Claim made on potential Acun Ilicali sale at Hull City as relegation threat looms | OneFootball

The Tigers face a potential final-day relegation after a disastrous 12 month period

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

The past 12 months have been nothing short of miserable for those connected with Hull City, with the Tigers needing at least a point on the final day of the season to have a chance of remaining in the Championship.

Owner, Acun Ilicali, hasn't been afraid to dream big and splash the cash ever since taking over the East Yorkshire outfit back in January 2022 for £30m. However, with City facing up to the possibility of a second stint in League One within the last five years, the once extremely popular Turkish media mogul has started to really divide opinions among those at the MKM Stadium.

With that in mind, Football League World asked our resident Hull fan pundit, Ryan Frankish, whether he believes the 55-year-old would remain in the boardroom in HU3, should the club be relegated at the conclusion of Saturday's game away to Portsmouth.

Acun Ilicali verdict issued as Hull City stare relegation in the face

Frankish claimed that the Hull owner, who is also on the board of directors at his boyhood club, Fenerbahçe, is one of the better owners in the Championship, but remains unsure whether he would stick around due to the financial ramifications relegation to the third-tier is likely to have.

"I mean, there's a couple of people who claim that they are 'in the know', and he's apparently selling up regardless (of what happens) this summer, that he took his gamble last season and it didn't pay off," our fan pundit explained to FLW.

"He tried to redeem it this season with all the random signings and it hasn't paid off.

"He seems to do be done, clearly enjoying being on the board at Fenerbahçe and that takes up a lot of his time and attention," Frankish added. "Us fans see nowhere near as much of him as we did at the start (of his ownership).

"To be honest, I'm pro Acun," he claimed. "I still think he's far better than most owners in the division in terms of investment, interest and all the rest of it.

"But, I'm not entirely sure (whether he would stay if City are relegated) to be honest. He does have a mountain to climb financially, the way we've been spending and the wage bill that we've got now."

Frankish concluded: "I don't know (what's going to happen)."

Relegation would be extremely damaging to Hull City's long-term prospects - recruitment has become unsustainable

Whilst Ilicali has overseen plenty of projects that have seen the support base grow above 21,000 again when it comes to average attendances, as well as addressing key club matters with supporters, some would argue that such work has been outweighed by a handful of extremely damaging decisions such as an unsustainable recruitment model and high manager turnover.

City's addition count since the Turk's takeover now stands at 60, and the wage bill at the club has increased tenfold since his takeover, with it estimated to be the ninth-highest in the second-tier with a weekly figure of £362,200 and an annual sum of £18.83m.

Furthermore, plenty of high earners such as Ryan Giles and Abdus Omur are currently on loan away from the MKM Stadium, whilst summer signings under Ruben Selles' predecessor, Tim Walter, such as Marvin Mehlem and Anthony Racioppi, have returned to the continent, at least for the time being.

The controversial sacking of Liam Rosenior last May as City missed out on the play-offs by just three points also divides opinion as much as Ilicali's approach to proceedings in the boardroom, with the former full-back's football deemed not entertaining enough, although he is on the verge of taking RC Strasbourg into Europe next season.

Many also voiced their anger towards Ilicali this week when it was revealed that City's players had received their monthly wages later than expected due to an overseas payment issue, which isn't ideal leading up to a season and future-defining contest.

It remains to be seen whether he would continue to oversee matters if Hull were to drop into League One, where a Birmingham City-style rebuild would be necessary, although not potentially feasible given claims that the club were in £66m of debt when its accounts were published at the turn of the year.