If you were the owner

[fcfulham55]

I couldn't be so selfish to do such a thing. Unless I knew that it was my best option, for the club.

[mrmicawbers]

There is nothing at all wrong with the ownership. They act in the best interest of the club. You disagree, but they have not been any worse than many clubs' owners and have been a lot better than Man Utd, Liverpool, Juventus and a host of others.

The family have built a brand new, well designed, tasteful stand fit for the future. They have invested in infrastructure, training facilities, and totally run the club without any financial or moral problems. That all needs praising especially in this age. They act with dignity and are a credit to the Club's tradition unlike many we have experienced in the past.

They have tried to be patient with the key appointment of team manager, they have learned from the lessons of three/four years ago when we went through too many managers and again two years ago BUT this year they have been badly let down by an inexperienced manager who got things badly wrong in both his full seasons in charge. Last year he got away with bad selection and poor management because the base level of the squad was way above most of the other teams in the Championships.

But the Premiership is not so forgiving. No one would have been frightened about playing Fulham this year.No one expected us to score loads of goals, and everyone knew that when push came to shove (like v Aston Villa) Scott's team would fall over.We were tactically naive and predictable and our only creative player with the ability to surprise the opposition was past his best, we had no ace in the hole once Cairney had gone unfit.

So let's get a better manager who can build the club, have them develop a good relationship with the owner's preferred method of buying players, and play to our strengths not try to change something that we have absolutely no control over.As fans we can influence the choice of manager and when they change that person.

Now is the time, the sooner the better so we are ready for next season.

You shouldn't tempt me with a first sentence like that.

Any 1st year student of business would advise there is masses wrong with the management of the club. They may well not have been worse than others but you cannot compare a man utd/Juve/Liverpool to us. Each team has its own special issues. And each of thoise are serial winners of major trophies and world renowned brands. What is wrong at Fulham is the management are not treating it in fully professional manner and the introduction of a part time amateur domiciled overseas is proof positive of that.

The new stand which i saw for the foirst time at the newcastle game came as a shock when i saw it in the flesh. It is not tasteful at all but out of proportion to the rest of the stadium and the site in general. It well look nice from the other side of the river, I do not know but the pictures look good biut closing the two ends makes it a bit claustrophobic and loses the connection of the stadium with the river. tasteful? Not in my opinion.

I tend to think scoitt was pragmatic in the way he [layed getting the best from a squad with no forewards. The on ewe had clear was either not fit or not happy, either way he was unavaiable and when he did play pretty useless. No wards equalled a recipe for disaster. the management that you say there is nothing wrong with simply failed once again to supply a proper squad for the mnanager, and we have hgad a few now, that was capable of properly competing. Even slav, when we went up, was playing with a thin squad with only one forward, it is simply russian roulette.

We do not need a new manager. We need a DoF that isn't there because he is the owner's son as his only qualification. we need a DoF that is local, full time and properly qualified/expeienced.

We can get any manager you name, they wioll all fail as long as the squad is shambolically assmbelled.

Finally I keep promising myself not to repeat this continual monalogue but I cannot help myself whilst readinbg statements such as there is 'nothing worng with the ownership' i don't think so, and to be fair virtually any fulham supporter I speak to except a few on here, don't think so either.

Fortunately it's all about different opinions.Need to respect that.

[The Old Count]

There is nothing at all wrong with the ownership. They act in the best interest of the club. You disagree, but they have not been any worse than many clubs' owners and have been a lot better than Man Utd, Liverpool, Juventus and a host of others.

The family have built a brand new, well designed, tasteful stand fit for the future. They have invested in infrastructure, training facilities, and totally run the club without any financial or moral problems. That all needs praising especially in this age. They act with dignity and are a credit to the Club's tradition unlike many we have experienced in the past.

They have tried to be patient with the key appointment of team manager, they have learned from the lessons of three/four years ago when we went through too many managers and again two years ago BUT this year they have been badly let down by an inexperienced manager who got things badly wrong in both his full seasons in charge. Last year he got away with bad selection and poor management because the base level of the squad was way above most of the other teams in the Championships.

