'Privileged' Tim Walter in sync with Hull City's lofty twin ambitions

"I was made in Germany but I'm made for England," he confidently declared early in his first press conference ahead of officially taking on the challenge of meeting the restless ambition of Acun Ilicali for entertainment and success.

The 48-year-old was all suntan and smiles alongside his charismatic Turkish chairman as he communicated confidently in his second language.

As he talks, Hull’s pitch is being ripped up for the new season. Walter says Liam Rosenior’s groundwork means nothing so radical is needed on a team already comfortable in possession, but nevertheless Ilicali wanted some German engineering on the project.

When he officially starts on July 1, three of Yorkshire's five Championship managers will be German.

From Jurgen Klopp to Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel to Oliver Glasner, Teutonic coaches are all the rage. Daniel Farke is leading Leeds United, Danny Rohl guiding Sheffield Wednesday. Huddersfield Town and Barnsley have also dabbled in the German market.

But where Farke likes to tell you not to look at passports, Walter simply stresses he is "different". So the question is actually not what makes German managers a good fit, but what made Hull think Walter is.

Neither side can claim they were caught unawares by what awaits.

Rosenior was sacked as Hull coach on May 6 and very soon afterwards Ilicali was following the recommendation of his friend, Mannheim-born Inter Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, to make a beeline for Walter, whose coaching CV bears the name of three German giants, albeit it was Bayern Munich’s second team, and that Stuttgart and Hamburg have fallen from grace."He said in the early years of his career, Tim was one of the biggest reasons for his development in football,” reveals Ilicali. “He said he is so good at making young players improve."I talked to my football brains team and we started checking him out.

"We didn't have any rush. Tan (Kesler, his vice-chairman) is a slow guy but this time I'm not criticising!”

"Our wishes fit perfectly,” says Walter, adding: “I would be very stupid if I hadn't watched a lot of Hull's games because I want to know how a player works in a position, how they will fit to my philosophy.”

If Klopp came to England nearly a decade ago with a reputation for "heavy metal football", "Walterball" – sometimes called "heart attack football" – ramps it up to 11.

"After Tim went to Hamburg their attendances improved by more than 10,000," says Ilicali, who has built his whole career on entertainment.

Last season was actually only up 7,000 on the last pre-Covid campaign but it is splitting hairs. Anybody able to attract an average of 56,000 to a Bundesliga 2 club is clearly doing something worth watching.

"I hope we will fill the stadium with our support and maybe have to construct the other side," he continues. "I'm aiming for Tim to do that."

Ultimately, though, Ilicali insists success is more important than style and for all its thrills and spills, Walterball took Hamburg to consecutive third-place finishes and play-off defeats – not enough for former European champions. He was shown the door in February.

But Walter thinks his approach could work in England and at Hull, feeding off the passion and energy not just from the terraces but the director's box.

"I had a little time to think about my plans for the future and I love England very much," he says. "I love the football they play. For me it was a target to be a coach here.

"Managers like Daniel Farke, Danny Rohl, Jurgen Klopp and David Wagner have showed there is a good fit between English and German football but I'm playing a different style and I'm a different coach."

His style is based on intense, possession-based, attacking football and players regularly swapping positions voraciously trying to win the ball back as soon as they lose it.

It will require a lot of coaching and you would think some pretty rapid recruitment from a club on the lookout for someone new to head that up after Lee Darnbrough left for Stoke City on Monday. Only 12 senior players are due back for pre-season and the arrival of his lieutenants Filip Tapalovic and Julian Hubner is yet to be officially signed

"It will take some time because it's different, for sure," says Walter. "That's the reason why they took me.

"Pre-season is very exciting and very important because it will take some work.

"I want to create a mentality that we always want to win, the boys. I want to create a family."

Despite that, he is relaxed about getting signings done quickly.

"We don't need to have early transfers, we need the right transfers,” he stresses, echoing his boss.

Building a successful and entertaining team carefully under a self-confessed impatient chairman sounds like a lot of pressure.

"Pressure is a privilege," smiles Walter. He is very privileged.