Sergej Jakirović was a guest on the show “At our home“, where he talked about the great success with the English Hull City, which after the dramatic end of the playoffs won a place in the Premier League.
Jakirović signed with Hull City one of the biggest stories of the English football seasonand a few days after being placed in the elite rank, he reflected on the emotions and experiences after the historic success.
The impressions haven’t settled yet, only when I came to Zagreb and Croatia, you can see how happy people are, many people are congratulating. Huge success, movie story. If someone had told me to stage it, there is no way it would have ended like this. We faced everything in this season, from the “embargo” on transfers, a lot of injuries during the season, you hang until the last round for the “play-off”, you don’t depend on yourself, and then “play-off” totally different tournamentwhich we played very wellJakirovic said.
>> Read also: Herzegovac before Wembley: Jakirović’s journey from a cold shower in Trebinje to the most expensive match in the world
He also spoke the financial importance of entering the Premier Leaguesince the winner of the playoffs through television and marketing rights ensures about 230 million euros in revenue, which could change the future of the club in the long term.
They are huge sums of moneylast season the president spent 40 million pounds. In the same way, they will get huge money, if you are relegated in the first year, you have a “parachute” of 120 million, you also have clubs that know around Christmas that they will be relegated to the Championship, so they do relegation, that’s how they finance themselves. Roughly, if they stay next season, that’s half a billion pounds in profitJakirovic said.
The topic of conversation was i the “Spygate” affairwhich marked the end of the playoffs. Southampton was expelled from the competition due to the admission of accusations of spying on the opponent’s training, so Hull City played against Middlesbrough in the final.
Jakirović commented on the whole case and the decision of the organizers.
It all started with 2019 and Bielsa in Leeds, who was the first to watch the opponent’s training sessionsthen the English Federation put a rulebook that 72 hours before the match, you must not watch the opponent’s training.
They saw a gentleman hiding behind a tree, took pictures, and he ran off to a golf club owned by the chairman of Middlesbrough.
He changed his clothes, but the day before he paid for coffee there with a card, which was proof, as well as the exception of the conversation with the head coach in the WhatsApp group who wanted better materialsJakirovic said.
“I never chose a step that was too big”
He also spoke about his coaching journey through Croatian, Bosnian and Turkish footballincluding experiences in Gorica, Rijeka, Dinamo, Zrinjsko and Kayserispor, and about whether he considered certain career moves as a step backwards towards today’s success.
I have been since the beginning of my career went step by stepI never chose too big a step, although you always have to be hungry and desire to progress, I always went where I was called and wanted. Behind Dynamo hardly anyone would decide on my move. Because I came to a situation where there is an “embargo” that you cannot bring anyone, you have 13 players in the first training session.
My colleagues wanted us to return to Croatia. I said we will do business like we do everywhere.
We turned our attention to ourselves, an offer came after the boss noticed me in a game against Fener. I don’t know where I would be today if I hadn’t gone to Turkey. I doubt I would be in England. He was met with skepticismthey said that we would be on the 23rd, and that I would be fired, but they were wrongJakirovic said.
Jakirović also commented on the state of Croatian football after the new Dynamo’s double crownsassessing whether the quality of HRT is developing in a positive or negative direction.
If I am going to compare the season when I was in Rijeka and Dinamo with this season, this is the worst situation for Dinamoin terms of support and what awaits them in Europe. Dinamo should be congratulated on the season, they dominated after the cuts last summer. Dinamo is special, you are calm only until the next game, everyone wants to win with a good game, which is not easy, Jakirović asserted.
Dalić praised Jakirović and criticized his attitude towards domestic coaches
He touched and the upcoming World Cupwhere one of Croatia’s opponents will be England, stating the expectations of the Croatian national team.
Expectations are to go through the group, the first game with the English, it would be good to take something, but whatever happens, you still have to beat Ghana and Panama. I believe that Croatia will pass and that she will be asked a lot in the knockout phaseconcluded Jakirović.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: X)
