I see that we seem to be in the market for yet another freebie,but down the road,QPR, who appear almost dead and buried,as far as their premiership life is concerned,appear to be ready to spend what appears to be a large some of survival cash. It is also reported in various press articles that Charlie Austin may be amongst them,with an estimated fee of 4mil. With a good goalscoring record over the last 3 seasons and at 23 definiteiy to young for us. We are certainly not cash strapped,so could it be that the powers at Fulham do not trust the recomendations that the manager may suggest. I am not posting this as a pro or an anti Jol ,article,but to solicit fans views on a subject which could effect our present top flight status
No, we just spend our money slightly more carefully. In the summer QPR went on a massive spending spree; they spent about £24M on new players and sold £1M of their own players. We in contrast spent £8M on Berbatov, Dejagah and Richardson and then made £21M on just two players. Historically we have spent the right amount of money on the right players, Hangleand and Berbatov being prime examples. In a transfer window we work quietly and we get good value for money and we only buy players which, at the time, we are certain will fit. Richardson is the only time I would say I've ever seen us panic buy. QPR are panicking at the moment and so of course panic buying. It will probably work too but its just not our way of doing things, and I'd never want it to be. As for the whole "We don't trust Jol in a transfer market" he has signed Bebatov, Ruiz, Riise, Riether, Petric, Pogrebnyak all only whilst here and all great deals. I'm going to push the boat out here and say he knows better than anyone on this forum where to get a good deal, in fact he's better than 99% of managers I can think of. Also he has an attraction value only the best managers have; Berba, Ruiz, Pog etc. All chose to come to the cottage at least partly because it meant they could work for him. The board know this and he will have access to the substantial amount left over from Dembele's transfer fee. He may simply not choose to spend it all if he can find the players we need for less. If you find it difficult to trust Jol at the moment, trust the board. They know what they're doing.
I don't even think Richardson was a panic buy, it just happened to become public knowledge very soon after the sale of Dembele. You could argue that Karagounis and Tavare were panic buys, but they were attempts to fill a gap in the squad at a time when we could only sign free agents. Well said!
I would have thought that the best course of action for QPR to take now would be to seek out loans for January and keep the money back to rebuild next summer, as they will again have to build an entirely new squad, due to the wages the current crop are on. If they splash out £20m in January on new signings and still fail to avoid relegation, then it could be another Portsmouth scenario for them. I'm not sure Tony Fernandes can afford to give Redknapp a blank chequebook.
you only throw money about in jan if you are desperate, loans with view to buy are the way to go, but we need a bloody midfielder and defender
If you only name the good signings a manager has made, of course it makes the manager look like a genius when it comes to signing players. Jol also signed Somogyi, Grygera, Tavares, Karagounis, Richardson and Rodallega.
Grygera was good when he played but suffered an unfortunate injury, I was happy with him considering he was free. Karagounis is a stop gap but when he has played against Swansea and Saints he's helped calm the midfield down and put some good passes together. He does the job we need him to do, and I'd also argue that he's also been a good free signing. Rodallega has been hit and miss but this is mainly because Jol has mostly played him on the wing when he much prefers the striker role which Berbatov occupies, again if you consider that he was a free signing I'd say he was a good idea. As far as I can tell Somogyi and Tavares are here to bulk up the squad size, again both free transfers so I feel fairly neutral to them. Richardson I can't deny has been a bad signing, he's not worth the £2.2 Mil we apparently paid for him. I hope we shift him soon and hopefully for around the same fee. As for Cottagecravens mentioning Petric he is certainly a good signing. I don't know if you saw pre season or went to Fulham v Hamburg a few seasons back but the man is a great centre forward. His issues have been injury and having to contend with Berbatov, but he's still scored 5 goals and again he was free. The net spend on these 7 players is £2.2 Mil, all of the free signings have done very well. Also wages for these players aren't a problem as we freed up the money for that after releasing AJ and bobby and the rest. I admit earlier I cherry picked his best but I can still only think of one bad signing he's had so far, and his free signings have been good in my opinion. Surely no one is going to argue he's bad in a transfer window?
ive seen Petric play...gets goals but also needs games and to stay fit. Apart from Norwich he's been average. 2 scant consolation goals against Sunderland and QPR..the other a Pen against Man City. When he's started its not looked good - and I include when we started with Berbatov. The problem with our club is we sell players...but we never replace with like for like quality - that's no different to a lot of teams. Look at the players left and what we replaced with - Berbatov excluded. Unfortunately this will never change.
