fbpx
Connect with us

Championship

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali speaks on Tim Walter, criticism and makes plea to fans

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali speaks on Tim Walter, criticism, the struggling start to the season, and makes a plea to fans.

The Tigers currently sit 19th in the Championship table, with 15 points from 15 games, level on points with Preston, Luton and Cardiff, with the latter sitting in the relegation zone.

In recent matches, Hull supporters have vented their anger towards Tim Walter, notably in their 1-0 defeat away at Oxford United.

They fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to West Brom, the result meaning that their winless run stretches to 7 games (4 defeats and 3 draws), having last picked up three points on the 1st of October when they beat QPR.

During the current international break, Hull Live reporter Barry Cooper had a lengthy chat with Acun Ilicali, this is what the owner had to say…

Tim Walter hammered by chants and boos from Hull City fans during defeat to Oxford United

“Of course, the start to the season has not been what I expected,” Acun Ilicali said when speaking with Hull Live.

“We are not happy about it, but I believe there are reasons why, and we are doing everything we can to make everything better.

“I understand our fans, and I understand their frustration because, as I always say, I’ve come from the stands to be the owner of the club, so that reaction is normal when you get bad results. I believe one hundred per cent in Hull City fans, I believe in their love and loyalty for the club and I believe they won’t react in a negative way when they judge everything in a fair way.

“In any game, when a side loses, there can be an immediate protest from the fans, this is one side of football, but on the flip side, a couple of days later, you can make what I believe to be correct judgements, you can analyse everything. Our fans’ frustrations are completely understandable, but maybe when they see things from my angle, they may have a different opinion.

“We are not in a position to blame Tim or judge Tim at the moment. In order to judge Tim from my side, I must look at the bigger picture and only in one game, at Norwich City (4-0 defeat), we didn’t have the chance to win. Apart from that, in the other 14 games, we had the chance to win the games. We’ve had some bad luck on the pitch in the nearly three years I’ve been here, but in the last four months, it’s been by far and away the unluckiest period.

“For example, I can count two games where I think refereeing mistakes have had a negative impact on our results, one a very clear handball and the other, the referee was almost like a defender for the other team, and there was a penalty not given. Away from that, the injuries we’re suffering from at the moment, we’re so unlucky to lose two of the best players we signed in the summer – Liam Millar and Mohamed Belloumi – I wish them all the best.

“We’ve also got Carl Rushworth, our goalkeeper, and other injuries with Steven Alzate and Marvin Mehlem out and Oscar Zambrano unavailable, and Abu Kamara in the last two games, it’s affecting the squad so much. How can we judge Tim when he has so many big problems in the team?

“I understand fans’ worries about performances, but I believe once we get our players back, the style is correct. There have been two or three games so far where we could have gone two or 3-0 up in the first half, and unfortunately, from those games, we lost points, and that was disappointing.

“If the game was negative and the results were good, I would be more pessimistic. I agree we have played some bad games recently, from our point of view, just remember when we didn’t have Jaden Philogene and Liam Delap in the team last season, we suffered without them. Wingers being out of the game in the Championship is really unlucky and makes a difference. We have our injured wingers – Abu Kamara, Ryan Longman and Dogukan Sinik – coming back, and I hope they will be able to support the team.

“In midfield, Steven Alzate and Marvin Mehlem are coming back. This squad is young and inexperienced, and they need support from the fans, they need to have the fans behind them and backing them so they can feel more and more comfortable. I want our fans to please see that we brought young and talented players in the summer and we do really believe in them.

“I always look at the promotion battle and not the relegation battle, I always have full positivity on the future, and I’m optimistic about what we can achieve in a positive way.

“There’s a transfer window in front of us in just over 40 days and we know there are injuries and some areas that are not working in the team, and we will work hard in January to fix those issues. As I always say, I’m not here to make a profit, everything I do is to try and make Hull City successful.

