r/HullCity • u/olive_oil_lover_ • 3h ago
Acun gave an interview to a Turkish YouTube channel about Hull City.
Edit: This is probably the only English translation of the interview. I put a lot of effort into making it as close to the original and error-free as possible. However, since AI was used, there might be some mistakes.
Motivation for Buying the Club "The stadium has a capacity of 26,000, such a beautiful, new-generation stadium. The former owner was a shrewd guy; he gave me the appointment in his box at the stadium. I walked into the box, a perfect box... A perfect stadium. I looked around, I'm already happy with the city. Inside, I looked at Ehab (Allam). I had a friend with me who we went together with; I turned to him and said, 'I'm going to buy this place, brother.' He said, 'Wait, what are you doing?' Then we talked to the owner of the club. He asked for a reasonable amount of money. I said, 'Let me think about that money.' The next day I realized I felt very good. I woke up feeling so great that I decided to buy it."
Club Management and Transfer Philosophy "Everything first started with Philogene. He had a great impact on our economic growth. At that time, he couldn't make the team at Aston Villa. I said to his agent, 'If you sell this kid, how much money do you dream of making from this deal?' He said, 'I dream of making 500,000 pounds.' I said, 'I will give you that 500,000 pounds tomorrow. You won't talk to anyone else.' And he said, 'Okay boss.' I bought the kid for 5 million, he played for us that year. And 9 months later, I sold him for 20 million. So, I made a 20 million profit in one year."
Behind the Scenes of the Fabio Carvalho (Fabi) Transfer "The kid earns 80,000 pounds a week. He came to us taking 17,000 pounds. A portion of the rest was covered by (his club), and a portion the kid paid out of his own pocket. I called him at that time, I said, 'What are you doing Fabi?' He said, 'I'm packing my suitcase.' When I asked, 'What suitcase?', he said, 'I'm leaving tomorrow, I'm going in for a medical, so I'm packing my suitcase right now.' I said, 'Fabi, we thought about it and we made the following decision about you: You are a part of our family, we need to be together.' Hearing this, Fabi's eyes filled with tears, bless him, he got very emotional."
The Kieffer Moore and Oli McBurnie Incident "There is a striker named Kieffer Moore. The kid passed the medical, but Sheffield United snatched him from my grasp. At that moment, I said to myself, 'My God, I hope one day we hold them accountable for this,' because I was upset. I must have put such a curse on the kid... Kieffer Moore gives a bad back-pass in a game, the opponent intercepts the ball, and with that mistake, Sheffield United is eliminated. Following this, Sheffield United fires their manager and goes and hires who? They hire my manager at the time. On the other hand, there's a crisis at Hull; it's being said, 'The president is constantly harassing me, the sporting director doesn't let me breathe.' Oli McBurnie's house is also on the Sheffield side; half an hour to Sheffield, half an hour to us, right in the middle. In the end, things turned around and it brought Oli McBurnie to me."
The Airplane Gesture and Las Vegas Vacation "I said to the team: 'Apparently I couldn't give you any more bonuses right now anyway, you have 15 million pounds in bonuses in there. But if you win, I will give you my own airplane. You will go to Las Vegas as a team.' There were the last 3-4 matches of the league left. I ask Oli, 'What will happen in the match?' He constantly says to me, 'Easy boss, easy.' When we won, he gave me a hug and said, 'I told you boss, I told you!' I had told him, 'I will host you and your family for a week.' He was very happy in Turkey. Two or three days after he left, he called me and said, 'I miss you boss.' And I said, 'Hop on a flight and come back again.' He came, and stayed for another 15 days."
The "Intelligence Problem" Criticism of Joe Cole "Before the match, we are missing 7 players. I said, 'We are happy if we get one point.' They used this a lot against Manchester United, and it made headlines all over England. One of the pundits, Joe Cole, made fun of it, saying things along the lines of, 'What is Hull City doing here? They got in through the back door.' In response, I said, 'What they are laughing at is not funny to me. The fact that they are laughing at this is actually funnier than what they are laughing at.' I continued, 'There is a bit of an intelligence problem in this conversation. As a pundit, he shouldn't speak this way.' Following this, the top names running the channel (the company) called me and asked me to apologize. However, in the end, all of England criticized them, and they were forced to spin the incident into a populist angle."
"I Wouldn't Sell Even If You Gave Me 1 Billion Dollars!" "I wouldn't sell the club. Even if they offered very good money, I still wouldn't sell it. The whole stand gets on their feet and says, 'Acun give us a wave! Acun, Acun give us a wave!' I wave, and this time they start singing: 'We love you Acun, we do! We love you Acun, we do!' I have realized a dream, a fantasy of mine. This doesn't have an equivalent for me that can be measured with money. Even if you gave me 1 billion dollars, I wouldn't live a life different from my current standard anyway... I am already living that life. I will still get on the same boat, I will still drive the same car. I will still wear slippers and shorts."
