Claudio Ranieri New Fulham Manager

[Dan+]

I don't know if it was on here, but I weirdly called this happening. Admittedly not all my own doing, I saw someone say he's got a place in West London and he keeps popping up at Premier League games I've noticed so I got the impression he fancied a return - Fulham made the most sense, convenient and they're frankly awful, in-particular in defence which he is renowned for being strong at.

I actually do think he will keep them in the league. I can't explain the tactics behind why - but his career is littered with job after job of initial bursts followed by struggle, so I think he'll manage to organise them this year and get them safe. They've been rubbish but they could be 14th in two games time, they're nowhere near in deep trouble, nobody is even.

I think this is a bit of a worry for us as well as previously stated - I think we've got a pretty crap run of fixtures coming up and our game at Fulham in three weeks was the one I was confident we'd win, but now I've totally U-turned, he is nailed on to beat us and people are going to rub our noses in it.

He will get a great reception when he comes here. Don't let people tell you otherwise. Although it won't be his first return - ironically, he was back the weekend just gone, albeit not in the circumstances that anyone wanted, but he, along with Pearson, got plenty of songs in his favour, so don't kid yourself that there's any bad blood between at least the fans and him. It was a huge sign of how cut-throat the Premier League is, but if we hadn't have sacked him, I'm 99% sure we'd still be in the Championship. I cannot stress to people how bad we were that year. It was horrible seeing him sacked, but for me it was either that, or watching him take us down, and the latter would've not only been potentially crippling to us financially, it would've been so sad.

[Dan+]

Ranieri's been given a 'multi-year' deal according to the BBC.

I'll call this now. Quote me on it, keep it saved. He will keep them up this year, and they will have a similar start next year, before he gets the sack.

I don't really have any sympathy to Fulham in this scenario here. I think the way they handled promotion was dreadful in hindsight. It's easy to get excited about a club spending money but that doesn't always mean they're doing it properly. People have this strange attitude that they think the more players you sign, the better you become, as if it's some kind of battle where you're using everybody at once. The truth is it looks to me as an outsider like they've overhauled pretty much their entire side, it hasn't clicked immediately so they've got no real idea what to actually do.

Something tells me Jokanovic wasn't totally at fault here. I think it's madness to rip your side up. Hardly any promoted sides do it. Players stepping up from the Championship is a lot easier than it's made out to be.

Wolves handled promotion well. Fulham didn't.

[Azeem]

11 hours ago, Danny said:

I don't think this is a long term solution to them staying in this league but he may keep them up this season.

No one really has a solution at the moment imo. 

[Dave]

He's been told there will be funds available in January.

I don't like this approach. I hope they drop.

[Rick]

Why all the hate for Fulham? 

They came up, invested heavily in the squad to give the manager the best chance of at least surviving this season. He starts the season terribly, and with the busy Christmas period not far off they replace him with a proven manager to give themselves the best chance of surviving. 

Yes, the players always take the blame too but you can't sit there and say their start has been anything but a disaster, They are just lucky that the team's around them haven't been able to open up a gap. Jokanovic had to go, he was persisting with naive football and was making so many changes each week that there was no stability in the side. 

[Dan+]

I just think they did it wrong. Obviously you've got to invest upon promotion but instead of trying to improve on what they had they've effectively tried to buy a whole new team, alienating their old squad as the new one hasn't looked close to clicking and ending up not really knowing what they're doing.

A new manager and clean slate for everyone will probably do the trick though.

[Dave]

If you're going to invest heavily with over 12 signings or whatever it was you have to accept there's going to be a major period of transition at the beginning. They're not all going to fit in to the club's ethos or system as the continuity has been destroyed. I am sure Jokanovic was chuffed with the club's willingness to invest heavily, but he's a clever man and would not be naive enough to think that it would all click immediatly. Khan shouldn't be that naive either, given how he tried to buy his way out The Championship and then spent years shitting over FFP. The whole approach has been poor.

They may have not got the results they have wanted, but they're only two wins away from thinking "If this all clicks we could be on for the top half". To sack a Manager now, a Manager that is proven to be a second half season man, just seems harsh given there isn't a gap at all. Words like 'terrible' and 'disaster' really are a massive over exaggeration by people with very short term views.

The way they went around replacing him really doesn't sit well with me. Even Managers who are not liked by the media make the point that they wouldn't speak to a club that has a Manager employed because of the lack of respect it shows to that manager. Yet everybody over looks that because they've appointed somebody the media love. You have to feel sorry for the Leicester players being branded as snakes really as the guy that says things like 'dilly ding dilly dong' clearly isn't the lovely bloke he's been portrayed as.

[Dan+]

Ranieri is very humble but I think he's got quite questionable man-management at times. He inherited one of the most tight-knit dressing rooms going when he came here and yet by the end you could tell there was something very wrong, and this isn't something unique to Leicester - in-fact, what happened the year before makes the sourness even more remarkable in my eyes.

Anyone with a brain would've laughed at the media's rhetoric all along anyway. You can't give him all the credit for the good yet the players all the stick for the bad.

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

Tony Khan: Fulham vice-chairman promises investment but argues with fan on Twitter

Fulham vice-chairman Tony Khan told a critical supporter who had urged him to leave the club, to "go to hell".

Khan, 36, tweeted fans after Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Burnley which left his side 19th in the Premier League, five points adrift of safety.

In a succession of messages he promised "multiple signings" in January but one fan replied: "Leave my club please".

Khan, the son of Fulham owner Shahid Khan, responded: "Never. I'll die at this club. Go to hell."

