Hearts and minds...

Hearts and minds: How Acun Ilicali brought the fans back to Hull City

Eye of The Tigers, a column by Sam Hawcroft
Acun Ilicali’s first two years as Hull City owner

Time flies when you’re having fun… and, by and large, the past two years has been great fun under the ownership of Acun Ilicali, hasn’t it?

Yes – it’s been two years since the Turkish media mogul sealed the deal to officially bring the acrimonious regime of the Allams to an end, not a moment too soon.

Before arriving at the MKM Stadium, Acun and his team clearly did some extensive research into exactly what had gone wrong so they could set about putting it all right.

It always struck me as distinctly odd that a local businessman such as Assem Allam (and that’s a key point – many outsiders, on hearing he was Egyptian, assumed he was just another “foreign owner”, but this was a guy who’d done business in the region for decades) would actively seek to disengage and even insult the club’s fans – his own customers.

Allam’s protracted attempt to change the club’s name to Hull Tigers overshadowed some of the team’s greatest achievements, such as promotion back to the Premier League and competing in Europe.

From the off, it was clear that the issue was divisive at best and utterly bonkers at worst. If they’d been in the Dragon’s Den trying to explain their risible commercial theory (something, something… “short names”… something, something… “Tigers big in Asia”…), all five would have said “I’m out” quicker than I can demolish a post-match toffee apple crumble.

It should have been dropped like a hot coal the first time the FA laughed it out of town, but they kept digging a deeper hole, presumably for fear of losing face – and for the life of me I’ll never understand why. Even in the latter stages of the saga, many fans would have forgiven Assem and Ehab had they put their hands up and conceded they’d got it wrong.

So, Ilicali didn’t have to be a business genius to work out that some fences needed mending – and fast. Very soon, “City” was back to being front and centre of the club’s communications and branding. The message to fans was clear – you are valued, and you are being listened to.

This continued with various gestures such as free away coach travel last year and a jolly to Turkey for a handful of lucky members. Acun and his entourage even regularly dropped into the Botanic in Spring Bank, to the delight and amazement of fans whose videos of the spectacle would go viral on social media.

While the hardened cynics, and those who missed out, dismissed these sort of things as stunts or gimmicks – what cannot be denied is that the vibe around the club changed almost overnight. The initial announcement on January 19, 2022, was greeted with a “Ding, dong, the witch is dead” wave of relief and joy, and it’s a feeling that’s yet to turn sour.

For instance, a few months ago, a member who had missed a series of home matches because he was having cancer treatment returned to find a card under his seat signed by vice-chairman Tan Kesler.

Then there was 13-year-old Ellie, who has autism, and became a guest of honour for one match after writing to Liam Rosenior and “moving him to tears”. And when the club recently paid tribute to fans who had died in the past 12 months, it included in the slideshow the father-and-son from Grimsby Town who had been tragically killed in a car accident that week.

These might seem like minor gestures, but they show that the people at the top have big hearts – they are keenly observant, they are taking notice of the small stuff – and this naturally filters down the entire management and staffing structure. What once seemed rotten to the core has been completely revitalised.

Of course, Acun hasn’t got everything right – his first act was to give Grant McCann the heave-ho and install Shota Arvelazde in his place and, while that had been anticipated even before the takeover, this managerial appointment was met with an altogether more muted reaction.

Arvelazde was untested as a boss at this level, and there was a significant language barrier, too. Though the Tigers began his reign with two wins on the bounce, their form dipped quickly and the Georgian was dismissed just eight months later with City languishing 20th in the league.

But, to his credit, Acun acted swiftly and brought in one of the most exciting and intelligent managers this club has ever had. Rosenior swiftly turned the ship around, and the Tigers finished the 2022-23 season in a remarkable eighth position. Going into this season, there hadn’t been so much genuine, unbridled excitement in quite some time.

Ilicali has since demonstrated that, while he “doesn’t think about the money”, he is prepared to splash the cash to back his ambitions. Some of the deals done in recent months have been astonishing.

Jaden Philogene is just an insane talent – and loan stars Tyler Morton, Liam Delap and Fabio Carvalho have put Hull City on the map as somewhere that nurtures and develops young talent.

They call him the Turkish Simon Cowell, and while there are obvious similarities – the jet-setting, the reality shows, the publicity stunts – this guy is serious about building something here.

Attendances have soared in the past two years to the point that games regularly sell out and, while the team aren’t quite the finished article, the future of City under Ilicali is brighter than it’s been for a long, long time.

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