Without Mr Khan.........

[Fulham76]

I can hear the blood boiling and the steam coming out of certain posters ears  reading this.

I think that was the point in the original post!

Personally agree with a few of the above posts regarding the Khan's ownership - it's been far from successful. In fact, it's been mainly disappointing.

I'm struggling to think of many positives at all. A few mention his superb work with the youth set up, but wasn't that already well established & performing? We already had excellent training facilities.
SJ - a good appointment, most fans wanted him & I hope he stays but don't think he will for much longer, due to the Khans.
The Riverside - not happening, or happening unbelievably slowly - we'll see.

And the posters using Al Fayed as the excuse for Khan's poor performance... he handed over a solid, mid table premier league team of 13 years, debt free. As for not investing, a few players spring to mind in Al Fayeds last days... Ruiz, Berbatov, Dejagah, all expensive & on huge salaries. Rodellega, £80k a week. He also maintained all the other over-paid premier league salaries personally.

The Khans have been here almost 5 years now & if they genuinely had bought the mess of a club some try to convince us he did, it's not his fault etc. etc.. he should have turned it around by now. We're only a £40m turnover business these days, (appreciate thats reduced from c. £100m in recent years due to relegation), but a tiny investment for a multi billionaire & one he should be able to improve in his sleep in the time he's had.

We don't have Khan's attention unfortunately, therefore, it's difficult to see how things won't continue as they have done for the last 5 years. So, yes, it could have been worse without Khan but could have been a whole lot better with someone who knew or was interested in what was going on here.

[MJG]

You cant get away from the fact that Khan took over ownership of a Premier league side raking in good tv income and the following two seasons skirted with relegation out of the ECL.....
Invested circa £12 million in an injured striker when we needed goals
Responsible for the hiring of one of the worst (if not the worst) manager in Fulham's history - McGath!

I am struggling to see the business sense in maintaining gates of around 17k in the ECL rather than 25K in the prem with ridiculous levels of tv revenue and increased game prices.....The clubs value and reputation has plummeted.

If you can't see the logic in hiring Magath, then you didn't understand the situation we were in.

3 managers in one season....defies any logic!

Its never a good sign and its happened a few times and not sure ever worked but if you look at the results

Jol 13 games 10 points, Rene 13 games 10 points and only 1 point in last 6 you can see why they went for the change. Clearly Magath was wrong choice in retrospect but you can see why they went for a third go. In the end 12 points from last 12 games was not enough.
Must admit I was never a Rene fan and didn't think he was a good choice either and I think we all agree Jol only stayed on at end of previous season as we were selling.

[bobby01]

I have refrained from knocking the Khans so far but patience is wearing out I,m afraid. Many comments above regarding the money spent on the academy, the way I see that is that is where they see sustainability coming from, Sess  brothers , edun, o,reilley, etc all on a production line to be sold on. Also the big difference between the jaguars and us is they don't get relegated and if you finish bottom you get to pick the best college player I believe.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Being even handed (because I'm a reasonable chap) I look at things in isolation and I see a lot of good things done by the owners.

The work at MP, the purchase of the old BBC ground, the proposed Riverside development, the commitment to the Academy, the efforts to strengthen the club commercially are all commendable.

But I don't buy the idea he took over a "club in decline", there were issue's that needed to be addressed as in any club but he let things slip away.

He says he appoints people to do the job and lets them get on with it while always being available, well that may be good practice but he's allowed a lot of people to screw up.

Anyone who has lived through the amateurish days of Trinder, the rape of the club by the property companies and the struggles to keep the club afloat after that will know today's issues are almost trivial.

Personally I'm (reasonably) happy if we stay at the Cottage and play nice football in the top half of the Championship in the years to come and I think many will agree with that.

Of course the nature of any sport is to be competitive and therefore winning games and promotion is the aim regardless of my comments above, so what I don't like is having got our house in order (finally) after relegation we seem reluctant to grasp the opportunity in front of us.

Its nowhere near the pain and worries of the past (Fulham Park Rangers or even extinction) but there's a cloud of doubt hovering over the club and its in the power of the owner to clear this up if he has a will to do so.

[mrmicawbers]

Just to put the record straight.MAF was the best thing that's happened to us in my lifetime and I've been around a fair while.I think he lost interest in the end and due to circumstances I'm not surprised.We always hold him in the highest esteem regarding our Football Club.

[mrmicawbers]

Just to put the record straight.MAF was the best thing that's happened to us in my lifetime and I've been around a fair while.I think he lost interest in the end and due to circumstances I'm not surprised.We always hold him in the highest esteem regarding our Football Club.

