If you are Kahn, why take on the risk?

[The Rock]

Tick tock.

I rate him 3 out of 10 so far. Yes, he's running us on a tight budget, but surely not no budget?

Decent enough coaching staff, love Rene. Dempsey on loan for a few games is fine. Burn was ours to start with and delighted he should be staying. We only need 2-3 signings this January. Ruiz is on loan so maybe even two. We've got none.

If I were him and I'd be getting in that LB and creative MF/forward. A lot is on the line for him if he fails at this point. He fails and makes no signings then I have one word for that "Venky". I'd come and protest. He makes a few signings and we fail in the end then so be it, bad luck and he still has my support.

So then, the way I look at it, we will be making a few signings, unless Kahn is just a bad investor, which he does not have a track record in being.

[Ordar]

To be fair to Khan he inherited a far worse situation than he probably was "sold", and as he himself has said he doesn't know the business.

People will moan about this but I'm going to reference Jacksonville. At the Jaguars he inherited an absolutely terrible team. His philosophy has been to hire good staff and build through youth (the draft). This has direct parallels with what he's trying to do at Fulham. He hired Rene ( the best coach in the world according to multiple players ) and he's brought in at Rene's request  2 experienced coaches to help him. We're also targeting in this window at least a far younger breed of players who either are good with excellent potential (Morrison, Moore, Swansea player who's name eludes me) or in their prime ( Dafour ). There is no downsides to bringing in players like those, who at the very least we can sell for 4x what we pay in a couple of years

Patience

[The Rock]

To be fair to Khan he inherited a far worse situation than he probably was "sold", and as he himself has said he doesn't know the business.

People will moan about this but I'm going to reference Jacksonville. At the Jaguars he inherited an absolutely terrible team. His philosophy has been to hire good staff and build through youth (the draft). This has direct parallels with what he's trying to do at Fulham. He hired Rene ( the best coach in the world according to multiple players ) and he's brought in at Rene's request  2 experienced coaches to help him. We're also targeting in this window at least a far younger breed of players who either are good with excellent potential (Morrison, Moore, Swansea player who's name eludes me) or in their prime ( Dafour ). There is no downsides to bringing in players like those, who at the very least we can sell for 4x what we pay in a couple of years

Patience

I don't disagree. It's sort of the Everton or Villa way in their successes in recent years through good signings or youth system. But to do nothing, now knowing his situation and the team he has, would be poor investment management.

[HatterDon]

How man times do we sign people early in the January window?

[JDH101]

How man times do we sign people early in the January window?

Couldn't agree more. Unless you have silly money to throw around on players like City or Chelsea, you just don't see any activity until the last week in Jan. It is a horrible time to do business as everyone is jostling to get one over each other, not allow their relegation rivals etc to improve.

Even the players are holding out to see if they can get the very best possible move.

My guess would be that Khan wasn't expecting to find Fulham in its current position and that he wasn't thinking he needed to invest until the summer. But they have put in place an emergency budget to give us the best chance possible of survival. We are being linked with far more people than our relegation rivals which speaks volumes to me. And we are also being linked with people the right side of 30 for a change which is nice to see.

I really think that come Feb 1, we will have had a great transfer window and everyone will be feeling very confident around these parts. But to think we are going to make all these signings in the first half of the window is unrealistic and unfair. Give Khan a chance - I think we have great owner who is going to take us in the right direction.

Fingers crossed anyway!

[fulhamben]

How man times do we sign people early in the January window?

Couldn't agree more. Unless you have silly money to throw around on players like City or Chelsea, you just don't see any activity until the last week in Jan. It is a horrible time to do business as everyone is jostling to get one over each other, not allow their relegation rivals etc to improve.

Even the players are holding out to see if they can get the very best possible move.

My guess would be that Khan wasn't expecting to find Fulham in its current position and that he wasn't thinking he needed to invest until the summer. But they have put in place an emergency budget to give us the best chance possible of survival. We are being linked with far more people than our relegation rivals which speaks volumes to me. And we are also being linked with people the right side of 30 for a change which is nice to see.

I really think that come Feb 1, we will have had a great transfer window and everyone will be feeling very confident around these parts. But to think we are going to make all these signings in the first half of the window is unrealistic and unfair. Give Khan a chance - I think we have great owner who is going to take us in the right direction.

Fingers crossed anyway!

first half maybe not but 3/4 in.? Was hoping for something

[Holders]

Some unusual consensus on a topic!

Khan knows the score and some activity is leaking out. Some of the alleged interest/bids is for players in similar positions so there must be a good bit of testing the market going on, hence the protracted negotiations.

As much as we, certainly I, would have liked targets lined up ready to sign on 1st January that isn't the way it works and Rene has said as much.

We just have to have patience and hope that we're pleasantly surprised at the end of the month.

[grandad]

I would have expected transfer targets to have been identified a long time ago. I don´t understand why business couldn´t have been done earlier. These players could be bedded in & playing by now. Players,if there are going to be any, that are signed at the end of the window will take another few weeks to settle in. Very rarely can a player sign one day & be an immediate impact the next.

[TonyGilroy]

I would have expected transfer targets to have been identified a long time ago. I don´t understand why business couldn´t have been done earlier. These players could be bedded in & playing by now. Players,if there are going to be any, that are signed at the end of the window will take another few weeks to settle in. Very rarely can a player sign one day & be an immediate impact the next.