But the Premiership is not so forgiving. No one would have been frightened about playing Fulham this year.No one expected us to score loads of goals, and everyone knew that when push came to shove (like v Aston Villa) Scott's team would fall over.We were tactically naive and predictable and our only creative player with the ability to surprise the opposition was past his best, we had no ace in the hole once Cairney had gone unfit.

So let's get a better manager who can build the club, have them develop a good relationship with the owner's preferred method of buying players, and play to our strengths not try to change something that we have absolutely no control over.As fans we can influence the choice of manager and when they change that person.

Now is the time, the sooner the better so we are ready for next season.

Good post. Sums up the reality of the situation at the club.

[Penfold]

There is nothing at all wrong with the ownership. They act in the best interest of the club. You disagree, but they have not been any worse than many clubs' owners and have been a lot better than Man Utd, Liverpool, Juventus and a host of others.

The family have built a brand new, well designed, tasteful stand fit for the future. They have invested in infrastructure, training facilities, and totally run the club without any financial or moral problems. That all needs praising especially in this age. They act with dignity and are a credit to the Club's tradition unlike many we have experienced in the past.

They have tried to be patient with the key appointment of team manager, they have learned from the lessons of three/four years ago when we went through too many managers and again two years ago BUT this year they have been badly let down by an inexperienced manager who got things badly wrong in both his full seasons in charge. Last year he got away with bad selection and poor management because the base level of the squad was way above most of the other teams in the Championships.

But the Premiership is not so forgiving. No one would have been frightened about playing Fulham this year.No one expected us to score loads of goals, and everyone knew that when push came to shove (like v Aston Villa) Scott's team would fall over.We were tactically naive and predictable and our only creative player with the ability to surprise the opposition was past his best, we had no ace in the hole once Cairney had gone unfit.

So let's get a better manager who can build the club, have them develop a good relationship with the owner's preferred method of buying players, and play to our strengths not try to change something that we have absolutely no control over.As fans we can influence the choice of manager and when they change that person.

Now is the time, the sooner the better so we are ready for next season.

Good post. Sums up the reality of the situation at the club.

So, basically, we keep on going with new coaches/managers until we get one that can work with whats been given to him by TK?

Not a basis for success, in my opinion.

[Woolly Mammoth]

The pantomime and circus will continue while the current Bogus D of F is allowed to continue to sell this club down the river.

[The Rational Fan]

There is nothing at all wrong with the ownership. They act in the best interest of the club. You disagree, but they have not been any worse than many clubs' owners and have been a lot better than Man Utd, Liverpool, Juventus and a host of others.

The family have built a brand new, well designed, tasteful stand fit for the future. They have invested in infrastructure, training facilities, and totally run the club without any financial or moral problems. That all needs praising especially in this age. They act with dignity and are a credit to the Club's tradition unlike many we have experienced in the past.

They have tried to be patient with the key appointment of team manager, they have learned from the lessons of three/four years ago when we went through too many managers and again two years ago BUT this year they have been badly let down by an inexperienced manager who got things badly wrong in both his full seasons in charge. Last year he got away with bad selection and poor management because the base level of the squad was way above most of the other teams in the Championships.

But the Premiership is not so forgiving. No one would have been frightened about playing Fulham this year.No one expected us to score loads of goals, and everyone knew that when push came to shove (like v Aston Villa) Scott's team would fall over. We were tactically naive and predictable and our only creative player with the ability to surprise the opposition was past his best, we had no ace in the hole once Cairney had gone unfit.

So let's get a better manager who can build the club, have them develop a good relationship with the owner's preferred method of buying players, and play to our strengths not try to change something that we have absolutely no control over.As fans we can influence the choice of manager and when they change that person.

Now is the time, the sooner the better so we are ready for next season.

Good post. Sums up the reality of the situation at the club.

