Hull City will conduct exhaustive search before replacing Silva

The Portuguese quit the Tigers on Wednesday, triggering a break clause in an 18-month contract that allowed him to walk away if the club was relegated.

Hull’s search for Silva’s successor is expected to be an exhaustive one, as the Allam family weigh up all the options.

“I am obviously disappointed,” said Hull’s vice chairman. “I like Marco a lot; we had a fantastic relationship together and he has done a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances, coming in at the foot of the table, and he gave us hope when we had no hope.

“It would have been nice to keep him longer; there was a trigger in the contract to extend for a further year had we stayed up, but, unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. It would have been nice for him to stay, but I fully understand why a manager of his calibre would want to stay in the Premier League or a first division elsewhere, though I expect him to stay in the Premier League.

“Pre-season starts on July 1 so, hopefully, we can get someone in before then.”

As Hull cast their net wide for his successor, Silva has been in demand this week. On Tuesday, he flew to Portugal and spoke to Porto about their vacancy following Nuno Espírito Santo’s dismissal.

The Premier League, however, is understood to be his preferred destination and Watford made their move in the wake of Hull confirming Silva’s exit.

The Hornets sacked Walter Mazzarri ten days ago and the Vicarage Road board are believed to see the former Hull head coach as the perfect man to revive a club that ended the season with six straight defeats.

Crystal Palace, still reeling from Sam Allardyce’s surprise exit, are also understood to be interested in Silva, but it is Watford who are leading the chase.

Owner Gino Pozzo wants to banish the impression of a revolving door policy when it comes to managerial appointments by the Hertfordshire club, who have had eight coaches in just five years.

Silva may have been unable to keep Hull up, but he won six of his 18 games in charge, a tally that included a 2-0 victory over Watford despite being reduced to ten men for more than an hour following Oumar Niasse’s dismissal.

As for the Tigers, they cannot afford a repeat of last summer when a potential sale of the club that dragged on for several weeks before collapsing in late August seriously hamstrung attempts to strengthen the squad during the transfer window.

“I don’t imagine there will be too many buyers in the Championship,” said Ehab Allam, who put the club up for sale two years ago in the wake of an attempt to rebrand as ‘Hull Tigers’ being blocked by the Football Association.

“So I would imagine we will have full control of the transfer window, full control of the acquisition of the manager and players and that gives us more freedom to do what we think is right for the club, rather than having constraints of the new buyers trying to pull things in the direction they would like to take the club.”