You want ambition? we're expanding our stadium size, we've improved our youth academy until it's now ranked as one of the best in the country, and we've got a manager who is normally associated with "bigger clubs". If you want us to take a step up to "the next level" or whatever then who better than Jol? and I'll tell you now if you can name better they will not come to us. The club is displaying enough ambition I think. As for replacing like for like quality we lost our 2 best players very late on in the window, Jol has now had 4 months to think and find a suitable replacement. But I don't think he will spend all of the £15 Mil from Dembele unless he finds a real gem. I wouldn't want us to spend big money on players unless Jol and the board were absolutely sure. I don't mind spending £11 Mil on another Bryan for example but it's very easy to end up with an AJ in these situations. I will say this; If the window shuts and we haven't suitably replaced Dembele, then and only then will I criticise Jol. Then I will agree that he's failed to do his job as a manager. EDIT: (Actually I want to see a good centre back in as well) Ambition isn't all about throwing large sums of money around, have some faith in him I believe he will get us some more gems before he finishes here.
Very valid points Ronnie,especially the AJ comment,but lets face facts,without premiership status the stadium plans would probably be put on hold,and Blackburn who were relegated,now find themselves floating around mid table,their demise being compounded by the fact they did not seriously do more in the last Jan window The facts are we are on a par with QPR,over our last 12 games,the defence is appalling,more than just a blip, and the tactics employed are not working,hence my concern that we need a couple of quality players if only on loan. as i have said before after our first match in Feb, conclusions can be made.
Well said (in both posts) Ronnie. 'Ambition' is relative and the Club, in my view has realistic foresight. Football though is 'fickle' and we were doing fine going towards those aims until that fateful game against Sunderland when we lost four key players, at a stroke, for three plus matches. The frailty of our current squad has since been found out, as has some poor handling of the younger (and not so young in the case of Stockdale) players. Like everyone else I want Fulham to go that step further but to be honest I'd quite happily settle for 'stability' (on the field, that is) and seeing the same team play at least a couple of games in a row. COYW please log in to view this image
Jol has tried all he can with regards to helping the defence. Hangeland and Hughes have been poor so far this season, so Jol switched from a 3 man midfield to a 4 man to try and help provide extra cover. Unfortunately fate stepped in and some of his players have made some absolute shocking mistakes. But now we have a transfer window, and my point to you is he will resolve this short term and possibly long term if he gets the chance. I agree with you in that I'd like to see him bring in someone on loan, Aaron Ramsey for example (possibly with a view to buy but that may be too much to ask, he would fulfil your "ambition requirements" though haha ). On a personal note I'd like to see Douglas brought in as Hangleand's replacement; we came close to signing him in the summer and he is a damn impressive player. I saw him when we met FC Twente in the Europa league and I think he'd be perfect as a Hangeland replacement. Finally you're right of course that if we were relegated we would lose the ground extension but I still think we're just outside the relegation scrap. I can happily think of 5 other teams more likely to fill those spots and as my grandad always told me "It doesn't matter how bad you play as long as 3 teams play worse than you". I really don't think we need to worry yet. So to recap: Yes we're on a bad run. We're showing definite signs of improvement, particularly in the last match against Swansea. We have a transfer window opening tomorrow; Jol is undeniably good in them. We were in a much worse position at this time of the year under Hughes and we still survived. Historically our second half of the season is better. This should have been our season to see Jol's team shine but a ******* release clause ruined it. Next season we may see our ambitions fulfilled, but until then just try to relax and trust Jol. Have a nice cup of tea and Believe.
Ambition is a really immotive subject Ros. I think that Jol and the board will have discussed possible targets months ago. I am pretty sure they know what gaps need to be filled. Our luck ran out on the injury front and we didn't have suitable replacements. Couple this with the appalling form of some of the players and we've got a problem. It wasn't long ago that we were racing along at 17 points with a few games played and everything was rosy! What a sh*t 8 weeks we've had! At the end of Feb we could well be sitting on 38 points and regaling stories of monumental victories against the top 4 clubs! That's Fulham afterall, it wouldn't be the same without a little rollercoaster ride every now and again. Keep the faith everyone.
