"I Hope We Get Our Fulham Back" - Can You Argue Against This?

I can't.



I Hope We Get Our Fulham Back

by Chris Gilbertson on November 10, 2013


As trigger points go, being sat here on a Sunday evening seeing Fulham in the bottom three is a fairly bad one. Whomever you blame, and there are various candidates, Fulham are nothing better than an embarrassing shambles at the moment.

Following yesterday’s thrashing at the hands of Liverpool, one national journalist tweeted the best comment I’ve seen about Fulham this season:

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Defensively we are lackadaisical, offensively we are incoherent, we have no leaders and a manager who seems to think it is ok to lose at Anfield because we can get points off teams like Sunderland. Oh yes, the Sunderland that went and beat Manchester City this afternoon.

For a club that sprouts rhetoric about a club philosophy, sustainability and good football, Fulham are sure doing their best to lull the rest of the Premier League into a false sense of security.

The football for the last 12 months, since the defeat to Sunderland at home, has been predominantly awful. 2013 has seen us win ONE league match at home. Fortress Fulham is currently smouldering in ruins. Away performances are a farce. Sure we beat a Palace team devoid of Premiership talent and a Sunderland team who hated their manager, but we are fast becoming the easiest three points in the league. At least Palace fight and show spirit for more than the first 15 minutes. Teams barely have to try to beat Fulham.

The inane statements offered by our manager are just that, inane drivel. Do you care what Martin Jol has to say anymore? I sure don’t. Apart from collecting more evidence against a man who should be destined for the managerial gallows, what good are his press conferences for? We are told we’re lucky to have him, that we’re lucky to have some of the players he signed and that we shouldn’t expect to win against teams like Liverpool. Great, thanks, glad I stopped my day to listen to that.

Our squad, now one almost fully assembled by the Dutchman, is its worst for several seasons; full of over-ego’d players who were good several seasons ago. We have players signed with no position in mind. Young players are not getting games or are treated like schoolboys and in one week and out the next. What’s worse is that Dimitar Berbatov is bleedin’ captain.

A managerial change will be a good start, but if we are fortunate enough to stay in this league come the end of the season, wholesale changes are needed. If there are more than a handful of first teamers that you honestly want to wear the Fulham shirt come next season, I’m struggling to see them this season.

One thing is a success this season, Martin has got his wish. Expectations have been lowered. At this rate, Fulham can expect to be in the bottom three come May – a far cry from the talk of Top 10 when Shahid Khan bought the club in July. Southampton expected to finish next to us in mid-table and they’re third in the league with three players in the England squad. Expectations are not the crime, how you approach them can be.

It is high time Shahid Khan got off his chair in Jacksonville and did something at Craven Cottage. Ignorance is not an excuse, it’s a problem. Justifying an endless malaise due to your own lack of knowledge is naivety of the highest order. If you can complete a takeover in less than one month, why does it take five to see it slipping between your fingers? Had Fulham’s struggles been a new thing, then Khan would have a leg to stand on. It’s a shame Khan has a fence the size of the Atlantic to sit on.

Had we not beaten Swansea on the final day of the season, Jol would have had his reign of smugness ended six months ago. Perhaps then we would not have wasted our second summer in a row with cheap, unnecessary signings of players past their prime. The sooner fans, the media and a new manager get stock that Fulham’s players might just be good enough to get relegated, the better off the club will be.

The lack of work ethic and the lack of leadership are crippling Fulham. Expectations are constantly being lowered and we are now being told not to expect our team to even compete. I’m glad I’ve bought a season ticket, replica shirt a programme subscription, it’s just so fulfilling to support a team who don’t even try to win.

Change is needed to survive the short term, wholesale changes are needed to survive in the long term.

The performances lost the fans, his comments have ensured they won’t return. With the international break upon us, Fulham must act now.

I rarely look forward to international breaks, they are an unwelcome distraction from the weekly activity of league football. Now, I wish there was an international break every week. We’ll all still be there in a fortnight’s time, but watching Fulham stopped being fun some time ago.

Fan’s infight, atmosphere’s become sour and vitriol is aimed at all corners. A crisis is what Fulham are in. The sooner someone comes out and recognises the problem, the sooner we can do something to put it right. The shirts that this team puts on may say Fulham, but they’re not our Fulham.

It is a long road to salvation but 27 games might just be enough. There is not a single fan, blogger, journalist, enthusiast or badger who wants to be sat here in June going we told you so. Fear is manifesting itself across the board. Fulham are in trouble.

I hope we get our Fulham back before it’s too late.

COYWs

 

Well put.

 

Sad to say, but I can't argue with that either. Time for a change.

 

Excellent post...

 

Unfortunately, the international break will give Khan an excuse to "give Jol another week", time we'll desperate want back at the end of the season.

 

This sums it up perfectly, passionate fan feeling underwhelmed with our football.

 

the way I see it, we are bang in trouble, our new chairman needs to show his hand, its put up time, when al fayed took over he made a statement of intent, khan needs to do the same, I do not feel he is a football fan, he loves his jaguars, and we could be a vehicle to promote this, hope I am wrong,

 

Spot on. Couldn't agree more.