My only take on this now

[Admin]

Is that the Club must be fully aware that we are destined for relegation and that sacking Martin Jol now, will make absolutely no difference what so ever.

Don't get me wrong, the club, or whoevers idea it was to stick with Martin Jol is fully to blame here, but unfortunately, in my eye's, we're now past damaged limitations.

Some idiot from inside the club obviously thought that Martin Jol had the ability to turn this around, but in hindsight, he should have been sacked 5-6 games ago, if not earlier.

But no, rather than sack the man that's made an absolute pigs ear of our squad over the last 2 seasons, some idiot has decided to not only back him, but draught in a head coach based on his say so.

To me, this isn't a man that is nearing the sack any time soon. To me, this is a man that seems to have a little more control of things at the club than we're lead to believe.

So, if Jol won't resign and we sack him now, what are the complication? Don't get me wrong, I'd rather boot him out now and not have the pleasure of him relegating us but;

1)   It is "rumoured" it will cost the club 5-8 million in compensation just to relive Jol and his backroom staff of their duties.
2)   In all fairness, who is out there now with enough time and experience to turn this around, in my eyes no one.
3)   Fulham would possibly face a mass exodus of players in January if Jol was sacked.
4)   Who if anyone, but Jol, will attract players of any quality to the club in January if we're bottom of the Premiership.

Please, please, please don't take this as if I'm trying to back Jol, I'm not, I can't stand the guy. I predicted that he would get us relegated, we almost came close to it last season, but after our dealings in the summer and lack of investment, I knew this season would be nailed on.

To not have egg on their faces, the club won't sack Jol yet anyway purely based on Rene' Meulensteen not having enough time. If anything, this stupid move has bought Jol even more time himself, so I fully expect him to still be in charge come Wednesday night smiling and waving at the Tottenham fans as Stekelenburg picks goal number 4 our of the net.

[JDH101]

I was, and still am, furious at the signing of RM as I knew this gave Jol more time. He is grossly incompetent and should have been fired at the end of last season.

I know you are not trying to defend Jol, but when I hear the argument of who else is out there i feel like my head is going to explode. Who else is out there?  I think there are a lot of people out there who could get us 6 defeats on a trot, out played every single game but the opposition and to register zero shots on goal yesterday. Lets be honest, my 90 year old Grandad could get us those results and he would be a darn sight cheaper than Jol.

[nose]

don't agree.
there is loads of time left, lots of points to play for
we have enough good players and the transfer window ahead
what we need is a proper manager to organise and enthuse the squad

there is no way we should be giving in yet!
This is the first rule of management, be positive and when faced with problems, deal with them.
we will have a good chance of survival if we act now!

[supersimmo123]

Nose makes a valid point. I would gamble now on someone like Holloway. Good track record in the Championship and let's face it it's probably where we will be playing our football next season. I can't see how we will stay up. Jol has to go. Rene can go as well. There is a bad smell at the club at the moment, the terraces are hostile fans are restless time to make a change and a deep cleanse in back room staff.

[Admin]

I was, and still am, furious at the signing of RM as I knew this gave Jol more time. He is grossly incompetent and should have been fired at the end of last season.

I know you are not trying to defend Jol, but when I hear the argument of who else is out there i feel like my head is going to explode. Who else is out there?  I think there are a lot of people out there who could get us 6 defeats on a trot, out played every single game but the opposition and to register zero shots on goal yesterday. Lets be honest, my 90 year old Grandad could get us those results and he would be a darn sight cheaper than Jol.

Oh no, seriously, that "who else is out there" argument drives me mad as well. What I meant was, 5 or 6 games ago, we could of possibly taken a chance on a Di Matteo or something, but now, who will have enough time, and will be experienced enough to get us out of this bloody mess?

[Admin]

don't agree.
there is loads of time left, lots of points to play for
we have enough good players and the transfer window ahead
what we need is a proper manager to organise and enthuse the squad

there is no way we should be giving in yet!
This is the first rule of management, be positive and when faced with problems, deal with them.
we will have a good chance of survival if we act now!

I agree with everything you say! Please don't take the above as me defending Jol or the clubs policy. I'm just bemused and trying to get my head around as to why the club fail to act. like you say, there is plenty of time left, we have a decent enough squad and a very rich owner who I'm sure would back the right man in January. But, it ain't happening and the longer this goes on, the more damage is being done.

[Denver Fulham]

we have enough good players and the transfer window ahead
what we need is a proper manager to organise and enthuse the squad

I have to interject here. No, we don't have enough good players. Our squad stinks. I think that's the biggest blind spot a lot of posters have on here.

I'll repeat the question I asked a couple of weeks ago: What Fulham player would sell right now for 5m pounds? The answer, quite likely, is "no one."

Jol's inept as a manager, but whoever inherits this situation if he's let go still has to deal with an ancient, slow, largely unskilled team with obvious gaping holes. Without significant moves in January, which could end up just making things more complicated come May if/when we get relegated, the manager won't matter, imo.

