Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan admits he’s surprised to see Ruben Selles leave his job as head coach at Championship club Hull City, but says the club had to do something after narrowly escaping relegation to League One.
Selles was brought in by owner Acun Ilicali in December in a bid to keep City in the league having inherited a side that were bottom of the Championship after losing six games on the spin.
After claiming a point on the final day of the season, coupled with Luton Town’s thumping at West Brom, the Tigers stayed up on goal difference, but Ilicali has decided Selles should leave, having deemed that not good enough.
Jordan, speaking on his radio show with Jim White, believes the Turkish businessman had made mistakes in the past year in sacking Liam Rosenior and appointing Tim Walter, but suggested surviving on goal difference was not what the owner had in mind and that forced his hand in making a change.
“I thought Liam Rosenior is a bright young thing and a very capable operator,” Jordan said on talkSPORT. “Once upon a time, there was a lot of noise about Liam (Rosenior) in the media, and he did a lot of observations, a lot of punditry, and I think a lot of people were going, ‘yeah, yeah, it’s very easy in theory, much more difficult in practice’.
“I think he was the glue that held Derby together when (Wayne) Rooney was there. I think he did well for Derby when they got relegated, and he was unfortunate that he lost his opportunity there.
“He went to Hull, did a decent job. There was a style of play issue, and that’s always one of those things that I’m not sure owners should be too near. Winning football matches is what you want, and then building better sides that can play better football, and I thought it was a mistake (sacking Rosenior).
“I think it was categorically a mistake to have brought in the person (Tim Walter) that they did. I’m surprised that Ruben Selles has fallen foul of it. He was a little bit all theory when he was the Southampton manager, but I think he did a decent job at Reading.
“They (City) needed to do something because they only stayed up on the last day of the season. That’s not the blueprint I should imagine that Acun wants for the club.”
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