Are we potentially in a perpetual state of transition?

[General]

We're not signing anyone down to long contracts - Jol is 2 with an option of a third, diarra is seemingly a 1 year rolling contract, berbatov is a 2 year deal which will be running down before you know it, Hangeland has a year left and Petric has been signed for this season, then, when it comes to January we're going to be trying to sell a club to players when players will be looking at our squad with a view to the future with no certainty about what's in store regarding it..


The thing is - when January comes around we could find ourselves again fighting to keep our best players, not getting any money for them and having to spend a heck of a lot of money to bring in what will equate to an entirely new squad with only Martin Jols reputation and financial backing (of which we will have to give) to keep this growth going.

As a player looking to come here - you talk to the players who are here or have left, you'll ask them what's going on and I'm pretty sure that the players will say "nice club, but something's going on behind the scenes at the moment" which is obviously the case... It's probably the reason we lost out on Odjija - Ofoe, being a beligan international and with moussa leaving.

I just want to see a statement of intent aside from signing one big player but rendering him semi redundant by not giving him a foundation to flourish from by not bringing in a proper CM to run the park.

I wonder regularly what sort of base of reasoning has been put in place which has left us in such a vulnerable position? Does ANYONE have an insider who can shed light - anything to help us fans understand what exactly is going on at the club?

[jarv]

It does seem odd that a decent young player (like Dembele) does not get 4 years. Unless of course the risk factor is taken into account. (Will the  new signing make it in the premier?)

However, regarding Dembele, I believe it was actually Roy who started the process and Hughes didn't want to sign him. So the compromise was the short contract I guess.

Personally, I see Fulham very similar to Everton these days. Only difference is Everton seem to hang on to most of their players, but, like Fulham, are at risk of losing their best.

This year could be an odd one. We lost players due to age but the only 2 important ones were the Dems. so maybe it is not all bad. I still think mid-table this season, 9-14. The key is to treat every game against lower teams as a 6 pointer, starting at home next week. (West Ham just did it to Fulham, they wanted it more).

[cebu]

It does seem odd that a decent young player (like Dembele) does not get 4 years. Unless of course the risk factor is taken into account. (Will the  new signing make it in the premier?)

However, regarding Dembele, I believe it was actually Roy who started the process and Hughes didn't want to sign him. So the compromise was the short contract I guess.

Personally, I see Fulham very similar to Everton these days. Only difference is Everton seem to hang on to most of their players, but, like Fulham, are at risk of losing their best.

This year could be an odd one. We lost players due to age but the only 2 important ones were the Dems. so maybe it is not all bad. I still think mid-table this season, 9-14. The key is to treat every game against lower teams as a 6 pointer, starting at home next week. (West Ham just did it to Fulham, they wanted it more).

I believe the 3 year contract like the 15m buy out clause had nothing to do with Sparky, but rather Moussa and his agent. Moussa always planned to use FFC as a stepping stone ... and there's nothing wrong with that.

I really think that all the contract stuff is entirely in the hands of MAF/Mac and the team managers like Hodgson, Sparky and Jol didn't/don't get that much say in it.

[Alternative]

Long term contracts can also feather bed deadbeats like Andy Johnson.

There are downsides too.

[Logicalman]

Long term contracts can also feather bed deadbeats like Andy Johnson.

There are downsides too.

and Bullard

[MasterHaynes]

You need to accept that when we get a really talented player we will always lose them to bigger clubs, that their agents will insist on release clauses and shorter contracts. With more of them being from abroad this includes big clubs from around Europe. We will need to try and maximise the money we get for them, continuing to produce younger players to come through and sign good players early before they become too expensive and want to play for bigger clubs.

[Chopper]

It does seem odd that a decent young player (like Dembele) does not get 4 years. Unless of course the risk factor is taken into account. (Will the  new signing make it in the premier?)

However, regarding Dembele, I believe it was actually Roy who started the process and Hughes didn't want to sign him. So the compromise was the short contract I guess.

Another reason to dislike Hughes then. The way things have been going so far this season at QPR his ethos seems to be entirely based on splashing out money on "name" players and hoping they'll gell.

[RidgeRider]

I've accepted the fact we are a selling club. Given our size, one of the best strategies we can employ is to buy young promising players, develop them and when they are ready for a big contract with another side, sell them off. We sprinkle in veteran players on shorter contracts who want to play in the PL and play exciting football but maybe won't get a big deal anywhere else or like London how Fulham is run. I think this is a philosophy we have employed and it will mean turnover of players in the end.

