It speaks to the ramshackle crap-show that is Hull City that new manager, Marco Silva, is their third full-time boss since gaining promotion back to the Premier League in May.
The low-key and rather underwhelming nature of the 39-year-old's appointment somewhat conceals Silva's more-than-solid track record; the Portuguese tactician has previously drawn comparisons with José Mourinho such is the success he's achieved in his five-year managerial career.
And had things transpired differently, he may never have become a manager at all.
Hull City have confirmed the appointment of Marco Silva as their new head coach. #hcafc pic.twitter.com/ksR5jtBlxA
— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 5, 2017
In 2011, directly after his retirement as a player at second division Potuguese outfit Estoril, Silva was appointed Director Of Football at the same club. Early into the season, however, wonderfully-named manager Vinícius Eutrópio was canned, and Silva took the reins. With Estoril sitting in 10th spot, Silva's first game ended in a 3-1 defeat at Penafiel, before a run of just three defeats in 24 games led the tiny Greater Lisbon club to the top flight for the first time in seven years.
It got even better for Silva and Estoril from there; in their first season back, the young manager's newly-promoted side finished fifth in the Primeira Liga, having gone undefeated in three of four fixtures against their larger city rivals; Estoril beat the mighty Sporting CP 3-1 at home and drew 1-1 at the Avalade, and also nicked a 1-1 draw away at Benfica. Their fifth place finish earned Estoril Europa League qualification for the first time in the club's history.
A year and another historic feat later - this time a first ever win at Porto's Estádio do Dragão - Silva guided Estoril to fourth spot.
📝 | Marco Silva is the new @HullCity Head Coach. Full story: #WelcomeMarco 🇵🇹#BemvindoMarcohttps://t.co/xeOZ3Y0kCn
— Hull City (@HullCity) January 5, 2017
He arrives at Hull on the back of earning a 79% win ratio at Olympiakos, guiding the Greek giants to a 21st century European record of 17 straight victories from the opening matchday last season. Olympiakos claimed their 43rd Greek title with six games remaining before Silva called it quits a month later, citing personal reasons.
It was his job at Sporting CP, however, which produced the most remarkable sequence of events during an illustrious young career to date. Having steered the Lisbon club to third place in May 2015 (this despite just two defeats), Silva's Sporting won the Portuguese Cup on penalties, having drawn 2-2 with Braga in normal time. Sporting had trailed 2-0 with just five minutes remaining, but the never-say-die attitude instilled by their new manager came to the fore before his players held their nerve in the shootout.
It was the club's first silverware since 2008, and Silva's first season in charge was considered a relative success by the excited and relieved Leões massive.
Four days later, Silva was sacked.
Scenes in Portugal atm. Looks like Jorge Jesus is going to Sporting, who have sacked their excellent coach Marco Silva (only 37 yo)>
— James Vella (@jvella7gooner) June 4, 2015
Prior to his dismissal, there had been murmurs that Jorge Jesus, the all-conquering manager of Sporting's cross-Lisbon rivals Benfica, was open to traversing the city and committing the most incomprehensible sin in Portuguese football. Jesus had won nine major trophies for Benfica within the same period as their arch enemies Sporting had won zilch, but the notion that he'd abandon the Estádio da Luz for the Alvalade was rapidly scoffed at by fans and many scribes alike. He was, after all, Jesus, not Judas.
But then, Silva was inexplicably gone. Sporting's official reasoning was beyond farcical; the club claimed it had "just cause", as Silva had breached club discipline on numerous occasions. The cardinal sin from their perspective, however, was that he had broken the club's dress code by not wearing a suit in a league fixture with FC Vizela. That game had taken place six months prior to Silva and Sporting lifting the Taça de Portugal.
Sporting produced a 400-page document outlining the reasons behind Silva's sacking, but the feeling in Portugal was clear; the opportunity to humiliate their rivals and poach their iconic manager had become irresistible to the Sporting hierarchy.
A €6m-per-annum contract offer later (roughly €2m more than his deal at Benfica), and Jorge Jesus was Sporting-bound.
Silva spoke of his disdain for his former employers' decision before piddling off to Greece, disenfranchised and disgusted with Portuguese football. Sporting's decision, for what it's worth, is yet to truly pay dividends; Jesus' Sporting failed to qualify for the Champions League group stages during his first few games in charge last summer, and currently sit in fourth position in the Primeira table, eight points off the team Jorge Jesus helped build across the city.
Silva, meanwhile, takes the reins at the Premier League's bottom club in Hull City, less than two years after one of the most bizarre and distasteful sackings in modern football history. He should fit right in.
