Evening Bonny, Seems a shame that Brucie got the boot. He is a proper footballing manager. I guess football is a results game and he was not performing well enough. What are your thoughts about his departure ? As or Mark Hughes ............... I think you will get mixed views on him from Fulham fans. He would bring with him an entourage of staff. He seems to have a lot of coaching personnel. His style of management seems to be allow the coaching staff to coach, while he remains largely aloof and behind the scenes preparing for games. I think players found him hard to approach. His record for us was fairly decent, we finished 8th and got into Europe. Pretty good. However, he tried to change tactics but ended up reverting back to Roy Hodgson's tactics, so there is an argument to suggest that the team would have done well under any manager. He left us because we lacked ambition, so I would assume he would want a fairly large budget to buy players with. Personally, I did not like the guy being our manager, footballing wise he was good but lacked any relationship with the fans and club. Good luck with whoever you get.
Thanks Frogman. Lot of support for Hughes on our site. I don't know tho - sick of manure veterans! Think the budget will be there in jan (but who really moves then?). Anyways, he did well for you. I believe we have a decent squad that isn't pushed to it's limit. x
Unfortunately, the answer from most FFC fans would be an sincere "no". He left here under a cloud of his own making, and that of his advisor Kia Joorabchian (who also advises Carlos Tevez). Sparky came in late after Roy left, but in a tough year had set himself in a good position to take Fulham onwards in his second season, including another go at the Europa League (maybe he couldn't follow Roy taking us to the final?). However, he got ideas above his station and thoughts turned to managing a top 4/6 club, forgetting that he'd previously been fired by ManCity. So he quit, maybe assuming a club would snap him up. I'm doubtful about the story that he didn't get enough money out of our Chairman, which could have a grain of truth, but not enough to leave. Having been up on Fulham's last two trips to your place, I sense that Sunderland are a small-town bigger-club, versus our own big-city smaller-club. Sparky is clearly too good for both of us. You'd be be better off sticking with Steve Bruce (although I appreciate that many Mackams don't like that idea).
Thanks Gera, but you had to be here (and interested enough) to witness the Bruce debacle. You may not know this but we have all the credentials to be a bigger club - the fanbase, the academy, the ground.... We need a big manager now. All points/opinions much appreciated. x
Hello Bonny Bob I'm a Fulham fan living in Northumberland. I understand how big Sunderland are in the NE and the size of your ground and fanbase. My guess is that Hughes will still believe he's a bit of a big shot for yous, but having been out of work might take your job "as a stepping stone" (in his opinion, not mine). As you probably guess, I'm no fan of Hughes. I think your fanbase deserves a bit more loyalty and engagement with the fans from a manager.
Who, guys? Remember, money no object. Just been reading my site and Moyes is bein mentioned! I cant see it, but to show you how we lot are thinking, I want Ancelotti, my girl wants Rafa! These are in the frame! Bring me some reality! x
On a lighter note, forget Ancelotti or Rafa - Go straight for Jose Mourinho. Forgive my error before - I'd not heard SB had gone. But avoid Sparky.
Can't see Rafa, Moyes, Ancelotti etc wanting to go to the North East, even if they were offered silly money. It probably wouldn't sit too well with Sunderland fans but you seriously could do worse than Lee Clark - although given his record, he probably wouldn't want the job. Your owners an American isn't he? How about Bob Bradley? Many people on this board wanted him for Fulham during the summer and he could be a decent bet - he would probably see it as a safe way into Premier League management and the American link is an enticement.
Thanks, Fulhaman - both have been mentioned, but if you knew the history Clark will get short shrift. Personally, I don't want O'Neill but a lot do. Don't think he'll be interested mind - his lady is poorly again. x
I think Mark Hughes is a skillful manager and footballer who was talked into taking helm of Fulham, but when he found the resources would be limited and that Fulham's owner lacked ambition for the club, he made a fairly logical choice and walked away. He wasn't the owner's first choice to start with, so it would have effectively been a dead-end job for him in the long run. I don't forgive what he did in suddenly leaving us, but given the information we now have, I'd say he had his reasons. After leaving he accused MAF of lacking ambition for the club, a criticism Fayed refuted. But actions (not enough resources) speak louder than words.
Hughes never seemed to get over the fact that he was unfairly sacked by City, I think he sees himself as a top 4 manager and anything lower than that is as has been mentioned a 'stepping stone'. I doubt he will have much commitment and I do believe he left us with either the Villa or Chelsea job in mind. I know Rafa is itching to get back to the Premier League so I wouldn't be too surprised to see that happened although the bookies have Martin O'Neill as odds-on favourite. Think O'Neill would do well, about as well as he did with Villa, I guess.
Jesus, 28 minutes?! Have some patience man! On topic, Sparky is a decent manager but he's a bitter man (like me - sweet irony!). Held feuds with Mancini and Wenger and constantly complaining about refs (which is alright if he's your manager and it's justified - which wasn't always the case). The only impact he had on our squad was Dembele, Salcido (the flop of flops) and the ostracism of Pantsil and Gera. The rest he merely carried over from Roy's legacy. He openly disrespected our club, our owner and to some extent us the fans and the squad. If you can cope with having a good manager who happens to be an arrogant ****e then he's your man. Myself, I think you deserve better. If I were you I'd be rooting for MON.
bonnybobbyparks The history of Hughes at Fulham is That he took over in the summer last year didn't get too much time to do any transfers. but by January under Hughes we were 19th in the Premier League. When we played Sunderland on April 30th we were only in 15th place. It was only the last two games of the season where we beat Birmingham away to take us from 15th to 10th place and drew with Arsenal at home on the final day that we went to 8th place. I agree with frogman27 'He would bring with him an entourage of staff. He seems to have a lot of coaching personnel. His style of management seems to be allow the coaching staff to coach, while he remains largely aloof and behind the scenes preparing for games.' Our style of play was more attacking orientated, but this caused what had been a good defense to become weaker , so we weren't very consistent. His reasons for leaving have never been fully explained, but we think lack of ambition (ie money) is at the route, along with his adviser Joorabchin touting him to other clubs even before he resigned.
I think Frogman's original answer is the most balanced of the above (sorry, others). As you will have gathered, there was a lot of hostility towards Hughes around this time last year, and although the second half of the season saw huge improvement in results he never really won the hearts of the Fulham fans. As a club - in terms of fanbase, infrastructure, etc - you ought to be outperforming us year on year, and Hughes could be the man to move you forward. He did a good job with Blackburn, turning them from perenial relegation-battlers to sporadic qualifiers for Europe and I always felt that he was harshly treated at City. I think he'd be a good appointment, and might see you as the best balance between the type of job he wants and the type of job he will realistically be considered for at the moment. If he sees the potential for Sunderland to be a team who challenges regularly for 5th-8th, and possibly then step up from that, he may well be happy to stay long term. As others have said, he'll want to bring his own coaching staff in, so if you appoint him it might mean a clear-out of your existing first team coaches. I don't know who you've got these days, but if there are any beloved local heroes among them, it could be painful. As for Lee Clark, I chuckled when I read someone suggest him - it was us who benefited when he burned his Sunderland bridges with that t-shirt. Thanks very much, by the way - he did great for us!
Our chairman has given a reference of character in public domain which is very unprofessional of him in business terms but I think he has summed up the feeling amongst us!
Many thanks for the informative, pleasant, mature replies. It has been a pleasure to be your guest here. On our local news, O'Neil looks nailed on as our next manager. Not my personal preference, but he will get my support now. Hope you have a great season, except against us! x
