“Yet another bizarre appointment by the chairman.”

“I don’t get it… why not go for someone with a proven track record in the Championship?”

“I cannot believe we are doing this again… a complete nobody with no experience in English football.”

Hull City’s decision to appoint Sergej Jakirovic as their new head coach in June last year was not met with much, or indeed any, enthusiasm from a number of fans.

The Tigers had just avoided relegation to League One on goal difference, one season after now Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior was sacked for only managing a seventh-placed finish.

Yet many were still surprised Ruben Selles was fired after keeping them up.

However, Jakirovic and Hull have confounded expectations to sit just five points off the top two in the Championship.

As the former Bosnia international prepares to welcome Chelsea for a FA Cup fourth-round tie, how did the much-travelled 49-year-old end up leading an unexpected promotion charge in East Yorkshire?

‘A steely gaze that could burn a hole through concrete’

“With a towering stature and steely gaze that could burn a hole through concrete, Sergej Jakirovic walked into the media suite at Hull City’s MKM Stadium last summer and immediately commanded the attention of everyone in attendance,” BBC Radio Humberside’s Hull City reporter Mike White said.

“Based on that first impression, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was going to be a tough nut to crack for those of us in the media who’d be dealing with him all the time.

“However, it didn’t take long for us to realise that first impressions aren’t always the best way to judge someone.

“He’s personable with an engaging sense of humour, intelligent, passionate and always forthright in his views.”

It took a while for Jakirovic to made those first impressions count on the pitch as City made a mixed start to the season, with two wins, three draws and three losses in their opening eight league matches.

A good run through October and November propelled them up the table but it was a 4-1 home reverse by Middlesbrough that built the platform for their move into promotion contention.

‘It’s not a dictatorship’

After that defeat by Boro, Hull had conceded 34 goals from 19 games, the second-worst defensive record in the league.

Since then they have let in just nine goals from their subsequent 12 games, with eight wins and six clean sheets in that run.

By the end of January, they had won more points and games, scored more goals and kept more clean sheets than they did across the whole of the 2024-25 season.

The Tigers are averaging 45% possession compared to 49% last season and making an average of 276 successful passes per game, 70 fewer than last time out.

Under Tim Walter and Selles last season the side scored two goals from what football statisticians Opta define as fast breaks – this season it’s already nine.

Experienced striker Oli McBurnie, who has scored 12 goals in 22 league appearances this season, said that the team are benefitting from the trust the manager and staff have in the players.

“It’s not been like a dictatorship. Since they’ve come in they’ve understood what English football and culture is about,” he told BBC Radio Humberside.

“They will have a conversation with you. Obviously, the gaffer has the final decision but they’ve been brilliant.

“They understand the league and understand that we know the league and our opinions matter and having Dean [Holden] on the staff is massive for them.”

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White agrees that Jakirovic’s work has been built on solid foundations with sporting director Jared Dublin and head of recruitment Martin Hodge.

However, against a backdrop of a lengthy injury list that at one point saw Jakirovic say he had 11 fit senior players, he believes the manager deserves “a tremendous amount of credit”.

“It should be said that going into this season little was expected of a team working under a two-window EFL transfer restriction – only free signings and loans without fees were permitted – but the quality of recruitment has been nothing short of remarkable,” said White.

“Adding to their challenges have been one serious injury after another to some of their key players like Oli McBurnie, John Lundstram, Joe Gelhardt and Mo Belloumi – a list that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the full injury crisis the club has found itself in consistently.

“Yet still they plough on, with a shot at the top two still a very real possibility – particularly given Coventry’s recent downturn in form – so a return to the Premier League after nine years away shouldn’t be ruled out.

“And Jakirovic deserves a tremendous amount of credit for steering it all in the right direction.”

Football in the family

Jakirovic was born in to a football family in Mostar, then part of Yugoslavia, in December 1976.

His father Enver played as a goalkeeper for NK Neretva in modern-day Croatia and it was there that the Tigers boss began his own playing career.

Across 20 years he played as a defensive midfielder in Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Austria and also won five caps for Bosnia.

A third generation of the family is now looking to make their way in the game – he gave a professional debut to his son Leon at Dinamo Zagreb when the latter was just 16 in May 2024.

The teenager moved on to Italian super club Inter Milan last month.

Titles in Bosnia and Croatia before Bayern humbling

After hanging up his boots, Jakirovic started his senior coaching career at Croatian second division side Sesvete in 2017 and then moved on to top tier side Gorica the following year.

A brief spell with Slovenian champions Maribor followed before he guided Bosnian outfit Zrinjski Mostar to the title in 2021-22.

He returned to Croatia to take over at Rijeka in November 2022 but quit to replace former Liverpool midfielder Igor Biscan at Dinamo Zagreb in August 2023 and won the Croatian double that season.

However, after becoming the first team to concede nine goals in a Champions League game, when they were demolished 9-2 by Bayern Munich, Jakirovic left in September 2024.

Turkish strugglers Kayserispor appointed him as their boss in January last year and he led them away from relegation danger before making the move to England.

“When you look at Sergej’s career he was successful everywhere he went,” owner Acun Ilicali told BBC Radio Humberside in the summer after making Jakirovic his fifth boss since taking over in January 2022.

“He played the football at Kayserispor that I want to see my team play.

“When you look at his career he has the talent to make all his teams play similar games.”

Despite the early scepticism, it looks like this “bizarre appointment” could just be the perfect one.

Tyson Fury’s comeback fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov will take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Former heavyweight world champion Fury, 37, will end his latest spell of retirement on 11 April, in a fight which will be broadcast on Netflix.

The Briton has not fought since he lost his rematch with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024, retiring a month after that defeat.

