Latest manager rumours

According to the Mail (via the BBC gossip round up), Martin O'Neill and Jol are emerging as the favourites, and Danny Murphy has put himself forward, urging the 'club hierarchy' to appoint him as the new manager.

Thoughts?

 

I've long thought Murphy should be groomed for the job, but it's too early for the top position.

 

Agree with rocky. While o neil and jol may see us a feeder club for a better job, murphy would represent more of a long term strategy and would be the most 'fulhamish' candidate we could find. If we knew exactly how long he's gonna play on for it would certainly help in knowing the best way for him to be groomed into management.

 

I think O'Neill with Murphy as his assistant manager will be a good option. Murphy knows the team and his players and will be a good replacement next year when O'Neill wants to join a "bigger" club!

 

Normally O'Neill had Steve Walford and John Robertson as his team of assistants.

 

It makes you appreciate Roy eh? He worked with what he had in the first instance.

 

Murphy would only end up jumping ship to Liverpool....

Nah I would love Murphs to become an assistant to whomever takes the reigns, but we have to consider, would Jol want to bring in the dick and cock to be his right hand men?

 

Of the 3 main candidates (according to the press)

I think with both Jol and O'Neill our style of play will change back to the style that Hodgson played, a more cautious defensive style with counter attacking. This should guarantee us a mid table placing and maybe a few good cup runs. Would you be happy with that ?

With McClaren I think he'd be more attack minded to the detriment of our defense and would need to bring in more players than the other 2 to get the style he wants. It would be more of a gamble, if it worked then we could be challenge for a top 6 place or if it didn't work it could be a struggle.

Although my heart says yes to Murphy my head says it would be a real gamble.

 

I tend to agree a couple of good seasons with Murph at the helm,
Then ?. The Liverpool magnet would be to great for him to resist.

 

IN a year or two perhaps Murphy could get a job over at Wolves. I'm sure they'd welcome him there.

 

Funny DR.

 

I cant see how it would work if DM goes straight for the prem...

 

Super Brian, Jol a defensive manager? That isn't my memory of his Spurs sides - I always had him down as an attacking manager.

I agree that Danny Murphy is the biggest gamble of the three, due to his complete managerial inexperience. That said, he's also the least likely to jump ship for a better offer in the next couple of years. Yes, if the Liverpool job came up, he'd go for it in a heartbeat, and you couldn't blame him for that. If I was a football manager at, say, Reading and the Fulham job came up I wouldn't have to think about it for long. There's no reason to think that Danny Murphy would be likely to jump ship for anyone else though.

But will the Liverpool job come up in a couple of years? If it does, won't they be looking for a more experienced manager to build on what (they hope) Dalglish is going to do in that time, re-establishing them as top 4 regulars? And if Dalglish fails, are they likely to turn to someone with only a couple of years experience for the far more difficult task of achieving the breakthrough that the sainted Kenny would have failed to make? I just don't see Danny Murphy being successfully poached for the next few seasons, if appointed.

Some other potential consequences of Jol and O'Neill. My biggest objection to Jol is lingering disapproval of the way he played us in the summer. Putting my feelings aside, Al Fayed doesn't strike me as someone with a tendency to let bygones be bygones, so appointing Jol could lead to some frosty relationships between the manager and the owner which doesn't sound like an ideal situation. Jol has a habit of always playing games with his board - see this article that I posted to the old board when it looked like he was on his way to us last summer: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...a-history-of-always-wanting-more-2031095.html - which, when you factor in last summer's history, makes him sound like a potentially divisive figure within the club. Also, he was the manager who sidelined and sold Danny Murphy at Spurs. Signing him could spell the end of Danny's time with us.

As for O'Neill, I used to really rate him, but now I'm not so sure. He falls out with a lot of players, including a certain Steve Sidwell at Villa. He tends to pick a consistent first eleven without a lot of rotation. That's a strategy that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's not the one I think we need to employ next season, given the large number of extra games we are hoping to get in Europe. Before he walked away, Villa fans seemed to be divided between those who loved him and those who loathed him: not necessarily a good sign.

My point is that Jol and O'Neill both have their negative aspects. Danny Murphy is a risk, but he's also the only candidate who is well placed to build on where we are right now and who already knows the strengths and weaknesses of the players available for the European campaign. He would definitely need experienced assistence, with Ray Lewington the obvious contender. If the race is narrowing to Jol, O'Neill and Murphy, then I think I'm leaning towards Danny. If the field is still open to others, then Ranieri still appeals to me, with McClaren as something of a compromise candidate.

