Jol Has Held Talks - Decision Next Week

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/16/fulham-martin-jol

Martin Jol in the frame for Fulham post


• Decision on Dutchman's future unlikely before next week

• Ajax manager was in charge at Tottenham for three years

Stuart James guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 July 2010 20.47 


Martin Jol is understood to have held talks with Fulham about the vacant managerial position at Craven Cottage, although the Dutchman is unlikely to make a decision until after the weekend.

The prospect of working in England again would appeal to Jol, who spent three years in charge of Tottenham Hotspur before he was sacked in October 2007. Later that year he was linked with the Fulham job, as a replacement for Lawrie Sanchez, but he withdrew his interest and eventually took over at Hamburg. He moved on to Ajax last season.

After the departure of Roy Hodgson to Liverpool, Fulham are keen to have a new manager in place as soon as possible. Jol is believed to be the frontrunner for the position although there are doubts about whether Fulham would be able to satisfy his financial demands as well as his ambitions. He earns about ¤3m (£2.5m) a year at Ajax and Fulham would almost certainly need to match that salary. Jol would also require assurances about the funds he would be given to improve the team.

There seems little prospect that he will be able to strengthen the Ajax squad this summer, with the Dutch club experiencing financial difficulties. Raymond van der Wiel, the Holland right-back at the World Cup, is set to join Bayern Munich for a fee in the region of ¤17m but Jol will have little of that money to spend. Other decisions about players he wishes to keep have been taken out of his hands.

Sources close to Jol, however, suggest he could still decide to stay on at Ajax and keep his options open in the hope that a more appealing job might come along. There have been rumours that an opportunity at Newcastle United, working with Chris Hughton, his former assistant at Spurs, could arise.