The Day The Allam Era Finally Ended
Ey up lads, it’s your proper Hull lad here – the one who’s stood freezing his nuts off in the North Stand at the MKM since the old Boothferry Park days, who still gets that same buzz driving over the Humber Bridge on a Saturday. When Turkish TV boss Acun Ilıcalı rocked up in January 2022 and bought the club from the Allams for around £20-30 million, it felt like Christmas had come early on Anlaby Road.
We’d had eleven long years of the Allam family – name-change rows, falling out with the fans, and the club drifting like a trawler with no engine. Acun walked out onto the pitch after we’d just beaten Blackburn 2-0 and you could feel the place lift. Proper smiles on faces from Bransholme to Cottingham. He weren’t just another foreign owner chasing a quick buck – he was promising us the world and, four years on, he’s actually delivered more than most of us dared hope.
The Managerial Merry-Go-Round (And Why It’s Not All Bad)
Look, I’ll be honest – the one thing that’s grated on us Tigers is the constant changing of the gaffer. Acun didn’t hang about. Grant McCann, the lad who’d just got us promoted from League One, was gone within days. Shota Arveladze came in, kept us up comfortably in 2021-22, then got the chop after a bad run.
Then came Liam Rosenior. Proper football man, got us playing some of the best stuff we’ve seen at the MKM in years. Finished 15th in 22-23, then missed the playoffs by three points in 23-24 and even got nominated for Championship Manager of the Year. Sacked anyway because Acun wanted “more attacking” football. That one hurt a bit, lads – Rosenior was popular round these parts.
Tim Walter and Rubén Sellés came and went quick-smart too, and we were staring at relegation at one point in 24-25. But fair play, Sellés kept us up on the last day. Now we’ve got Sergej Jakirović in charge since summer 2025 and, as I write this in March 2026, we’re sitting fifth in the Championship with 60 points on the board and genuine promotion talk in the Admiral of the Humber on a Friday night.
It’s been chaotic, but you can see the pattern – Acun wants winners, not passengers. Impatient? Aye. But when you’ve spent what he has, I get it.
The Money – £100 Million And Counting
Here’s the bit that still blows my mind. Acun reckons he’s pumped nearly £100 million into Hull City since he took over. Club accounts show big losses – £18.8m one year, £10.2m the next – and debt sitting at £41.7 million. But he’s converted loans into equity, cleared EFL restrictions, and kept the cheques coming.
Compare that to the Allam years when we were scraping by. He’s funded a complete squad rebuild – over 60 new signings in four years. We’ve seen proper talent like Jaden Philogene (sold for big money to the Prem), Jacob Greaves (another good bit of business), and exciting loans like Liam Delap and Fábio Carvalho that had the place rocking. Recent windows brought in the likes of Yu Hirakawa, Lewis Koumas, Kieran Dowell and Paddy McNair – and we kept hold of key lads like Ivor Pandur, Charlie Hughes and Joe Gelhardt.
The Fan Stuff – This Is Where He’s Different
This is the bit that makes Acun stand out from every other owner I’ve seen in 30-odd years of watching the Tigers. Free coach travel to away games for season-ticket holders. Hundreds of us flown out to Antalya for all-expenses-paid holidays with the players – proper five-star stuff, chartered flights, the lot. I know lads from Hessle and Beverley who still talk about it like it was a dream.
He’s been at the MKM inspecting the pitch himself when it was cutting up. He’s on the touchline, he talks to fans, he gets it. After the misery of the Allams treating us like an inconvenience, having an owner who actually seems to like us is massive. Attendances are back up around the 20,000 mark on good days. The place feels alive again.
I’m not here to polish turds, lads. There have been frustrations. Too many managers. Some signings haven’t worked out. The financial pressure is real – we’ve had embargo scares and we’re still not Premier League ready on the wage front. By summer 2025 some fans were proper fed up and the BBC even ran pieces asking if we were falling out of love with Acun.
But then Sergej turned it round, the January 2026 window was called “fantastic” by the man himself, and here we are chasing the playoffs with games to spare. The ambition is there. He wants us in the Premier League and he’s not hiding it.
Where We Stand Now – March 2026
Fifth in the Championship. Proper promotion contenders under Jakirović. Squad looks balanced, young lads coming through, and the owner still fully committed. We’ve gone from League One champions under the Allams to genuine top-six challengers in four years. That’s not luck – that’s investment, belief and a bit of Turkish fire.
We’ve sold well, bought smart, and built something that actually feels like our club again. From the fish docks to the KC (sorry, MKM), Hull City is buzzing in a way I haven’t felt since the Premier League days of 2008.
Acun Ilıcalı hasn’t just bought Hull City – he’s given us our pride back. And with the Tigers right in the mix for the Premier League right now, I’ll tell you this for nowt… the best is still to come. Up the Tigers!