So, basically, we keep on going with new coaches/managers until we get one that can work with what's been given to him by TK? Not a basis for success, in my opinion.

Scott Parker earns £5m per year. He is far from the best tactician in football (although he is pretty good at the 7-2-1 formation which Mitro cannot play in), but he is supposed to be good at man-management; including having the ability to work with Tony Khan and Alexander Mitrovic plus get the best out of players like Mawson, Hector, Seri and others. Criticial skills at FFC and we should be willing to pay big for them, but does Parker possess such skills. I don't know.

We can blame Tony Khan for bringing in Ligue Un players like Seri that could never deliver in the premier league, but it is Scott Parker's fault if he cannot get Seri to be motivated to be a decent Championship Squad player. If Scott Parker can get Seri good enough to replace Stefjo on the bench, we can sell Stefjo to get a few million to get another winger (like Jed Wallace), which would make a huge difference to the depth of the team and rotation.

If Scott Parker can get some of our multi-million-pound failures to be half-decent championship squad players, then the DOF can spend all his cash on two to three quality players. Instead, Scott Parker gets TK replacing Mawson with Kongolo at significant expense (and it seems like for like), rather than working with Mawson and spending the money on another forward and then he goes to blame the DOF for not enough quality upfront.

I accept that the ability to manage Tony Khan, Alexander Mitrovic and Seri are unique skills, worth £5m per year. But if all Scott Parker can motivate is player like Calum Chambers and Harrison Reed, then tonnes of people can do that who would accept less than £100,000 per year. I hope the owner takes his time to decide what to do and listens to Parker as I'm sure they can learn from him, but Parker needs to show the unique skills fulham needs or he's gone.

[Woolly Mammoth]

There is nothing at all wrong with the ownership. They act in the best interest of the club. You disagree, but they have not been any worse than many clubs' owners and have been a lot better than Man Utd, Liverpool, Juventus and a host of others.

The family have built a brand new, well designed, tasteful stand fit for the future. They have invested in infrastructure, training facilities, and totally run the club without any financial or moral problems. That all needs praising especially in this age. They act with dignity and are a credit to the Club's tradition unlike many we have experienced in the past.

They have tried to be patient with the key appointment of team manager, they have learned from the lessons of three/four years ago when we went through too many managers and again two years ago BUT this year they have been badly let down by an inexperienced manager who got things badly wrong in both his full seasons in charge. Last year he got away with bad selection and poor management because the base level of the squad was way above most of the other teams in the Championships.

But the Premiership is not so forgiving. No one would have been frightened about playing Fulham this year.No one expected us to score loads of goals, and everyone knew that when push came to shove (like v Aston Villa) Scott's team would fall over. We were tactically naive and predictable and our only creative player with the ability to surprise the opposition was past his best, we had no ace in the hole once Cairney had gone unfit.

So let's get a better manager who can build the club, have them develop a good relationship with the owner's preferred method of buying players, and play to our strengths not try to change something that we have absolutely no control over.As fans we can influence the choice of manager and when they change that person.

Now is the time, the sooner the better so we are ready for next season.

Good post. Sums up the reality of the situation at the club.

So, basically, we keep on going with new coaches/managers until we get one that can work with what's been given to him by TK? Not a basis for success, in my opinion.

Scott Parker earns £5m per year. He is far from the best tactician in football (although he is pretty good at the 7-2-1 formation which Mitro cannot play in), but he is supposed to be good at man-management; including having the ability to work with Tony Khan and Alexander Mitrovic plus get the best out of players like Mawson, Hector, Seri and others. Criticial skills at FFC and we should be willing to pay big for them, but does Parker possess such skills. I don't know.

We can blame Tony Khan for bringing in Ligue Un players like Seri that could never deliver in the premier league, but it is Scott Parker's fault if he cannot get Seri to be motivated to be a decent Championship Squad player. If Scott Parker can get Seri good enough to replace Stefjo on the bench, we can sell Stefjo to get a few million to get another winger (like Jed Wallace), which would make a huge difference to the depth of the team and rotation.

