Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior has bounced back from his Hull City sacking in style - but Tigers owner Acun Ilicali still has no regrets.
He had overseen significant improvement at the MKM Stadium but failed to guide the club into the Championship play-offs in his first full season at the helm.
Acun Ilicali handed Liam Rosenior the reins at Hull City in 2022.placeholder image
Acun Ilicali handed Liam Rosenior the reins at Hull City in 2022. | George Wood/Getty Images
Rosenior bounced back into management with Strasbourg and after thriving in France, is now in the Chelsea dugout.
With Rosenior’s Blues set to visit Hull in the fourth round of the FA Cup tonight (February 13), Ilicali has spoken candidly about the parting of ways.
Acun Ilicali has no regrets
He told Mail Online: “Yes, he was surprised when I told him, but no, I don’t have regrets about it. I didn’t want to go to the Premier League with Liam’s style of football.
“I bought the club because I want success, yes? But success with entertaining football – and we were not seeing that. Liam’s philosophy was also based on a football style for me that can only be done with very high-quality players.
“If you want to break the other team's press by passing, everybody has to be very technical. At Hull City, how can we manage to beat teams that way who have good players, too? It doesn't work. You end up with all the control – 70 per cent possession – without one goalscoring position.
“So how can I change Liam? I can call Liam and say, ‘I don't want that football style, please don't do that, do this’, which is ridiculous. So instead of changing his philosophy, I changed him.”
Liam Rosenior has represented Hull City as both a head coach and a player.placeholder image
Liam Rosenior has represented Hull City as both a head coach and a player. | Jonathan Gawthorpe
A difference in opinion over philosophy
Rosenior was handed the reins at Stamford Bridge last month and in a show of faith, was given a six-and-a-half-year contract by the Chelsea hierarchy.
Hull are now under the control of Sergej Jakirovic, who has pushed the Tigers into the promotion picture despite the imposing of a transfer embargo.
Ilicali said: “Let him (Rosenior) have this philosophy at other clubs and be successful there. I don't say that he won’t be successful. But I do say that I prefer losing 3-2 to drawing 0-0. Lose 3-2 and it means that next day you will win 4-2, 3-1.
“But if you are 0-0, 1-0, that means that you are not getting goalscoring positions enough. For me, clean sheets mean nothing. I don't care about clean sheets. There is not even a Turkish translation for ‘clean sheets’. We don't even have the word for it.”