Tomy Khan Interview!

[Volz]

The interview was understandably pretty guarded but the key points seemed to be:
1. Leaving transfers late allows you to save £5m here and there and it's crucial to meeting financial fair play targets which, while pretty obvious, will hopefully persuade some critical of this policy that there's at least rhyme and reason to it.
2. There is no front runner to be manager so McKenna's odds are media driven. It's currently a pretty open race.
3. It looks like too little contingency planning was done because Khan expected Silva to sign a new contract. Seems a little negligent given that Silva had months to sign and hadn't.

I think your point one  is the big issue. It's not unreasonable to hold fire in order to make a saving but the balance is missing targets and players missing pre season.

I also think if it was obvious to us Marco was likely leaving then they should have realised that too but I'm sure tempting a new man before season end is a delicate matter.

Another point regarding point 1 is that should we get them earlier we could maybe be in a better position in the table, where each position is worth £2.8m, and if you get Europe you'd get additional money through that.

I do understand the argument TK presents about saving money, but other clubs of our stature do their business in a different way and the extent to which we do it is unique. So I can't really accept it unchallenged.

I agree there's a balance to be struck and we do seem to leave it till the season is underway, which costs points and, therefore, money by not fishing as high up the table as we could, because players need several weeks to integrate.

I would argue that "players need several weeks to integrate" under Silva specifically. Most other clubs seem to be able to buy new players and have them playing quite quick.

[JimmyConway]

He categorically says we have been working hard last "Week" to find a replacement not since Jan/Feb/March/April a Professional club would have had irons in the fire for this scenario. He also states Slav did not want Anguissa and yet?????
Lot of what you say is true Jim with regards to the ground but why has the owner had to keep digging deep? I would say transfers and recruitment are a fair reason for this.

But how much of that is because Silva had told them he was staying and seemingly just negotiating his package? Seeing as TK had written a club statement on Tuesday, I guess it came as a shock. Just like Palace who have had 6 months to find a manager, or Man City who have had longer than us...

Re the Khans- he said from day 1 that he wanted the club to be self sustaining. He's put quite a lot in place to make that happen, especially the new stand. Whether that works or not, who knows but it shows willing and foresight.

Jim we are going to have to agree to disagree on this where TK is concerned. I thought it was a PR exercise that went badly wrong on his part and excuses galore to dress it up. It all seems too much manana manana at the moment and we are not at the forefront of importance to him.

With regards to other point I agree the owner has forked out a tremendous amount of money especially on new stand but one thing is for sure a team like Fulham will never be self sustaining we are not big enough as a club to get even close. Like Fayed we rely on the wealth of the owner.

We might from time to time sell a Palhinha type for good profit but overall we are not strong in this area like our rivals are and tend to be overpaying more often than not going by a couple of acquisitions of late so you have to question this area within the club? Then our wage bill is not favourable with the new SCR rules. Realistically apart from perhaps King a fair chunk of this squad considering the age will likely see out their contracts at Fulham and leave with no fee or considerably less than what we paid that is not a healthy place to be as a club but all roads lead back to head of recruitment and his team here.

[hopper]

I'm not going to read too much into any comments from TK about the next manager. It's prudent to deflect and try and keep this completely behind closed doors for practical and legal reasons. It could be correct that it's a name not floated, but if it was McKenna lets say - I also think it would be right to say 'don't believe what you see in the media'

[Deeping_white]

He categorically says we have been working hard last "Week" to find a replacement not since Jan/Feb/March/April a Professional club would have had irons in the fire for this scenario. He also states Slav did not want Anguissa and yet?????
Lot of what you say is true Jim with regards to the ground but why has the owner had to keep digging deep? I would say transfers and recruitment are a fair reason for this.

But how much of that is because Silva had told them he was staying and seemingly just negotiating his package? Seeing as TK had written a club statement on Tuesday, I guess it came as a shock. Just like Palace who have had 6 months to find a manager, or Man City who have had longer than us...

Re the Khans- he said from day 1 that he wanted the club to be self sustaining. He's put quite a lot in place to make that happen, especially the new stand. Whether that works or not, who knows but it shows willing and foresight.

Jim we are going to have to agree to disagree on this where TK is concerned. I thought it was a PR exercise that went badly wrong on his part and excuses galore to dress it up. It all seems too much manana manana at the moment and we are not at the forefront of importance to him.

With regards to other point I agree the owner has forked out a tremendous amount of money especially on new stand but one thing is for sure a team like Fulham will never be self sustaining we are not big enough as a club to get even close. Like Fayed we rely on the wealth of the owner.

