'With Fulham on its third manager this season and in danger of relegation, owner Shahid Khan says he is aware that his decisions appear ''unconventional or unpopular.'' The American billionaire, however, sees his actions as risks worth taking in a bid to keep the London club in the Premier League. In a surprise move this month, Rene Meulensteen was dismissed only 75 days after replacing Martin Jol as manager. Felix Magath was then hired to take over the bottom-placed club. ''It wasn't lost on me that introducing a third manager in a season would appear, let's say, unconventional or unpopular - or both,'' Khan writes in the program for Saturday's match against Chelsea. ''I expected the scrutiny and know there will be more ahead. I accept this and welcome the responsibility, because the alternative was risking a non-stop slide in the table in the hope that better results would occur in time to save our season.'' Magath, who has won three Bundesliga titles as a coach, signed an 18-month contract to become the first German to take charge of a Premier League team. ''The news clearly took everyone by surprise - something that rarely happens in the world of football,'' Khan said. ''In the meantime, it appears that much of the shock has given way to understanding and optimism. At least I certainly hope so ... there's no manager better suited to achieve our goal.' Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/so...cepts-unpopularity-scrutiny.ap/#ixzz2ueUj252m
You can't say fairer than that. Sufficed to say I think it's been a whirlwind of a few months for him.
This is true. About £75 million wiped off the value of his investment and very little in TV revenue. Parachute payments aside relegation will severely hit the clubs finances. To get us back up will cost him a small fortune to go alongside the bigger one buying the club and getting relegated has cost. Mo's last great scam. Selling an ailing club for at least a third more than it was worth. Let's not forget Ashley didn't pay as much for Newcastle.
Destroyed the club? That's a bit harsh. I always seem to be the odd man out when it comes to Al Fayed. I've spent the last few years being irritated by those who put forward the notion that he was the man who saved the club, forgetting that the Micky Adams promotion season was the last season before Al Fayed bought us, not the first under him - we were already moving in the right direction. Now people are saying he destroyed the club: hardly. We're not down yet - but Cardiff and Newcastle are massive games if we're going to stay up - and even if we do go down, there's no suggestion that the club's future is under threat. Even if we don't rebuild quickly, the club will still be in a much better place than it was when Al Fayed bought us. A little perspective was called for when everyone loved Al Fayed, and it's called for now that he's being cast as pantomime villain. As for making money from the club: he's a businessman. Did we really expect him not to want to turn a profit? Sadly, the days when club owners genuinely see themselves as selfless custodians has long since passed.
Our friends at the Guardian are obviously fans of Al Fayed. In this article they paraphrase his time at Fulham and, as a model, compare Shad Khan and Vincent Tan to him. [It's quite long so I've put in a link rather than post the whole thing] http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/feb/28/mohamed-al-fayed-fulham-cardiff-vincent-tan
I also have praised MAF and still do,as for felling sorry for Khan he still has the cottage freehold which i said on another post is estimated to be worth about 250m. Our real broblems started a season ago with that pillock Jol and his omnipotent boss ali mac
That article is exactly the kind of thing I've moaned about in the past! So we were in the fourth tier when Al Fayed bought us? Al Fayed swiftly sacked Adams and then Keegan led us to two promotions before Tigana made it three? Shoddy journalism, riddled with factual errors. As everyone on here knows, Micky Adams led us to the first of those promotions, and Al Fayed bought the club the summer after we left the fourth tier. Grrrr.
The trick to selling a car with a big oil leak is to park it on the grass before the buyer comes. When the buyer arrives, he kicks the tires, asks some stupid questions and takes a look under the car where, because of the grass, he doesn't see the puddle of oil forming. The buyer hands over a wad of money and drives off in a smoking wreck that won't get from London to Croydon before breaking down. That's what happened to Khan. - I have mixed feelings about Mo. Yes, he shelled out to bring the team up from oblivion. But I think he did it, ultimately, for the money and not for the love of the team or the fans. And to me that made him a bad owner. A good owner would have left the team on a better footing.
Removing my feelings toward the club, fair play to ALF - Khan is a big boy with a record of success in business. He's come in blind with an expectation that we might provide a platform to promote his NFL franchise- I wouldn't be surprised if the NFL have supported him in some way, maybe financially, as I know they want to make inroads in Europe. Can't understand why US owners bother getting involved - the PL's been warped by people not looking to take a profit but wanting the prestige, a football club has become like a luxury sports car. ALF took a punt on the team, put money down and then stopped once he'd reached a European final and pattern of overspending and seeing quick depreciation on player value came back. Hughes might well have been right on the lack of ambition. Khan's probably come in not realising how desperate the club was for a rebuild and the kind of investment that requires, think he saw it as something he could leave to run itself with out putting too much money into - he's likely to find out that approach will cost him more than if he had grasped the nettle early doors. I've not been alone in raising discontent about our spending relative to others teams. Credit that he has put some money down, almost all of it on one player who's been injured, but it's too late and too ad hoc. We needed a systematic rebuild and clarity over our system and development of youth. Khan deserves the losses - if ALF sold it to him as a simple profit with little input then he's a fool not to have done his research. I think they took the placid nature of the fans for granted, we've been content because things looked to be moving in the right direction - will Khan be there at our last home game if we get relegated?
Probably not, but neither will Jol or Mulensteen or Berba or Ruiz or Taraabt or a few others who should also shoulder a fair chunk of the blame and oprobium that may descend, so it is probably not fair that he should be. One thing is for certain - relegation blows his NFL - EPL link and Fulham can't be used to generate much inerest in the states. Most Americans have probably never even heard of Doncaster or Barnsley, let alone want to watch them play.
Take it from this Yank, most American couldn't find Canada on a map, let alone Doncaster. Seriously, though, while "soccer" is growing in popularity in the States, I can't see any kind of crossover marketing opportunity between NFL and the EPL. Big over-generalization coming ... fans of NASCAR (God help them!) don't watch F1, and F1 fans similarly have little time or interest in a bunch of rednecks driving around in a circle. For the same (class) reasons, NFL fans aren't likely to watch Fulham, West Ham or even ManU, even if their are Americans playing. It's a culture thing. Soccer, in the States, is considered "European" and, therefore, best left to the imported wine, sushi-eating types. NFL IS A MAN SPORT PLAYED BY TRUE AMERICANS (AND GIFTED TONGANS) WHO EAT PORK RIBS, CHUG CHEAP BEER AND DON'T KNOW WHEN TO TURN OFF THE CAP LOCK!!!!!! It's a culture thing: NFL and EPL don't mix.
I make no comment on the accuracy of DR's cultural analysis, but it's a joy to read, as ever. For what it's worth I like both sports, but much prefer football. Nevertheless, I like the sound of eating pork ribs, cap locked or not.
