Championship club Hull City sack Liam Rosenior as head coach after failure to get into play-offs

The 39-year-old has paid for the price for the Tigers' failure to earn a place in the end-of-season play-offs with the East Yorkshire outfit finishing in seventh place in the table, one place outside the top six.

Hull’s chairman and owner Acun Ilıcalı said: “This has been the most difficult decision I have had to make as chairman of this wonderful football club. No matter how trying the circumstance, I have to remove personal sentiment from these moments and ensure the long-term vision of the club is at the centre of my thinking.

“Since Liam’s arrival, we have enjoyed an open working relationship and progress has undoubtedly been made over the course of his tenure. He will always be a part of this family and I thank him for all his work.

“However, it has become evident that our visions for the future are not aligned and I feel that now is the time to make a change. Our philosophy is clear, we will continue to drive this club forward, and whilst doing so I will continue to be open and transparent with our fans.

“I know what this football club can achieve, and we will not stop in the pursuit of that. We have worked hard over the last two years to develop our squad. We now have many highly talented players at our disposal and we will continue to invest and improve our playing personnel to give this club and its fans the success they deserve.”

City went into the final day of the season with an outside chance of the play-offs if they beat Plymouth Argyle and West Brom lost at home to Preston North End.

But Albion beat Preston and Hull went down at Home Park.

Hull made no secret of their ambition to finish in the top six, with owner Acun Ilicali backing Rosenior and bringing in several marquee signings in Fabio Carvalho, Ryan Giles and Anass Zaroury in the January window.

Speaking after Hull's defeat at Plymouth, Rosenior - appointed in the autumn of 2022 - said he would be holding meetings with the Tigers hierarchy in the early part of the week and gave no indication of what might be to come.

He said: "I'm on it 24 hours a day but I've also got very important meetings with the players.

"I've got really important meetings with Acun and Tan (Kesler) and how we can keep moving this club forward.

"I just want to thank everyone involved with the club, it's been like I said, the best year of my life. I've loved every minute of it and we will come back stronger next season.

"This club is back on the map. I know it's disappointing and we didn't quite make the top six.

"But this club is now a respected force in the Championship.

"And that's not me trying to big myself up, or the staff or Acun (Ilicali) and Tan (Kesler), it's the truth from where we were 18 months ago.

"The building blocks are in place for us to be successful in the longer term and that's something that can't be forgotten in this process."

Sign up to our new Sports Editor’s TeamTalk newsletter available this week

Under Rosenior, widely considered to be one of the brightest young coaches in the game, Hull earned plaudits for the quality of their football across the EFL.

The former Tigers favourite made the three-man shortlist for the prestigious Championship manager of the year award alongside Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna and Leeds United’s Daniel Farke.

Last season, Rosenior steered City away from the relegation zone last season to finish 15th before transforming them into play-off contenders.

He was nominated for manager of the month awards in September 2023 and February 2024 and oversaw several impressive victories over this season, including ending Leicester City’s perfect record with a 1-0 victory at the King Power Stadium in September and defeating promotion chasing Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium 2-1 in February.