“When you look at what we did last year, we had six Premier League players in the squad, and after January, we could only win two games at home. This team unfortunately, couldn’t get us to the Premier League despite us spending a lot of money and bringing in some very good players like Fabio Carvalho and Liam Delap. Because of that, we lost our loan players who would have joined us permanently if we had got promoted, and then Jaden Philogene and Jacob Greaves wanted to go and play in the top flight, and I couldn’t stand in their way.

“We spent over our limits last season, but to make sure we were within our financial fair play commitment over the three-year period, we had to reduce some costs this summer, and that meant letting high earners go, and selling Jacob, Ozan Tufan and Jaden, but we have also reinvested, bringing in the likes of Millar, Belloumi, Charlie Hughes and Abu Kamara.

“We’ve lost so many key players in the summer, and so we had to sign a lot of new young boys who need our backing. Isn’t it the time to get behind them, our new boys and this new manager who has only been working with these players for a few weeks since the end of the summer window? Is it fair to judge him with the new players coming in? He’s trying to fight for this team to be successful.

“I respect all the fans, their ideas and opinions. I’m one hundred per cent respectful of their views. I’m only here for success – I come to 90 per cent of the home games, and I do it for only one reason, love. When there is no love, for me, there is no reason. I still feel all the love when I walk in the streets of the city, I feel the love when I go to the MKM Stadium and meet the fans. Individual comments on social media, I respect, but they don’t change my feelings. I feel the love from everybody. If you ask me, has that love reduced since I bought the club nearly three years ago? I would say, no, there has been zero reduction in that.

“Some comments on social media are fine, but they will never represent the city or the whole fan base, and we are talking about 300,000 potential fans. I don’t feel anything negative, so the thought of me selling the club is completely out of my mind, but if a time comes when I don’t feel the love and they don’t want me anymore, this is a different case.

“First, I look at the squad and then performance. At the moment, compared to last year, the squad and performance are not far from each other. Don’t forget, this squad is a young squad and we’ve lost some key players. Some of the players will recover from injury, the young players will get more familiar with Tim’s style and then, let’s judge together. When we see the squad and the football, let’s judge Tim, but now, I will not blame Tim for us being the unluckiest in the league with the problems we’ve spoken about.

“Why are we blaming him at the moment? I’m sure that fans will realise that Tim is not the point of the team’s problem, and I’m sure that fans will be fair about him. I support people more when they have problems. My coach has a problem right now, so I’m here to support him.

“Stability is one of the most important things in football. It is true that we haven’t been able to have stability until now. We haven’t been at the club for three years yet. We want to bring stability, we want to make a successful project and we are working hard for that.

“We were talking about similar issues two years ago, and then we finished seventh in the league. Now, we have similar problems, and some people are talking about relegation danger, but why can we still not get in the play-offs if things go right for us? Don’t forget, we’re building a young team like a puzzle. Look at the squad we inherited three years ago and look at it now. If the injuries didn’t happen, look at how good our squad is now with our own players. We will do some recruitment in January, and I believe there will be some big times in front of us.

“If there was ever a time to support this team, it is now. If it is time to give our manager support and lift the mood of our manager and our players, it is now. I want all of our fans to back our manager and our players, to show the whole of England what a big, supportive family we are. We will make mistakes, but we’re here to correct those mistakes. We’ve already lifted this team from the bottom to the top, so why can’t we do it again? All we need is love.

“I’m a warrior, I’m a fighter. In life, from the moment I lost my parents, I’ve been a survivor. At the moment, we do have some problems, I know that, but I will never give up fighting. I feel the love of this beautiful club and my passion remains as strong now as it did the day I bought the club. I’m here for the battle, and as I always say, I’m a survivor.”

