The former Bristol City manager has been an influential part of the Tigers’ promotion to the top-flight
Sergej Jakirovic and Marko Salatovic celebrating at Wembley(Image: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
Hull City assistant boss Dean Holden has given an insight into what it’s been like working as part of Sergej Jakirovic’s promotion-winning management team this season.
Holden was brought in by Jakirovic last summer to work alongside him and Marko Salatovic, and the trio, along with goalkeeping coach Erbil Bozkurt and the rest of the staff, guided City back to the Premier League at the weekend with an historic 1-0 win over Middlesbrough at Wembley.
Jakirovic was no stranger to Holden last term, with the pair crossing paths in the Turkish Super Lig. Holden was manager at Demirspor, while Jakirovic was in the hot seat at Kayserispor, and at one point in a game between the two clubs, they went head-to-head, literally.
“It’s quite something when you see him and Marko (Salatovic) going at each other in their first language and the dug-out’s getting a slap every now and again. Incredible. He’s been sent off a couple of times and Marko the same, and it’s just fire in the belly,” Holden told the BBC.
“I actually went face-to-face with him last season, which wasn’t a smart thing to do, but ended up getting me the job, believe it or not.
“We were both out in Turkey at different clubs, and he was waving an imaginary yellow card like Paolo di Canio. I was basically saying you can’t be doing that, and he came marching over to our technical area, 6ft 5in, and I thought there’s no way I can’t front this one up. We went face-to-face. I asked the club photographer at Demirspor if he could find the picture. It would have been a belting photograph.”
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City had looked at other potential candidates to work alongside Jakirovic, including Chris Powell, but it was Holden who Jakirovic decided was the best fit, and it’s been an inspired decision with Holden’s influence a huge part of the Tigers’ success this term.
“When the job came up in the summer, I think he met three English coaches with Championship experience, and it was Marko who said, ‘You know who that is, he’s the fella who stood up to you last season.’ We had been docked 22 points because of financial irregularities, and we were already relegated when I got there in February, so they liked the fact I was still fighting for three points,” Holden continued.
“The main thing for me last summer when I met him was that he was coming into one of the biggest leagues in Europe with his staff. He had earned that. He’d got Dinamo Zagreb into the Champions League, he’d won some trophies. The club were basically saying they were giving him an English coach to work alongside him. I had to make sure I wasn’t just going to be a tick in the box, the guy in the corner when they’re all speaking Croatian, who would be asked to take a passing drill every now and again or do the warm-up.
“It was making sure there was enough for me to add the insight from my experience. He was really open. The reason he’s such a good manager is because he allows people to get on with their jobs. He lets the coaches coach, and I normally take the pre-match meetings because he likes the English language and the intricacies that can bring tactically.”
Holden also revealed how Tigers analyst Josh Marris had just 45 minutes’ sleep after the EFL confirmed Southampton had been kicked out of the play-offs, leaving City with 48 hours to prepare for Boro.
“We were getting information from friends in the media, I was actually driving home frm training when the news landed that they’d overturned it. The analyst had 45 minutes kip the day before our plus one session. It got overturned on the Wednesday night, we were back in on the Thursday and we were due to do our main tactical session that day and travel down to London that day.
“He (Marris) came in, and he’d had 45 minutes kip, so that’s the sort of work that goes on behind the scenes. The biggest thing for us was making sure the players were calm. We didn’t go too heavy too early in that prep week because we knew there might have been a change on the Middlesbrough one, so, as a staff behind the scenes, we’re trying to take a lot of the load.”
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