Hull have appointed former Southampton and Reading boss Nigel Adkins as their new head coach on an 18-month contract.

The 52-year-old replaces Russian Leonid Slutsky, who left on Sunday with the club 20th in the Championship.

Adkins, who has been out of work since being sacked by Sheffield United in May 2016, guided the Saints to promotion to the Premier League in 2012.

He will oversee training on Thursday and his first match in charge will come at home to Brentford on Saturday.
Adkins, an ex-Tranmere and Wigan goalkeeper, enjoyed success in his first role in management with Scunthorpe after initially being the club's physio.

He twice led the Iron to promotion to the Championship before leaving to take over at Southampton in September 2010.
After guiding the St Mary's side to back-to-back promotions to the Premier League he was surprisingly sacked in January 2013, with Mauricio Pochettino appointed as his replacement.

His last two management jobs have been less successful, with spells at both Reading and Sheffield United ending in disappointment.

All change in the Hull hot seat

Adkins is the fourth man to take charge of Hull since Steve Bruce's four-year spell came to an end in July 2016.
Mike Phelan initially took over on a caretaker basis before being given the job in October after an encouraging start to the Premier League season.

He was sacked in January after a run of three points from nine games left them in the relegation zone.

Portuguese Marco Silva was appointed on a deal until the end of the campaign but was unable to stop them being relegated back to the Championship and he left for Watford in May.

Slutsky became the first Russian to manage an English league side when he was appointed in June 2017 but he earned just four wins in 20 Championship games