Hull City owner Acun Ilıcalı has been praised for the work he’s done with Fenerbahçe, and his ‘dismantling’ of rivals Galatasaray.
Fanatik provide comments from Samsunspor president Yuksel Yildirim today in which he praises the Hull City owner, who he credits as being the driving force being Fenerbahçe’s current success.
Ilıcalı is the current vice-president at the Turkish club after arriving in June last year, adding them to the staple of club he is currently invested in that includes Hull City and NK Maribor.
He’s been quickly turning Fenerbahçe’s fortunes around since arriving in the summer, with the appointment of Jose Mourinho a major part of that.
They are currently second behind Galatasaray in the Super Lig table but working hard to bring down their rivals, who are currently on course for a third straight title.
Fenerbahçe have finished second in each of the last three seasons and their last title came all the way back in 2014.
Part of the process of turning that around has been a concerted effort from Ilıcalı and Mourinho to use the media to their advantage.
That’s not been missed by Yuksel Yildirim, who believes the Hull owner is a genius for the manner in which he’s been playing Galatasaray this year.
“The biggest factor behind Fenerbahçe’s current success is Acun Ilıcalı. He is single-handedly dismantling Galatasaray,” he said.
“He knows the media very well. He says something, this or that, and then you see everyone is in disarray, and Mourinho does his job from there.
“Galatasaray had established a very strong structure in Turkey. It would take time to disrupt and break that structure. There could be only one crazy person who could do this, Acun Ilıcalı. He is a friend of mine who I love very much, he is doing a great job, I congratulate him.”
