Michael Dawson believes Hull City should do everything in their power to appoint Steve Cooper as their new manager after the decision to sack Ruben Selles.
Selles was given his marching orders on Thursday, just under two weeks after he guided City to safety on the final day of the Championship season at Portsmouth.
City‘s 1-1 draw in the Fratton Park sunshine was enough to stave off the threat of relegation after starting their 46th game of a miserable campaign in the bottom three, after Luton Town were thrashed at West Brom.
Acun Ilicali has since begun the search to find Selles’ successor, and Dawson has urged the Turkish businessman to go all out and try to convince the former Nottingham Forest boss to take over.
City spoke to Cooper last summer after Liam Rosenior’s departure, but the play-off-winning head coach was keen to assess his options after leaving Forest, and felt he would wait for a Premier League job to come along. That did happen for Cooper when he took charge at Forest’s East Midlands neighbours Leicester City, but he was sacked in November despite the Foxes sitting 15th in the table.
Cooper famously led Forest from the bottom of the table when he took charge in late September 2021 to the play-off final and promotion to the Premier League inside a whirlwind campaign. Prior to that, the Welshman guided Swansea City to a play-off semi-final and final and England’s Under-17s to the World Cup.
“Steve Cooper would be a great fit [for Hull City manager],” Dawson told Gambling.com. “I’m a big admirer of Steve Cooper, I really, really am. What Steve did at Nottingham Forest – when he went in the door, he was more likely to get relegated than he was promoted that season [they were bottom of the Championship].
“But they went on, got promoted, and then everyone was thinking that they were going to get relegated straight away [in the Premier League]. But they stayed up in their first season.
“And then the second season was a challenge, and ultimately the owner made the decision [to sack Cooper], because the results weren’t right.
“Then he went to Leicester, and I was surprised when they sacked him, because we were in 16th when he left – and you look where they are now. So I’m a big admirer of him. Whether he would go there [to Hull City], I don’t know.”