I will always hold him in the highest esteem regarding our Football Club.

[Woolly Mammoth]

You cant get away from the fact that Khan took over ownership of a Premier league side raking in good tv income and the following two seasons skirted with relegation out of the ECL.....
Invested circa £12 million in an injured striker when we needed goals
Responsible for the hiring of one of the worst (if not the worst) manager in Fulham's history - McGath!

I am struggling to see the business sense in maintaining gates of around 17k in the ECL rather than 25K in the prem with ridiculous levels of tv revenue and increased game prices.....The clubs value and reputation has plummeted.

If you can't see the logic in hiring Magath, then you didn't understand the situation we were in.

Logic ? There wasn't any logic, Magath took us down, he was never ever the right man from the start. The whole saga was like something out of the keystone cops. The Chuckle Brothers would have had better judgement than the Buffoons who made one of the worst errors of judgement in the history of Fulham Football Club.
Even a blind deaf and dumb man living in a cave on mars could see that coming. Then at the end of the season he relegated us, the Khans kept him on to plunder and pillage the club, and only sacked him after he had very kindly lost us 8 out of our first 9 matches the following season, that it self showed they were just as incompetent and irresponsible as Magath.
It was the worst decision since Abraham Lincoln said, " I am fed up kicking around the house , let's go take in a show ".

[Woolly Mammoth]

I can hear the blood boiling and the steam coming out of certain posters ears  reading this.

I have just combusted and burst into flames.
There are none so blind as those that cannot see, like lemmings jumping off a cliff.

[Whitesideup]

You cant get away from the fact that Khan took over ownership of a Premier league side raking in good tv income and the following two seasons skirted with relegation out of the ECL.....
Invested circa £12 million in an injured striker when we needed goals
Responsible for the hiring of one of the worst (if not the worst) manager in Fulham's history - McGath!

I am struggling to see the business sense in maintaining gates of around 17k in the ECL rather than 25K in the prem with ridiculous levels of tv revenue and increased game prices.....The clubs value and reputation has plummeted.

If you can't see the logic in hiring Magath, then you didn't understand the situation we were in.

No, really, there was no logic. His reputation said it all, and he was just as bad as all the things we had heard about him. The blame though lay with Ali Mac, and he lost a lot, if not all, credibility over it. You can argue that Khan should have had the intelligence and gumption not to listen, and there is a case to answer, as many of us right from the word go (not with hindsight) said Magath's appointment was a huge mistake.

[toshes mate]

I was briefly working in Germany when news of Magarth's appointment and was treated to one of my colleague's saying to me "Fick mich du bist geschraubt" which isn't exactly what you'd want to hear.

[Fernhurst]

Excellent original post Roger, we were lucky to have Maf when we did and when we  see the fruition of the careful infrastructure build some on here will need to reassess our Chairman.
Where we are on the pitch is not calamitous, every single poster has ideas on squad strengthening but we are quietly and at considerable expense getting things right around the club. Our Chairman is an absentee which we all would prefer he wasn't but his business acumen can't be denied.
Certainly, there are much worse examples of bad Chairmen, keep positive we will achieve promotion under his Chairmanship.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Just to put the record straight.MAF was the best thing that's happened to us in my lifetime and I've been around a fair while.I think he lost interest in the end and due to circumstances I'm not surprised.We always hold him in the highest esteem regarding our Football Club.

I will always hold him in the highest esteem regarding our Football Club.

👍⚽️

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

I also think that selling Sess sooner rather than later would be a very good business move provided all of the money
+ a bit more, is spent on 3/4 excellent players in the positions we need.
There is a possibility that Sess's form could drop and his value may decline by the end of the season.
He is an exceptional player/prospect but not Sensational !!!
Selling McDonald or Fred would be ridiculous at this stage, they are still a major part of the team.
Norwood is only on loan.

[S.F.Sorrow]

I'm personally not a big fan of Khan. I don't know anything about his intentions but the results during his ownership have been poor. The list of mistakes is long but currently there are two things I'm worried about:

1) The appointment of his son as director of football operations. How can a man with no experience in football hold this position?

2) I was never happy with the appointment of a "head coach" instead of a traditional manager. This was obviously done to keep control over transfers. I can see how this could be a smart move with certain managers (like Redknapp...) but if we got one of those we would have hired the wrong person in the first place. There are several problems with the "head coach" situation. An important part of being a great manager is getting the right players. Many managers wouldn't want the job without a strong influence on transfers, leaving us with far less options. There's also bound to be conflicts when the head coach doesn't get the players he wants/needs. It seems to me the whole thing was designed to use FFC as a guinea pig for Tony Khan's stats company, trying to break into the "soccer" market. I could be wrong of course...

