Is honesty the best approach from Ilicali at Tigers?
HONESTY was owner/chairman Acun Ilicali’s policy addressing Hull City members in a sold-out twohour question-and-answer session on Wednesday. The pros and cons were there for all to see.
Ilicali's eagerness to keep fans in the loop is refreshing but there are limits.
Like some foreign managers, the fact English is not his first language can add a bluntness to his pronouncements – often seen as a good thing in these parts, of course.
Chairman Kevin Nagle's candid assessments of Huddersfield Town performances this season – sometimes tweeted as his manager was trying to put a different spin on them to the media – annoyed Neil Warnock and undermined his successor Darren Moore.
Ilicali, pictured, naming those he thought should have played more or less this season might not do him any favours either. Certainly Tim Walter – 95 per cent likely to be appointed as coach next week, according to the chairman – has no excuses for not arriving with his eyes wide open.
That is assuming he does come, of course. Hull were very confident of making Pedro Martins their previous coach, only for the Portuguese to get cold feet at the 11th hour. It shows the risk in apparently allowing Walter to make decisions on who should be retained and released with the Football League needing to be informed by Saturday.
It would be a brave man to say he wants Ryan Allsop – who Ilicali wanted rested during the season – as firstchoice goalkeeper, or that he apparently agrees with Rosenior that 24-year-old Ivor Pandur, signed for around £1.5m from Fortuna Sittard in January, is not Championship-ready.
Not making Noah Ohio's loan from Standard Liege permanent now he knows the chairman thought he should have played more since January might not be shrewd. Ilicali told the Q&A he felt Turkish winger Dogukan Sinik was under-used, damaging his confidence and value.
I asked Rosenior in November if there was a danger of Ilicali being too involved in his decisions. He insisted not. Ilicali always says he offers advice, not orders, but he sacked Rosenior. His heart is undeniably in the right place. His money transformed a decaying football club, breathing enthusiasm into an organisation being dragged down by disillusionment with the Allam family.
In return he demands more entertaining football than he felt Rosenior was providing.
Ilicali says he has no desire to sell crown jewels Jacob Greaves or Jaden Philogene despite what missing out on promotion to the Premier League means for the increasingly important financial fair play balance, but that any player who does not want to be on this journey should jump off this summer.
Liam Delap, impressive on loan from Manchester City, is only a “5050” shot to return, says Ilicali.
They said it would not be dull, and they promised transparency. The debate on what Ilicali should have said and kept quiet is already raging but this is how it is going to be. It is not for the faint-hearted.