Shota Arveladze appears to be set to replace Grant McCann at Hull City as the first appointment of Acun Ilicali's regime.

The 48-year-old has managed five different clubs since retiring from a hugely successful playing career, three in Turkey, one in Israel and one in Uzbekistan.

How that will correlate to Championship football remains to be seen but there are definitely some concerning themes and patterns around the appointment, that have unraveled in a variety of ways in the second tier in recent years.

The Tigers have been in excellent form in the last couple of months, of which could pose some interesting problems to Arveladze when he takes the reins.

Here, we have taken a look at two Hull City dilemmas facing Arveladze with him set to replace Grant McCann...

Big shoes to fill

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The Tigers endured a terrible second half to the 2019/20 season and went on to finish rock bottom of the second tier.

Things looked very bleak for the club, but with minimal recruitment McCann was able to inspire the squad to the League One title at the first time of asking, outlasting the likes of Sunderland and Lincoln City to bring Championship football back to the MKM Stadium.

After coming out the other side of a very difficult opening stretch of the campaign, McCann has picked up six wins and two draws from the last 11 second tier outings to have the Tigers ten points clear of the bottom three, seemingly preparing to ride off into the sunset.

The expectations will be for Arveladze to continue his good work.

 

 

Small squad

Loanees Nathan Baxter, Di'Shon Bernard and Ryan Longman have all been crucial players in the club's resurgence this season.

Take them out and what is left is an ageing thin squad with the exceptions of Jacob Greaves and Keane Lewis-Potter who may continue to attract interest.

It remains to be seen what kind of recruitment structure is in place at Hull, but there will be a lot of areas that need strengthening in the summer, if Arveladze can steady the ship and maintain second tier status.

It will be interesting to see what Ilicali's ambition is for the club when offers start to come in for the likes of Greaves and Lewis-Potter.