Former Fulham captain Danny Murphy believes the club are struggling to make an impact in the Championship this season as a result of selling some of their better players in the summer.
Scott Malone and Sone Aluko both left Craven Cottage for Huddersfield and Reading respectively in the transfer window and Slavisa Jokanovic's side have failed to reach the heights they did last season, sitting in 15th place with 26 points so far.
Although eleven replacements came into the side, only Oliver Norwood has cemented himself as a first team regular with a number of others struggling, while assistant director of Football Operations Craig Kline has since left the club.
And Murphy thinks Fulham have got themselves into a "real pickle" as a result of losing those important players during the summer.
In a sit-down www.AskFans.co.uk , he said: "They are struggling because they sell a lot of their best players. They then have to keep trying to fill the gaps.
"Their budget isn't anywhere near as big as the other Championship teams. In actual fact, last year - they punched above their weight in that respect.
"They should have won the play-off semi-finals. They dominated the games and were unlucky.
"They have now got themselves in a real pickle because parachute payments are dwindling, they are struggling to make an impact because a couple of their best players have gone."
Murphy also believes the Craven Cottage outfit has gone from being in a healthy place to finding itself in difficult circumstances, something he believes is a shame as Fulham was a "fantastic club to be around."
"The club has gone from being a really healthy place to a really difficult place. I feel for the owners as they brought the club in good faith as a Premier League club. It was in good condition.
"A couple of the people at the club at the time decided they walked on water, went against all the advice they were getting and messed it up.
"It was a shame because it was a fantastic club to be around."
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/former-fulham-captain-danny-murphy-14004980
At least retirement from playing the game hasn't effected his football brain. Good precis of what has gone wrong - and why.
Sort of annoys me every time Murphy comments on Fulham as he clearly doesn't follow what's going on. Were the club really in a "healthy place" when Khan took over? Ageing squad struggling in the Prem with no decent investment for some time. We were going down regardless of who the owner was. He also says we've lost our best players, no mention of keeping our diamonds on long deals (Cairney & Sess) He doesn't really know what he's talking about. He also says we don't invest, weren't we the third biggest spenders this season in the league? Wolves have spent less so his point that we aren't keeping up with the big spenders of the league doesn't make sense. He doesn't know the Championship at all.
Does anyone believe he actually watches any Fulham games?
Kind of hate when these Prem pundits talk about the Championship as they don't have any authority on it, just arm chair views from glancing at the league table now and again. Leave it to the Leeroy Roseniors of this world I say or podcasts like Fulhamish who actually take an active interest in other clubs players, tactics, business etc.
Anyone else think he also comes off as slightly bitter that he maybe wasn't considered for the job when Kit got it? He seems to love talking about how our clubs a mess always with the closing caveat that "it's a fantastic club"
I rarely bother with transfer fees and spending but since you mention us and Wolves I looked at Transfermarkt and they say that wolves net spend this season is £17m and ours is £0.5m. Am I missing something?
I love Danny Murphy but he is talking mostly rubbish in this piece. Ojo is a first pick as well as Norwood. Aluko is doing nothing at Reading, I do think we miss Malone both wanted to leave and or demanded too much. I bet our wage bill is as big as most in the Championship and we do compete with most in the transfer market. He fails to mention injuries this to last season and totally ignored the signing of Sess and Cairney new contract, both our most valuable players.
The behind the scenes going on are reason to be critical for sure but frankly everyone is guessing on what really went on.
Even Man U, Spurs and Arsenal are forced to lose their best players sometime, it's what happens. 90% of these quotes are frankly nonsense.
Yes, we've only sold Aluko and Malone, who both wanted to take up other offers, since last season, but we have had significant injuries, though, and brought in new, needed strikers who haven't worked out so far.
We did at least re-sign Cairney and Sess, who both could well have left.
The reasons for our poor showing so far this season, after last, are discussed at length by fans, but the reasons aren't that clear, apart from Cairney being injured, I suppose.
What is this guy on? I know he's done more than most for this club but does it give him a right to continually talk the club down?
I don't see how it's a difficult place in a league where anyone beats anyone, and form/ team spirit / confidence can get you a long way . Bit of investment and give the players a kick up the rear and we are fine.
