Sport
Rosenior has a strong career ahead of him despite Hull sacking
There aren’t many more impressive young coaches in England than Liam Rosenior. His work at Hull City, taking them to the brink of the Championship playoffs in his first full season in managment was remarkable, and received a deserved nomination for Manager of the Year.
Rosenior’s intelligence, stoic belief in his own philosophy and clear up rapport with his squad was so evident. It is, therefore, a huge shock that he was sacked by the club this week, with owner Acun Ilicati citing a difference of opinion when it came to the style of play for the decision, but it has been met with almost unanimous bemusement from the outside.
It is easy to forget the Hull were a basket case of club before he arrived. The Tigers’ previous owners, the Allam family, had taken them to the heights of the Premier League, an FA Cup final and European football during their 12-year reign, also alienated the fan base with decisions to change the club name and deny seating in certain areas of the stadium. Their nadir was a season in League One in 2020-21 in front of gates of around 6,000 fans; there was no connection within the community. In January 2022, Turkish media mogul Ilicati bought the club and immediately set about putting that right, and deserves huge credit for Hull have been on since.
There were meetings with supporters and offers of all expense-paid trips to his homeland in pre-season. Almost instantly, the connection returned, and so did the enjoyment for fans. But initially, on the pitch, things didn’t run smoothly. This is where the main warning signs for the post-Rosenior era arise; Grant McCann, who got the club back into the Championship, was replaced by Shota Arveladze, a former Georgian striker best known in the UK for a spell with Rangers. He’d also managed in Turkey and Israel, but he struggled to impose himself and when he was replaced by Rosenior in November 2022, Hull were just a point and a place above the relegation zone. Rosenior guided them safely to 15th.
That’s when he really got to work; Rosenior wanted a high energy, high risk approach and he valued that above anything else. It was his belief that with the right way of working, results would be a byproduct. More often than not, he was correct.
But he knew he had to build Hull up and compete in a league with an ever-widening financial gap and therefore a growing sense of jeopardy. Too many clubs, including Derby, where Rosenior had worked as an assistant, were paying a heavy price for overextending themselves in search of promotion.
Rosenior knew he had to be responsible, so between him and Ilicati, they set out building relationships with Premier League clubs to sell the vision for ambitious loan moves. Liverpool and Manchester City allowed Tyler Morton, Fabio Carvalho and Liam Delap to join, while it also helped put the Tigers in a good position to pounce for Aston Villa’s Jaden Philogene on a permanent deal. Rosenior was open about the limited resources, but used it to his advantage, especially when it came to showing those players around the training ground, which is noticeably smaller than some rivals. But his personality won them over; Hull have willingly given up a great communicator with a deep, forward-thinking view on his work.
Without doubt, the influx of such talent screwed the expectation around Hull, at least externally. Only Ilicati knows the true reason behind making such a decision, but everyone was learning together, and Rosenior believed they were singing from the same hymn sheet.
“I couldn’t ask for a better owner as a young manager,” Rosenior told The Guardian in February. “He gives me so much confidence to be myself. For a club to be successful you need to be together. That includes the fans, owner, players, kit men, chefs. We’ve got that.”
Whatever happens next, Hull’s loss will almost certainly be someone else’s gain.
