Hull have gone all Slutty

[redhorizon2]

Leonid Slutsky: Hull City appoint former Russia boss as head coach

• 3 minutes ago
• From the sectionFootball
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Leonid Slutsky left CSKA Moscow in December 2016
Championship club Hull City have appointed former Russia boss Leonid Slutsky as their new head coach.
Previous Tigers boss Marco Silva left to take over at Watford after Hull were relegated from the Premier League in May.
Slutsky won three Russian titles with CSKA Moscow and managed the national side at Euro 2016.
He recently told BBC World Service he had been learning English for the past five months.
Slutsky, who is friends with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, will arrive in East Yorkshire next week and is Hull City's fourth boss in less than a year.
The 46-year-old told the club website: "I am delighted to become the head coach of Hull City and I am very much looking forward to the challenge of guiding the club back to the Premier League.
"I already know that this is an important club with a big and loyal fanbase, I've had a good feeling about it ever since meeting the Allam family and I can't wait to get started."
Hull vice-chairman Ehab Allam said Slutsky's "attention to detail, thoughts on playing style and his ambition made him the stand-out candidate" for the role.
Analysis

BBC Radio Humberside sport editor Matt Dean
This looks a real coup for Hull City and the mood in the city around his appointment is one of excitement.
The buzz stems from Slutsky's pedigree, having most recently managed Russia and CSKA Moscow, where he won three titles and managed in the Champions League.
It is a bold move by the club's owners but it is seen as less of a risk given that the Allams have demonstrated fairly sound judgement with their previous appointments.
Slutsky has never managed outside his homeland and English football has never before had a Russian boss, but his admission of having studied English football from the Premier League to League One demonstrates his desire to succeed in England.
On the surface he appears a very different character to Marco Silva, but his appetite for success looks comparable.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is a close personal friend and that link could open up some intriguing avenues for recruiting players as the club looks to mount a serious challenge to get back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

 

[Buddha]

Glory Hull

 

[gkmacca]

Slutsky - I recall reading about a Slutsky was was one of Stalin's henchmen until it was decided to, er, liquidate him. I predict something far less unpleasant but similarly downhill for this comrade.

 

[rurikbird]

Probably the only modern Russian coach I respect. Due to lack of playing career or chummy relationships with the power brokers of Russian football, se has always been seen as an outsider or an impostor and had to fight for respect every step of the way – but the results spoke for themselves. He was derided for being "an intellectual," his quiet and self-reflective manner contrasted sharply with the dictatorial tough-guy personas of most Russian coaches of the 90's and 2000's. His refusal to curse and berate his players in public led to constant accusations of "weakness," but once again the results spoke for themselves and eventually the critics had to grudgingly lay off that argument.

By Western standards, he still might come across as rather dictatorial and unhinged, so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the English game. I think if he's given time to adjust, he can really do some interesting things here, but it's probably slightly more likely that the cultural gap will be impossible to bridge and he will return to Russia after a few months.