Former Hull City skipper Michael Dawson believes the decision to part ways with Liam Rosenior has proved to have backfired on the Tigers.
Twelve months on from Rosenior’s departure, owner Acun Ilicali sacked Ruben Selles after City survived on the final day of the Championship season by goal difference.
In the period since Rosenior and Selles were let go, Ilicali appointed and sacked German flop Tim Walter, which leaves him searching for his fifth permanent manager since taking charge in January 2022.
Having finished last season in seventh and missing out on the play-offs by three points, a mixed bag of recruitment and the appointment of Walter left City languishing at the foot of the table when Selles arrived in December, but it took until the final moments of the season for the Spaniard to drag his team out of the mire.
Owner Ilicali has now decided such a close finish is not enough to keep Selles in a job and earn him the chance to push on over the summer, instead opting to go in a different direction.
“It’s very, very interesting (Selles leaving), because 12 months ago that happened to Liam Rosenior after missing out on the play-offs by three points,” Dawson told Gambling.com.
“This has been a really, really poor season from Hull’s point of view. But when you lose the amount of players that they did last year, ultimately, it was going to be a challenge for whoever came in. Jacob Greaves, [Jaden] Philogene, Tyler Morton, Liam Delap, [Fabio] Carvalho – all these players went to the Premier League.
“It was surprising that Ruben [Selles] came in during the season. So it’s another owner who wants success, but he made his decision 12 months ago to get rid of Liam, and it has backfired.
“Recruitment is key. And if you lose those players that I touched on, that all went to the Premier League, it was going to be a hard season for Hull City, and it certainly was. But thankfully they got over the line on the final day, and managed to still be a Championship team, so they can now try and build.”
“Yeah, of course it was [a big mistake to sack Liam Rosenior]. You just need to look at what he’s doing at Strasbourg. He’s got a good group of young players over in France, and he’s doing an incredible job. I played with Liam at Hull City when I was there, he was a little bit younger than me, but he always had that mindset of wanting to be a coach. He started on the grass really young. He’s well admired in the game for his coaching, and his management of young players.”