Hull City owner Acun Ilicali reveals his Champions League dream and wish to become ‘another Leicester’ as he spoke in an interview.
In an exclusive interview, the owner said he’s “not the richest owner in the world but I’m the craziest” as he spoke on wanting Europe, not just promotion, trusting Liam Rosenior and his personal life, with fans optimistic the club are going in the right direction.
Hull currently sit 7th with 58 points from 37 games played, and are three points from 6th place Norwich, who are in the fourth playoff spot.
Exclusive interview with Hull owner Acun Ilicali… 🐅🇹🇷 #HCAFC
— “I’m not the richest owner in the world but I’m the craziest.”
— Wants Europe, not just promotion
— Bankrupt & lost parents at 24
— Trusting Liam Rosenior
— How Carvalho deal was executed.https://t.co/F19NAzwYPa— Ryan Taylor (@RyanTaylorSport) March 24, 2024
As Hull City experience one of their best seasons in recent years, owner Acun Ilicali expressed how proud his is of the club’s revival since the completion of his £30million takeover of the club in January 2022.
“If we go to the Premier League it will only be half of my dream,” said Ilicali, per the Mirror. “Why can’t we be another Leicester? My dream is not completed with promotion, all I want is to see my team play in European competitions.
“If you believe in the words magic and destiny, that’s why I bought Hull City. I had five different opportunities when I decided to buy a club and by some chance, I started looking at Hull.
“When I spent some time in the city, I saw beautiful people around me and I saw this huge bridge [Humber Bridge] that looks like the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul. I’ve always liked places near the seaside in my life because Miami is my favourite place in the world and then when I was in the stadium, this felt like the place I should be.
“I’m going to every home game from either the Dominican Republic which is an eight-hour flight or from Turkey. I don’t think there are more crazy owners than me around but I try to give as much energy as I can to the players and the coach.
“I can say that it’s God’s gift to me that I have good connections with people, it’s why I went from zero to hero in Turkey. I had no money and saw the bottom of life and now I’ve experienced both hard and good circumstances. All the fanbase wants to feel is they’re one part of one family. Without fans, football is nothing.”
“He’s literally one of the most generous people I could ever come across.” ❤
Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has paid for 100 fans to travel to Turkey with the squad for their next training camp 🙌#FootballFocus pic.twitter.com/n9S06xtDhK
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) March 1, 2024
Acun Ilicali has already got his sights on taking #HCAFC into Europe if they win promotion next season.#TigersOnTourYP 7/10
⬇️https://t.co/xRfFy3cCOI— Stuart Rayner (@sturayner) March 23, 2024
Hull were sitting 21st in the second tier standings when Liam Rosenior was appointed, and what a job he’s done since.
Ilicali added: “I see the players giving everything and that comes from one man: Liam, who has always made us proud of the team.
“We can be very sure that all of the transfers we make are working now,” Ilicali said on the signings of Fabio Carvalho, Tyler Morton, Liam Delap, Jaden Philogene and Abdulkadir Omur.
“With Carvalho, it was a dream because he was a Champions League player. He belongs to Liverpool but we used all of our efforts to make it happen and at the end of the day, there is a team for a young talent to improve.
“We can be very sure that all of the transfers we make are working now,” Ilicali explained. “With Carvalho, it was a dream because he was a Champions League player. He belongs to Liverpool but we used all of our efforts to make it happen and at the end of the day, there is a team for a young talent to improve.
“Morton was selected for England U21s when he started playing with us. It shows that our coach improves every player with his coaching talent. Delap and Philogene’s numbers show the big improvements they have made with us. It had a big effect on us convincing Carvalho to join.
“The nose of the plane should be up so we can go higher and higher. You can call our project Mission Improvement. There are £20m-plus players in the squad that belong to us and I believe it will help lead to better positioning in the future.”
Ilicali said per Yorkshire Post: “If we can get to the Premier League our aim is to represent England in European football.
“Targets change, there’s always new targets needed for us to be more motivated.
“In my whole life I was never satisfied with what I achieved, I was always focused on the next step.
“I want us to go step by step and make improvement and improvement.
“If our improvement leads us into the Premier League of course I will ask for a new improvement from our dear coach.”
To help the club’s chances, Ilicali hope to buy a potential “feeder club”, having previously bought Irish club Shelbourne last June but then handed it back to fans.
He wants another club which will allow him to “park” players who don’t meet the criteria for a visa to play in this country.
“We have some plans for the future but not only for Hull City, we want to create a football world around Hull City to catch new possibilities,” he explained.
“We wish to purchase another football club. We went to Greece and Slovenia and spoke to some clubs and the UEFA president helped us there.
“We couldn’t have success in Ireland and it seems like Slovenia will be the focal point right now.
“I believe in multi-club operations because it gives us the possibility to catch players who cannot play for Hull City (for visa reasons) so they can train with another club.”
This is how fans reacted as the Hull City owner reveals his Champions League dream and wish to become ‘another Leicester’…
@wakka80: great read, seems we’re heading in the right direction under acun as owner
Ady Callan: Our time will come…keep the faith
Mark Walmsley: We have to keep players like Jaden and Jacob for that sort of thing to happen
Jack Kevin Munro: Love it, a champions league club, this was my hope for the club, I feel it’s now the time
Darren Hatfield: FFP won’t allow another Leicester
Regan Andrews: Similar to what Darren has said but I feel yeah the pyramid is designed in a way to keep the rich clubs rich and successful and every other club in their shadow.
Look at how they all reacted at Newcastle..
Glad you enjoyed Jordan, thanks. I wanted to speak to Acun because I was fascinated by the huge progress the club have made. Rare it happens so quickly under new ownership. He finished up by inviting me to the MKM in his box. Such a genuine, top man. Good luck for the run in. 👍🏻
— Ryan Taylor (@RyanTaylorSport) March 24, 2024
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