So Defour wont. be happening.... taxi for Ali mack

[fulhamben]

...why is everyone blaming a quality CEO? It is not HIS personal money to spend, he gets the players requests from the management team, see the owner and asks what funds he has at his disposal and then negotiates with teams and agents.

Do the people who judge him do so because they know they could do a better job on the budget provided by the chairman, or because they know a better CEO with a 100% success rate of player negotiations. Do people really know who negotiations are with and how they are progressing, and do they know who else is in the pipe-line and how those negotions are going.

The job of dealing with players and their current teams and their agents must be an easy one as you have to be an idiot not to get in great players...

how do you know what the budget is from the chairman? For all we know it is 100 million and Ali is still trying to penny pinch. And isn't it Ali,s job to sign renes top targets, even if it means going on all fours to khan with a wooden bowl and asking for more

[Hazey]

He may not personally be responsible, but as the CEO the buck stops with him.  It is the same in any line of work, that is why they get the big bucks.  He is a big boy and would be well aware that if we go down, he is gone.

[Count Berbatov]

How could you expect to compete in the top division, surrounded by teams whose budgets are in times bigger than yours. unwilling to spend, yet unhappy and moaning about results placement etx
My impression is, that this club is being run a lot more like business and a lot less like a sports club for the fans
It's almost like the club deserves what it gets at the moment with owner and management unwilling to invest and only care about balancing out the check books
Feel sorry for you guys... Hope things change and soon

[Lighthouse]

I would love to blame things on one person. It is so much easier doing that. If Senderos hadn't made that mistake we wouldn't have conceded. Although let's all forget that Berbatov was in an offside position again and stopped any quick break away leaving a pass to go astray and then they had a one on one with a panicky defender.

Same with our MD. He is a cog in a very big wheel. He is our last defender or our furthest forward. But the ball in this case is only a rumour and he is wearing two left boots with the laces tied together. Sadly he is in a long line of people who may well have some explaining to do when or if we fail to sign quality and fail to stay in the Prem. But only one of many.

As a massive fan of the extended metaphor, please know I'm over here slow clapping this.

064.gif     065.gif

[cmg]

-we are the supporters which is equivalent to being shareholders -

Much of what gets written on this (and other) subjects I consider to be fatuous and ill-informed, but we are all entitled to our opinions.

But this statement is just plain wrong.

Supporters (unless they happen to own shares) are customers, not shareholders. The fact that I choose to purchase Young's beer in preference to other available products does not make me a shareholder in whatever company brews the stuff these days.

[ToodlesMcToot]

...why is everyone blaming a quality CEO? It is not HIS personal money to spend, he gets the players requests from the management team, see the owner and asks what funds he has at his disposal and then negotiates with teams and agents.

Do the people who judge him do so because they know they could do a better job on the budget provided by the chairman, or because they know a better CEO with a 100% success rate of player negotiations. Do people really know who negotiations are with and how they are progressing, and do they know who else is in the pipe-line and how those negotions are going.

The job of dealing with players and their current teams and their agents must be an easy one as you have to be an idiot not to get in great players...

Not trying to pick a battle with you, but how do we know that he is a quality CEO exactly??? Because people in the business say that he is? People in the business were telling us how great Jol was and how we should hold onto him even when we were obviously spiraling down the drain. People freely judged Jol and not one of us has his qualifications.

Of course none of us knows the truth behind these negotiations. But, we do have a history of past transfer windows to go by as a guide. Just like with a manager, if one looks and pays attention, there is evidence there to go by. Personally, I don't see how the CEO is above scrutiny from the fans. He is the one figurehead that has remained in place since '08 and performances on the pitch and in the league as well as the age balance of the roster have all trended in a not too healthy direction over that time.

[beijing ben]

We cant be sure exactly what happened but if Defour had this scenario: Fulham want to sign you but there is a chance that Porto will sell a player that is keeping you from the first team. Who would you rather play for? Porto, who apart from winning pretty much everything in their star studded history are in the Europa League this season and third in the league, three points behind the leaders, or Fulham, embroiled in a relegation battle? I dont think we can blame him for staying at Porto. The fact that the other guy left this early has done us a favour because we still have time to find someone else..

[NogoodBoyo]

-we are the supporters which is equivalent to being shareholders -

Much of what gets written on this (and other) subjects I consider to be fatuous and ill-informed, but we are all entitled to our opinions.

But this statement is just plain wrong.

Supporters (unless they happen to own shares) are customers, not shareholders. The fact that I choose to purchase Young's beer in preference to other available products does not make me a shareholder in whatever company brews the stuff these days.