He's alluded to some bad eggs at the club and feeling sorry for the owners, for some people walking on water and bringing us down. If there's any remote truth in this, surely it's partly the fault of the owners for not acting sooner, ie giving too much time to Jol, Felix and Kit, (giving time to a manager is good but in each occasion it looked and played out like blind faith)
If he had any heart for the club he would be advising the club or at the very least, keeping bad headlines for the club out of the news instead of sensationalising his opinions for a bit of attention
Danny Murphy is a Fulham hero. But he is obviously concentrates on the Prem as that is his job as a pundit. His knowledge of Fulham is simplistic. However we all agree that some basic, awful mistakes were made at the time of the change of ownership. Some awful advice was given. But the club were already on the way down when the owner took over and sadly his decisions has just hastened the fall.
Each season we hope the advice he receives is improved.
Quote from: Southcoastffc on December 07, 2017, 10:44:04 AM
I rarely bother with transfer fees and spending but since you mention us and Wolves I looked at Transfermarkt and they say that wolves net spend this season is £17m and ours is £0.5m. Am I missing something?
Wolves are going for broke and we're not.
Quote from: EJL on December 07, 2017, 12:13:51 PM
Quote from: Southcoastffc on December 07, 2017, 10:44:04 AM
I rarely bother with transfer fees and spending but since you mention us and Wolves I looked at Transfermarkt and they say that wolves net spend this season is £17m and ours is £0.5m. Am I missing something?
Wolves are going for broke and we're not.
My post was in relation to the OP who seems to say that we have spent MORE than Wolves, and indeed more than most championship clubs.
The thrust of his comments were about selling Aluko and Malone, who yes we miss. But this is not the biggest issue which has been injuries and most importantly not brining in the right players like an effective striker centre back and replacing Malone whilst signing loads of wingers ! Murphys lash out is not helpful, not current and not correct.
Quote from: FulhamStu on December 07, 2017, 10:45:08 AM
I love Danny Murphy but he is talking mostly rubbish in this piece. Ojo is a first pick as well as Norwood. Aluko is doing nothing at Reading, I do think we miss Malone both wanted to leave and or demanded too much. I bet our wage bill is as big as most in the Championship and we do compete with most in the transfer market. He fails to mention injuries this to last season and totally ignored the signing of Sess and Cairney new contract, both our most valuable players.
The behind the scenes going on are reason to be critical for sure but frankly everyone is guessing on what really went on.
Even Man U, Spurs and Arsenal are forced to lose their best players sometime, it's what happens. 90% of these quotes are frankly nonsense.
:plus one:
We got to the Prem without FFP but getting back is so much more difficult with the restrictions.
"We dominated the games". If he's talking about the playoffs, this is not true. We were incredibly under par during them.
Quote from: Southcoastffc on December 07, 2017, 12:39:48 PM
Quote from: EJL on December 07, 2017, 12:13:51 PM
Quote from: Southcoastffc on December 07, 2017, 10:44:04 AM
I rarely bother with transfer fees and spending but since you mention us and Wolves I looked at Transfermarkt and they say that wolves net spend this season is £17m and ours is £0.5m. Am I missing something?
Wolves are going for broke and we're not.
My post was in relation to the OP who seems to say that we have spent MORE than Wolves, and indeed more than most championship clubs.
You're correct mate. The stats you quote take into account the fees received from sales too so Wolves net budget is at a much larger deficit to ours
We had a choice. Pay out higher contracts to the likes of Malone/Aluko and recruit fewer/be able to spend less, or sell for decent prices (Aluko was decent fee) and reinvest in more for Slav.
I think Murphy right in saying we sold/released good players and didn't invest/recruit adequately, hence why we're 15th in the league. Without injuries, I'm in no doubt we'd be slightly higher but our best 11/15 man start/match day squad, isn't strong enough for top 6.
Poor investment, poor recruiting and a damaging structure in the timing of recruits, is impacting us year on year. We've again on a downward spiral from last season and our prospects are dwindling. We'll lose key assets in the youth and end up having to sell the likes of Sess and Cairney. This isn't doom and gloom, this is likely to happen as players who are EPL quality, don't hang around on club loyalty alone.
