Leonid Slutsky: Hull City appoint former Russia boss as head coach
Last updated on .From the section Football
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.
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No problem with Chelsea youngsters, at least they're decent technically which is a good start.
He has a good reputation as a club manager which might help attract players, which we desperately need, as well as keep the better ones.
Are Stoke expecting to be relegated?
There's places a lot worse than Brentford on a Tuesday! Milwall
The way we say his name in Russian, the third sound is actually [u] (not [a]), so the spelling should’ve been Sloutsky for you to read it correctly. It never occurred, probably to the Hull v-chairman, who’s neither native English speaker.
Would you mind trying that comment again in a language someone, somewhere will understand?
You clearly no nothing about Huddersfield Town mate. The Chairman is a lifelong fan who lives local not a foreigner with money....like Liverpool's owners. You are only in the premier league because of american money. Also, we were winning the league three times in a row while you were a small club near Everton.
It's not an easy place to be a manager though, there's a lot of tension between the owners and fans and 4 managers in a year speaks for itself.
He needs a good start if he's going to be given a decent chance at this.
If you are not a scouser but you claim to be a koppite then you must be a plastic trophy hunter from elsewhere I guess. No-one said we were the best supported club in Yorkshire, just the only one in next seasons premier league. Also, our chairman has nowhere near as much cash as your billionaire american sugar daddy. He's the only reason you're premier league.
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