Hull City keen to make swift appointment to replace Liam Rosenior

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali is seeking his third permanent manager
Hull City owner Acun Ilicali is seeking his third permanent manager -Credit:Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images


Hull City are hopeful of making a swift appointment in their quest to replace Liam Rosenior, who left the club after 18 months in charge on Tuesday afternoon.

Rosenior, who took charge of his 78th and final City game at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon, met owner Acun Ilicali and vice-chairman Tan Kesler at the MKM Stadium on Tuesday morning, where he was informed that his tenure had come to an end, while club captain Lewie Coyle and vice-skipper Jacob Greaves were also met in person by the club's board.

The task to find Rosenior's successor is well underway with Ilicali keen to appoint a new man in the next few days and though that could happen as soon as the weekend, it's expected, sources indicate to Hull Live that it will be more likely next week with an awareness that a replacement needs to be appointed fairly promptly given the need to have somebody bedded in well before pre-season gets underway.

READ MORE: Hull City next manager Live as Tim Walter linked, odds shortlist and fans unhappy

City are thought to have an interest in Sheffield Wednesday's German head coach Danny Rohl after an impressive recovery at Hillsborough saw the Owls recover from certain relegation to survive, along with QPR boss Marti Cifuentes, who did a similarly impressive job at QPR in guiding the R's away from the drop whilst playing an open, attractive brand of football.

Ilicali has drawn up a shortlist of names of interest with discussions taking place over the next few days with names like former Nottingham Forest promotion winner Steve Cooper and ex-Hamburg chief Tim Walter thought to be of interest, though no final decision has yet been made.

Cooper has obvious pedigree in the Championship having taken Swansea City to successive play-off campaigns before guiding Nottingham Forest from the bottom of the second-tier to the Premier League and then kept the Reds up in their first season back after 23 years, while Walter is a former youth team coach at Bayern Munich and has managed Stuttgart and Hamburg and is highly regarded in Germany.

Rosenior's sudden exit caused shock, surprise and disappointment amongst many Tigers fans when the club confirmed his exit on Tuesday afternoon but Ilicali is understood to have had reservations about the future of his manager since early in the New Year, with a feeling City's results had not improved given the transfer market activity, and the head coach himself, was acutely aware of growing tensions behind the scenes with a feeling the squad was not making the progress expected.

While City delivered fine performances in winning at Southampton and registering draws with Leicester City and Ipswich Town, home displays against the likes of Swansea and Stoke City, with fans voting with their feet and leaving early, caused uncomfortable conversations at boardroom level, where there were also discussions around the goalkeeper situation with a belief that a change should have been made much earlier after the £1m-plus arrival of Ivor Pandur, who failed to make a single appearance and then was left off the bench in the final four games as tensions grew.

Ultimately, a run of three wins in the final 13 games with City pushing for a place in the top six proved not quite good enough but Rosenior knew the writing was on the wall long before he made the flight from Humberside Airport to Exeter on Friday afternoon.

Make no mistake about it, the task for the new manager will be clear. It will be play-offs or bust. There will be pressure. Rosenior did a fine job, he took City closer than they have been for a long time and the challenge now is to go one step further.