Danny Murphy is 100% correct
And also Aluko not doing well as when at FFC because our system of play suited him much better than Reading
Quote from: Baszab on December 07, 2017, 02:53:46 PM
Danny Murphy is 100% correct
And also Aluko not doing well as when at FFC because our system of play suited him much better than Reading
Think aluko because we couldnt or wouldnt offer him an extended deal has cost us big time in results .
I know the club saw a big return money wise,ability wise is a different thing and what price it must be far more worth to the team.
Narrator: Danny Murphy was wrong
Quote from: Southcoastffc on December 07, 2017, 10:44:04 AM
I rarely bother with transfer fees and spending but since you mention us and Wolves I looked at Transfermarkt and they say that wolves net spend this season is £17m and ours is £0.5m. Am I missing something?
look at where the top five who have a net spend are.... Apart from wolves mainly struggling
Quote from: MJG on December 07, 2017, 05:32:42 PM
Quote from: Southcoastffc on December 07, 2017, 10:44:04 AM
I rarely bother with transfer fees and spending but since you mention us and Wolves I looked at Transfermarkt and they say that wolves net spend this season is £17m and ours is £0.5m. Am I missing something?
look at where the top five who have a net spend are.... Apart from wolves mainly struggling
Don't get me wrong, spending big isn't always the way to go, look at Boro for instance, that's not to say our lack of spending hasn't hampered our chances. Arguably poor spending has been the bigger culprit to lack of spending. However we look at it, transfers and squad maintenance has been woeful.
Quote from: Statto on December 07, 2017, 02:01:29 PM
Sorry but (unusually for Murphy) he's bang right on every single point there IMO.
Bang right about Khan buying a good club.
Bang right about our net spend being relatively very low.
Bang right about parachute payments (and our general prospects) diminishing each year.
Bang right that we should have won the play-offs v Reading.
And Yes injuries are a factor he doesn't mention but he's still right about player sales also being a factor.
+1.
Quote from: Statto on December 07, 2017, 05:48:22 PM
Quote from: Horsfield_No9 on December 07, 2017, 10:33:22 AM
We were going down regardless of who the owner was.
Saw this comment on another thread yesterday. baseless conjecture. offensive, frankly
What is indisputably more plausible is that there was a strong likelihood we would have gone down the following season even had MAF remained our Chairman.
This most certainly isn't baseless: Khan continued where MAF left off and under-invested in the summer of 2013 in the same way that Al Fayed had been doing for a couple of years previously.
People take offence to different things, of course. While recognising how much good Al Fayed did for the Club for 13 years, I am nevertheless far more offended that he chose to sell the Club to someone who knew next to nothing about football and less still about FFC than I am the suggestion that MAF left us on the brink a nosedive.
Quote from: Statto on December 07, 2017, 05:48:22 PM
Quote from: Horsfield_No9 on December 07, 2017, 10:33:22 AM
We were going down regardless of who the owner was.
Saw this comment on another thread yesterday. baseless conjecture. offensive, frankly
Well then, offer some rebuttal. Your opinion isn't any better than anyone else and all you did on that other thread was offer opposite opinions. That certainly is your right but the fact is that a series of managers (all football men by the way) didn't improvement the teams performances. We had a naive owner, crap managers and aged and substandard players. We were in trouble. If by the grace of God we did survive, what would have happened the next season since we still had the aforementioned negatives?
I have my own opinion,but who do we think are those quoted as thinking they walked on water??
Danny Murphy is spot on, whilst neither aluko or Malone are superstars they fitted our network.
It's as plain as a nose on yer face.
I'd be interested to know how many times Murphy has actually seen us play this season. Also its as plain as day it still rankles him we didn't give him a two year contract even though Blackburn terminated his after one year.
Quote from: Jims Dentist on December 07, 2017, 07:51:44 PM
I have my own opinion,but who do we think are those quoted as thinking they walked on water??
Ali Mac for sure, since his arrival we've consistently gone backwards and yet he seems untouchable.
Quote from: Statto on December 07, 2017, 05:48:22 PM
Quote from: Horsfield_No9 on December 07, 2017, 10:33:22 AM
We were going down regardless of who the owner was.