Ey up lads, it’s your proper Hull lad here – the one who’s stood freezing his nuts off in the North Stand at the MKM since the old Boothferry Park days, who still gets that same buzz driving over the Humber Bridge on a Saturday. When Turkish TV boss Acun Ilıcalı rocked up in January 2022 and bought the club from the Allams for around £20-30 million, it felt like Christmas had come early on Anlaby Road.
We’d had eleven long years of the Allam family – name-change rows, falling out with the fans, and the club drifting like a trawler with no engine. Acun walked out onto the pitch after we’d just beaten Blackburn 2-0 and you could feel the place lift. Proper smiles on faces from Bransholme to Cottingham. He weren’t just another foreign owner chasing a quick buck – he was promising us the world and, four years on, he’s actually delivered more than most of us dared hope.
The Managerial Merry-Go-Round (And Why It’s Not All Bad)
Look, I’ll be honest – the one thing that’s grated on us Tigers is the constant changing of the gaffer. Acun didn’t hang about. Grant McCann, the lad who’d just got us promoted from League One, was gone within days. Shota Arveladze came in, kept us up comfortably in 2021-22, then got the chop after a bad run.
Then came Liam Rosenior. Proper football man, got us playing some of the best stuff we’ve seen at the MKM in years. Finished 15th in 22-23, then missed the playoffs by three points in 23-24 and even got nominated for Championship Manager of the Year. Sacked anyway because Acun wanted “more attacking” football. That one hurt a bit, lads – Rosenior was popular round these parts.
Tim Walter and Rubén Sellés came and went quick-smart too, and we were staring at relegation at one point in 24-25. But fair play, Sellés kept us up on the last day. Now we’ve got Sergej Jakirović in charge since summer 2025 and, as I write this in March 2026, we’re sitting fifth in the Championship with 60 points on the board and genuine promotion talk in the Admiral of the Humber on a Friday night.
It’s been chaotic, but you can see the pattern – Acun wants winners, not passengers. Impatient? Aye. But when you’ve spent what he has, I get it.
The Money – £100 Million And Counting
Here’s the bit that still blows my mind. Acun reckons he’s pumped nearly £100 million into Hull City since he took over. Club accounts show big losses – £18.8m one year, £10.2m the next – and debt sitting at £41.7 million. But he’s converted loans into equity, cleared EFL restrictions, and kept the cheques coming.
Compare that to the Allam years when we were scraping by. He’s funded a complete squad rebuild – over 60 new signings in four years. We’ve seen proper talent like Jaden Philogene (sold for big money to the Prem), Jacob Greaves (another good bit of business), and exciting loans like Liam Delap and Fábio Carvalho that had the place rocking. Recent windows brought in the likes of Yu Hirakawa, Lewis Koumas, Kieran Dowell and Paddy McNair – and we kept hold of key lads like Ivor Pandur, Charlie Hughes and Joe Gelhardt.
- Brand new training facilities and academy plans
- Safe standing at the MKM (finally!)
- Talk of a full sports village on the horizon
The Fan Stuff – This Is Where He’s Different
This is the bit that makes Acun stand out from every other owner I’ve seen in 30-odd years of watching the Tigers. Free coach travel to away games for season-ticket holders. Hundreds of us flown out to Antalya for all-expenses-paid holidays with the players – proper five-star stuff, chartered flights, the lot. I know lads from Hessle and Beverley who still talk about it like it was a dream.
He’s been at the MKM inspecting the pitch himself when it was cutting up. He’s on the touchline, he talks to fans, he gets it. After the misery of the Allams treating us like an inconvenience, having an owner who actually seems to like us is massive. Attendances are back up around the 20,000 mark on good days. The place feels alive again.
Quick shout-out to vice-chairman Tan Kesler and the early crew like Jim Rodwell – they helped bed the whole thing in and kept things running while Acun was jetting between Turkey and East Yorkshire.
The Honest Bits – It’s Not All PerfectI’m not here to polish turds, lads. There have been frustrations. Too many managers. Some signings haven’t worked out. The financial pressure is real – we’ve had embargo scares and we’re still not Premier League ready on the wage front. By summer 2025 some fans were proper fed up and the BBC even ran pieces asking if we were falling out of love with Acun.
But then Sergej turned it round, the January 2026 window was called “fantastic” by the man himself, and here we are chasing the playoffs with games to spare. The ambition is there. He wants us in the Premier League and he’s not hiding it.
Where We Stand Now – March 2026
Fifth in the Championship. Proper promotion contenders under Jakirović. Squad looks balanced, young lads coming through, and the owner still fully committed. We’ve gone from League One champions under the Allams to genuine top-six challengers in four years. That’s not luck – that’s investment, belief and a bit of Turkish fire.
We’ve sold well, bought smart, and built something that actually feels like our club again. From the fish docks to the KC (sorry, MKM), Hull City is buzzing in a way I haven’t felt since the Premier League days of 2008.
Acun Ilıcalı hasn’t just bought Hull City – he’s given us our pride back. And with the Tigers right in the mix for the Premier League right now, I’ll tell you this for nowt… the best is still to come. Up the Tigers!