If Scott Parker can get some of our multi-million-pound failures to be half-decent championship squad players, then the DOF can spend all his cash on two to three quality players. Instead, Scott Parker gets TK replacing Mawson with Kongolo at significant expense (and it seems like for like), rather than working with Mawson and spending the money on another forward and then he goes to blame the DOF for not enough quality upfront.

I accept that the ability to manage Tony Khan, Alexander Mitrovic and Seri are unique skills, worth £5m per year. But if all Scott Parker can motivate is player like Calum Chambers and Harrison Reed, then tonnes of people can do that who would accept less than £100,000 per year. I hope the owner takes his time to decide what to do and listens to Parker as I'm sure they can learn from him, but Parker needs to show the unique skills fulham needs or he's gone.

What is your plan to get rid of Tony Khan, that has to be a priority before more damage is inflicted on Fulham FC on and off the pitch. You must explain how you are going to expunge him from his position as a bogus D of F. Impersonating a D of F is gross misconduct of epic proportions. He has no excuse and no defence can disguise your misguided explanations for your friend.
Remember:-
" He who feeds the Crocodile the most, does so in the hope that he will be the last to be eaten".

[clarkey]

I find it extraordinary the naivety expressed here.

Our owners might not be great at buying players but they are custodians of the club, and basically are far better than nine out of ten owners. Also how can anyone here question the economics of the club ? We do not know the whole picture, just what they allow to be revealed, but we do know they do not impact to the detriment of the general running. Just be thankful we are solvent, moving forward and not like the Ernie Clay days in danger of losing the Cottage.

The whole point I am making is that any manager worth his salt manages the club as a whole. That means the owners as well as the staff and the players. Read what Cloughie wrote about this please.

Parker clearly has made no real attempt to manage the aspirations of the coaching staff in relation to acquisition of players. He is  as much to blame as anyone else, he has allowed for example the squad to be in  a situation where there is no decent striker on the books. He allowed and asked for Maja to be brought into the squad and then failed to properly play him in position or even select him and Mitro together.Just a basic failing.He then allowed Kebano and AK47 to leave the club without any cover. Why ?

Ask yourself what sort of idiot would buy players that the manager would not select, what sort of person would spend a load of cash without the stats and the scouts all supporting that call. Think for a moment how the mechanics of the players in and out actually works.

Do you imagine Khan spends hours pouring over the charts of players from Serbia so he can sign a no hoper ? No he uses the resources at the club and acts with them.It is then for the manager to make the most of the players that have been brought in at his behest.A complete defence has been brought in this year, in fact too much defence, and we have a legacy of Tosin and Kongolo to go forward with.

Parker was fine last year taking credit for getting Onamah and Hector into the club, he was fine with Cav and Knoc, he did not raise a whimper when Reed and BDR all came in.So I think it is extremely rich for him to whinge when actually he is the guy who is failing to use the players properly. Also what was all that last weekend, with his selection at the start with no striker on the pitch, and bringing RLC on to partner the inordinately useless Cav.

He should have kept with the plan of bringing on the youth. No fan would complain if we played with 5 academy lads on and lost 4-0 instead of 2-0 with the old failures from Chelsea and Wolves on the pitch.

The proof is in the table: 9 goals at home all year. Terrible coach.
Lovely ground, great stand, lots of resources: good owners.

[ALG01]

amazing PR by a couple of posters on behalf of the owners. fiction written as fact.
let us be clear the issue is the owners son a part time, non domicliled person with no experience whatsoever has taken over the running of transfers and on each of the seasons he has been in charge, including one where we spent £100M, we have had a lop sided third rate squad.
Parker had no chance this season with no forwards. that is the begining and end of it.

The truth is the running of team affairs is at best amateurish and at worst a bvanity project for the owners son. That is all that needs to be understood.

No business person in his right mind would retain the DoF we have.

