Evening all I've come to write an article to end all articles on the topic. When I recieved news of Hughes's departure, my emotions were somewhat mixed. Yes I felt betrayed, decieved and let down by a man whom I held in high regard, being Welsh and all, but deep down this was always going to be on the cards. The option to duck out after one year had probably been insisted upon by Kia, his agent. If he had left to go to Chelsea, then I can understand, but that doesn't seem so. Roy leaving hurt very much, considering what he had done for the club. But Liverpool are massive, so I can understand him wanting to see what he could achieve there, plus it will probably be his last 'big' job in football. If Hughes joins Villa, is this a step forward? Considering we finished above them last season. When Hughes returns to the Cottage, damn right I will boo him. He has left us in the lurch with only 4 weeks to go until our Europa campaign starts, and even worse, he's still here for another month! In this time we could have brought in a new manager and signed some new players, but no, we have to sit on our hands while other clubs are making their moves. It seemed a little suspect that Hughes had not made any changes to the squad once the season finished. Other clubs have already released their deadwood, while the likes of Kamara, EJ and Pantsil are still picking up their wages. Now for the replacement. O'Neill and Jol are my first choices by far. Ancelotti would be incredible but I don't believe that would happen. I wouldn't mind Lee Clark in a few years, but right now is far too soon. The rest (not to sound pompous) are beneath us. Curbishley has been out of the game for too long. Hughton is inexperienced. The same applies to Poyet and Zola. That's all folks!
"I've come to write an article to end all articles on the topic." Sorry bandy, but to quote Churchill "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." There'll be a lot more speculation yet, and once someone's appointed plenty of discussion then. I know that's the stand Fulham have made, probably out of spite to throw a spanner into Hughes' master plan, but I can't really believe he'll actually be in charge this month, with friendlies then a competitive cup game at the end, surely? We'd be p___ing over our own shoes!
Can this agreement that he will remain here for a month be broken in any way? It would appear suicidal for us not to have appointed a manager between now and 4 weeks time. We would have minimal time for a new manager to come in, assess the squad, and make his own signings. This really does baffle me.
Like Bandit says, it seems ridiculous that this pompous brat can be in charge of our team for another month. Can we not pay him his month's wages and be rid of him?
He is still technically manager, but is on gardening leave for a month. We can sign whoever we like to be manager. Hughes will just be manager in name till 30 June.
Good points Bandit. Anyone know anything about the potential young signings that were in the pipeline?
Well we've signed a young lad from Everton who apparently could be the next big thing. We also signed that guy from Darlington wasn't it? Burn?
There was also an even younger striker (16 year old, if I recall) from Luton who we signed towards the end of last season. It all looks like a deliberate policy to get some serious young talent at the club, in the hope that some of them start breaking into the first team in the next few years. If just one or two make it, one transfer fee could pay for all the other gambles that don't come off. And - more excitingly - there's the prospect of a vibrant young Fulham team in a few years time. Ah, potential: the sweetest and most frustrating word in football.
One of the many whispers to appear in the press over the last few days is that Hughes walked away from contract talks because he wanted money for big Summer signings like Osvaldo, whereas Fayed wants to build more slowly for the future and told Hughes he'd have to sell to meet Espanol's asking price for Osvaldo. This makes sense - Fayed is looking after the long-term interests of FFC, Hughes is looking after the best interests of Mark Hughes. As most people probably know, the Fulham academy has been run for the last two years by Huw Jennings and Malcolm Elias - both of whom were part of the youth set-up at Southampton that produced Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott. These guys know what they're doing - so the next few years could be interesting as the players they're picking up start coming through.
The likes of Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Sunderland were also reported to be after Osvaldo so I don't think it was a nailed on cert that we'd get him. Like all managers Hughes would have been given a budget to work within and would have work within that amount. Did he expect the Club to do a Leeds and go for Glory or Bust. As for the players that were leaving, will they get a reprieve, even Riise has reported he'd like to stay to fight for his place. Will Gera and Pantsil have already got themselves new clubs and are just waiting for the July 1st KO. Again on the other side I wonder if we will lose players we have gone after, who will now think twice to see who the manager is. I think it will take a good 2 or more weeks to get someone in as manager, as today contracts seem to drag things out, and Fulham do tend to try and not reveal things to the press untill the last minute. So a few more weeks of Press and fan speculation me thinks.
Yep. As we always say, without being hasty (remembering thunderbirds13) the sooner we get someone in post the quicker these issues start to fall into place.
I think the asking price for Osvaldo was somewhere around the £18 million mark, surely Hughes doesn't think we have £18 million lying around to be spent on one player? For one there's not a lot of selling on value for someone who costs that much.
I do think the club has a policy of not paying inflated for players, and not getting into being the biding war. The last time we went big was for Andrew Johnson and we seem to use the transfer fee not divulged on a lot of deals. Can't see us extending over 10 million for a player.
From what is read in the gossip columns,I think both Pantsil & Gera will be away Gera to WBA, Pantsil to QPR
Youth Team of the future -------------------Etheridge--------------------- Marsh-Brown-----Burn-----Briggs----------Smith ----------------------------------------------- -Saunders-----------Donegan------------Kacaniklic ------------------Dalla Valle---------------------- ----------Hoesen--------------Trotta------------- Subs; Joronen, Marquez-Sanchez, Frei, Cosgrove, Gameiro, Peniket, Woodrow
Maybe of the not too distant future? Early rounds of the Europa league? be nice to see some of them anyway.
Hopefully not - I take a lot of interest in the up-and-coming-stars of FFC and would love also to see some of these names during the Europa League