We might from time to time sell a Palhinha type for good profit but overall we are not strong in this area like our rivals are and tend to be overpaying more often than not going by a couple of acquisitions of late so you have to question this area within the club? Then our wage bill is not favourable with the new SCR rules. Realistically apart from perhaps King a fair chunk of this squad considering the age will likely see out their contracts at Fulham and leave with no fee or considerably less than what we paid that is not a healthy place to be as a club but all roads lead back to head of recruitment and his team here.

You're sort of missing the point on a lot of the signings that you castigate being those that Silva requested or pushed for. Given the few years of stats led signings prior to Silva's arrival, it's quite clear to see where we started signing PL experienced players in mid-late 20's at his request rather than the moneyball style signings in the years prior. It's clear that JKA was one of those punts and Silva never took to him given his preference for experience, but they are the sorts of signings we should be going for if everyone wants us to be more like Brighton or Brentford.

[demeant0r]

To be honest, at this stage I don't care who the next manager is as long as he's able to integrate more youth players. It was starting to look like a pensioner's retirement home during Marco's reign.

[Whitestone]

This club will move forward when the Khan's finally understand that the footballing side of the business needs good footballing people running it. Business wise they've done okay with the new stand for example. We will continue to have issues with recruitment of players and managers with the current set up. I'm not confident that correct people are on the board to take the club in the direction we all want it to go in football wise. Until they get the personnel in that side of the business sorted we will continue to muddle along. A good start would be TK eating a slice of humble pie and recognising that he's not the man to hold the DOF position.

[Volz]

This club will move forward when the Khan's finally understand that the footballing side of the business needs good footballing people running it. Business wise they've done okay with the new stand for example. We will continue to have issues with recruitment of players and managers with the current set up. I'm not confident that correct people are on the board to take the club in the direction we all want it to go in football wise. Until they get the personnel in that side of the business sorted we will continue to muddle along. A good start would be TK eating a slice of humble pie and recognising that he's not the man to hold the DOF position.

I personality believe this "need to have vast knowledge of the business to lead the business" thing to be nothing but an emotional argument. To me it is more about getting the right people in to do the day-to-day job.
Look at Wrexham. Their owners probably did not know how many players are on the pitch from start.
Look at Xbox. in shambles after having a well liked "gamer" as CEO for many years. Got in someone that has never played a videogame their entire life and are already turning things around.
Fresh ideas and perspectives more often than not come from people outside the industry, people thinking outside the box.
And this is not at all praise for TK, I personality think he could have done better.

[Jim©]

Jim we are going to have to agree to disagree on this where TK is concerned. I thought it was a PR exercise that went badly wrong on his part and excuses galore to dress it up. It all seems too much manana manana at the moment and we are not at the forefront of importance to him.

With regards to other point I agree the owner has forked out a tremendous amount of money especially on new stand but one thing is for sure a team like Fulham will never be self sustaining we are not big enough as a club to get even close. Like Fayed we rely on the wealth of the owner.

We might from time to time sell a Palhinha type for good profit but overall we are not strong in this area like our rivals are and tend to be overpaying more often than not going by a couple of acquisitions of late so you have to question this area within the club? Then our wage bill is not favourable with the new SCR rules. Realistically apart from perhaps King a fair chunk of this squad considering the age will likely see out their contracts at Fulham and leave with no fee or considerably less than what we paid that is not a healthy place to be as a club but all roads lead back to head of recruitment and his team here.

I agree to disagree JC!
I think that we're moving in the right direction towards some sort of sustainability, almost impossible as that may seem. Shad bought the Jags for $760m and is now worth $4.6bn, he does seem to know what he's doing on that front.

Player wise Marco has seemingly spent big on proven older players, whereas i seemed to glean that TK wants the Kusu Asare types. The ideal is probably somewhere in the middle. Look at Bournemouth for example- Rayan, Kroupi and Truffert were unlikely on the radar of Iraola, but what signings they've turned out to be- played often something that Silva wouldn't really do with youngsters bar King (and we found out later that was to do with ESR struggling mentally). The analytics that TK uses has unearthed some brilliant players- Anguissa, Lookman, Tete, AIna, Lemina and then core players like Kebano, Ayite, Odoi, Johannsen etc that put us back up.

