Three men who should never have been appointed manager of Hull City

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Hull City have had some dreadful managers over the years.

Former Hull City manager Jan Molby

Hull City have undergone a revival this season under the stewardship of new boss Marco Silva, but the Tigers haven’t always been so successful with their managerial recruitment. Hull’s two most successful managers in their history, Phil Brown and Steve Bruce, both managed the club within the last decade, but before that period, the East Yorkshire outfit had spent more than 100 years outside English football’s top flight.

During that time, the Tigers had a real mix of managers, from high-profile bosses such as Raich Carter and Frank Buckley, to lesser known faces, like Fred Stringer and Ernest Blackburn. Some appointments seemed to make perfect sense, such as Phil Parkinson’s in 2006, only to end in disaster. Here we take a look at three managers who should never have managed Hull City.

Mark Hateley

Mark Hateley and Ray Wilkins walk onto the pitch for AC Milan

Hull City have appointed some great players as managers over the years, from Raich Carter to Eddie Gray, and if those such appointments had been able to manage as well as they played, the Tigers probably would have a decent sized trophy cabinet by now. Another big-name player to join the club as head coach was Mark Hateley.

A former England international who played for the likes of AC Milan, Monaco and Rangers before heading to East Yorkshire, the centre-forward made the Ballon d’Or shortlist three times before taking the reigns at then Third Division (fourth tier) side Hull City. Upon his appointment Hateley became the best paid manager in the bottom two tiers, and was supposed to be a statement of intent by David Lloyd.

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Things quickly turned sour for both Hateley and Lloyd. His recruitment was questionable and his training methods infamously damaging. As a player-manager, it was at least hoped Hateley could positively influence games himself, but his powers had deserted him, and he scored just 3 goals in 21 games in England’s basement division, before being sacked with City deep in the mire and requiring Warren Joyce to pull off the impossible, guiding the club to their ‘Great Escape’.

Jan Molby

Jan Molby for Liverpool International Legends

Jan Molby was a supremely gifted footballer who enjoyed enormous success at Ajax and Liverpool, and he was named Liverpool’s greatest ever overseas player in a 2006 poll. Sadly, much like Hateley, his playing abilities did not transfer to the dugout, or at least not at Boothferry Park.

Molby took the reigns at Hull City just a couple of years after he had steered Kidderminster Harriers to the Conference title. Adam Pearson did a great job as Tigers chairman, but managerial recruitment was never his strongest area, and so it proved with the Dane, who left Hull City with an appalling 11% win record.

Seen as a disciplinarian as a manager, Molby’s approach caused divides within the Hull City dressing room. Whilst his tenure as a manager itself was a disaster, his recruitment was not. Stuart Elliott and Ian Ashbee went on to become club legends, whilst Stuart Green also had much success under Molby’s full-time replacement Peter Taylor.

Iain Dowie

Iain Dowie at Hull City

Whilst one could defend the appointments of Mark Hateley and Jan Molby as ambitious mistakes, there is no justification for Iain Dowie getting the top job at the KCOM Stadium. Technically employed as a ‘Football Management Consultant’, Dowie was essentially put in charge for Hull City’s run-in at the end of the season as they attempted to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

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Although Phil Brown may have been having a dreadful case of second season syndrome in the Premier League, he couldn’t have done much worse than Dowie if he’d been allowed to see out the campaign. Dowie was given the last 9 games to salvage something for the Tigers, he won one, lost 5 and drew 3, resulting in the club’s relegation.

The club ended the season 5 points from safety, and considering Dowie’s run-in included defeats to fellow strugglers Portsmouth, Burnley, Sunderland and Wigan, a better appointment or sticking with Brown could genuinely have resulted in a different outcome for the club. Dowie hasn’t had a managerial role since relegation with Hull, and reportedly started working as a Regional Sales Manager in 2016.