Keane Lewis-Potter sinks Swansea to give ambitious Hull owner liftoff

A couple of hours before kick off a small boy stood outside the players’ entrance draped in Turkey’s national flag.

It was presumably his way of welcoming Hull’s new owner, Acun Ilicali, to East Yorkshire but there was no sight of the Turkish reality TV mogul who was travelling back from a flying visit to Istanbul aboard his newly re-named private jet ‘Tiger Force One’.

There were fears that the high winds occasioned by Storm Malik would create a bumpy landing but at least Ilicali’s freshly appointed manager, Shota Arveladze had arrived. The Georgian, installed as Grant McCann’s successor last week took time to endear himself to his new public, happily posing for selfies with fans before setting about tackling the challenge of initiating an unlikely promotion challenge.

Considering that Hull kicked off in 19th position in the Championship it seemed a little ambitious but Ilicali has hired the one-time Rangers and Ajax striker and former manager of Uzbekistan’s FC Pakhtakor Tashkent to secure a Premier League place and Arveladze certainly made a decent start. The wind may have been capricious but, on the pitch at least, there was no sign of turbulence.

With five minutes on the clock Hull, configured with a high pressing back three, were ahead when Tom Eaves connected with the impressive Brandon Fleming’s fine cross and volleyed beyond a stranded Ben Hamer.

The only shame was that Ilicali was not present to witness it. Instead the 52-year-old who, earlier this month, paid £30m to end the Allam family’s controversial 11-year stewardship of the club was delayed as his pilot struggled to land at Humberside Airport.

Given that he was scheduled to arrive around the 20-minute mark, Ilicali, dubbed ‘Turkey’s Simon Cowell’