We've got a cracking academy, we need to find a way to get those top young players into the 1st team squad more regularly. It's gutting to have Eze, Spence, Musiala all products of our academy at the world cup without representing Fulham. There are loads more that have gone on to better things without getting a sniff at Fulham- O Rielly, Osmand, Stansfield, 

I'm not as down on the state of the club as many, but perhaps Silva leaving (which i didn't want) could be the start of a new better era.

[hopper]

This club will move forward when the Khan's finally understand that the footballing side of the business needs good footballing people running it. Business wise they've done okay with the new stand for example. We will continue to have issues with recruitment of players and managers with the current set up. I'm not confident that correct people are on the board to take the club in the direction we all want it to go in football wise. Until they get the personnel in that side of the business sorted we will continue to muddle along. A good start would be TK eating a slice of humble pie and recognising that he's not the man to hold the DOF position.

I personality believe this "need to have vast knowledge of the business to lead the business" thing to be nothing but an emotional argument. To me it is more about getting the right people in to do the day-to-day job.
Look at Wrexham. Their owners probably did not know how many players are on the pitch from start.
Look at Xbox. in shambles after having a well liked "gamer" as CEO for many years. Got in someone that has never played a videogame their entire life and are already turning things around.
Fresh ideas and perspectives more often than not come from people outside the industry, people thinking outside the box.
And this is not at all praise for TK, I personality think he could have done better.

Hmm, but I don't think a few counterpoints regarding Xbox's gamer failing and Wrexham really stands up as a strong argument that it's better to have non traditional footballing people in charge. Wrexham's celebrity status gave them a lot of financial benefits too.

PSG transformed for the better after Luis Campos and Luis Enrique were put in charge.

[Volz]

This club will move forward when the Khan's finally understand that the footballing side of the business needs good footballing people running it. Business wise they've done okay with the new stand for example. We will continue to have issues with recruitment of players and managers with the current set up. I'm not confident that correct people are on the board to take the club in the direction we all want it to go in football wise. Until they get the personnel in that side of the business sorted we will continue to muddle along. A good start would be TK eating a slice of humble pie and recognising that he's not the man to hold the DOF position.

I personality believe this "need to have vast knowledge of the business to lead the business" thing to be nothing but an emotional argument. To me it is more about getting the right people in to do the day-to-day job.
Look at Wrexham. Their owners probably did not know how many players are on the pitch from start.
Look at Xbox. in shambles after having a well liked "gamer" as CEO for many years. Got in someone that has never played a videogame their entire life and are already turning things around.
Fresh ideas and perspectives more often than not come from people outside the industry, people thinking outside the box.
And this is not at all praise for TK, I personality think he could have done better.

Hmm, but I don't think a few counterpoints regarding Xbox's gamer failing and Wrexham really stands up as a strong argument that it's better to have non traditional footballing people in charge. Wrexham's celebrity status gave them a lot of financial benefits too.

PSG transformed for the better after Luis Campos and Luis Enrique were put in charge.

Fair, i didn't mean to argue for absolutism. I just meant that it might not be as crucial as some seem to think. It could help, sure, but it could also limit.

[General]

It is available on Youtube,

Tony Khan seemed absolutely convinced Marco was staying and had even written a statement congratulating Marco on extending his contract.

Got to 25 mins and will probably listen to the second half, but a lot of this comes across as someone who's trying to defend his position more than anything else.

It also suggests a genuine level of naivety to me - for him to think everything was rosy and going to be signed and that they had a great relationship up until the day it was announced by Marco that he was leaving shows that he simply and quite profoundly missed the mark re what Marco felt, what he wanted to hear and having the critical and analytical capacity/awareness to understand that, which I feel for someone in a senior role is pretty important. He may not be alone, but he definitely dropped the ball.

I think it says a lot that when the news landed on his desk he only had one press statement ready, so his dad sent in a different statement because Tony was simply spending time processing everything.

His main defence on timing for transfers being PSR related and saying he can just save £10m over two transfers, whilst fair to a degree, should also just be considered the clear parameters of how to operate and what can happen. It needs to be accounted for in a way where those conversations can still happen and come to resolution faster. That's simply what other clubs do. Whether that's finding cheaper talent, negotiating deals more assertively and having a clear timeframe to get answers from, or documentation sorted, it all adds up.

It seems that Marco could clarify his position and give his opinion more, yes Benfica is CL/hometown club, but taking on after an undefeated mourinho season could see it go one of two quite distinctively different directions

[EN1 FFC]

Well done to Jack Kelly, I enjoyed the video, It's nice for once to get an insight into the way things worked out, the club do need to be more open. May be a Marco Silva interview next.
I haven't been a great supporter of TK, but cred to him, even if I'm still not tottaly convinced of all he said.

