Don't belive everything you read

[Admin]

Talking to a few Fulham faithfuls, half the players that we've been linked to this window, we haven't even spoken to, let alone put a bid in for. Stekelenburg for example, we didn't even talk to his agent or approach his club. Why we are constantly being linked with these players is beyond me and from what I've heard, McIntosh is holding back on funds this January so it literally will be one cheap buy (Boateng) and a couple of loan deals. The question that isn't being answered right now is why are we holding back on funds but as Jol quoted, don't expect any marquis signings this window and I think he's telling the truth.

[TonyGilroy]

You're probably right but it seems very high risk to me.

Playing as we are we will need to be very lucky to stay up.

[grandad]

We are being linked with players to appease the fans. They can turn round to us & say that we tried but the player´s demands were not within our salary cap.

[MJG]

Yesterday was really the first time I really thought that maybe the club are looking at a change in the summer.
They may not wish to back Jol with any big buy's as he could be off and we would be stuck with one of his players.
I think this may be a bit short sighted by the club because managers come & go and if its the right player we should go for them anyway.
Take Butland, if we bought him I don't think Jol being here or not makes a jot of difference. If it was a big buy from Germany then maybe we take a step back.
There must be a reason the money is being held back and I don't believe its the stand. Maybe the big buy in Berbatov has cost us more in signing on fees/wages than we expect and the budget was blown by that.

[TonyGilroy]

We are being linked with players to appease the fans. They can turn round to us & say that we tried but the player´s demands were not within our salary cap.

I'd be surprised.

I'd rather be told we're not interested than find we want a player but can't persuade them to come or compete financially with equivalent clubs.

[FFC1987]

Is it high risk? I think if the assumption is we have a good enough squad to stay up, I'd say definitly. You look at Wigan, Reading, Norwich, Villa, QPR and Saints and I'd say with our current points and remaining fixtures and the current squad we SHOULD stay up. If this means adding a small amount of quality now and allowing Jol to really have a pop at a pre season with a war chest I'm all for it. However, this all falls flat on whether Jol will last that long and whether there is a war chest at all. As people above have pointed out.
*Please note, I consider the other teams with no disrespect but currently I'd say we are at least on Par with them and in a better poisition table wise.

[epsomraver]

Is it high risk? I think if the assumption is we have a good enough squad to stay up, I'd say definitly. You look at Wigan, Reading, Norwich, Villa, QPR and Saints and I'd say with our current points and remaining fixtures and the current squad we SHOULD stay up. If this means adding a small amount of quality now and allowing Jol to really have a pop at a pre season with a war chest I'm all for it. However, this all falls flat on whether Jol will last that long and whether there is a war chest at all. As people above have pointed out. 
*Please note, I consider the other teams with no disrespect but currently I'd say we are at least on Par with them and in a better poisition table wise.

Difference between us and the clubs mentioned with perhaps
Villa as an exception  is they all play as a team, they have great team spirit and last but definitely not least THEY ALL TRY TO WIN!

[Roberty]

I am not aware that we have been told anything factual and I would not expect the club to confirm anything until a deal had been done. Clubs do not tell everyone about the amount of the funds avaiable or the players they are targeting because it would be counter productive. The clubs associated with players in the press are mostly being used like teasers in the racing industry to advertise their availability.

I think the Chairman has demonstrated his loyalty to our club over many years. Seemingly endless speculation about the clubs intentions, adverse comments about the management and booing the players are not going to make anything better. It is surely time for us to show our support for the club and to cheer them back to better form.

[cottage cheese]

I have mentioned on several posts that since 2003 we have spent on average every Jan window £2-3million. I dont see why this one will be any different. When Jol said he hopes we will be stronger at the end of the window, I think he means to the fact we get diarra,frei and sidwell back to full fitness. We may bring in a loan into midfield but Im not expecting anything else.

Newcastle have the money to address their problems and we simply do not.

[Lighthouse]

The rumours about lack of funds etc were around at the start of the last transfer window. I dismissed them as we were on the verge of great things. Well we now know what went on so I have dismissed this transfer window and watch the way we are playing thankful that I no longer have the funds to watch such poor faye live.