Saw this comment on another thread yesterday. baseless conjecture. offensive, frankly
Statto - it was blindingly obvious
MAF had been preparing our club for sale for some time and our ageing, over paid squad was the result - after "lack of ambition" Hughes left we were on a downward spiral
Sadly Khan seems to have believed the MAF hype and did not realise we were heading south until it was too late
I know that you hold MAF in high esteem and so do I - for what he did to resurrect our club and make us great again - but when he started to liquidate his assets our fate was sealed - there was little investment in the team and the focus was on his exit plan.
For me it was a sad ending for an otherwise legendary owner
Quote from: Roberty on December 08, 2017, 10:31:24 AM
Quote from: Statto on December 07, 2017, 05:48:22 PM
Quote from: Horsfield_No9 on December 07, 2017, 10:33:22 AM
We were going down regardless of who the owner was.
Saw this comment on another thread yesterday. baseless conjecture. offensive, frankly
Statto - it was blindingly obvious
MAF had been preparing our club for sale for some time and our ageing, over paid squad was the result - after "lack of ambition" Hughes left we were on a downward spiral
Sadly Khan seems to have believed the MAF hype and did not realise we were heading south until it was too late
I know that you hold MAF in high esteem and so do I - for what he did to resurrect our club and make us great again - but when he started to liquidate his assets our fate was sealed - there was little investment in the team and the focus was on his exit plan.
For me it was a sad ending for an otherwise legendary owner
Perfectly put Roberty. What has always amazed me is how Mackintosh escaped the wrath of Khan as he was a common denominator and could have told Khan the truth that we were an ageing, past it team that had no future and needed a massive overhaul. Maybe he did tell Khan who ignored him, again I guess we will never know. Just as an aside, Jol was only every a decent manager when he had Chris Houghton as his number 2. Houghton has gone on to prove what a good manager/coach he is whereas Jol has sunk without trace.
The Mans not wrong ? Oh really, well he certainly was when he took the money of Khan with four others to choose our next manager !
Five or six weeks later he helped come up with the name of "Kit Symons" , lost all respect for everybody involved after that .
Quote from: Riversider on December 08, 2017, 02:46:33 PM
The Mans not wrong ? Oh really, well he certainly was when he took the money of Khan with four others to choose our next manager !
Five or six weeks later he helped come up with the name of "Kit Symons" , lost all respect for everybody involved after that .
Unless I'm mis-remembering, wasn't his preferred choice Neil Lennon?
Riversider - what actually happened was that after we had 1 point from 9 games (I think?) and the club and players were in considerable turmoil, Khan gave KS - who was already at the club and had managed a very successful U21 team and personally developed many juniors including Dembele and Roberts (who later earned the club serious sale process which the owner has in effect trousered as the net spending is still zero) - anyway, KS was given a poisoned chalice in trying to stop us sliding down to the 3rd division - which he did successfully at the time
Quote from: Riversider on December 08, 2017, 02:46:33 PM
The Mans not wrong ? Oh really, well he certainly was when he took the money of Khan with four others to choose our next manager !
Five or six weeks later he helped come up with the name of "Kit Symons" , lost all respect for everybody involved after that .
Sorry mate I think you're confused. We're talking about the article he is quoted in from this week. Not what he did 3 years ago
Quote from: Baszab on December 08, 2017, 07:22:26 PM
Riversider - what actually happened was that after we had 1 point from 9 games (I think?) and the club and players were in considerable turmoil, Khan gave KS - who was already at the club and had managed a very successful U21 team and personally developed many juniors including Dembele and Roberts (who later earned the club serious sale process which the owner has in effect trousered as the net spending is still zero) - anyway, KS was given a poisoned chalice in trying to stop us sliding down to the 3rd division - which he did successfully at the time
In hindsight, given the restrictions KS endured (probably greater than those that Slav has had) he did a very good job.
No doubt that Aluko and Malone both had very a good seasons for us , also true that we got good money for them in the summer but that was to be expected because of the good season they had.
Now , the crunch, how was the money obtained used to replace Malone and Aluko.
We don't know if Malone and Aluko were adequately replaced seeing as the manager refuses to include most of the people who could do that.
Quote from: filham on December 08, 2017, 09:59:37 PM
No doubt that Aluko and Malone both had very a good seasons for us , also true that we got good money for them in the summer but that was to be expected because of the good season they had.
Now , the crunch, how was the money obtained used to replace Malone and Aluko.
Khan trousered the change after wasting the rest of the money on Fonte.