[Thailand Mick]

For all those people worried about us being caught out by Marco's late decision to leave, which manager have we missed out on? Even though most transfers are done on deadline day I never heard another manager moaning about late arrivals other than Marco. It's as though Marco's moaning has conditioned some people to thinking we have to do everything quickly rather   than trying to get the best.

[JimmyConway]

He categorically says we have been working hard last "Week" to find a replacement not since Jan/Feb/March/April a Professional club would have had irons in the fire for this scenario. He also states Slav did not want Anguissa and yet?????
Lot of what you say is true Jim with regards to the ground but why has the owner had to keep digging deep? I would say transfers and recruitment are a fair reason for this.

But how much of that is because Silva had told them he was staying and seemingly just negotiating his package? Seeing as TK had written a club statement on Tuesday, I guess it came as a shock. Just like Palace who have had 6 months to find a manager, or Man City who have had longer than us...

Re the Khans- he said from day 1 that he wanted the club to be self sustaining. He's put quite a lot in place to make that happen, especially the new stand. Whether that works or not, who knows but it shows willing and foresight.

Jim we are going to have to agree to disagree on this where TK is concerned. I thought it was a PR exercise that went badly wrong on his part and excuses galore to dress it up. It all seems too much manana manana at the moment and we are not at the forefront of importance to him.

With regards to other point I agree the owner has forked out a tremendous amount of money especially on new stand but one thing is for sure a team like Fulham will never be self sustaining we are not big enough as a club to get even close. Like Fayed we rely on the wealth of the owner.

We might from time to time sell a Palhinha type for good profit but overall we are not strong in this area like our rivals are and tend to be overpaying more often than not going by a couple of acquisitions of late so you have to question this area within the club? Then our wage bill is not favourable with the new SCR rules. Realistically apart from perhaps King a fair chunk of this squad considering the age will likely see out their contracts at Fulham and leave with no fee or considerably less than what we paid that is not a healthy place to be as a club but all roads lead back to head of recruitment and his team here.

You're sort of missing the point on a lot of the signings that you castigate being those that Silva requested or pushed for. Given the few years of stats led signings prior to Silva's arrival, it's quite clear to see where we started signing PL experienced players in mid-late 20's at his request rather than the moneyball style signings in the years prior. It's clear that JKA was one of those punts and Silva never took to him given his preference for experience, but they are the sorts of signings we should be going for if everyone wants us to be more like Brighton or Brentford.

Not missing the point at all. He mentions in interview manager has had final say for the last five years and fair to say the most successful in the owners tenure so far coincidental?

[The Cravenette]

I think we have to give credit where it is due. There were a lot of people saying TK was not interested and not commentating on the Marco situation. Here he is doing a near 60 min interview about the current situation and people still complain.

Now, there will be people who will not believe what he says, but he has now gone on the record regarding Marco, transfers (both past and future) etc so we can hold him to account if it later shows he was lying about anything.

I think for an often under fire DoF to agree to talk like that is only a good thing. Do other Clubs' DoFs do that?

I for one found it v interesting.

[Super Mick]

95% waffle

[Mickeyboro]

95% waffle

He's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Id rather have this than the PR-penned guff his dad puts in the programme.

[Andrew]

Tony khan should risk an interview with me.
I want know how the hired magath or Ranieri as they were both guaranteed failures
I want to know why they didn't pin Marco down last Christmas because if he wouldn't sign then we had to start a proper process of getting in a new man

I also want to know in explicit terms what are the khan's plans... If it's mid table mediocrity we will all cope.... But if we have ambition why not get recruitment right and better... Brentford Brighton and Bournemouth are all models to admire...and tony bloom took that to hearts.

The CEO is not my idea of a sympathetic man, time for a change.

For the investment we have underachieved.. only Marco overachieved.... Why is unproven McKenna top of the shopping list ..he may be brilliant but one season, the ex Luton manager didn't fare well.

But top people in clubs don't talk to fans because we ask difficult questions

Can you share with us how you knew Magath and Ranieri were guaranteed failures? Both had track records which were considered worthy of being appointments.

As with players you can't force a manager to sign a contract. This sounds more and more like Silva's was stringing us along.

Of the 3 clubs you mention not everyone of their signings turned out to be gold but hopefully a new manager will get more out of the young players we have so that we can sell for a profit and not be stuck with older prem players Silva signed who will we be lucky to get any profit from.

