A reply from Tommy Guthrie

[OdecaMynoT]

Dear David

We all share your frustration with recent results and we do summarise the thoughts of our fans for our Management Board, so thanks for taking the time to contact us with your views.

It is not for me to comment on individual tactics or selections, as quite rightly these are primarily a matter for our Squad Management staff. What I would say is that football is very much a team effort, and we are all working hard to ensure a return to winning ways as we enter an important phase in our season.

You are entitled to your view, but give the great strides our club has taken over the course of the past few decades I would suggest it is perhaps slightly harsh to suggest we have "a gearbox that only works in reverse". We have progressed from the old 4th division through to the Premier League, enjoying some fantastic seasons, a European Final and the highest ever finish in our Club's history. Our status was hard earned and please be assured that this is something that any of us here take lightly.

It has been a difficult spell, and we now have a international break to regroup and focus on the task ahead. I hope you feel able to stay firmly behind our team as we look towards our forthcoming matches with Swansea and West Ham, and a return to the type of performances and results of which we know we are capable.

Thanks, as always, for your continued support

Tommy
Supporter Relations


TOMMY GUTHRIE

SUPPORTER RELATIONS MANAGER

FULHAM FOOTBALL CLUB TRAINING GROUND | MOTSPUR PARK | SURREY | KT3 6PT

TEL: +44 (0) 20 8336 7571

www.fulhamfc.com

[King_Crud]

but it wasn't Jol that got us up 4 divisions

[Northern Cottager]

Sort of a be grateful that we have over achieved and we'll see what happens response.

[grandad]

Good on you Tommy Guthrie. Some people have short memories. Perhaps some were not even born when we were in the 4th tier.

[The Bronsons]

What else could he say, to be fair?

[supersimmo123]

I hate to say it but Mark Hughes was so right. The lack of ambition at the club is incredible. we know where we have come from. What's the point in striving to get here and to settle for struggling every season. I remember the days of away games at Huddersfield on a Tuesday evening. I don't won't to be doing it any time soon. I do however feel for Tommy Guthrie who has thousands of these to go through!

[jarv]

Correct, what else could he say so better to say "no comment". problem is, the truth always hurts and his hands are probably tied so he cannot express the truth of the situation behind closed doors.
I read his response 3 times and it was almost, no comment without saying "no comment" Bit of a waste of time really. 094.gif

[ToodlesMcToot]

Correct, what else could he say so better to say "no comment". problem is, the truth always hurts and his hands are probably tied so he cannot express the truth of the situation behind closed doors.
I read his response 3 times and it was almost, no comment without saying "no comment" Bit of a waste of time really. 094.gif

Fact is, he could likely lose his job responding in the way he might do in a personal email.

I was quite surprised that he specifically acknowledged that bit of "gearbox" hyperbole. If I were in his position, I doubt that I would have.

Good for him though, giving what he could in his response, whether it's soothing or infuriating to us.

[JBH]

Good on you Tommy Guthrie. Some people have short memories. Perhaps some were not even born when we were in the 4th tier.

I don't have a short memory but he has totally missed the point

[jarv]

I just read it again....supporter relations manager??? wtf is that? what are the job responsibilities?

Now, he may be a nice chap but supporter relations suggests to me he has to represent some interests of the supporters. His response suggests he would never make it as a union leader or a shop steward. In fact, he would have to watch his step on the way out.

[OdecaMynoT]

My response was;

Dear Tommy

Thank you so much for your rapid response. Much appreciated.

Of course I recognize the huge strides and progress the club has made over the last 15-20 years and in no way would I wish to denigrate that fact. The gearbox analogy was merely trying to illustrate a point.

What I and many others see is a team spiralling out of control,with no direction and feel strongly enough to express those concerns in no uncertain terms before it's too late.

Thankyou again,onwards and upwards,

[Slaphead in Qatar]

Tommy is engaging in management speak. Reading between the lines jol will still be there for swansea.