In explaining his response, Khan claimed the Twitter user telling him to leave had been critical in the past, including shortly after Fulham won promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs in May.

The fan quickly denied he had been in touch after promotion to the top-flight and in turn said he was frustrated by the fact Khan splits his time with other roles at NFL franchise Jacksonville Jaguars and as president of All Elite Wrestling.

Khan's online exchange began with him reacting to a defeat at Burnley in which the home side failed to register a shot on target yet ran out 2-1 winners courtesy of two own goals.

He wrote: "To the squad, staff and supporters, some people are waving the white flag and saying we should surrender. People said the same when we were six and four points behind during the past two seasons. We closed the gap both times.

"We can close this gap. It's on our players now to fight, finish and win.

"Our squad has great moments but they've shown their abilities more often than they've gotten the points we need.

"As with last January we'll make multiple signings to improve the squad."

Following their promotion, Fulham spent around £100m on players including midfielder Jean Michael Seri, striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and defender Alfie Mawson during the summer transfer window.

But they have won just three of their 22 league games this season and have one win in their last 10 matches in all competitions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46853221

 

2

 

[RandoEFC+]

Well that's thoroughly unprofessional and embarrassing.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

15 hours ago, CaaC - John said:

Quote

Tony Khan: Fulham vice-chairman promises investment but argues with fan on Twitter

Fulham vice-chairman Tony Khan told a critical supporter who had urged him to leave the club, to "go to hell".

Khan, 36, tweeted fans after Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Burnley which left his side 19th in the Premier League, five points adrift of safety.

In a succession of messages he promised "multiple signings" in January but one fan replied: "Leave my club please".

Khan, the son of Fulham owner Shahid Khan, responded: "Never. I'll die at this club. Go to hell."

In explaining his response, Khan claimed the Twitter user telling him to leave had been critical in the past, including shortly after Fulham won promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs in May.

The fan quickly denied he had been in touch after promotion to the top-flight and in turn said he was frustrated by the fact Khan splits his time with other roles at NFL franchise Jacksonville Jaguars and as president of All Elite Wrestling.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Khan's online exchange began with him reacting to a defeat at Burnley in which the home side failed to register a shot on target yet ran out 2-1 winners courtesy of two own goals.

He wrote: "To the squad, staff and supporters, some people are waving the white flag and saying we should surrender. People said the same when we were six and four points behind during the past two seasons. We closed the gap both times.

"We can close this gap. It's on our players now to fight, finish and win.

"Our squad has great moments but they've shown their abilities more often than they've gotten the points we need.

"As with last January we'll make multiple signings to improve the squad."

Following their promotion, Fulham spent around £100m on players including midfielder Jean Michael Seri, striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and defender Alfie Mawson during the summer transfer window.

But they have won just three of their 22 league games this season and have one win in their last 10 matches in all competitions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46853221

 

2

 

Hush you. Don't say bad things about the pundits, media and premiership elitist fan's wankboys.

[Dan+]

He's not really had much success in sorting out their defence has he? He's improved it but it's still conceding at a rate that only Cardiff, Bournemouth and Burnley are doing poorer than.

18 conceded in 10 games since he was there. 1.8 goals a game.

31 conceded in 12 beforehand which is 2.5 a game.

So yeah he's improved it but it's still very poor.

[Dr. Gonzo]

On 18/11/2018 at 08:01, The Palace Fan said:

If you're going to invest heavily with over 12 signings or whatever it was you have to accept there's going to be a major period of transition at the beginning. They're not all going to fit in to the club's ethos or system as the continuity has been destroyed. I am sure Jokanovic was chuffed with the club's willingness to invest heavily, but he's a clever man and would not be naive enough to think that it would all click immediatly. Khan shouldn't be that naive either, given how he tried to buy his way out The Championship and then spent years shitting over FFP. The whole approach has been poor.

They may have not got the results they have wanted, but they're only two wins away from thinking "If this all clicks we could be on for the top half". To sack a Manager now, a Manager that is proven to be a second half season man, just seems harsh given there isn't a gap at all. Words like 'terrible' and 'disaster' really are a massive over exaggeration by people with very short term views.

The way they went around replacing him really doesn't sit well with me. Even Managers who are not liked by the media make the point that they wouldn't speak to a club that has a Manager employed because of the lack of respect it shows to that manager. Yet everybody over looks that because they've appointed somebody the media love. You have to feel sorry for the Leicester players being branded as snakes really as the guy that says things like 'dilly ding dilly dong' clearly isn't the lovely bloke he's been portrayed as.

Judging by both Fulham and his NFL side, I think Khan is ambitious, but also naive and unrealistic about building a side for long term success.

As you say, that much investment is obviously a great showing of ambitious, but yeah they’re trying to bed in 12 new players - which is enough to entirely replace the strongest XI - it’s not realistic to expect them to all hit the ground running. And honestly was that the risk of bringing in that many new players, that it could disturb the momentum of a promoted side that played good stuff on its way up into the prem. Promoted sides generally struggle regardless of that momentum.

But while Khan is obviously a very smart man, I do think he’s pretty naive in how he runs both of his teams. He got complacent with his NFL side that could have used bringing in an upgrade on the quarterback that was their biggest weakness when they were very good last year, or at least giving him better players to throw to - his NFL side were fantastic defensively and a very good side in spite of an inconsistent passing game. They probably could have been contenders, but this season their offensive performances have been shocking bad and it’s cost them. Meanwhile Fulham I think would have looked better this season if they’d made half as many signings. Weird priorities from him.

[Dan+]

Fulham's summer business reeked of over-rating the bottom half of this league. Loads of Championship players could hack it. The gap has shrunk.