Silva certainly didn't overachieve. The club bought the players he wanted and yet for the second season running our season ended in March. Silva just didn't know how to kick in form achieving safety.

Ranieri and magath?
I used my knowledge of football and my brain to work that out and it played out as expected.

As for the rest, the signings have been late and piecemeal and not of the finest.
Marco over achieved on points total with what I consider a squad that is lacking.

And most important whatever your view of Marco, and I loved him,  when he was messing about not signing months ago the owner should have put his foot down and and do what any leader does and force the issue... As it is we are in no mans land.

The three clubs I mention have in recent years been exceptional in their way of running the club with long term planning. You just need to study that, we are where we are IMO because of Marco... I worry what is in front of us.

It's worth looking at those three clubs in detail and how tony bloom improved hearts using the same techniques as at Brighton.

It's my opinion and you can enjoy stating your own views at some point  as to how you anticipate the next season or two might look from where we are today

Sorry for any poor typing...it's on my fone and I'm struggling

I guess your footballing brain must have been horrified that we signed a manager who was relegated from the prem, got sacked for talking to another club and then got sacked again.

I was extremely uneasy about Marco's appointment but was reassured by a very knowledgeable relative that all was not quite as it seemed and explained to me in detailwhy he could be a brilliant selection.... So I accepted that.

It turned out very well. However we agreed about Ranieri at the time of appointment being ridiculous.

Have you anything constructive to offer on the future appointment or just wish to continue trying to score points off somebody with a different opinion. I am happy to continue but would prefer something more substantial, perhaps your preference for a new manager, what do you think

[Matt10]

I think we have to give credit where it is due. There were a lot of people saying TK was not interested and not commentating on the Marco situation. Here he is doing a near 60 min interview about the current situation and people still complain.

Now, there will be people who will not believe what he says, but he has now gone on the record regarding Marco, transfers (both past and future) etc so we can hold him to account if it later shows he was lying about anything.

I think for an often under fire DoF to agree to talk like that is only a good thing. Do other Clubs' DoFs do that?

I for one found it v interesting.

Yes, I agree. I enjoyed it and I also like how Tony respected Jack for asking tough questions. Tony didn't have to do this, but agreed to it and he answered what he could. I feel better because now it's not about speculation. We are all on the same page because we all have the inside information direct from the source who matters.

Something key that Tony mentioned was that when we were signing Marco Silva 5 years ago, that was his dead-set aim to sign him - no one else. This time, he has to cast a wider net. It may look like naivety - but it's also respect for Silva that he didn't go behind his back for a contingency plan. While some here are going to argue that's not what "football minds" would do - I'm sure it goes a long way in building relationships. Tony uses that word a lot because he has built a lot relationships by being in charge of things, like AEW and our DOF. Like it or not, he has 10 years experience as DOF, and he's built 10 years worth of relationships. I hope he leans into those and finds us a solid manager along with quality players.

[cookieg]

Thought that there were some really interesting parts. Transfer wise, talking about no contact at all Re cuenca, tk stated he's keen on Chuk returning (if new manager agrees) and keen to get kusi asare back too.

Well done to tk for doing it, not his biggest fan but can't think of another football club person in his position doing the same thing.

Should that not be of concern though? TK stating he is keen on Chuckweze returning and getting Asare back? DoF wanting them back not necessarily the manager? Does TK watch every game when they are involved to come to this conclusion? From last night's interview this has to be a concern his role at the club?

No, not really as he made it abundantly clear (3 or 4 times) that the new manager would have to agree to the moves too.

As to your comment in another post asking "are we a seriously run professional football club", what do you think? We're playing in front of the largest crowds for 50 odd years, we're playing in supposedly the best league in the world, in almost certainly one of the best grounds in Europe (with new additions), with owners that are happy to put their hand in their deep pockets etc etc.
It's a shame Marco's left (and seemingly pulled the wool over the owners' eyes at the end) but it's clear TK has been working his backside off to find a new manager.

He categorically says we have been working hard last "Week" to find a replacement not since Jan/Feb/March/April a Professional club would have had irons in the fire for this scenario. He also states Slav did not want Anguissa and yet?????
Lot of what you say is true Jim with regards to the ground but why has the owner had to keep digging deep? I would say transfers and recruitment are a fair reason for this.

That doesn't mean to say that they haven't had a list drawn up. And Silva only decided he was off last week. "Hey Mr Glasner we'd like to talk to you about taking over at Fulham but we don't know if there will actually be a job for you as our current manager hasn't made up his mind yet". That certainly my doesn't come across as professional.