Within a 10-minute spell, Fulham’s game on Saturday against Manchester United was, like David Brent’s band Foregone Conclusion, a foregone conclusion.
The Mancunian pointy cutlery sliced and diced through the London team’s soft, fatty, yellow-coloured defence. Their dominance gave them a cosy hammock to lie in for the rest of their Saturday afternoon, save a few Fulham offensive forays.
Such an abysmal display from Fulham, especially the absolute lack of defensive cohesion, left one wondering whether Martin Jol would even see out the game in charge.
Inheriting Jol from the previous owner Mohamed Al Fayed (of Michael Jackson statue fame), the bookies are tipping new chairman Shahid Khan – also owner of NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars – to give his manager the flick.
The Dutchman was appointed in June 2011, after Mark Hughes had left the club citing the club’s lack of ambition. In the seasons Jol has been in charge, he’s led them to a ninth place (52 points) and a 12th (43 points).
With a quarter of this season gone, Fulham currently have 10 points and are sitting 16th.
While Fulham are two points off the relegation zone, they’re also four points away from being ninth and level with Newcastle and Hull. This bracket of places – ninth to 17th – is the ceiling for clubs the size of Fulham.
Far from becoming the ‘Manchester United of the south’ that Al Fayed proclaimed they would under his ownership, since their Premier League debut just over a decade ago Fulham have firmly established themselves as a mid-table club.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, especially in the bloated, super-rich age of hyper-modern football.
Considering the capacity of their stadium (25,700, the third-lowest in the league), it is quite an achievement that Fulham have managed to stay in the top flight for 12 years.
Expansion of Fulham’s capacity, possibly including the construction of a new stadium, is a major feature in Khan’s new plan for the club.
Too many football clubs today lack sound management, misunderstanding the notion of having a vision and sticking to it.
Southampton chairman Nicola Cortese sacked Nigel Adkins, despite his good results, as he felt that Adkins wasn’t the ‘right man’ for the job and that Mauricio Pochettino was.
Cortese’s ruthlessness has appeared to pay off, with the Saints at the top end of the table, but his decisiveness and confidence in his convictions is rare in the modern Premier League.
Jol wasn’t the choice of Khan, and though he understandably shouldn’t expect to see much support from the Pakistani-American, he still should keep his job until at least season’s end.
Unless Khan has a (modern football-speak) ‘project’ in mind, dumping Jol will only deprive Fulham of a dependable Premier League manager. It’ll also most likely temporarily destabilise the club to a point where it is impossible to gain enough points for safety within the remainder of the season.
He hasn’t reached the heights that Roy Hodgson’s side managed to do when lumping their way to the Europa Cup final, but he has so far adequately executed his job.
He’s solidified the team, brought in possibly the smoothest footballer in the world (Berbatov), kept their best player (Bryan Ruiz), promoted youth (Kasami) and a wheeler-dealer (Riether), and achieved his satisfactory mid-table placings.
If it comes to January and Khan still has doubts about Jol’s management, he should sack him.
There’s no point holding Fulham back for the foreseeable future if Khan doesn’t believe that Jol is his man, especially with the threat of relegation and at least a year in the Championship doldrums nipping at their heels.
If he keeps him, Khan would be obliged to hand him significant money for new personnel (playing the transfer market can only get you so far), with a chance that Jol’s last year will imitate Kenny Dalglish’s – a load of money thrown at average players with no or poor strategic direction.
And if Khan dithers and decides to change managers post-January, then there’s a very real chance that Fulham will repeat Wolves’ drastic drop after they sacked Mick McCarthy after the transfer window closed.
It’s perfectly fine for Khan to not want a man he didn’t appoint as his manager. But with Jol’s proven ability at spells at Spurs, Hamburg, Ajax and his first two years at Fulham, he’s still a damn good option.
The decision to sack him would be a poor one – but it’s not up to me. Khan has to move it or lose it.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
This weekend, a year long odyssey ends in either triumph or heartbreak. After taking the longest possible route - twelve matches, seven opponents, six…
Leroy Sane made up for a couple of errors with a thunderous strike that gave the keeper no chance
Real Madrid scored a great goal out of nothing following a brilliant pass that found Vinicius Junior at the end of it who slotted…
An outstretched Manuel Neur fended away a powerful strike from Real Madrid that looked like it was heading in.
Stan Sport commentator Craig Foster has lashed Kim Min-Jae's sloppy effort in the box that handed Real Madrid a penalty just minutes from full-time.
Socceroo Cameron Burgess has put Ipswich within touching distance of the Premier League after a 2-1 win over Coventry in the English Championship. Kieffer…