Sorry, that turned into a bit of an essay.

 

The season 2005/6 Tottenham finished 5th under Jol, they conceded just 38 league goals, the fewest the club had conceded since 1971. and scored 53. that season Fulham scored 48 conceded 58 finishing 12th.

At Ajax he ended the season 2009/10 with the league's strongest defence and the fewest league goals conceded by any Dutch team in 5 years, including just 4 conceded at home all season.
Even more incredibly, they scored 106 league goals (an average of more than 3 per game), the most any Dutch side has scored since the 1997–98 season. (Dutch League Teams not that strong ?)

In his season at SV Hamburg his record was W19 D4 L11 GF 49 GA 47

He does have a good win ratio over his career, but slightly below 50% in the Premier.

Too me he is a good candidate.

 

Just returned from loitering down at Motspur Park,
with my ear to the ground trying to glean any info.
An interesting point,is that it appears that Hughes 3 goons
have nothing whatsoever to do but will be retained until the end of contract.
Meetings are going on re new manager and available funds for transfers.
1st July mentioned, intrim RL organising, no way interference from Hughes side kicks

 

I'd love to see Martin O'Neill in charge of Fulham. He's a manager I've admired ever since he took Wycombe up from the Conference. He won two league cups with Leicester when they were a mid-table club, and and did pretty well in Europe with Celtic. He has the rare distinction of never having been sacked in a managerial career that's lasted two decades, and - Norwich apart - usually stays in jobs for 4-5 years. All managers fall out with players, particularly the ones who aren't getting picked. It comes with the territory. He brought through a number of young players at Villa, something we've been discussing in another thread that Fulham need to do. His CV puts him head and shoulders above the competition, but the real sticking point is whether he'd actually want the job, although reports are that he has a good relationship with MAF.

Jol seems more realistic, and more likely. Murphy has the qualities to make a good manager, but it's too early for him. I know it's a cliche, but I think you do need experience in the Prem - look at what happened to di Matteo at WBA last year.

For what it's worth most of the bookies seem to think it'll be Jol. William Hill have him odds on, others evens or thereabouts:

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/fulham-specials/next-permanent-manager

But then this time last year it was a different favourite everyday. Anyone remember Stuart Baxter?

 

So who is managing the training Valjing?

 

Fair point about all managers falling out with players, Fulhamish. My point is that Murphy and Sidwell are both important players in our set up, and appointing a manager who has previous with one or other of them may well result in an important member of the squad wanting to move on. Also, O'Neill seems to fall out with more players than most, with several of his players (Shorey, Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Young, etc) getting frozen out of first team action indefinitely.

Also, my point about his time at Villa is about more than just falling out with players. The fans there seem genuinely divided, with almost everyone having a strong view either for or against him (and that was before he walked away). I don't really understand why that was the case, but it's certainly something that would worry me if we were to appoint him. His record in the transfer market is also hit and miss. When he left Villa I remember seeing a list of his transfers, in and out. I was struck by the number of players he had both signed and sold while at Villa, often at either a loss or merely breaking even. For every Ashley Young (who didn't come cheap), there's a Zat Knight or a Wayne Routledge.

I think he's got a fantastic track record, far superior to any other British manager that we might even think of realistically appointing, but I'm less convinced that he's what we need than I would have been a couple of years ago. If he gets the job, then he'll get my full-throated support and I'll hope that he proves my worries wrong. But until the ink is signed on his contract, I'm not convinced that he would be the right way forward for us.

 

I can't see MAF sanctioning Jol after last season, though I think he would be a good choice.

MO'N - left Villa (allegedly) because of lack of transfer funds - will he get more with us?

DM - I've been an advocate for a long time, But starting as manager?????......

I've seen Lee Clark suggested - a bit more experience than Danny, but is he ready for prem????

John Collins? what's happened to him since he left Hibs??

Could we tempt Martinez away from Wigan?

Ranierei is supposedly looking for a job in England??

Let's take Ancelotti

 

There's such a comprehensive range of views plus onsite information here there's little I could add.

One point: unless I'm misinformed, O'Neill was a very big spender at Villa, but did they ever really challenge the top 4? And it is said he left because he wasn't given the budget he required. This doesn't match up well to Fulham.