Nobody can ever take away how important Al Fayed has been to our club. I will never criticise anything he does for us. The facts are however these. We had a side that was close to becoming a top 6 side. It seems we decided as a club, to build a stand and build for a future of youth and have poyfilla players until such a time we could play the youth players. We would then sell them on and continue the process.

What we are left with is what we have. An ill equiped team with an ill equiped manager. What this window will prove is we are continuing with that gamble. I have said long before this poor form it was a mistake. I continue with that opinion.

[Hammer Smith]

This is what I suspected - and fear - as I agree we will have to be very lucky to survive without the new players needed - our midfield is just too weak to gain those extra wins that we require to ensure safety.

I don't understand the reasoning but clearly the potential transfer money available seems to have been withdrawn while all our competitors continue to have money to strengthen their squads and they seem to be making good use of it. I'm sure the new stand will not be built in the summer either as the Club have failed to respond to fans' enquiries about this, including my own. However, this will be the least of our worries if we do actually go down!

What I really don't like is the dishonesty at the Club coupled with the total lack of information and the myopia of such short term money saving. Jol said at the end of the last transfer window that he was able to spend all the D&D money and since then silence on this front until he said that we have very little money in this transfer window. I don't blame Jol for this as he is just saying how things are at any particular time but clearly Mo and the Board i.e. Mo - doesn't appear to want to spend any more of this additional D & D windfall - which is of course unanticipated extra money in addition to all our income including the Sky money.

This decision - if our fears are correct - which is getting more and more likely by the hour as transfer deadline day approaches - will ultimately not help Mo financially - even during the next twelve months - if we do actually get relegated. Already various relatives and friends have shown less enthusiasm to come to future matches and some have stayed away who previously loved to come along. This pattern will accelerate rapidly over the coming weeks and months if we don't feel the Club are moving forward, regardless of the marketing spin we continue to receive.

Watching us play at the moment is joyless and that is very sad and certainly affects my mood beyond football; it no doubt does this for many other hardcore fans who will still be there if we go down as many (or at least some) of us were during the long 35 year top flight exile when we were mainly fighting for our own survival: a pretty depressing period (save for a few promotion fillips and a Cup Final appearance). We will have to get used to the embarrassing and humiliating prospect of being excited again about challenging Brentford as our closest lower league rivals - QPR will steal all our prospective new fan base again and we'll be back in the dark ages.

We can all then say that relegation would teach the Club - and Mo - a lesson - as we could see it coming - but for we fans it will destroy our long term hopes and ruin a large chunk of our lives, as once down I think we are likely to go the same way as we did after 68/69 - and we will have to search elsewhere to gain the enjoyment we have had over the past 15 or so years. Let's hope we're all totally mistaken and that we do actually buy in some great new players who will bring back the feel good factor eh?

[JBH]

We are being linked with players to appease the fans. They can turn round to us & say that we tried but the player´s demands were not within our salary cap.

No we are being linked to players by the press 

[rusty shackleford]

I love it when it turns out there was no bid because it just proves how bullpoo the whole thing it. No bid = no interest as far as im concerned. "Fulham are preparing a bid for......" Who knows this? And how? Does the backroom staff sit around a big table for days on end, no sleep, Chinese food cartons everywhere, "preparing" a bid.

[Hammer Smith]

We are being linked with players to appease the fans. They can turn round to us & say that we tried but the player´s demands were not within our salary cap.

No we are being linked to players by the press 

Conspiracy theories are always rubbish. The Club won't feed false stories about transfers to the press. You have to be a bit dim and very paranoid to believe this. The truth is much more simple: Mo just wants to get some of his money back while he's still around. He never really had that much dosh in the first place and Harrods prior to the sale was mortgaged up to the hilt. His existing investments will have been badly hit over the last few years despite the Harrods sale so any Club surpluses will make a big difference to his financial situation. I also assume Mo and the Club must also believe that we will still stay up without spending any significant money on any new players. If this assumption is correct, I hope their gamble pays off.