It's the way it always is. Agents play clubs off against each other to procure the best deals and clubs want to set up purchases conditional on sales. "You can have Smith but only if we get Jones" and of course Jones' club won't let him go unless they can get whoever it is that they want.

Meanwhile what we think we know is usually misinformation leaked by agents.

The imminent slamming of the door brings all this to a head.

[FFCAli]

To be fair to Khan he inherited a far worse situation than he probably was "sold", and as he himself has said he doesn't know the business.

People will moan about this but I'm going to reference Jacksonville. At the Jaguars he inherited an absolutely terrible team. His philosophy has been to hire good staff and build through youth (the draft). This has direct parallels with what he's trying to do at Fulham. He hired Rene ( the best coach in the world according to multiple players ) and he's brought in at Rene's request  2 experienced coaches to help him. We're also targeting in this window at least a far younger breed of players who either are good with excellent potential (Morrison, Moore, Swansea player who's name eludes me) or in their prime ( Dafour ). There is no downsides to bringing in players like those, who at the very least we can sell for 4x what we pay in a couple of years

Patience

There may be parallels with Jacksonville but there's one BIG difference  -  relegation.  In the US one can write off a season without it having a long-term (possibly permanent) result.  We might do well in the Championship but the likelihood is that we wouldn't do well enough.  We need to rescue this season.

[The Equalizer]

Vengeance pure and simple.

"He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition's flames before I give him up."

[FPT]

This is such an ill-informed post, I completely disagree.

When he first arrived, he wasn't stupid and changed what was going to happen from day one, smart considering we only had six weeks of the transfer market left. So, we stuck to the plan originally in place, which included the permanent signing of Scott Parker and loans of both Darren Bent and Adel Taarabt.

Then if we go to during the season, he stuck by Martin Jol, ok, maybe it was for a month too long, but he gave his manager an opportunity to turn it around, and in this case he didn't. If Martin Jol had turned it around, we're all praising Martin Jol for leading a struggling team back to form, and then Shahid Khan for giving him the time to.

Then we come to the appointment of Rene Meulensteen, as someone has said, many players, including Robin van Persie, have called him the best coach in the world. He's been joined by Ray Wilkins, another highly praised coach, and the added experience of Alan Curbishley, who kept a tight-budgeted Charlton side in the Premier League for a number of years.

Then we come to the January transfer window, notorious for it's difficulty of getting deals done. Let's all remember that Shahid Khan, doesn't actually negotiate the deals, it's CEO Alistair Mackintosh. Bids have gone in for a numerous amount of players; the key thing being younger players, something seldom seen under Mohamed Al Fayed. The moves for Ravel Morrison and Steven Defour are both signs of things changing for Fulham in the transfer market, with our calls for younger players finally being answered.

Also, something to be noted, we're not making ourselves look like absolute muppets by overpaying for footballers. We have our valuation, and we're doing things properly by NEGOTIATING a deal, not just paying what they want, we're not being run stupidly.

I think you should vent your frustration with some logic and direction, I see very little logic in any calls against Shahid Khan or the way Fulham is being run, it reeks of stupidity.

[Lighthouse]

Vengeance pure and simple.

"He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition's flames before I give him up."

Not sure what Khan's motivation can be. Although this comment makes it clearer

I've done far worse than kill you, Fulham. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet... buried alive! Buried alive...!

[MasterHaynes]

To be fair to Khan he inherited a far worse situation than he probably was "sold", and as he himself has said he doesn't know the business.

People will moan about this but I'm going to reference Jacksonville. At the Jaguars he inherited an absolutely terrible team. His philosophy has been to hire good staff and build through youth (the draft). This has direct parallels with what he's trying to do at Fulham. He hired Rene ( the best coach in the world according to multiple players ) and he's brought in at Rene's request  2 experienced coaches to help him. We're also targeting in this window at least a far younger breed of players who either are good with excellent potential (Morrison, Moore, Swansea player who's name eludes me) or in their prime ( Dafour ). There is no downsides to bringing in players like those, who at the very least we can sell for 4x what we pay in a couple of years

Patience

Happy to be patient, I'm one of the biggest supporters of our youth but there is a major difference with Jacksonville, they have time on their side every season they will play in the NFL regardless of where they finish. Fulham can get relegated which means a huge drop in revenue despite the parachute payments so a little timely investment now may save him millions in the future and allow him to continue with his sustainability project with us.

[Arthur]

I would have expected transfer targets to have been identified a long time ago. I don´t understand why business couldn´t have been done earlier. These players could be bedded in & playing by now. Players,if there are going to be any, that are signed at the end of the window will take another few weeks to settle in. Very rarely can a player sign one day & be an immediate impact the next.

This is what Rene has to say in response:

"It's very difficult in the January transfer window.

"People always say, 'Why don't you do your business early', and the answer's simple, because you can't.

"Clubs are in a similar situation, they know the longer they wait the higher the price will go. Or they gamble and nothing comes off.

"So you always see things stretching to the last week of the transfer window."


http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11681/9116498/transfer-news-fulham-have-bid-for-west-hams-ravel-morrison-rejected

[Lighthouse]

By this time next week the conversation will still be the same. Difference is we will only have another day to panic. Please let this be over soon.

I can stand my own despair but not anothers hope.

[Wimbledon_White]

I still believe we'll be feeding on scraps for the forseeable future, most likely in the Championship and most likely on a sustainable footing.