Kind of hard to believe it was only two years ago, on 1st December 2013, that the Club sacked Martin Jol. please log in to view this image And so started the disastrous route we are currently on. Jol being fired was not the driver in itself, other than it should have happened much earlier (after the defeat to Cardiff at the Cottage). Rather it was the Club’s actions in the month before and the two months following his departure. Step back to the beginning of November 2013. The fans were restless and Alistair Mackintosh went on record saying, ‘the Club is working hard to turn things round and I think you’ll shortly be pleasantly surprised’. The surprise was to bring in Rene Meulenstein to ‘help’ Jol. But it didn’t work out and following a shocking display against West Ham at the Boleyn, Jol was gone. And it’s here we see the first sign of the contagion that has beset us ever since. Firing Jol at that time was either a panic measure or an acceptance of the inevitable. Whichever, it was done without a clear plan who would be his successor. Unless you believe it was Meulenstein all along, since he, and Kit, were immediately put in charge. As the months unfold that belief has to be brought into question. Things started brightly for the pair and then at the end of December another surprise. The chuckle brothers, Ray Wilkins and Alan Curbishley, were brought in to ‘help’ Rene and Kit returned to looking after the U21s. There followed a brisk bit of business in the January window – results weren’t great during this period but neither were they horrendous. On D-Day of the window Mr Khan’s marquee signing Kostas Mitroglou came in. The rumour machine say that Jordan Rhodes was all but through the door but at the last gasp analytics took over – irrefutably showing that the high scoring Greek had the superior pedigree and over-riding even the infamous ‘Fulham medical’. Well, we all know how that turned out. And yet another surprise from the Club. No sooner had the window closed than the triumvirate were themselves sacked and out of the blue yonder in came Magath. Another case of the analytics throwing up the incontestable fact that past records can only lead to future success. Well, we all know how that turned out. So, although sacking Jol did indeed send us down ‘the Road to Perdition’, was that action the sole factor? Or did a lack of diligence in planning for his replacement and a fixation on analytics hurtle us through the gateway? Whatever your opinion, sacking four people within a three month period has cost the Club dearly – and not just in terms of cash, although that wouldn’t have been insubstantial and may have had a bearing on what has happened since.
Decent analysis, Cottager, but in finding the root of our current trials I don't think you go back far enough. Several transfer windows of underspending as Fayed prepared to sell the club led to the decline in form under Jol, turning us from an established mid-table or better side to relegation candidates. Without that decline and the failure to replace key players (Murphy and Dembele come to mind as the most significant), no relegation panic, no frantic discarding of managers and botched appointments. Khan's regime has much to answer for, but the seeds were sown on Fayed's watch.
Agree entirely about the 'decline' starting much earlier Captain. Arguably though, Fayed at least had a vision. Not a terribly good one admittedly regarding the health of the Club in those last years, but he knew what he was doing. What I was trying to get across was how poorly the current management handled that specific situation; being reactive (panicky?) rather than proactive. And at the same time, a bit covertly, alluding to how they have perpetuated the same mistakes ever since. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, despite Fayed's lack of investment at the end, the mess we're in could so easily have been avoided by Khan & Co. In the original post, I did fall short of putting forward a view on why the primary characters were/are so inept and unprofessional. So I'll do that now. Neither Mackintosh or the Khans (father and son) understand football. Worse still, for me anyway, they have no understanding of Fulham Football Club (to which you can now add Mike Rigg to the clique).
I can remember the day when this long-term depression began - November 2012. Going into the match against a struggling Sunderland on a Sunday afternoon..... Brede got sent-off; they scored; we equalised and went for the win; but they hit us with 2 goals on the rebound. The Red card seemed harsh, especially reflecting on Lee Cattermole not getting a Yellow until the last 15 minutes after a "combative" performance. Everything went downhill for FFC and have never really recovered, just stabilised in our current position. The upside is that Magath was not allowed to take us down further into League 1 (thanks to Kit!). Eventually, the senior management of the club might get it's act together. Actually the rot for the above decline point was when MAF would not support the ambition which Mark Hughes wanted for FFC.
Remember it well GS and the spirit of the lads that night. However, I come back to the fact that Fayed was a shrewd old cookie and knew a bit about football as well as money. And the point of my original post being that the current lot "Don't Know What They're Doing!".
I was never convinced that Mark Hughes was a good fit for Fulham, at the first opportunity he got his adviser Kia Joorabchin to tout him as manager to Villa and Chelsea. In the season he manage us I remember dire games leading up to a 3-1 West Ham Boxing Day defeat at home, and we were still 5th from bottom in a relegation struggle in March, it was only that we started to win a few games while our fellow strugglers played each other that we climbed the table. We saw what he and his adviser did with money at QPR. I think it was then that MAF decided he was feed up with managers and agents getting too much, don't forget he thought Tigana had tried the same thing and took him to court (and lost). And started to look to get his money back and sell up with the sales of Dembele and Dempsey.
I was in the US and missed that game - the only game I missed that season. But the vibe at Fulham from pre-US to post-US was almost tangible and I would agree that things have been sliding since. I do however remember that game well. Tube strike, rail replacement buses and I'm not sure I recall being so cold at a game. That I remember all that says more about how the game did not distract me at all from how unpleasant everything else was. What a brutal, horrible day that was.
I know what you mean SBM, but having a bit negative about Mark Hughes at the time, reflecting back I reckon his loss was bigger to us than any of us realised. And a bit of respect for wht he has done at Stoke. And at that time we did not know that MAF was on his way out.
Hughes may have done, however. And MAF certainly did. Whereas the current owner doesn't know which direction to turn and as SurlyC said in the other thread, "Khan needs to start treating Fulham like a real business with real accountability and a real vision."
