There is not a manager in English football like Sergej Jakirovic.

For a start, there is his eclectic CV which spans across 25 clubs over three decades as a player and manager, zigzagging from World Cup qualifiers with his native Bosnia and Herzegovina to village football in Zagreb before landing in his current post as Hull City’s head coach.

But what really sets him apart? Jakirovic grew up in a war zone, his father’s family forced to flee their home town of Mostar to become refugees in Norway and Sweden.

He can vividly recall, as a 14-year-old, the shock of coming under attack from fighter planes.

“I was born in Mostar and there is an air base there. When I was 14 a plane was flying overhead and it dropped bombs from the sky,” he tells The i Paper , puffing out his cheeks as he reca

See Full Page