Acun Ilicali has revealed that for the first time since taking over at Hull City, he believes that he has the right blend of know-how and experience around him.
The Turkish businessman, who relinquished control at Fenerbahce last week in a move that will free up more time for the Tigers, has recently appointed experienced campaigner Martin Hodge as head of recruitment at the MKM Stadium.
Hodge, who held a similar position at Swansea City, has taken on the role vacated by Jared Dublin after he was shoehorned into the sporting director role.
Since Ilicali took control of the Tigers in January 2022, he’s had various other people working alongside him, including Beri Pardo, Merthan Acil and most notably, Tan Kesler. His former vice-chairman left under a cloud towards the back end of last year, with his position going to close aide Mustapha Yokes, who had been working as an international scout before assuming the role left by Kesler.
Ilicali feels Hodge’s vast experience in football will help the club, not just in the transfer market, but in day-to-day matters as they look to recover from last season’s dalliance with relegation.
“I believe in experience too much in life,” he mused. “I think young coaches in this league, the thing they miss the most is when they don’t have the experience. Not only the success, but also the failure. You have to have the experience of failure and success so that you can understand how it works in life.
“So young managers sometimes miss that critical line of experience. In our team now we have Martin, whom I really like. I really think that we are lucky to have him.
“Jared (Dublin) is extremely important for me, and he’s giving everything at the moment for this club. ‘Hodgy’ will be like the experienced eye that will help us not only in recruitment, but also in decisions, with his big, big experience in the Championship, so he’s the new member of our family with Mustafa Yokes.
“I can say that now I’m very happy to have the correct team, and I want to say to our fans that, for the first time since I bought this club, I feel like we have the best team, and I’m completely satisfied. I’m sure that they will feel the results in the future with this dedicated team. It’s like a puzzle. The pieces are now completed, and we are really one united management team.”
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