There was certainly some surprise when Hull City announced that Nigel Adkins had left the club, after failing to agree a new deal with the Championship club. 

Adkins had dealt with difficult circumstances in his time with Hull, and plenty of the club's supporters held the owners responsible for his departure.

In an exclusive interview with Hull Live, owner Ehab Allam admitted that Adkins didn't leave the club on bad terms, and insisted that he had a good relationship with the former Tigers boss.

"I don’t think it ended badly. He came to the end of his contract and we couldn’t agree terms. I think it ended well. We’re still on good terms with him. He’s been to a couple of games I believe. He wished us luck at the start of the season and he’s close to Grant as well.

"The fact that Grant came in would suggest he had good reports on us from Nigel. But at the end of the day it didn’t end badly, it ended well.

"We had a relatively good season and there was hope of us getting a top-six finish until it fell away but it was still a relatively good time under Nigel. We had a good relationship. He’s a nice guy but we just couldn’t agree on a new contract."

Allam also went on to reveal that Adkins didn't want to remain with the club, as they looked towards making changes to save money.

"I suppose, as I said, we’ve been making changes over the last three years in terms of playing philosophy and cost-cutting measures. I just think when you combine the playing philosophy and the cost control, I just don’t think he fancied it.

"We didn’t have a falling out, it was just that he didn’t fancy it. But Grant did and I still think we’ll do well. I believe in the approach we’re taking."

Hull have since appointed Grant McCann as their manager going forward, and the 39-year-old has taken the Tigers to 16th in the Championship table heading into the international break.

The Verdict: 

I still think they'll live to regret not coming to an agreement over a new deal with Adkins.

With the off-the-field troubles that he had to deal with during his time with the club, Adkins did a fantastic job on a relatively small budget.

I'm not doubting that Grant McCann is a good manager, but I just think that Adkins would have been the right manager to take them onto bigger and better things if he was given an adequate period of time.