[Somerset Fulham]

I have little to add to this, mostly because I am drunk :wine:.

But without wanting to come across as patronising, this is the best and most well reasoned thread that I have seen on here in an age, and it's really great to read it.  Thank you, everybody.

I think that I read earlier (The Athletic on Twitter, maybe?) that we're looking to hire a Director of Scouting.  Not sure if that would be the missing link (are the Talbots still with us?), but it might make sense for somebody with their nose to the ground to identify targets and then the DoF to sign them.

If it is true and if it could work, then with the undoubted fantastic backing of the owners, we would most likely be a club going places.

[The Rational Fan]

No business person in his right mind would retain the DoF we have.

Shahid Khan bought the club with the opinion that all of the managers of the last 20 years have failed. SK and TK investment is conditional on their belief that they can invest better than MAF managers did. One idea to do to better investing in players is to get his son running the recruitment. If Shahid Khan changes his mind and becomes convinced that TK isn't the solution. What Next?

Realizing his son is an idiot and not worth giving him money to buy players, may not be something you want SK to realize. Every manager in the last 25 years has wasted between 10%-50% of the money, he may be happy to let his son waste 50% but unwilling to let another manager/DOF waste 10%. So sacking his son means what next?

Everyone here thinks sacking Tony Khan is the solution to our problems, but it is only "step one" in a rather poorly thought out plan. After Tony Khan is sacked, lease explain the rest of the plan. I may be missing something, but I strongly suspect every plan will have a few "leaps of faith" that just won't work.

Hypothetically imagine your sitting down with Shahid Khan and he asks you for advice saying

"I took over this club after MAF invested money into the squads of Adams, Wilkins, Keegan, Bracewell, Tigana, Coleman, Sanchez, Hodgson, Hughes, and Jol, all of whom wasted the money, as none of them made any financial returns. I thought I could do better, but after a few years it was clear my approach wasn't working, when I discussed this with my son, he thought he could do better.

My son thought he could succeed where all of these other DOFs have failed by using computers, statistics, and processes, the same way I turned flex-n-gate around using six sigma statistics and processes. I have now come to the conclusion that my son is worse than any of those previous managers/DOFs.

My mother was a Professor of Statistics and I believed that using statistics could improve bumper bars, which proved correct. My son is wrong statistics cannot succeed where football men all fail because recruitment is basically gambling and always fails.

I am not willing to invest money into the squad for any manager unless I am convinced that he is better than Adams, Wilkins, Keegan, Bracewell, Tigana, Coleman, Sanchez, Hodgson, Hughes, Jol and Tony Khan.

Trust me, I fully understand that Tony Khan cannot continue as he wastes money. I know Scott Parker would make a better DOF than Tony Khan, but I am certain Parker would be worse than Tigana and Hodgson as DOF and they were not good enough anyway.

I think I'm going to sack Tony Khan and not invest any more in the club than I have to, unless I can find a better plan. ALG01 (or whoever) what should I do next is there a way for this club to succeed after so many financial failures.?"

What then do you say?
What plan do you suggest?
Will SK believe the new plan can work?

[toshes mate]

@TRF

The worse owners in the world have a 25% 'chance' of doing well inspite of themselves, just as you and I have of hitting nails on heads because we aren't very good with a hammer.  You'd expect an owner to get the recruitment of a 'head person' right at least once in four attempts.  The Khans haven't done that because either they clearly haven't attracted the right applicants or they did attract them but ignored them.  We see the same or similar problem recruiting players where they must be close to that chance ratio even when using 'data' rather than another human being for one of the processes.  Why haven't the Khans observed their own shortcomings and employed a real Fulham Football Club person to oversee the Club and keep them advised of what is going on?  One such person should have been in place years ago.

[ALG01]

No business person in his right mind would retain the DoF we have.

Shahid Khan bought the club with the opinion that all of the managers of the last 20 years have failed. SK and TK investment is conditional on their belief that they can invest better than MAF managers did. One idea to do to better investing in players is to get his son running the recruitment. If Shahid Khan changes his mind and becomes convinced that TK isn't the solution. What Next?

