Board of Directors Confirmed
Acun Ilıcalı, the creative force, entertainment and sports enthusiast, digital platform owner and operator of Acun Medya becomes club chairman. An award-winning producer of Turkish TV shows including Survivor, The Voice and MasterChef, Acun is also the owner of the first Digital Platform in Turkey – EXXEN and a serial entrepreneur.
Acun Medya Group operates two national mainstream TV channels in Turkey, TV8 and TV8.5, and produces over 3,000 hours of primetime television broadcast across Europe, North and South America.
A passionate football fan, Acun also becomes the sole owner of 100% of the shares in Hull City and is very proud to start his journey with the club.
Tan Kesler has taken on the vice chairman position having been an integral part of the Acun Medya purchase of the club. Tan is an international football consultant who has worked for the senior Turkish national team and as the director responsible for coordinating the Turkish Football Federations Coach Education programme within UEFA. He is also president of HTK Sports & Media who represent various footballers over the world, having previously worked for the Wassermann Group as a FIFA registered agent. Educated in the USA having gained a BA in International Business and Finance before going on to add a MA in Sports Business, Tan brings a wealth of experience to lead the club’s business strategy.
Lastly, Ebru Atasav Tahranci is also appointed to the board as director, having been CEO of Acun Medya Group for over 17 years. Ebru was educated at the renowned Orta Doğu Teknik (Middle East Technical) University in Ankara Turkey between 1990 – 1998.
In addition to the three members of the board, James Rodwell has been appointed club CEO. His most recent role was in the same position at Sunderland AFC, and has extensive experience working in English football having previously served on the boards of The FA and EFL as well as CEO of Scunthorpe United.
It might not feel like much of an achievement given the excitement of last season, but the latest supercomputer prediction has backed Hull City to stay in the Championship.
City returned to the bottom three on Wednesday night as they kicked off 2025 with a stoppage-time defeat to Middlesbrough courtesy of Alex Gilbert’s cool finish just as it looked like Ruben Selles’ side would bag a valuable point and second clean sheet in a row.
