Portuguese Marco Silva has been appointed as Hull’s new head coach following the sacking of Mike Phelan.
The 39-year-old former Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos coach is little-known in the Premier League, so here’s a handy Q&A to help you get to know him.
Did he play much before management?
Silva spent most of his 15-year playing career as a defender in Portugal’s lower divisions, so yes he did, but not at a high level.
What was his first job?
Silva quickly made his name in his first coaching job, steering Estoril to promotion to the Primeira Liga in 2012 for the first time in seven years.
Estoril finished fifth and qualified for the Europa League in their first season back in the top flight and after guiding them to fourth place the following season, Silva left the club to become coach of Sporting.
What are his achievements?
During Silva’s third campaign with Estoril, the club became the first visitors to win a league game at Porto in six years when they won 1-0 at Estadio do Dragao in February 2014.
Silva also guided Sporting to a third-place finish in the Primeira Liga and their first major trophy win in four years when they lifted the 2015 Portuguese Cup in his first season in charge.
In July 2015, Silva was appointed as coach at Olympiacos and in his sole season with the Greek club steered them to a sixth straight league title with six games to spare.
During that success, Olympiacos won 17 consecutive matches, but Silva resigned at the end of the season, citing personal reasons for his departure.
Is he a controversial character?
Four days after winning the 2015 Portuguese Cup with Sporting, he was sacked – reportedly for not wearing the club’s official suit during a match in a previous round. Is that controversial? Perhaps.
Will he settle into the Premier League?
Well he already has at least one managerial friend in Jose Mourinho, who described Silva as “a kid friend” in November 2015.
Ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League clash with Olympiacos, Mourinho said: “They (Arsenal) are in a group where a kid friend of mine, Marco Silva, is the manager of Olympiacos. It would be fantastic for the kid’s career to go through, so I have to be honest and say that I would like the kid and Olympiacos to go on.”
No prizes for guessing who Mourinho will be backing when Hull travel to Arsenal in February then …
