The Tigers boss looks set to be a real hit in the Premeir League this season
Sergej Jakirovic has proved to be a charming and engaging character since arriving in English football a year ago
Sergej Jakirovic has proved to be a charming and engaging character since arriving in English football a year ago(Image: Mark Cosgrove/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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There will be a different feel to the Premier League this season. For the first time in years, the season will get underway without some of the titans that have become part of the furniture of the English game. But we're not just lacking tactical genius, it's the characters that we may miss most of all.
England’s top tier has been blessed with some genuine characters over the years, from Brian Clough, Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Kevin Keegan and Neil Warnock, to more recently the likes of Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. That list could go on, Harry Redknapp, Roy Hodgson, Carlo Ancelotti, it's never-ending, or it was, until now.
Such is the way with British sport, we may not always like these managers. In fact, we love to hate some of them, but what you cannot do is ignore them. The men above have been blockbuster entertainment. They had you gripped and hanging on their latest response, even if you thought it was a load of garbage.
How often did we listen to Mourinho post-match and think he was off his rocker, or spouting a load of nonsense? But it was captivating, generated some wonderful moments, and talking points.
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This season there will be none of the names and voices we’ve been so used to hearing from, for good and for bad, aside from David Moyes. All due respect to the Everton boss, but his press conferences are not essential viewing.
There is a dearth of characters and personalities across the Premier League this season, but thankfully one man has arrived to challenge that stance. Step forward Hull City's Sergej Jakirovic, who could just become the top-flight’s media darling.
Supporters from the other 19 teams will have little idea about Jakirovic, but that's expected, Hull City fans felt the same 12 months ago when the former Bosnian international centre-back, who identifies as Croatian, arrived in East Yorkshire. A towering figure with a smile as wide as the Humber Bridge, he somehow manages to intimidate and disarm to put you at ease, all at the same time.
While many managers in the Premier League are genuinely nice, warm, engaging men, few have the charisma of a Mourinho, Klopp, a Keegan, Clough, Robson or Ferguson.
We might have good managers, iconic former players, but few have real personality and fire when it comes to engaging with the public and creating those fascinating storylines and subplots that we all love.
Jakirovic, on the other hand, has it in spades. He’s warm, engaging, personable and can share a joke, both at his own expense and that of his team or others. That’s refreshing both as a fan and a member of the media trying to tell the stories supporters want to hear.
There’s nothing more frustrating as a fan or reporter when a manager or player dismisses their interview or interviewee or offers very little in response to questions.
In the Championship, for example, there’s the best part of 90 press conferences for a manager to do across a season, possibly more. They can get weary for both parties, if they become scripted, stale and predictable with the usual cliche lines. Next game, focus on ourselves and so on, you know the drill.
Fans want to hear genuine tales, they want personality, honesty and not scripted, pre-rehearsed lines that get trotted out time and time again. Football is becoming far too sterile, and many clubs themselves have created that, and for many, will be pleased with that, but it’s not fun; nobody outside of the club’s sanitised press office thinks that’s a good place to be.
Too many players and managers are media trained, overprotected, and in some cases, waste everybody’s time and effort, and there are others who aren't comfortable doing it, which is understandable. Let players and managers be themselves, stop treating them like babies, and allow them to have an opinion and to express it. Something especially prevalent in the Premier League.
Jakirovic is most definitely not on that list. Every conversation with him is enjoyable, engaging and insightful, and he’s somebody who won’t be gagged.
Despite the desperation from some clubs to gag their players and staff from saying anything remotely interesting, Jakirovic is the type of character that will say what he thinks, and that’s so refreshing. We should cherish it for as long as he’s here.
Amid the Spygate drama around the play-offs last season, Jakirovic was probed for his take; "Maybe they watched my training session as well? But sometimes we are too bad, so this is good for us!," was his response.
If only more were like him. And that’s why the Premier League and its fans will love the Croatian, and the top flight will be a better place with him in it, especially at a time when the game is lacking those real managerial heavyweights and genuine passion. Football is sterile, controlled and sanitised to death, but in Jakirovic, there’s a manager bucking the trend, and the Premier League will be better for it.
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