[Logicalman]

I agree with most comments made here, except for one. Mo, and the rest of his advisors are business men, money men, and to think that, after over a decade in charge of a Prem club, they are not aware that if we get relegated they will get less money seems all rather silly.

For whatever reason they are limiting MJs funds this window is something we can ion speculate about, and if it is for the new stand, then I am sure the board are more than confident we are staying up, as they will be looking at an roi.

[FFC1987]

Is it high risk? I think if the assumption is we have a good enough squad to stay up, I'd say definitly. You look at Wigan, Reading, Norwich, Villa, QPR and Saints and I'd say with our current points and remaining fixtures and the current squad we SHOULD stay up. If this means adding a small amount of quality now and allowing Jol to really have a pop at a pre season with a war chest I'm all for it. However, this all falls flat on whether Jol will last that long and whether there is a war chest at all. As people above have pointed out.  
*Please note, I consider the other teams with no disrespect but currently I'd say we are at least on Par with them and in a better poisition table wise.

Difference between us and the clubs mentioned with perhaps
Villa as an exception  is they all play as a team, they have great team spirit and last but definitely not least THEY ALL TRY TO WIN!

Sorry, what offle.

What is the evidence for this as a whole for the season? You can use 2-3 games tops to justify that statement. We should been to some extent been unlikely to drop a few points and circumstances such as sending off etc distracted us slightly.
My point is subjectve but I maintain the belief that there are teams in worse situations than us and our squad should be able to put up enough points to survive.

[JackyFulham90]

Let's wait till Feb 1st before judging all the business happens late in the window

[FulhamMic]

why are we holding back on funds

Perhaps because a large number of our current squad will leave at the end of the season due to their age and their current contracts expiring, and therefore significant investment will be required to replace them. Buying short-term cover in January at over-inflated fees and higher wages would undoubtedly eat into any summer budget, meaning we could well be in a more dire position than we are now. It's a gamble for sure, but I'm positive that if no investment, however small, is forthcoming during this window, it's a calculated risk that both Mack and Mo are prepared to take.

Rebuilding a squad doesn't happen in 18 months; reducing the average age of the squad doesn't happen in 18 months. Perhaps the summer clear out and a planned hefty investment are all part of the bigger picture. It may also be why there's not much noise coming out of the club with regards our league position, form or the dreaded vote of confidence for Jol?

It could simply be that Mo, Mack and Jol all see this season as a season of transition, and it is all part of a much bigger plan.

[grandad]

why are we holding back on funds

Perhaps because a large number of our current squad will leave at the end of the season due to their age and their current contracts expiring, and therefore significant investment will be required to replace them. Buying short-term cover in January at over-inflated fees and higher wages would undoubtedly eat into any summer budget, meaning we could well be in a more dire position than we are now. It's a gamble for sure, but I'm positive that if no investment, however small, is forthcoming during this window, it's a calculated risk that both Mack and Mo are prepared to take.

Rebuilding a squad doesn't happen in 18 months; reducing the average age of the squad doesn't happen in 18 months. Perhaps the summer clear out and a planned hefty investment are all part of the bigger picture. It may also be why there's not much noise coming out of the club with regards our league position, form or the dreaded vote of confidence for Jol?

It could simply be that Mo, Mack and Jol all see this season as a season of transition, and it is all part of a much bigger plan.

At last a sensible post.

[SouthfieldWhite]

I really do get bored with the transfere window and all the speculation that goes with it, not just our fans, but fans in general are so gullible when they read the crap that goes into papers or websites

It's been proved Fulham keep their transfere activity so close to their chest.

Half the people who work for the club don't know about signings until they happen, so why should us fans

There's  too many  alledgly ITK fans, when all they've done is read something off a website

I was lucky enough to have an insight into what goes in to a transfere at Fulham from the moment of identifying a player through to actually signing him

Most fans live in a bubble and think we're the only club not signing a player

We also forget, it's important we keep hold of our own players too, if a player wants to leave, after initially trying to keep them, if the still want to leave then let them and let's get maximum money for them a la Dempsey

Lets wait til the end of Jan before we start throwing our toys out the pram