I have enormous issues with Jol and his mindnumbing lack of flexibility when it comes to formation, since the 4-2-3-1 puts more bad players on the pitch and puts more skill players out of position, but honestly, what formation would actually make this roster look decent?

4-4-2 would get utterly mauled in the midfield (worse than we do now). 4-3-2-1 would be ultra-defensive and have zero width, since we have about 0.5 legitimate outside midfield players. 4-1-4-1 with Boateng shielding, that sort of morphs into other formations with and without the ball? I dunno.

Every week, we see the lineup. We see Jol's making changes. Nothing changes. A lot of that is on Jol and his staff and training failures and whatever. But a lot of it is "We don't have enough good players," no matter what else is being done.

[Burt]

We are 3 points off the pace with a shed load of games to go.

If we make the change now/soon, then we have a chance. We were in worse positions when Roy and Sparky took over.

No change now then yes, I agree, relegation is a certainty.

[bill taylors apprentice]

If it does cost us £5 million to get rid of the problem, that should not be an issue for a PL club of our standing.

I thought his and therefore his staffs contract ends at the end of the season ?

My big fear is there is a plan to move Jol up to Director of football kind of role and keep him within the club.

There is still time if some positive action is taken NOW!

[Texas White]

Jol is like a poison that needs to be removed from critical patient.

You cut and they have a 50% chance of survival.

You dont cut.. they die.

[Forever Fulham]

Saying we can get XX number of potential points is like saying we can win the lottery.  Sure, it's possible.  But highly improbable.  The team has to beat all the lower table teams and some of the top half teams.  We have lost a lot of games on having players who aren't as fit as their opponents, on players who don't press, and who don't recognize the press and pass their way out of it before they become trapped.  We have players who dribble too much, who aren't accurate with their passes, who don't make themselves an easy attacking target for passes.  We can fix the fitness.  We can fix the passing accuracy and the play action without the ball.  Much can be fixed on the training ground but only if the players, all of them, make a full commitment.  They are two months away from that kind of fitness if they start right now.  We have to be lucky to win some key games between now and then.  I hope I'm wrong, cause I don't think it's just Xs and Os on a blackboard--a bloodless reshuffling of personnel which magically makes it all better. 

[RaySmith]

Confidence and self belief, and playing as a team, can make a lot of difference.

Then bringing in the right players in Jan.

It's far too early to give up now. I'm sure the players don't want to go down - bad for the cv if nothing else, so let's give the new regime a chance.

[jarv]

There is time left. We are in a battle with palace, Norwich and West Ham in my opinion. Also, maybe another will slip into the battle (Stoke).
We can hope for 17th which is achievable if we get a few in January.

[JDH101]

There is time left. We are in a battle with palace, Norwich and West Ham in my opinion. Also, maybe another will slip into the battle (Stoke).
We can hope for 17th which is achievable if we get a few in January.

Who in their right mind would come to us? We have to hope RM has some connections or that we can pick up 7-9 points by Jan.

[Deanothefulhamfan]

It is worrying that there is now a definate gap from us and the other teams, even If we beat spurs  (which is highly unlikely ) we are still in the bottom 3.

Our squad need to fight and work hard for Rene, and I am sure they will as nobody is guranteed a starting spot anymore. Grind out a draw to stop the rot of losing, and maybe just maybe we will find a way out of this mess. I still think we got rid of Jol a few weeks to late, but I will support Rene and the players

[MJG]

I see it as we have to beat Villa and win the two Xmas week games. That will give us 19 PTs from 19 games and while we would still be bottom 3 its the minimum we need.
From there we can make some changes to the players and push on and try to have a better second half.
I actually think we have a decent squad..good enough to stay up..nut do need a new striker and CB in January.

But saying all that, if we have say only 15 it's come end of Dec then start digging out the routes to championship teams.

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[MJG]

I see it as we have to beat Villa and win the two Xmas week games. That will give us 19 PTS from 19 games and while we would still be bottom 3 its the minimum we need.
From there we can make some changes to the players and push on and try to have a better second half.
I actually think we have a decent squad..good enough to stay up..nut do need a new striker and CB in January.

But saying all that, if we have say only 15 it's come end of Dec then start digging out the routes to championship teams.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Tonywa]

Nose makes a valid point. I would gamble now on someone like Holloway. Good track record in the Championship and let's face it it's probably where we will be playing our football next season. I can't see how we will stay up. Jol has to go. Rene can go as well. There is a bad smell at the club at the moment, the terraces are hostile fans are restless time to make a change and a deep cleanse in back room staff.

Is this the same Ian Holloway who has just quit at Palace because he admitted that he did not have the credentials to motivate players and make astute tactical choices at the top level?

[NorfolkJim]

I'd like Holloway if we were relegated - but we are not relegated yet.

Lets give it a couple of games before we go totally doomed - If suddenly the team comes to life, that will say a lot about what it was like being a player under Jol

If we are still dire then we can start planning for the aways at Ipswich and Peterborough

Even the players who bigged up Jol could hardly be expected to say anything else. Lets see how the side look against Spurs - Everton we never do anything there but we can get three points at Carrow Road - Norwich are fickle and typically underestimate Fulham