Is it an America thing? The way we hired and fired managers last season was crude. The January transfer dealings turned into a shambles. We’ve had loyal giants Aaron Hughes and Damien Duff both leave without proper acknowledgement. Steve Sidwell said at the end of the season that he couldn’t comment on his future until he had spoken to a Fulham official. Two days later he’s on the released list. And it's been similar behind the scenes. The ‘customer champion’ Tom Guthrie left a few months ago. Earlier this week the Personnel Director, Robert Ordever, left. Both appeared to be good at their job and certainly had a rapport with the fans. But not a peep from the Club. Now the Brede Hangeland fiasco. To think not so long ago we were held up as an ‘icon’ - a properly run club. Shad Khan came with a reputation of being ruthless in the face of failure. What next? Flats on the Riverside!?
I have just seen the Brede Hangeland story and was asking the same question. Looks like a reasonable major overhaul going on this summer, which may turn out to be a masterstroke but equally see the demise for a few seasons. I am not gloating in anyway, as we could easily end up doing the same, or worse. Interesting season ahead lads
C58. I don't know the people you mentioned in your post. I am of the mind that there is a complete overhaul throughout the club, not just the players roster. The club did give Duffers a srnd off on the website I think. Sidwell wanted premiership football so he is leaving. I'm not sure that this is bad practice from Fulham. As I mentioned in the Brede thread. There is alwsys another side to these stories, we only see whats in the media and left to guess what actually happened. The transfer window was strange, the manager situation avoidable. Muelensteen wasn't going to keep us up, Jol had seemingly lost the dressing room and fans and we were spiralling downwards. It was a bad year but in all honesty it is a situation that would have happened even without Khan being owner. MAF was not prepared to invest properly any more in the squad for 3 seasons. Just my take on it. There have been positives this year. Emergence of strong youth policy coming to fruition. Stong leader at the helm with a proven track record. Riverside still going ahead. Culling of all the deadwood and loan players that we had to rely on. Big earners moving on, leaving space for fresh faces. There are more I am sure. Any business goes through a tricky patch, FFC are in one now but will come out of it quickly?
I was thinking a similar thing, to be honest. The managerial merry-go-round (Mule assisting Jol, Mule replacing Jol, Curbs joining Mule, Butch joining Curbs and Mule, Magath replacing all three) was a joke, regardless of the necessity. All these players talking of bad treatment (which, if you all remember, were attributed to Jol last season) seems to be a constant and it is worrying. We seem to be losing our way, but as Craving says, perhaps this is all a necessity to get our mojo back? We had stagnated badly, the lack of funds was causing masses of rot throughout the squad and our only options were to bring in more of the same. Now we have a new bloke pulling the strings who seems forthcoming with money, which is something we need. Players like John Arse Piise are gone, so now is as good a time to get back some of what we had as any. So we're not in the PL any more. The only downside is less money and less TV coverage (and to some that may be a blessing). We don't have to fume at being treated like another mundane club just there to make up the numbers, cannon fodder for the opulent mercenaries. No more will we breath a sigh of relief when our season is effectively over once we reach the cursed 40 point margin. No more will we aspire to mid-table mediocrity or long for a miracle in the cups the fat cats show no respect to. Now is the time we stand tall and proud, brothers! Who will stand with me? This Is Fulham please log in to view this image Oop, time for my medication...
