Madine spoils takeover party
HULL manager Grant McCann saw Gary Madine’s first-half penalty ruin what was promising to be a dream start to 2022 for his club, with a takeover by Turkish businessman Acun Ilicali edging closer.
The media mogul went on live Turkish TV on New Year’s Eve — on his country’s version of ‘The Voice’ — to declare that he was close to completing his £30 million takeover of the club from the unpopular Allam family.
Ilicali even asked viewers to subscribe to Hull’s official Instagram account, with 50,000 doing so inside two minutes!
Sources claim that the 52-year-old entrepreneur expects the deal to be done in time for the weekend FA Cup clash with Everton, but McCann claimed to be paying no attention to the off-field drama.
‘I’m focused on the football and that’s it,’ said McCann. ‘For me, that’s not my issue at the present time. For me, it’s a question about football.
Blackpool’s Madine struck a flawless penalty after half an hour — hard and straight down the middle, after Jacob Greaves was judged to have tripped Josh Bowler just inside the area.
Former Hull winger Bowler turned in a man-of-the-match performance although McCann was less impressed by referee Dean Whitestone. ‘Was it a penalty? It’s 50-50 but I’d rather not speak about the ref,’ he said.
‘We’ve had him three times this season and I don’t think we’ve had a good performance out of him yet. But that’s not my job. I’m sure they have one of the refs who will assess him.’
Hull still had chances to salvage a point from the game, with Blackpool keeper Dan Grimshaw making a series of solid saves, first from Josh Magennis and George Honeyman in the first half and then turning a well-hit long-range effort from Keane Lewis-Potter around his post.
Then, in a late Tigers’ flourish, the former Manchester City academy product made brilliant stoppage time blocks to deny Tyler Smith and Randell Williams and secure the three points for Blackpool.
‘If they had scored, then I’m not sure what I would have done,’ said Blackpool manager Neil Critchley.
‘We don’t make things easy for ourselves and we relied on our keeper to produce two moments of real brilliance to win the game.’