But Fury announced his return to boxing in January with a fight against Russian Makhmudov, 36, who has won 21 of his 23 bouts.

A media conference is scheduled to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday, 16 February.

That was also the venue of his previous fight in the UK in December 2022, when he beat Derek Chisora to retain the WBC title.

Thomas Tuchel says he extended his contract as England manager through to Euro 2028 because of the “amazing group of players” at his disposal.

The German took charge in January 2025 and his time as Three Lions boss had originally been set to end after this summer’s World Cup.

However, the 52-year-old admitted his “connection to the players and to the job itself” had grown as England claimed eight wins from eight matches to waltz through qualifying for the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

“The main reasons I took the job in the first place were the players,” Tuchel said.

“I wanted to be around this amazing group of players. I wanted to coach these characters that I already knew from the Premier League.

“I love the group of players. I love the characters, I love being in charge. I felt the passion in the country when the Euros were held at Wembley. From there it was more a dream than a reality.

“I’m very grateful for the support and trust of the FA and we will put all the effort in to make everyone proud and to keep on going.”

When Tuchel accepted the England job, it was his first incursion into the international arena.

Having enjoyed success with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Paris St-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, he has adapted seamlessly to a different type of challenge away from the day-to-day issues he faced at clubs.

“We didn’t know exactly what was coming as an international manager,” Tuchel added.

“It was basically the point why I voted strongly for only 18 months contract in the first place, because I said ‘Listen, I have never done this. Can I first make sure that I love this and that I feel committed to the team, and I feel connected to the team’, because I think that is needed to be the best version of myself.

“It took me some months to understand it but as soon as the more condensed period arrived in September, October, November, it was the period where I felt the strongest connection to the players and to the job itself. And from there on I was fully committed to go even further.”

With the 2028 European Championship finals being hosted by England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, the temptation of leading a side into a home Euros, with the Football Association keen to back their man, also proved an irresistible reason for Tuchel to stay on.

“We had an excellent qualifying campaign, and both sides wanted to complete the cycle,” he added.

“We wanted to commit further to a full cycle of World Cup and Euros. The FA wanted and I wanted so it was an easy one.”

Unwanted speculation over jobs removed

While some may draw parallels to the situation England faced after handing Fabio Capello a lucrative new deal prior to 2010 World Cup in South Africa, there can be no question that the FA’s move does at least provide some continuity and clarity in the short to medium term.

Having been strongly linked with Manchester United, where Michael Carrick is in charge until the end of the season, both Tuchel and the FA appear content to have removed any potential distractions heading into the World Cup.

“It didn’t have to be done, but it was a very positive, very welcome side-effect of it,” Tuchel added.

“It was the opposite, very important for me that we don’t do it just to have clarity in the World Cup, but we do it if we are convinced, and [FA CEO] Mark Bullingham especially made this very clear from the beginning.

“But it is, no doubt, a very welcome side-effect that we have clarity, no more speculation, no more rumours.

“There was no reason to be worried because I was obviously totally focused through the qualification period and right after that we started the talks. I was always committed to this idea of extending the contract, the FA were always committed – there were no games, no second thoughts.

“There is a possibility that I will be tempted to go back to club football but not in the next two-and-a-half years.”

Man Utd trio back in World Cup reckoning?

With question marks removed over his own future, Tuchel will soon have to navigate the recurring issues his predecessors have faced leading England into major tournaments.

That includes managing expectation levels and selection connundrums that appear to be commonplace whenever England are readying themselves for a World Cup or Euros.

And he appears to be relishing the prospect of making those decisions with Manchester United trio Kobbie Mainoo, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw all likely to come into his thinking, having not featured under the German so far.

A change of manager and system has allowed Mainoo – a starter in the Euro 2024 final – to showcase his talent again after he was mystifyingly banished from United’s starting XI under former boss Ruben Amorim.

Meanwhile, Shaw and Maguire have impressed under Carrick, with Tuchel assessing all three players in United’s 1-1 draw at West Ham on Tuesday.

When questioned about Mainoo, Tuchel continued: “Absolutely back in the frame! First of all, it is great that he is back on the pitch. He is such a huge talent.

“He has already played a tournament from start to finish for England, so he is back in the picture, so is Luke Shaw and so is Harry Maguire.

“There are some players suddenly back in the picture, they play a back four now and play with a different style which is a bit easier to translate to our structure at the moment. It’s good competition.”

Kenya’s Rising Starlets head coach Jackline Juma has expressed strong confidence that her team has the “tools to finish the job” in their FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifier return leg against Tanzania.

 
The match is scheduled for Saturday, February 14, 2026, at the Azam Complex Stadium in Dar es Salaam. Kenya enters the second leg with a 1-0 advantage following a first-leg victory at the Ulinzi Sports Complex, secured by an 84th-minute goal from Elizabeth Mideva. 

Juma emphasized that while her team created numerous chances in the first leg, they must be “sharper in front of goal” to seal progression.
The coach noted the team is determined to protect their one-goal lead while remaining aggressive in attack to utilize the away goals rule.

The team features a “golden generation” blend of players from the previous U17 World Cup squad, school games, and the domestic league.
Midfielder Pearl Olesi noted that the team feels they have a psychological advantage after sensing “fear” from their opponents in the first match.

Tanzania’s head coach, Marco Kazobe, blamed the pitch conditions in Nairobi for their first-leg loss and remains confident that the superior surface at the Azam Complex will favor his side’s comeback. 

The aggregate winner of this tie will advance to the fourth and final round of qualifiers to face either Cameroon or Botswana for a spot in the 2026/2027 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.

By Anthony Solly