Take the title as you will. Three years ago Maarten Jol became our Manager. please log in to view this image Link to pic: http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608016886523364912&pid=15.1 ”Fulham have appointed former Tottenham manager Martin Jol as their new manager. The Dutchman, 55, arrives at Craven Cottage after 18 months with Ajax, where he resigned in Dec 2010. Jol spent three seasons with Tottenham, who he guided to fifth place and the brink of Champions League qualification two years in a row. Fulham chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed has moved quickly to replace Mark Hughes, who walked out of the club last week after a year in charge. "I am very happy to join Fulham Football Club, a wonderful traditional club," Jol said. "It is a club with good, solid foundations and a great fan base. I am looking forward to being part of the Fulham family and thank the chairman for the trust he's shown in me." Jol, who was sacked by Spurs in 2007, was linked with the Fulham role last year but Ajax refused to release him from his post as head coach at the Amsterdam ArenA. Jol moved to Spurs in summer 2004, initially as an assistant to Jacques Santini, after having started his coaching career with stints at Roda JC and RKC Waalwijk in his homeland. The Dutchman was handed the top job at White Hart Lane when the Frenchman left the following November and won many admirers for the attractive football played under him. Following his dismissal in Oct 2007 - he was unceremoniously dumped following the Uefa Cup defeat to Getafe - he spent the 2008/09 campaign at Hamburg before succeeding Marco van Basten as Ajax coach in May 2009. He helped the Amsterdammers to KNVB Beker glory in 2010 before stepping down last December with the club in fourth place in the Eredivisie standings in what turned out to be a title-winning campaign. Jol will have little time to get his feet under the table, with the Fulham players due to report back for pre-season training on June 23 and facing a Europa League qualifier in less than four weeks' time Fulham statement Fulham Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Maarten Jol as its new manager. Maarten joins Fulham on an initial two year contract with the Club having an option to extend for a further year. He will arrive at our Motspur Park training ground in advance of the players return to training later this month.
He had to go by the end, but we played some excellent football in the first year or two under him. I still think he's a good manager who lost his way at Fulham, rather than a bad manager.
I'm not sure any manager could have saved Fulham from relegation, considering the way MAF let the team degrade during last two years. Looking back, I think were lucky to survive 2012-13. I don't blame Jol.
I said before last season that we had to back Jol or sack him. We did neither (until too late) and it's a key reason for us going down.
I still maintain it was Jol homself who gave up the October before last when we didn't give him a new contract. MAF unbeknown to the rest of us clearly had other plans up his sleeve at the time and that may be the reason why but it doesn't excuse Jol's laissez-faire attitude subsequently.
