Acun Ilıcalı: "Since I am a Fenerbahçe fan, I know the players very well. In my opinion, Miha Zajc is a very good football player, but he needs to play in every match to show his talent. Rhythm is very important in football, if you lose, it is difficult to catch up again. When I took over Hull City, my first target was Miha Zajc. But unfortunately he decided to stay in Fenerbahçe. I am also a Fenerbahçe fan. We will see what happens in the future. If we take the project to Slovenia with local players, we are always interested in him in Maribor. "These are football players who sometimes cannot be noticed at first glance, but who do a lot of work on the field. Zajc is a player who is like the engine oil in the team's engine and makes all the other football players more comfortable and calm."
Wow, that's a decent club to buy. Nice ground too please log in to view this image Their top goalscorer this season is a Jakupovic as well (no relation I don't think). Spent some time in Boro's academy too.
my first time out of the country was a fortnight in dubrovnik when it was still yugoslavia. the plane stopped at ljubljana in slovenia on the way there and the way back.
I thought this was a Turkish club…..just me?? what’s Acun obsession with buying footy clubs…this is number 4 I think, that’s he’s tried to invest in, within a very short time frame . It does worry me that he will eventually grow bored with hull city
Can't pretend I know much about them but I have heard of them and pretty sure they've been in the Champions League a few times. Could be a good way of getting some good players cheap. In an unrelated note, anyone recall which Eastern European (possibly Balkan area) team's badge and kit was basically just a blatant copy of ours? Someone posted it on here years back.
I recall them playing Chelsea in a European game, don’t know if it was Champions .league or not. Their stadium holds less than 12,000 but their fans are a feisty lot and create a good atmosphere. Too much of one for some of our fans. Can’t recall that badge. But there are a lot of tiger badges about which are better tigers than ours. A couple of them in Australia come to mind.
Maribor is up in the hills, ski resort area which may appeal to some (lunatics) lovely small country is Slovenia, Ljubljana well worth a vist.
When the day comes that Acun wants to sell and we're NOT in the Prem. Ehab will be doing everything he can to buy the club again. He currently PAYS £20k a year to be the Vice-President
The one I'm thinking of was a just an ersatz Hull City one. It was from a second tier side from an old Eastern Block country (not meaning to lump them all together, just all I can remember).
NK Maribor are quite an old team, I’m sure that will change with Acun in charge, currently sat 3rd with 2 games left, with only 2nd a possibility. They last won the league in 2 years ago. They probably have two players which may interest City, like someone said earlier Jakupovic, scoring 17 in 28 a tall striker with a decent left foot, primarily can play up top but can go on the right wing as well. Secondly and more interesting they have a left footed centre half called Sven Karic. Played really really well for them for a couple of years. Interestingly not played for Slovenia yet, he’s 26. Other players of note Joseph Illic who used to be exceptional for Atalanta in Serie A, he’s 36 now so that one’s sailed. He famously announced he suffered from depression after being one of their best players for 2/3 years. They were in the Champions League in 2014 and 2017. Only winning a single game on both occasions. They were more successful in the UEFA Cup qualifying from the group stage in 2013, but lost to Sevilla in the knockout stage of 32. They have won Slovenian league 16 times and the new Slovenian cup 9 times. Their stadium holds around 13,000 and their nickname is ‘the purples’.
