Acun Ilicali finally shares explanation for Ruben Selles sacking, Hull City fans will be outraged

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Hull City are in the hunt for their fourth permanent manager in the space of a year after Ruben Selles’ time at the club was brought to a premature end on Thursday evening.

Fans were desperately angry after Selles’ surprise sacking, with the Spaniard keeping the Tigers in the Championship on the final day of the season thanks to a 1-1 draw away to Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
18	Stoke CityStoke City	46	12	15	19	45	62	-17	51
19	DerbyDerby	46	13	11	22	48	56	-8	50
20	PrestonPreston	46	10	20	16	48	59	-11	50
21	Hull CityHull City	46	12	13	21	44	54	-10	49
22	LutonLuton	46	13	10	23	45	69	-24	49
23	PlymouthPlymouth	46	11	13	22	51	88	-37	46
24	CardiffCardiff	46	9	17	20	48	73	-25	44

Owner Acun Ilicali worked hard to bring the former Southampton boss to the MKM Stadium in December from Reading as the Royals battled against financial issues in League One, although they were pushing for the play-offs.

Nevertheless, he has followed the same path as Liam Rosenior and Tim Walter, who were both sacked from their positions at Hull in the last 12 months, and a new era is in store once again in HU3, with George Boateng one of those interested.

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Acun Ilicali lays out the reason why he sacked Ruben Selles at Hull City

In the post-mortem following the departure of Selles, supporters have been asking for communication from the board as to why the 41-year-old’s position was deemed untenable.

He managed just 27 games for the Tigers during his short time at the club, winning nine of those while also registering seven draws – picking up a points per game record of 1.27.

While it was enough to see Hull move out of the relegation zone on the final day, Ilicali was not overly impressed with Selles and he has spoken out for the first time on why he came to the decision to sack his manager.

He said (via: BBC Radio Humberside): “The main reason, if you ask me, our target was never to stay in the league.

“We have to be a team, together, and everybody has to trust each other. And if we don’t have the full trust of our future, I don’t think it can last,” Ilicali concluded.

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Acun Ilicali has to give his next manager time to build

Supporters have witnessed their team drop down the table incredibly quickly in the last year, after Rosenior had Hull pushing for a play-off place in the 2023/24 campaign.

They narrowly missed out, and the current Strasbourg manager paid with his job before Tim Walter struggled to adjust to Championship football after moving to the MKM Stadium from Germany.

Selles, while he was never able to properly bridge the gap to the relegation zone, did make Hull a lot more consistent and in time, he may have been able to push the club further up the table and back to where they were 12 months ago.

However, Ilicali has already proven that he has a short fuse with managers and this cannot be repeated. He must give his next choice time to build a new era, otherwise the threat of League One will only loom larger, as Hull begin their search for a successor.