Still, there are worse owners out there. I don't think Khan is deliberately trying to ruin the club. The comparison with MAF isn't fair as he never had FFP to worry about. Khan has done good things in the areas not affected by FFP, like the academy and (hopefully) the Riverside stand but in the most important area, RESULTS AND PROMOTION, he has failed miserably so far.

[toshes mate]

Like I said before, rogerp, I do prefer your comedic touches, intended or not as the case may be. 

I especially like your joke about the seventeen year old who shows players much older and more experienced than he how to score goal chances when they come along being a prospect who'd you'd sell for three or four excellent players.   

LOL.

[Jimsbeerbelly]

I have given up all hope of returning to the Prem any time soon, so, now chose to not let it bother me. We're an established Champ side now, and fans shouldn't think, demand otherwise.

I see two sides to all this, but, am not sure, at this moment in time, who will come out on top, us fans, or the Kahns.

Reading through the above, quotes about us being an established, mid-table Premside at the time, are ludicrous, we were in major decline when MAF sold us, and stayed in the Prem a couple of times by the skin of our teeth.

Whatever happens, we can not return to the Prem with the platform we had, and, if we did, we'd get eaten alive. An old, ageing side, rubbish facilities, and a youth policy that wasn't being utilised correctly.

Granted, the Kahn's have got it really wrong in some places, either due to lack of experience, or, by bad advisory, but, what I see them trying to do, is change the shape and foundations of FFC, for the better.

Eventually, and like the Jags, they will get it right, but it may take 10 years, and FFC will be a much more attractive outfit than we ever were.

I see it like the this, they could have done a Venky's on FFC, and we could be in a much, much worse position now, than fans realise.

Unfortunately, being spoilt for all those years in the Prem, has made us a bit, demanding.   

[EastEndWhite]

I have no problems with the Khans being our owners.  However I am still not convinced that Tony Khan should be the Director of Football Operations.

[Nasty Neil]

Roger,
For me it's all about the lack of communication, I still remain objective and try to be balanced in my opinions, of course we could have been a lot worse off looking around at some other clubs.
But people tend to be a lot more understanding when kept informed.
Just think about being delayed and stuck at airports or train stations when all the staff have gone missing ! That's how it feels supporting FFC.
Just have minerals to tell the truth about any plans, truth being the key word, yep people want like it sometimes, but they usually get behind projects and give support to them.
As for some of the posters they will never be happy and actually enjoy failure!

[jarv]

Great post and comments. Living abroad, I feel like an outsider looking in but it appears the improvements in infrastructure, the new stand etc are the best way forward for Fulham.  This dear old club needs to survive as long as there is football to watch. The premier league? mmmm. All of you lucky people (sorry couldn't resist that one) season ticket holders saw Fulham score 85 goals last season, beat Huddersfield 9-1 over 2 games etc etc. What's wrong with that? For everyone pining for the premier league, read the Guardian today. A division of 2 leagues, the top 6 and the rest. I have been saying this for some time. The divide is enormous. Where is the entertainment in that.?

I remember when we were a good team in division 2 in the 70s. Good times to watch Fulham. On my recent trip home I was at 2 cottage games, Derby and Millwall. Low scoring but Fulham totally outplayed their opposition. All over Derby in the 2nd half and Millwall should have been 3-0 at least but a win is a win. I thought they played very well and thoroughly enjoyed the games.

I think Fulham could now be on the right track and looking good for top 6. Promotion? It is possible. Careful what you wish for, do you  fancy a relegation battle next season?

[Twig]

You cant get away from the fact that Khan took over ownership of a Premier league side raking in good tv income and the following two seasons skirted with relegation out of the ECL.....
Invested circa £12 million in an injured striker when we needed goals
Responsible for the hiring of one of the worst (if not the worst) manager in Fulham's history - McGath!

I am struggling to see the business sense in maintaining gates of around 17k in the ECL rather than 25K in the prem with ridiculous levels of tv revenue and increased game prices.....The clubs value and reputation has plummeted.

If you can't see the logic in hiring Magath, then you didn't understand the situation we were in.

I can only think that I understood the situation rather better than you did.  Magath was a dinosaur before we hired him, his methods and training philosophy were known.  They looked to be a poor fit and so it proved. The appointment was a total and abject failure.