We probably better get used to a future of changing players, rather than what we saw under Hodgson/Hughes.

MAF is a shrewd businessman and Alistair has made some good deals but they will always be looking to make decisions that balance finances with putting a good mid table product on the pitch to keep us in the PL. We clearly had plenty of cash to spend on some of the final deals that were on the table but didn't get them done most likely because we didn't like the deals.

Change will be constant and thinking we will be a top 6 side remains a hope.,,,but perhaps not  concrete plan.

[Scrumpy]

I think this is mostly down to agents telling their clients not to sign up to long deals, so they can get a nice signing-on fee every year or two. It could be that we'd like to sign them on for longer. Alternatively, it is because the player is getting on a bit and does not have such a good re-sale value.

Dejegah (?) and Richardson were signed on 3 year deals, (with an option for 4 with Richardson). Maybe becuase they're a bit younger than Berbatov, Petric et al.

I'm not one for conspiracy theories.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Long term contracts can also feather bed deadbeats like Andy Johnson.

There are downsides too.

Exactly, if slightly overstated.

And generally there are going to be as many, if not more, players that may be decent but are never going to make much impact or give us a good return on our money. Think of Gecov, Sa and Halliche. What if they had 5 year contracts?

I am sure we offered Dembele a much improved contract but Spurs was in his career plan as he said early in his stay with us.  

[Burt]

Yes, always. Players come and go. As do backroom staff. And managers. Tactics are never static.

As per the other comments, the only constant really is that we are a selling club, and have financial constraints (both in terms of how much we have available for transfers, and in terms of wage policy) and this dictates our approach to the market, contracts, transfer windows etc. to an extent.

[alfie]

We unfortunately are club with very little income in terms of making use of the facilities. We all love Craven Cottage but i believe that is a bit of a problem when you need to generate income outside of gate receipts, it is not much of a suitable place to hire out, i remember when i was working at the club many years ago we had the pop world 5 a side comp with your Robbie Williams and the like, it was amazing all these top groups at the time on the pitch and the only stand opened was the Johnny Haynes, and that only happened once, after that they started using Stamford Bridge much bigger and better venue for this sort of thing.

[HatterDon]

The quick answer to the question in the thread is "yes." And the only way we're not going to be a team in transition is when we have a manager who is going to stay for a while and a clear vision of the future by the club and the board.

Jol MUST stay, and he must be allowed to construct a squad and field a team capable and ready to play his kind of football. The best we can hope for is to finish 6-12 in the league every season and make a decent cup run once in a while. We can do that with decent signings and a good youth system. We've got everything in place for Jol's Fulham to do what Moyes' Everton has done.

I personally believe that our transfer period was better than the last two under Jol. I think the signings we made have a better chance of contributing than January's or last summers. We didn't get everything we need because we're not Man City. And, yes, there's a hole in center mid, but I don't think it's so much a failure to sign another Murphy as it is the fact that it's incredibly hard to find another Murphy. The problem with being the smartest kid in your class is that when he goes, you've still got the class, but not the brilliant kid. Or, as we say in South Texas, "It's just a thang."

[ScalleysDad]

The quick answer to the question in the thread is "yes." And the only way we're not going to be a team in transition is when we have a manager who is going to stay for a while and a clear vision of the future by the club and the board.

Jol MUST stay, and he must be allowed to construct a squad and field a team capable and ready to play his kind of football. The best we can hope for is to finish 6-12 in the league every season and make a decent cup run once in a while. We can do that with decent signings and a good youth system. We've got everything in place for Jol's Fulham to do what Moyes' Everton has done.

I personally believe that our transfer period was better than the last two under Jol. I think the signings we made have a better chance of contributing than January's or last summers. We didn't get everything we need because we're not Man City. And, yes, there's a hole in center mid, but I don't think it's so much a failure to sign another Murphy as it is the fact that it's incredibly hard to find another Murphy. The problem with being the smartest kid in your class is that when he goes, you've still got the class, but not the brilliant kid. Or, as we say in South Texas, "It's just a thang."

Blimey. hand clap icon thing and a flag.
I bet if Jol did have a shopping list there would have been a big ? next to a CM purchase. Who could it have been on our budget. Certainly not the ball playing, dominating captain fantastic material most people seemed to have assued we would snap up.