Why I see this management appointment as a possible turning point for us

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

I few of you will have noticed I have very strong opinions on the risk levels of various managers supposedly in the frame for the fulham job so i thought I'd better explain myself so this is it-

- in the last 2 seasons Roy changed everything,he changed the club,he changed the way the club is thought of and the way the fans(us) think of the club.
Supposedly one thing that never changes is the way small clubs(like us) have to run just to stay still-well Roy changed that,teams like us don't get to Euro finals,teams like us don't beat top 4 teams on a regular basis,we should know our place,we should be fighting relegation every season and just be grateful for being in the same league as the top 4-well Roy changed that big style.
We have gone from relegation regulars to top half of the table regulars in 2 seasons and this is unheard of,it never happens,well it happened everything changed  

Because of this we find ourself in a position that is very precarious to say the least,get it right and the worst we will get is staying around 10th ish at best we get is to improve maybe grab ourselves a good cup run even a win a cup while atracting better players.Get it wrong and we will be fighting relegation every season,the very decent players that we have(Duff,Dempsy,Hughes plus others) will go to better clubs, some fans will abandon us losing us money,MAF will stop funding us to the level he has done and we then slip into the championship-I know this sounds all doom and gloom but this is as i see it.

Because Roy changed everything we are in a position that we wanted to get to but thought we would never get to,so it's a very important choice this new manager-with added pressures we never had before-get it right and we could be hitting unheard of hights ,get it wrong and we are the next Reading,Derby County,Notingham Forest or Leeds.

[The Equalizer]

I couldn't agree more mate. After the Europa Final, I was having a discussion with a fellow supporter and he said to me:

"This is it. We've done everything that we can and we've reached the highest point that we can ever reach. From here on it's downhill. We'll lose Roy this summer, probably end up relegated the season after and have 2nd Division football to look forward to ad infinitum".

Many words that he said ring true, but I'm ever hopeful and I see this as the single best opportunity that we've had in our history to achieve something great. Roy has built the backbone, we just need to maintain it and start improving.

The question now is who?

[TonyGilroy]

Seems to me that the club are desperate to appoint a big name top manager but the type we want won't come.

That means that there are 3 possibilities left. (apart from watching the job prove too big for Ray Lewington)

1. Get a big name but one unproven as a top club manager. A Klinsmann.

2. Take a punt on someone young and unproven at Prem level but who may have the ability to succeed. Someone like Lee Clarke or Paul Lambert.

3. Lower our sights and bring in a safe pair of hands - a Curbishley or Jones.

I think there is the real prospect of disaster if we go with 1 because the top man will spend big money and if not effectively then we're f**ked.

2 is great in principle but begs the question of who and runs the risk of a Paul Ince or Gareth Southgate outcome.

My hope is that the Board takes a deep breath, confronts reality and appoints a safe pair of hands recognising that the message boards will erupt with outrage and accusations of lack of ambition.

From where we are now we need a period of consolidation not a grab at moving to an unobtainable higher level.

[ScalleysDad]

As David Pleat said the other day on 5 Live but as the 18.26 Clapham to Exeter brainstrust said before the Hamburg adventure the next Fulham manager has to "get it". (ah the pessimism about Roys future was rampant even then but we had him down for the engerland job),They have to buy into the Fulham way, get where we came from, who we are la de dah and not expect the top top players to sign for us when there are so many distractions nearby. We are never going to win the Prem but we can rock some boats along the way. Is that enough for the Svens, besides we have a coach driver, the Sparkies and others. The ethos should be Premiership establishment, not very sexy I know, but season on season top ten status is a big enough ask.

Safe pair of hands ? Pre season has'nt gone too badly and nobody has actually stormed out ..................... and he probably has all the keys by now !

[FC Silver Fox]

The chief exec of BP has just become available, hasn't he?  I'm sure he'd get us playing very slick football and help refine our playing strategy. He could also oil the wheels of our transfer programme. To cap it all, the man will turn up with innovative ideas as he knows b-all about football.

[Logicalman]

The chief exec of BP has just become available, hasn't he?  I'm sure he'd get us playing very slick football and help refine our playing strategy. He could also oil the wheels of our transfer programme. To cap it all, the man will turn up with innovative ideas as he knows b-all about football.

Perhaps he could bridge the gulf between the Oil industry and football, put some gas in the tanks of our aged players, drill his concepts into the club, and it won't be a boom time.

Night doctor ...... I'm feeling sleepy .. Daisy, Daisy, give me y-o-u-r   a-n-s-w-e-r   dooooo

[Lighthouse]

Whoever we appoint now will be seen as second best. If we go for somebody mentioned before the whole Jol saga, we will all wonder what sort of damage the extra time has done to our season chances. The problem with going for the safe pair of hands and the right name who gets us. Is that if they cock it up, have trouble in the transfer market, we will fall anyway. So there is simply no such thing as a safe pair of hands. What there is, is a gamble.

We have made it to the greyhound stadium. We have the list of runners. But because we have forgotten a pin, we seem to be unable to make a choice. The whole' we are in no hurry' is the very reason this has moved from being a turning point to how can we turn without going into reverse.

[FatFreddysCat]

Seems to me that the club are desperate to appoint a big name top manager but the type we want won't come.

That means that there are 3 possibilities left. (apart from watching the job prove too big for Ray Lewington)

1. Get a big name but one unproven as a top club manager. A Klinsmann.

2. Take a punt on someone young and unproven at Prem level but who may have the ability to succeed. Someone like Lee Clarke or Paul Lambert.

3. Lower our sights and bring in a safe pair of hands - a Curbishley or Jones.

I think there is the real prospect of disaster if we go with 1 because the top man will spend big money and if not effectively then we're f**ked.

2 is great in principle but begs the question of who and runs the risk of a Paul Ince or Gareth Southgate outcome.

My hope is that the Board takes a deep breath, confronts reality and appoints a safe pair of hands recognising that the message boards will erupt with outrage and accusations of lack of ambition.

From where we are now we need a period of consolidation not a grab at moving to an unobtainable higher level.

I'm hoping for Sparky, but wouldn't mind the very promising Lambert at all.