4 managers Hull City could appoint after Acun Ilicali's mystery man reveal - ft Stockport County boss Dave Challinor | OneFootball

The Tigers' managerial search is still ongoing at present.

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has dropped a surprise when discussing the next potential man in the MKM Stadium dugout.

The Tigers are looking for their sixth permanent manager since the Turkish media mogul's takeover in January 2022 after Ruben Selles was dismissed last week after preserving the club's Championship status on the final day of the season.

Many names have since been linked with the vacancy, such as Miron Muslic, Emre Belozoglu and most recently, former Sunderland boss, Michael Beale.

In an interview with Hull Live, Ilicali has confirmed that talks have been had with his compatriot and Beale. He has also stated that one candidate is unknown to City supporters and the outside world at this moment in time as he hopes to complete the deal in the next week.

"Yes (there are other potential candidates), because you only hear about two of our candidates. At the moment, we have five and one of them looks day by day more suitable for our club, but none of you know the name," Ilicali said.

With this in mind, FLW looks at four potential candidates who haven't been strongly linked with the job in East Yorkshire that could fall into said category.

Christian Titz

Kickstarting this quartet is Christian Titz, who is set to leave his position at FC Magdeburg after a fifth-place finish in the 2.Bundesliga.

Florian Plettenberg of Sky Deutschland has revealed that the 54-year-old is of interest to fallen German giants, Hannover 96, as well as clubs from the Championship, who were unnamed in his report, who would all have to pay a small compensation package for his services as he is tied down until 2026 at the Avnet Arena.

Ilicali does have previous history of scouting the German leagues for a head coach, although that ended in disaster as Tim Walter was dismissed after just 17 games in charge last November, winning just three matches in total.

Titz, also a former boss of Hamburg SV like Walter, has proven his worth as a highly-rated coach with the East German side, winning the 3.Liga title in 2021/22, before becoming an established second-tier side in the past three seasons.

Dave Challinor

Dave Challinor missed out on the chance to manage in the Championship for the first time with Stockport County after being defeated by Leyton Orient in the play-off semi-finals.

However, the job he has done at Edgeley Park cannot go unnoticed, and must alert clubs higher up the food chain.

The 49-year-old has taken the Hatters from the National League to one of the third-tier's most exciting and free-flowing sides in such a short period of time, and throughout his time in the hotseat of County, Hartlepool United, AFC Fylde and Colwyn Bay, hasn't finished outside a play-off place at a minimum.

Of course, the second-tier is a completely different kettle of fish, but Challinor's progression makes it his next natural step, and, given previous links to the Stoke City vacancy in September after Steven Schumacher's dismissal at the bet365 Stadium, a switch to the MKM could be an attractive proposition.

He has overseen 207 matches in charge of Stockport and won 114 of those thus far, giving him a win percentage of 55%.

Pep Lijnders

Pep Lijnders was, for so long, known as Jürgen Klopp's right-hand man at Liverpool during the German's successful nine-year era until the end of last season.

The Dutchman's first solo venture into management came at RB Salzburg this campaign. However, it proved to be extremely short-lived despite winning 13 of his 26 overall matches in charge, and seven of his 14 league games, as he was dismissed on 16 December.

During the early stages of the current off-season, Lijnders has been heavily linked with the vacancy at Norwich City, with it recently being reported that the Canaries have hit a stumbling block as they prepare to hold talks with the 42-year-old, who is still due to receive two years worth of payments from the Austrian side, and would have to give that up heading into his next role.

This could also prove decisive for the Tigers if they were interested. But, Ilicali hasn't been afraid to flex his financial muscles in the past, so it may not come as the biggest surprise if City were to overcome this particular hurdle.

Albert Riera

Another man with connections to Anfield is current Celje boss, Albert Riera.

The Spaniard has been a part of the coaching circuit since 2020, working at former club, Galatasaray under both Fatih Terim and Domenec Terrent.

Riera, since then, has proven his capabilities as an up-and-coming manager in Slovenia, with a brief spell in charge of Bordeaux sandwiched in between.

The 43-year-old won Manager of the Year after leading Olimpija Ljubljana to a league and cup double in 2022/23 before moving to his current club in a short first spell, which lasted just 17 games as Celje topped the table at the time of his switch to the fallen French giants.

Amid a backdrop of extreme financial uncertainty, Riera then led Bordeaux to an initial 12th-place finish in Ligue 2, before the club declared itself bankrupt after being relegated to the third tier of French football for the very first time.

The former Spanish international is now in the midst of his second spell at the Stadion Z'dežele and guided the club to a fourth-place finish, as well as reaching the UEFA Conference League quarter-finals, losing 4-3 to Fiorentina on aggregate.

However, given the respectable pedigree Riera has already built up in management and connections to the Turkish Süper Lig, he could be the name which has gone under-the-radar for the Hull City job, as the club's interest has since been revealed by Alan Nixon, with the Spaniard holding a desire to return to these shores.