Realizing his son is an idiot and not worth giving him money to buy players, may not be something you want SK to realize. Every manager in the last 25 years has wasted between 10%-50% of the money, he may be happy to let his son waste 50% but unwilling to let another manager/DOF waste 10%. So sacking his son means what next?

Everyone here thinks sacking Tony Khan is the solution to our problems, but it is only "step one" in a rather poorly thought out plan. After Tony Khan is sacked, lease explain the rest of the plan. I may be missing something, but I strongly suspect every plan will have a few "leaps of faith" that just won't work.

Hypothetically imagine your sitting down with Shahid Khan and he asks you for advice saying

"I took over this club after MAF invested money into the squads of Adams, Wilkins, Keegan, Bracewell, Tigana, Coleman, Sanchez, Hodgson, Hughes, and Jol, all of whom wasted the money, as none of them made any financial returns. I thought I could do better, but after a few years it was clear my approach wasn't working, when I discussed this with my son, he thought he could do better.

My son thought he could succeed where all of these other DOFs have failed by using computers, statistics, and processes, the same way I turned flex-n-gate around using six sigma statistics and processes. I have now come to the conclusion that my son is worse than any of those previous managers/DOFs.

My mother was a Professor of Statistics and I believed that using statistics could improve bumper bars, which proved correct. My son is wrong statistics cannot succeed where football men all fail because recruitment is basically gambling and always fails.

I am not willing to invest money into the squad for any manager unless I am convinced that he is better than Adams, Wilkins, Keegan, Bracewell, Tigana, Coleman, Sanchez, Hodgson, Hughes, Jol and Tony Khan.

Trust me, I fully understand that Tony Khan cannot continue as he wastes money. I know Scott Parker would make a better DOF than Tony Khan, but I am certain Parker would be worse than Tigana and Hodgson as DOF and they were not good enough anyway.

I think I'm going to sack Tony Khan and not invest any more in the club than I have to, unless I can find a better plan. ALG01 (or whoever) what should I do next is there a way for this club to succeed after so many financial failures.?"

What then do you say?
What plan do you suggest?
Will SK believe the new plan can work?

I have no itention of repeating all the various stuff I have said for the last few years. I have issued my views on alternative arrangements aplenty previously.

What i cannot get past is, and with all due respect (and I do mean that honestly), your first sentence is a work of fiction worthy of the bard.

Shahid Khan bought the club with the opinion that all of the managers of the last 20 years have failed.
I have never heard anything quite so ridiculous. the only way you would know that to be true was if you personally know shad Khan on a very close basis and he discussed that with you regularly.
And for a business man such as Mr Khan he know the statement to be massively incorrect.
Taking us from the third tier to the european final I think in any analysis would be consoidered success. adams on a shoiestring, keegan, tigana and hodgson all massive successes however you cut the cards. All worked within the financial constraints laid down by the then owners. Imaginative use of the transfer markeyt bringing in players our hapless DoF would simply have overlooked with any number of pointless ticks on his pointless checkboxes. We would not have got finan horsefield brevitt hayles saha boa duff simon davies mcbride coleman mellville or symonds wiyth this owner, neither would we have got VDS or schwartzer. I know this because none of them fit the model. Surel our DoF would not have taken Ivor from myrthr in his day.
We were massively successful and over acheiving when the Khan's took over.
We all forgave them their total and abject inexperience in the first season but they simply repeat avoidable errors.

If dad really was serious about having soinny boy as DoF a job that requires a fiulltime experienced person, he would have brought in a top experienced profesional a got his son to understudy/shadow him for several years to learn the ropes. what mr khan has done is act like the admiral of the fleet giving the captaincy of a a brand new cruise liner to his son despite the son never having set foot ona boat before.

I am intamately familiar with how family businesses run and what he has done, meaning mr khan, is wrong with regard to his son and the team is worse as a result.