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Hull City’s Slutsky gamble is worth the risk
Less than two months after Hull City’s relegation was confirmed following that awful afternoon at Selhurst Park, the Tigers are back at the training ground planning an instant return to the Premier League. While the Championship has been a familiar stomping ground for Hull City and our fans over the past decade, the same cannot be said for the majority of the club’s skeleton squad and their new manager, a rookie to the English game, Leonid Slutsky. While appointing an untested foreign manager is always a risk, especially in the ruthlessly unpredictable Championship, this is a gamble I am pleased the club have taken.
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Following the inevitable, yet no less heart-breaking, departure of Marco Silva just weeks after the Tigers’ Premier League relegation was sealed, City’s search for a manager was on. Conscious of the ultimately costly indecision that plagued last year’s pre-season, the Hull City faithful were not fully confident of a swift appointment. However, while fears continue over a distinct lack of transfer activity with only a month to go until the start of the new season, fans have welcomed Slutsky’s prompt appointment as a good one.
While giving a job of this scale to a manager with no experience of the English game is indeed a gamble, when looking at the relatively uninspiring list of usual suspects linked with the job in the immediate aftermath of Marco Silva’s departure, I for one am delighted the left field Slutsky has been selected. Indeed, just as the appointment of Marco Silva last January raised a few eyebrows, so has this. While it may sound contradictory following relegation, if the former CSKA Moscow and Russia manager has a similar level of positive impact as his predecessor, the unconventional appointment would deserve a great deal of praise.
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So are Hull City fans feeling optimistic? Well, I would say just on the basis that we have a manager in Slutsky who is overly positive, charming in interviews, and bending over backwards to rebuild the club’s relationship with our disenchanted fanbase, that we are in a much better position than this time last year. However, as always seems to be the case with Hull City, it is now over to the owners to follow through on their promises, by financially backing the new manager and giving the club the best possible chance of returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Of course, this is easier said than done. Despite Slutsky declaring he’d like his full squad together before the team’s pre-season tour to Portugal later this week, we are yet to see any new signings. The situation has been made slightly more concerning by the departures of former City favourites, Curtis Davies, Harry Maguire, and youngster Josh Tymon, with more first team regulars expected to leave later this month.
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Despite this worrying lack of summer signings, the Russian’s infectious confidence and positivity appears to have stabilized the club in recent weeks. I am certainly not saying everything is going to be great and Hull City are now going to win the Championship title with 100 points, however, following last year’s shambolic pre-season, the club do appear more organised. Of course, after my 17 years of following the Tigers, I am aware we are never too far away from calamity, and the next ‘crisis’ could well come on the eve of the new season when we have still failed to build an adequate and competitive Championship squad. Nevertheless, for the meantime I am going to take a leaf out of Mr Slutsky’s book and try and remain as positive and optimistic as humanly possible.
So, as they say in Russia, Удачи Мистер Slutsky! I am sure I speak for the entire Hull City faithful when I wish you a long and fruitful spell as manager of Hull City AFC.