Fans gave their reaction as Hull City owner Acun Ilicali speaks on Tim Walter, criticism and makes plea to fans…

@Gadzooooooks: Acun supposedly loves English football as the best in the world, and will probably not have the opportunity Hull City gifts him again. I don’t know why he can’t sack Walter and move forward but surely it cannot simply be down to his ego. His interview is bizarre. #hcafc

@Griffffxs: “I’m sure that fans will realise that Tim is not the point of the team’s problem” – so what is the problem? He’s the manager is he not? Everything is so disjointed & disappointing. I’ll still be very much unconvinced, even if we win the next game.. 1 win won’t make it ok. #hcafc

@hullinasia: Why was he not questioned about why Tan left.. he also says we are not far away from playing the same football as last year, he sacked the manager last year for his playing style.. one family getting boring now. Also very funny about the injuries the reason we didn’t make the top 6 last season is because Delap got injured and Acun signed a veteran striker as a replacement

@Gazarelda: This sums up exactly how I feel: “When you look at what we did last year, we had six Premier League players in the squad, and after January, we only won two games at home.” There is zero comparison between the tools Liam and Tim have and it stuns me that people do compare them

@Bob_Magoo22: Sleepwalking into relegation with this situation

@CityView1904: “We spent over our limits last season”. Interesting, thought we were fine according to Tan at the fans forum last season after the January transfer window. Cough Callum Chambers deal. Another bullshit lie

@AD050714: “Don’t worry we’re almost playing the football of last season.” The same football you said wasn’t exciting enough so you sacked the manager? Rapidly get fed up with this nonsense. Walter isn’t a good fit for us, the entire fanbase sees it. L1 here we come (again!)

@TristarAlpha: The two ACL’s cannot be factors. We are 15 games in and those injuries have only just happened. Likewise Zambrano’s situation. These events exacerbate the club’s spiralling fortunes, they are not the cause of them #hcafc

@garycushnie: I understand the comments on here and also think AI has been fair in his reasoning at the moment. He doesn’t want to be seen as a hire /fire chairman. I read it as I will give TW the rope to hang himself if no better by Christmas ! Injuries have played their part also #UTT ⚫️🟠

@DarrenLister7: Man’s deluded Talks about individual comments on social media but not about 800 away fans chanting Walters style is shit Wasn’t here to Listen to boos about the system at WBA game and couldn’t have failed to get the frustrations at the Portsmouth game. Reading the room wrong

@Old_GrandpaJoe: “First, I look at the squad and then performance. At the moment, compared to last year, the squad and performance are not far from each other.” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 #hcafc

@DanLittle180: The only room Aćun has read is the select few fans who have bought in to his PR stunt. The wording is roughly the same, is they a pre-approved PR sheet given out to a select few each week? #hcafc

@JWhittlesElbow: Not everything he says here is wrong or unreasonable, but ultimately sacking Rosenior was a shocking idea, obviously so at the time, and we’ll be regretting it for some time. And I still worry that it was done with an eye to appeasing some on social media. #hcafc

@paulharper75: What annoys me is that some of us saw this in the summer. We rightly criticised Acun and got hammered for it. Now everyone is at it and it’s ok. I have said for ages that Acun is a big part of the problem and I stand by it. However, I am backing the manager. #UTT. 🐯

@Uzzell01: I am sorry, I think he is completely misreading the mood of the fanbase here regarding Walter. But hey, it’s just bad luck apparently. Ohh, and he wants stability. I think we had that and he threw it away. Have a good Saturday everybody 👍

@TigerDor: When LR went he told us the atmosphere was toxic. Either the definition of toxic has changed or he’s deaf and deluded. The cynic n me thinks disengagement with the fans will give an excuse to sell. Good luck finding a buyer if that happens. I’ll always be behind the lads.

@Dansmith_HCAFC: The blame will swiftly move to Acun now for this shit. He’ll still sack him but probably when it’s too late. What a load of shit #hcafc

@hcafcboothferry: Whilst I will always appreciate what Acun did in saving us from the Allam ownership hell, I’m starting to think he’s not the man to lead us forward. His refusal to self reflect or employ competent, experienced people to run the football side of things is his downfall. #hcafc

Related Topics
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Championship