Hull City owner: I call my transfer ‘brain team’ at four in the morning
Hull City owner: I call my transfer ‘brain team’ at four in the morning
Kathryn BatteSat, August 22, 2026 at 6:00 AM UTC
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Hull City’s Acun Ilicali is unique among Premier League owners - Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Acun Ilicali, the Hull City owner, has a strong sense of humour.
He begins to laugh when Telegraph Sport suggests to him that more people are talking about whether his club will beat Derby’s record for the lowest points total in a Premier League season than whether they can stay in the division.
“I laugh so much because people are making predictions on social media,” he says. “I see people talking 20 seconds on one team, 30 seconds on another team.
“They are predicting the league rankings and when it comes to our badge, immediately without talking or saying a word they put us bottom and pass to the next team.”
The Turkish businessman is heavily tuned into social media. This, after all, is the owner who posted a transfer “tease list” of possible targets on X this summer. Ilicali is unique and there is no owner in the Premier League quite like him.
He begins this interview by saying he is “trying to save the season” even though we are talking eight days before his side begin their campaign at home to Manchester United. It is perhaps a phrase that has been lost in translation, like many of the other terms he uses to discuss his football club.
“We have a group, I call it my ‘brain team’ but in England I know there is no such thing as a brain team, it’s a translation from Turkish.
“But in England people always smile when I say brain team... what is it in English? If you have five people thinking about something and producing something... what do you call it?”
Erm, a working group?
“Right... I will say this is my gift to the British language!
“So the brain team, we are a group that talks all the time. At four or five o’clock in the morning, I call them and start making calculations about the budgets and which player we should go for.”
It has been a chaotic summer for Ilicali and Hull City, who were promoted to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs after beating Middlesbrough at Wembley courtesy of a 95th-minute Oli McBurnie winner.
Despite being placed under a transfer embargo last summer, the club only narrowly avoided breaching profitability and sustainability rules after overspending in previous campaigns. The club escaped a possible points deduction by raising £6m in player sales by the July 1 deadline.
Then, sporting director Jared Dublin left amid an alleged disagreement over wages. Okan Özkan, who worked with Ilicali at Fenerbahçe, replaced him and Ilicali insists the turnover has not caused any issues.
“From the day I bought the club, I have had five guys in my brain team, not including me. Three of them are the same from the first minute I bought the club. I’m confident the system is working and if one person leaves it will never cause damage.
“Of course Jared is a fantastic guy and we had so much success with him, but anybody can go and the most important thing is the system will be working. If the club is based on one person that means we are in big trouble.”
Jared Dublin (right) moved on from his role as sporting director and was replaced by Okan Ozkan - Beyza Comert/Getty Images
Since then, Hull have signed 11 players, with Ilicali expecting possibly five more before the window closes on September 1. He admits transfer negotiations have been difficult, with the club signing a mixture of youth and experience.
“As always, the players who want to come, we don’t want. The players who we want to come, it is hard to bring them here,” he says.
“The main [problem] is they don’t trust 100 per cent that we will be staying in the league. So there is a possibility that we are going to be relegated. So, as an owner, I have to give them full confidence about their futures, that they will not be damaged.”
Despite those difficulties, the club have broken their transfer record twice this summer. Goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis, 23, and defender Nobel Mendy, 22, both joined for fees that surpassed £20m.
“We have a certain budget but it is not enough to bring 15 players you like. So some of them have to be young, some of them have to be experienced, some of them have to be loans. There is a big calculation behind the scenes because if you bring an expensive player, you have to sacrifice another part of the team.
“We have to convince the players but the players have to convince us, too. Even one toxic element can spoil the spirit in the dressing room.”
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Ilicali has been remarkably open with his supporters about the club’s targets. The well-documented “tease list” included him posting flags and the percentage of how far along the transfer negotiations were. But there was a method behind what some have viewed as madness.
Ilicali has used social media to provide Hull supporters with transfer updates - John Walton/PA
Ilicali says: “There were three reasons. Firstly, the fake news about some players that we were interested in. This is annoying for me because people are using our name in negotiations to benefit themselves.
“Second, it gives false hope to my fans that they can expect a player, thinking we are interested, but we are not.
“Third, the relationship between me and our fans is completely different to many owners. The first day I came to this beautiful city, I said: ‘We are going to be one family with one dream.’ If family members don’t know about the most important thing in the summer, the transfers, what kind of family is that?
Ilicali shares a unique relationship with Hull’s fans - Rasid Necati Aslim/Getty Images
“For me, they have to know at least the general picture. Sometimes I laugh that some people say this can disturb the transfers and because of that some transfers can fail.
“If I was stupid enough to do something that would do damage to my team, I wouldn’t be here and Hull City wouldn’t be in the Premier League.”
‘I took McBurnie to Turkey – I didn’t expect him to stay all summer!’
While Ilicali is open about the difficulties the club have faced when pursuing some of their transfer targets, he is adamant that their priority has been finding players with the right attitude. When manager Sergej Jakirovi&cacute was asked recently about the club’s on-off move for Aston Villa forward Leon Bailey, he said he did not want to have to “beg” players to sign.
One player who did not take much convincing to sign was Joe Gelhardt. The forward spent 18 months on loan at Hull, helping the club stay in the Championship in the 2024-25 season before scoring 15 goals last term.
Gelhardt was desperate to return but looked set to go elsewhere before he eventually completed a £4m move from Leeds.
“This story is like a movie,” Ilicali says. “He delivered a fantastic performance and played a big role in our promotion. He was rejecting every offer and waiting for news from us. We were trying to make calculations and we couldn’t give a final decision.
“News came to me from his agent that he was signing the next day for another club. I immediately called the coach, and he was positive [he wanted him].
“I read something that said: ‘Don’t fall in love with a loan player, if he doesn’t fall in love with you.’ During our promotion, love was felt at the highest level.
Gelhardt scored in last-season’s play-off semi-final against Millwall to send Hull to Wembley - Jacques Feeney/Getty Images
“So I video-called him and he was packing his bags to go to a medical at another club. I said to him: ‘Think about all the good things we have lived together, our fans love you, I want you to be with us.’
“The expression on his face, it is not possible for me to describe. We had an emotional conversation for three or four minutes.”
After securing promotion, Hull’s players were rewarded with a trip to Las Vegas, but match-winner McBurnie was given an extra bonus, with Ilicali hosting him and his family at his house in Turkey.
“I told him if he scored 20 goals, I will give you a surprise. He was on 18 goals, but I said I count Wembley as three goals. So I took him and his family to Turkey... but I was not expecting him to spend all summer there!
“I think he took it too seriously. He went back to England and, after 10 days, he said ‘I miss you boss, how are you?’ And I said: ‘Oli, if you miss Turkey, then come again, I miss you too.’
“So he came again. He is like my son, I see similarities between us.”
Oli McBurnie posted a picture from his holiday with Ilicali on his Instagram page - @oli_mcburnie/Instagram
Ilicali has previously spoken about replicating the achievements of the title-winning Leicester City team and more recently Sunderland, who secured Europa League football in their first season back in the top flight.
But with everyone counting on his team to be relegated, and some thinking they will go down without a fight, what are his realistic expectations?
“We don’t have a word for underdog in Turkish. Being an underdog is a fantastic thing in life, I think that led us to promotion. Because when people don’t take you seriously, this is a big advantage.
“There is a big danger of relegation because of the strength of the league, but I’m sure we will surprise other teams. If we got into the play-offs last year, why can’t we stay in the league this year?”
As the saying goes, it’s never dull in Hull. While Ilicali is in charge, the club are in for an entertaining ride.
Source: “AOL Sports”
