Why Rene's appointment makes perfect sense for failing Fulham

[simplyfulham]

After the Manchester United capitulation, the discussion afterwards turned to Jol's future. The board had to make one of two decisions really - back him or sack him. To sack him would be one swift way out of this mess, but by no means a guarantee of better things or a brighter future. The club have gone down the other route, of giving Jol support in the from of a world class coach, Rene Meulensteen.


If Joey Barton has said one considered thing in his life, then it would have to be the distinction he made between managers and coaches in this game. At Premier league level, club managers tend to do exactly that, manage. They manage the individual members of the squad as well their numerous coaching staff. On top of this, the modern day Premier league manager is also encharged with managing the media, the fans and of course, the chairman and board members. The point of all this being - a manger is not necessarily a coach any more (whether certain managers were ever coaches however, is a somewhat separate discussion). 


In every way, Martin Jol truly is a premiership manager - cue the backlash of members who are desperate to see Fulham rid of Jol once and for all. By which I don't mean he is 'prem class' or 'prem level'. Merely that Martin has a far greater interest in managing the football club rather than devising session plans for Monday morning.


One thing that is hard to argue against, is the quality of players Jol has signed throughout his time at Fulham and beyond. Berbatov, Kasami and Riether alone should be enough to know that he is able to spot and sign players of serious quality. It's my belief that no other Fulham manager in history has done as well as he has in terms of player recruitment - consistently.


Here is where Rene Meulensteen comes in. To be top coach, you need to be on the forefront of coaching constantly, it takes a lot of time and effort to keep up with the curb let alone staying ahead of it. It often becomes too much for top level managers, and they begin to fall behind the times. It's happened to many a manger, Phil Brown, Paul Jewell, Graeme Souness - there is a list of casualties.


The best managers not only have an eye for talent on the field, but they also know how to bring in the off-field talent. It's no coincidence that 4 of Mourinho's previous assistants are now first team managers in England. Alex Ferguson was another studious manager, superb in filling his coaching staff with some brilliant football coaches. Brian Kidd, Steve McLaren, Carlos Queiroz, Rene Meulensteen (of course). Let's not forget that our own Martin Jol was once approached to be on his coaching staff to replace Queiroz - who incidentally was a coach that Alex rated very very highly.


So maybe Meulensteen could be the perfect remedy to Jol, after all, if they were both good enough for Sir Alex, then surely they can be good enough for Fulham as well.



 

[The Old Count]

Good post.  Well put.

I think we can be cautiously optimistic.

[Ged]

Rene turned us down just a few weeks ago for a better job in Qatar or should i say a better paid job
What happened there?
dont get me wrong im glad he has joined Fulham but it seams a bit odd
http://www.ftbpro.com/posts/ian.stewart.palmer/459889/ex-manchester-united-coach-rene-meulensteen-confirms-job-in-qatar

[grandad]

Very well written piece. Very positive. In a nut shell. Managers manage & coaches coach. The modern day demands make it difficult to do both.

[Bassey the warrior]

Rene turned us down just a few weeks ago for a better job in Qatar or should i say a better paid job
What happened there?
dont get me wrong im glad he has joined Fulham but it seams a bit odd
http://www.ftbpro.com/posts/ian.stewart.palmer/459889/ex-manchester-united-coach-rene-meulensteen-confirms-job-in-qatar

Who cares?

[simplyfulham]

Regarding Rene and the Qatar job..

I believe something went wrong.. It was all agreed but some sort of contractual irregularity prevented him from starting the job proper. What that was I have no clue.

However there was a line in Ali Mac's statement that I thought interesting given the whole Qatar business.

He said, "with the assistance of our Chairman Shahid Khan, we've been able to bring one of the best coaches in the world to Fulham."

I imagine Shahid Khan's assistance is a slightly subtle way of saying £££££££££££££££££

[NogoodBoyo]

Managers manage, coaches coach do they?  In the meantime, the players and backroom staff have no idea who's running the ship, who's responsible for what and who is going to pick or drop them.
There will be blood, there will be tears, but there won't be enough sweat until this weak compromise is reconciled.
There is no room for both Jol and Rene in this club.
Nogood "very emphatic, isit" Boyo

[simplyfulham]

Jol hasn't been coaching the team up to this point. What makes you sure that a change of trainer will end in 'tears'?

This really isn't a radical change to the set up at all. It's just improving on the quality of coaching. Rene was happy to let Alex pick the team and take the flack for it, I don't see how his views have changed in 5 months.

