Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has had the last laugh after bold Liam Rosenior call | OneFootball

It has taken some time, but did the Tigers' owner get the controversial decision right?

Acun Ilicali's reign at Hull City has been a whirlwind, but now he can forever boast that he has taken the club to the Premier League.

Just last year, the Tigers narrowly avoided relegation to League One on goal difference, and despite being under transfer embargo, they have managed to reach the summit after defeating Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final.

Since buying Hull in January 2022, some of the Turk's decisions have seemed baffling, with his judgment to sack Liam Rosenior, after guiding the club to their best league finish in eight years, the standout call.

However, taking into account what has unfolded since that decision, can Ilicali now stand justified in his action?

Liam Rosenior's sacking appeared a woeful decision by Acun Ilicali at the time

When Rosenior guided the Tigers to a seventh-placed finish in 2024, he was lauded for progressing his side up the table and was even nominated for Championship Manager of the Season, with Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna winning the accolade.

However, just after the campaign finished, the Englishman was sacked for failing to guide Hull to the play-offs after a final-day defeat to Plymouth Argyle, having fallen three points short.

While the decision appeared rash on the outside, it was one that he clearly did not take lightly.

“This has been the most difficult decision I have had to make as chairman of this wonderful football club," read his statement.

The owner then pointed to his ambition for the football club, which must have been reaching the Premier League, although that seemed more of a dream from the outside looking in.

"It has become evident that our visions for the future are not aligned, and I feel that now is the time to make a change.

“I know what this club can achieve, and we will not stop in the pursuit of that. We now have many highly talented players at our disposal and we will continue to invest and improve our playing personnel to give this club and its fans the success they deserve.”

Not many would have predicted the paths that Hull and Roseinor would take after, and for a long time, it looked as if Ilicali had made the most monumental error.

Liam Rosenior's rise and Hull City's demise

After his surprise sacking, Rosenior headed to France to manage RC Strasbourg, where he made waves that would cement a rise to the top of management.

In his first season at the French outfit, he guided the club to a seventh-placed finish, their second-highest standing since 1981, and in the process, he proved that his success at Hull was no fluke.

Given that both Strasbourg and Chelsea are both under the control of Todd Boehly's BlueCo, there was a clear pathway for Rosenior to make the move to Stamford Bridge, but nobody predicted that would happen until Enzo Maresca left the West London outfit.

Meanwhile, the Tigers experienced a wretched 2025-26 campaign that led them to the brink of the third tier, having gone through managers like toilet roll.

Before the season had even begun, the club were placed under a three-window transfer embargo by the EFL because of their late payments to other clubs.

Tim Walter was sacked in November, with Andy Dawson taking temporary charge, before Ruben Selles was tasked with avoiding relegation from December through to the end of the season - and he did so by the skin of his teeth.

Why Acun Ilicali can now feel justified about Liam Rosenior axe

When Hull appointed Sergej Jakirovic last summer, there was absolutely no expectation of him succeeding, although considering Ilicali's lofty expectations for his club, he would argue otherwise.

In the Bosnian, the Tigers possessed a serial winner, though: the 49-year-old already had three trophies to his name, having lifted the Croatian and Bosnian domestic titles as well as the Croatian cup.

After a less-than-inspiring first couple of months, the Tigers shot up the table and positioned themselves as genuine promotion contenders, with the play-offs becoming an achievable goal.

By January, Hull were fourth in the table and just five points adrift of the automatic promotion places, while over in London, Rosenior was making waves at Chelsea.

The Blues' new boss won six of his first seven games in charge, but this was misleading given his side's unconvincing performances and the quality of opposition they had faced. Still, points are points.

After a couple of below-par results against Leeds United and Burnley, the wheels truly came off for Rosenior as he lost a chunk of the dressing room and won just one of eight before being sacked after just three months in the job.

Over at the MKM Stadium, Jakirovic managed to lead the Tigers to a sixth-placed finish on the final day of the season before a statement play-off semi-final victory over third-placed Millwall.

Hull had history on their side in the final, having won both their previous outings at the home of football, but they needed more than that to become the first sixth-placed team to be promoted since 2010.

The final was not pretty by any means, but they had the most clinical player on the pitch in the right place at the right time in Oli McBurnie, and that was enough to take them to the Premier League.

Looking back, it has been quite the few years for Ilicali, and while his decisions have been confusing at times, it is clear that he had the club's best intentions at heart the entire journey.