[ToodlesMcToot]

I just read it again....supporter relations manager??? wtf is that? what are the job responsibilities?

Now, he may be a nice chap but supporter relations suggests to me he has to represent some interests of the supporters. His response suggests he would never make it as a union leader or a shop steward. In fact, he would have to watch his step on the way out.

Well, let's be realistic here, his title is Supporter Relations Manager and not Supporter Representative. The club is paying his salary and his responsibility to the supporters is what the club says it is and not what we imagine it to be.

[The Old Count]

Good on you Tommy Guthrie. Some people have short memories. Perhaps some were not even born when we were in the 4th tier.

I've been a supporter for over fifty years and still have sufficient faculty to recall all of the ups and downs and up agains.  What I don't want to see is another down.  And, like many supporters, I believe that that is just where Mr Jol is taking us: Down.

[ScalleysDad]

Seems to me that the focus is on the last few weeks and this current malaise is just a blip. I didn't get a response but perhaps any future letters should point out we are in a long downward spiral of thirty odd games and that the turnaround required is so clearly beyond the current management team.
I know what you are getting at Grandad but this is now and we are really, really poor.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Good on you Tommy Guthrie. Some people have short memories. Perhaps some were not even born when we were in the 4th tier.

That's not addressing the issue before us now!

[mungos beans]

Still spouting poo again grandad.

[Hammer Smith]

Seems to me that the focus is on the last few weeks and this current malaise is just a blip. I didn't get a response but perhaps any future letters should point out we are in a long downward spiral of thirty odd games and that the turnaround required is so clearly beyond the current management team.
I know what you are getting at Grandad but this is now and we are really, really poor.

Here's my letter that I sent last week to Tom Guthrie. No reply yet...

Dear Tom,

I have never been prompted to complain to the Club before. I am a life long supporter and season ticket holder, having watched us at Wembley in the 1975 Cup Final. My family - all four of us - are season ticket holders and we share the same feelings of intense disappointment at the current state of our team.

We all think that the present management team with Martin Jol at the helm is largely responsible for the current bad feeling about the Club. Our general performances over the past year have been very poor and things are getting progressively worse. We no longer look forward to our previously cherished match days by the Thames, meeting friends and extended family in a Putney pub and then walking to the match together through Bishops Park. Our fun has been taken away - and Fulham is a major part of our lives. All the fans I know - and there are many - can see what is wrong: poor management coupled by long term underinvestment in the first team, and a strong perception of a lack of ambition from the Club to keep up with our competitors, such as Southampton and Swansea.

The Club can choose to ignore us all but I dread to think where we are heading at the moment. I fear that many fans will not renew their season tickets next season - and that's even if we do manage to stay in the Premier League, which I greatly doubt at present.

At the very least we need to change the manager now to get someone in place who can help to bring back the feel good factor. We want to see good football again and some ambition - is this asking too much?

Yours sincerely,

[Me-ate-Live, innit??]

Good on you Tommy Guthrie. Some people have short memories. Perhaps some were not even born when we were in the 4th tier.

No Grandad  noooooooooooooooo!!!
That  little jock can take the high road,   who does he think he is lecturing OdecaMynoT on our history,   all he had to say was he passed on the email  

[Aaron]

Thought I'd replied here already but for some reason the post has gone missing..

Anyways, my main point was that this whole "be thankful for what you've got" argument that I see presented on here quite regularly doesn't hold water.  Just because we were once on the 4th tier doesn't mean that we don't deserve to be where we are now.

The old guard seem to think that folk who've only be following the team "take it for granted" that we're in the Premier League but I'd argue that the only people taking anything for granted right now are the board with there continual failure to invest in the club or do anything more than paper over the cracks with aging players who would have sold a few shirts with their names on then 10 years ago.

Considering our struggles to get where we are today I think it's shameful that those in charge seem willing to let us go out, not with a bang, but a whimper.