and sustainability among the squad and management team is essential.