The only good news tonight. The local paper in quoting a club spokesman says, "Craig Kline is no longer with Fulham Football Club". . Given a place on the board of directors in February, taking the (dubious) title of assistant director of football operations, it's no secret that there was no love lost between him and Jokanovic. Although Mr Khan Snr has been over here more to do with NFL than Fulham games it appears that his presence brought matters to a head and thankfully he has sided with the Gaffer.
Our recruitment has not been the problem. However I think Craig Kline was behind the idea that selling Aluko was a good idea, completely ignoring the intangibles he brought to our club.We sold two players that fitted our team perfectly (admittedly for good money) and failed to replace them. Analytics are important, but they are not everything (and that is coming from someone who runs a treasury department for a living!)
Wow! Sounds like there was a real bust up on Monday. "Sacked Fulham data specialist called police to training ground after being told of his dismissal" This story is best read in full - promise you it's worth a few minutes of you're time. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...ata-specialist-called-police-training-ground/ PS the data analyst at the club, James Lovell, said in the article to be taking over from Kline is a different kind of bird altogether. He's not of the 'moneyball' variety. His job is (or certainly was) to review tapes of games and provide feedback to the coaches.
Thanks for that report Cottage.,Seems at the mont there is more excitement in the backroom than on the pitch.
My take on this situation is (and I don't have any real knowledge of the situation) Firstly Kline was basically working for his own good to prove that his analytical theory could be used to provide a Football club with players who were within a defined budget and standard. It was said that his theory was generic and could be used in most business scenarios. He was given the chance by Tony Khan to use Fulham as his experiment. In order to prove his method I would think that he wanted very little outside interference, otherwise it would look to potential clients that his analysis methods were influenced by things outside of the method. I suspect that within the club there were people who didn't have belief in his methods and he obviously thought they were undermining his authority. It would therefore seem there was an ongoing dispute about if it was working. Kline could see that he was about to have his analysis brought in to question, and reputation destroyed and sounds like he may have had some sort of breakdown when faced with dismissal.
Canny and excellent assessment SuperBri. There were 9 or so alleged tweets Captain. They mostly were having a swing at Ali Mac, suggesting corruption and saying that he [Kline] had been threatened with violence if he spoke out publicly. The most bizarre of all though was one where he claims Khan snr told him 'the only way 3 people keep a secret is when 2 of them are dead'. Reckon such 'Sopranos' cliches tend to support SuperBri's conclusion that Kline has had 'some sort of a breakdown'.
So it seems that what has caused the issue to come to a head is a fight over Joka not picking Kline's players and sending them to the U23s, specifically Djalo, Madl, Mollo & Graham. Joka picked academy players such as de la Torre & Edun instead as he had no other players available (apparently Kline had blocked previously deals for Aaron Mooy and Glenn Murray last season on the basis of analytics). This bit checks out, as our bench has been completely bizarre the last few games. Kline supposedly got upset over this and directed that Joka could not pick academy players (to stop him circumventing Kline signings). The sacking came after Khan watched our dismal performance against Bolton and Kline apparently accused him of both violence and racism. Kline sounds mentally unbalanced! For the record, I think Joka is completely wrong on Mollo. However we can but hope this soap opera is finally be over - and let's also hope our season can still be recovered.
A nice insight report Surlyc i personally think Mollo could fit nicely into our team, as for the other signings a complete W O S
Thanks SuperBri. What a shambles. Beginning to wonder if I was wrong about Mike Rigg after all. Incidentally, understand Rigg has been working with Bristol City in a consultancy capacity, but doing similar as he did for us. Say no more ...
Cottager, an easier format to read, and a good read too, link below. It explains some of the team selection mysteries and dropping out / lack of pursuing some good players in the transfer windows. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...eyballs-Craig-Kline-stats-madness-Fulham.html
Cheers 2whites. The picture of Khan snr is brilliant. Might also explain why the Gaffer has shown absolutely no emotion on the touchline in the last three games. And maybe even explains our performances - know off the field matters are not supposed to affect the players but stuff like this (and the personal involvement of Jokanovic) must have had an impact. Just think what it's been like on the training ground if you were one of the 'moneyball' players!! Or vice versa!! Would like to think that the silver lining will be a more straightforward/positive January window - the CB and CF Jokanovic been very publicly banging on about for some time? However, Tony Khan is still Vice Chairman and who's to say he's not a vindictive young man; what with his pet software toy being rubbished and his bestest friend being fired. Footnote: Kit was sacked two years ago this weekend after beating Bristol City.