[Bassey the warrior]

Jol hasn't been coaching the team up to this point. What makes you sure that a change of trainer will end in 'tears'?

This really isn't a radical change to the set up at all. It's just improving on the quality of coaching. Rene was happy to let Alex pick the team and take the flack for it, I don't see how his views have changed in 5 months.

Finally a sensible post. I guess it's the title 'head coach' that has people terrified, assistant manager wouldn't.

[Ged]

Regarding Rene and the Qatar job..

I believe something went wrong.. It was all agreed but some sort of contractual irregularity prevented him from starting the job proper. What that was I have no clue.

However there was a line in Ali Mac's statement that I thought interesting given the whole Qatar business.

He said, "with the assistance of our Chairman Shahid Khan, we've been able to bring one of the best coaches in the world to Fulham."

I imagine Shahid Khan's assistance is a slightly subtle way of saying £££££££££££££££££

The fact is that Fulham must of offered him a large salary to get him to join after turning us down
How dose that work with Jol? His assistant getting as much money as him

[WhiteJC]

This isn't trying to diminish your well though out argument but why would Alex Ferguson have wanted Jol as his assistant if he didn't think he was a good coach? ...and he Ferguson thinks that Jol is a goos coach why hasn't he proven it at Fulham?

[Bassey the warrior]

This isn't trying to diminish your well though out argument but why would Alex Ferguson have wanted Jol as his assistant if he didn't think he was a good coach? ...and he Ferguson thinks that Jol is a goos coach why hasn't he proven it at Fulham?

He's entitled to get one wrong from time to time. Jol clearly isn't a good coach, whereas Meulensteen has been shown to be one.

[simplyfulham]

This isn't trying to diminish your well though out argument but why would Alex Ferguson have wanted Jol as his assistant if he didn't think he was a good coach? ...and he Ferguson thinks that Jol is a goos coach why hasn't he proven it at Fulham?

Haha. Good point! I was sure someone would trip me up but that's a good one.

Umm I guess my only response is pure speculation that Jol was at one point a good coach.

It takes a lot of effort and time to stay on top as a coach. Martin maybe had ambitions to be a manager all along.

Pure speculation, but he did win a national cup with unfancied Roda in Holland. That's decently a coaches sort of achievement as apose to a manager.

[simplyfulham]

I do believe that all good managers become so by at first being good coaches and learning to spot other good coaches.

[JDH101]

I think Jol used to probably be a good coach. But the game has moved on and Jol hasn't.

It was certainly an interesting move by the board to essentially back Jol by brining in Rene. I felt that there was no where to go and had posted many times on this board that if Jols stays we go down.

Obviously we all hope that this move is going to bring the squad together and get us playing good football and moving up the table. But what happens if we see the same lackluster, unmotivated, passionless, static performance tomorrow that we have seen all season? Too soon for Rene to make an impact right?

Ok, so then on to the next game, and so on and so on. But what happens, if, come January, we are still in the bottom three and still playing hopeless football?

Do we fire Jol and make Rene the official number 1? But would he not have been running the first team the last couple of months anyway? So what changes would we expect to see there? Very little I would assume.

Like I said, I hope this move is a master stroke by the board. But there is a very good chance we don't see any real improvement and then I feel like the club is in an even bigger mess than it was before Rene's appointment.

I wish we had fired Jol and brought in a new man with new ideas. But we didn't. So i'll get behind the team like I always do. I hope Rene is all he is made out to be and he saves us. But if he is all he is made out to be I'm not sure why he's at Fulham in a very negative atmosphere as a number 2. I guess the jury will be out for a while.

COYWs

[alfie]

Managers manage, coaches coach do they?  In the meantime, the players and backroom staff have no idea who's running the ship, who's responsible for what and who is going to pick or drop them.
There will be blood, there will be tears, but there won't be enough sweat until this weak compromise is reconciled.
There is no room for both Jol and Rene in this club.
Nogood "very emphatic, isit" Boyo

Just a small point - Alex Ferguson did not coach his team at Manure, he appointed the likes of Rene to do it for him, you will also notice that during a game he says very little to the players, even less that MJ.

[Jack Fulham]

Very well written piece. Very positive. In a nut shell. Managers manage & coaches coach. The modern day demands make it difficult to do both.

Hodgson was very good at both.

[fulham traveller]

hodgson is a top coach, if jol does not do the coaching before it was billy McKinley and the other chap, so we will see a difference with a better coach, we fell apart when our coaching stopped