With only two hours’ notice, earlier commitments are canceled and schedules are jumbled to fit the interview in.
The dynamic media tycoon Acun Ilicali, who also owns Hull City, a dominant Championship team, is a busy man. He describes his schedule as “like something out of science fiction,” balancing acting in some of the shows his company produces with the obligations of managing the largest media organization in Turkey. He never finishes work before midnight.
He begins by saying, “With me, everything has to be at short notice.”
He claims that purchase is “very close,” and that it will be followed by a third club, probably somewhere in Africa. These clubs would serve as a pipeline for the finest players to come to Hull, which will occupy the top spot in the hierarchy and hope to establish itself as a Premier League power.
He takes a quick look at his phone later in the interview. After around forty minutes of conversation, he has accumulated 105 unanswered WhatsApp messages, of which “100 are about business.”
So, the question now is: what drove him to add to his obligations a football team that is fighting for a spot in one of the world’s most competitive leagues?
“Do you recall when Michael Jordan switched from playing basketball to baseball after his career ended?” He calls me on Zoom from his Istanbul office and asks me.
Everyone was taken aback. My circumstances are quite similar in that I reached a point in the media industry when I had realized all of my goals. I became a hero from nothing.
“We are the most successful international production company from Turkey, and we are the top channel and streaming platform in Turkey. I can’t even begin to express how thrilling this is for me—I feel like I’m starting a brand-new company from scratch right now.
“I’m experiencing this stage of life as though it were the beginning of my media career. I’m having the same good days; I’m content with my little victories right now.
The aim remains the same as it did in the press. Making history, writing football history, and England is the perfect place to do it—the Premier League is unquestionably the best in the world. It is football’s NBA. I therefore like to demonstrate my proficiency in British