Cmg is so right on this one.  I was going to say the same thing but it took me too long to wade through all the mauling and puking same old same old.
As for Ali Mac, he has not done a good job with the grown ups but his establishment of the youth set-up has been first class.  If he keeps Jennings, Symonds and the entire youth management team and some of them do as well as some of Jennings's finds at Soton, then he will have performed well.  If he loses any of those Crown Jewels, his career with us should be over.
Nogood "a youthful look, isit" Boyo

[Baszab]

shareholders = supporters .........it was an analogy to highlight my point about the inept CEO - I am fully aware of the difference !

[JackyFulham90]

Let's keep the faith & judge the window after the deadline, we have no idea what's going on behind the scenes so let's wait before getting angry & upset

[Herbie]

Sometimes I wonder whether the people that get so worked up about the transfer window play a lot of Championship Manager, Fifa or Fantasy Football, where trading players can be done at the click of a button.

As others have mentioned, we have no knowledge of what goes on in the negotiations, therefore being uninformed, we shouldn't be so quick to reach for the negative assumptions.

I still have faith in the way that the club is being run; our youth set up will soon bear fruit that will see us good for many a year to come.

[MrProphet]

Sometimes I wonder whether the people that get so worked up about the transfer window play a lot of Championship Manager, Fifa or Fantasy Football, where trading players can be done at the click of a button.

As others have mentioned, we have no knowledge of what goes on in the negotiations, therefore being uninformed, we shouldn't be so quick to reach for the negative assumptions.

I still have faith in the way that the club is being run; our youth set up will soon bear fruit that will see us good for many a year to come.

In that case then all the teams around us are strengthening with their championship manager approach while we are playing tetris

If we don't stay up then the youth set up will be finished. We won't attract top young talent to a championship academy and if we did alla Southampton as soon as they where half decent they would get poached by a prem team

[Moussa Dembele the 3rd]

The proof will be in the pudding. If we don't sign a quality CM this window (we've had 3 windows to figure this one out), then Ali Mac obviously doesn't know what he is doing.

[TonyGilroy]

Are they strengthening though? Which players have our rivals signed that we would have wanted?

I wouldn't be happy with two ageing Italian journeymen with no Premier League experience. Let's see how that works out. We, at least, are trying to get players that their clubs don't want to lose.

[Peabody]

All I am reading in this thread is supposition, no facts, all guesswork.

None of us know what happens behind the scenes, none of us know the part various people play in this, because none of us is privy to the negotiations that take place.

If, on the first of Feb, no new additions have been made', then we will know.

One more thing, I have said it before and I will say it again, how can we as non professionals, criticise and demand the sack from a job that very few of us can do ourselves and if you get your wish and somebody is sacked, well get your CV in quick and maybe, just maybe, you can face the music from this and other sites.

[Jamie88]

All I am reading in this thread is supposition, no facts, all guesswork.

None of us know what happens behind the scenes, none of us know the part various people play in this, because none of us is privy to the negotiations that take place.

If, on the first of Feb, no new additions have been made', then we will know.

One more thing, I have said it before and I will say it again, how can we as non professionals, criticise and demand the sack from a job that very few of us can do ourselves and if you get your wish and somebody is sacked, well get your CV in quick and maybe, just maybe, you can face the music from this and other sites.

:plus one: Well said Peabody

[MrProphet]

Are they strengthening though? Which players have our rivals signed that we would have wanted?

I wouldn't be happy with two ageing Italian journeymen with no Premier League experience. Let's see how that works out. We, at least, are trying to get players that their clubs don't want to lose.

Of course they are they have brought people in positions they feel they need and I don't think we should have signed either however we should be signing a cm and an lb at a bare minimum

As for criticising professionals when you are in a position of power you are set up for criticism no matter what the organisation. Could I do the job? No but are there many a CEO getting their clubs the players they need....yes

[TonyGilroy]

Any time you bring a player in you think you're strengthening but that's a test of judgement.

You may well simply be wasting money or even weakening the team.

[General]

In fairness he has brought in good players to the club, and I'm pretty sure if there were endless funds he would be doing better.. Think it is stupid blaming this on one person.

He brought in Berba, bent, Parker, taraabt and a whole host more notable players in his time here. For all you know we may have been in for it hoping it to happen and then Porto changed their mind. Basically you have no clue.

Berbatov came because of Jol, Bent & taraabt are loan so nothing there and Parker, yeah perhaps, but qpr was our only competition....

And JBH - if we would have been a bit more direct Defour would have been our player before Porto was even thinking of selling their captain. (When we knew 700k was the difference)

I suppose to know that 700k is the difference you must have a personal relationship with Ali mac?

[Tonywa]

The Spammers' signing of two pretty average Italians smacks of total panic. Frankly I sincerely hope we never go down that route just for the sake of being seen to do something.