Alistair Mackintosh

[Berserker]

£12 wouldn't have got us much Nose

[Berserker]

Anyway if Ali Mac was responsible for the greek tradegy I don't think he'll be here to oversea the summer transfer window. Or was the person who carried out the medical at fault!!!!

[nose]

Ok. seeing as we seem to be the ony two awake...
I think for £12 we may well have got more value than £12m we actually coughed up for somebody who is feeling his hamstring after 60 minutes, weeks afetr his arrival....
I suspect for £120 we could have done much better
and for £1,200 i would have played...  it's all I can afford.....   the old ones are still the best!

[nose]

Anyway if Ali Mac was responsible for the greek tradegy I don't think he'll be here to oversea the summer transfer window. Or was the person who carried out the medical at fault!!!!

ah well if you want to be a bit more serious.... then, i actually wondered if rene was at fault and this was his crime that got him the boot. one of the two of them (maybe both) must have been negligent, but in the end the top dog is responsible.

anyway we shall see but i am not anticipating seeing 90 mins from the greek anytime soon

[Baszab]

The reason that AM has to carry the can over and above other football CEOs is that when Khan bought the business, Khan had no football advice from inside the UK - it was an investment that he was basically conned into by AF - based on our false 12th position last year and papering over the cracks of the investment in the squad and useless manager.

At the beginning of the investment, in 2013, AM was advising Khan's portfolio managers on football - I still don't get why people on this board want to blindly defend AM's performance overseeing the demise of FFC. The chronic support of Jol, idiotic appointment of RM and then the panic purchase of Mitroglou and subsequent recruitment of Magath, all "knee-jerk" reactions too late.

[TonyGilroy]

The reason that AM has to carry the can over and above other football CEOs is that when Khan bought the business, Khan had no football advice from inside the UK - it was an investment that he was basically conned into by AF - based on our false 12th position last year and papering over the cracks of the investment in the squad and useless manager.

At the beginning of the investment, in 2013, AM was advising Khan's portfolio managers on football -

Now I didn't know any of that and I think I pay attention.

How have you discovered this? Or are you making assumptions?

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

our recent purchasing policy, i.e. from the day jol arrived to now has been a joke and if it were equated to the banking world would be under severe investigation, ruiz and berba, and now mitroglu.... none of these have made a genuine positive contributiom and the last is nothing short of a discgrace. to manage to sign an injured payer when we need fit players ready for the fight....  it is a shameful disgrace.

we put our trust in the management and they have let us down big time.... with £12 we could have got others, eagre to have a chance and show what they could do. In the end AM is responsible, not adequately replacing roy, not getting shot of jol much sooner..... and so on and so forth... the list is really very depressing and its time for a big change at the ceo board level.... i wish khan spent a little more time with the team... maf used to 'assist' with roy's pre match pep talks and he always said itt helpped lighten the mood and inspire the team... we could do with that now!

our recent purchasing policy, i.e. from the day jol arrived to now has been a joke and if it were equated to the banking world would be under severe investigation, ruiz and berba, and now mitroglu.... none of these have made a genuine positive contributiom and the last is nothing short of a discgrace. to manage to sign an injured payer when we need fit players ready for the fight....  it is a shameful disgrace.

we put our trust in the management and they have let us down big time.... with £12 we could have got others, eagre to have a chance and show what they could do. In the end AM is responsible, not adequately replacing roy, not getting shot of jol much sooner..... and so on and so forth... the list is really very depressing and its time for a big change at the ceo board level.... i wish khan spent a little more time with the team... maf used to 'assist' with roy's pre match pep talks and he always said itt helpped lighten the mood and inspire the team... we could do with that now!

Purchasing players always has risks. What percentage really succeed? This is particularly true of overseas players. Ruiz clearly has talent but the PL really caught him out. Berbatov was fine in his first year with us and without his goals we would almost certainly have been relegated. He lost heart along with Jol when he could see no progress. The Mitroglu situation is bizarre.

This obsession with Alistair Mackintosh is really weird. Nobody was saying AM was responsible for getting us to the Europa League Cup Final or buying players before the Khan period. Under Al-Fayed MAF was ultimately responsible for the hiring and firing of the managers and for agreeing and providing the funds for transfers. I see no reason for this having changed under Khan. The problem for me is that Khan knows a lot less about the PL, he sacked all the old Board and put in his own men and needs and has taken time to get to grips with the situation.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

The reason that AM has to carry the can over and above other football CEOs is that when Khan bought the business, Khan had no football advice from inside the UK - it was an investment that he was basically conned into by AF - based on our false 12th position last year and papering over the cracks of the investment in the squad and useless manager.

At the beginning of the investment, in 2013, AM was advising Khan's portfolio managers on football - I still don't get why people on this board want to blindly defend AM's performance overseeing the demise of FFC. The chronic support of Jol, idiotic appointment of RM and then the panic purchase of Mitroglou and subsequent recruitment of Magath, all "knee-jerk" reactions too late.

Let us assume, as you claim, that AM was advising Khan's portfolio managers on football.

The first point is we don't know what advice AM gave. He may have said you will need a new manager and to spend £30m replacing the elderly players and they might have decided to keep Jol on and not give serious money for transfers on the basis that we have held our position in the PL for so long.

The second point is why an owner would rely on AM, an accountant, for footballing advice. I am sure that AM has lots of experience and would offer better advice that most of us here but he is just one source of advice and not a footballing one at that. That Khan replaced the old Board and, although new to `soccer' and the PL, didn't seem to have anyone with relevant football experience to advise him and the new Board seems enough to explain our current predicament.

[TonyGilroy]

About two years ago my daughter and son in law were MAF's match day guests. They had lunch with the Board, spent time with MAF and were treated wonderfully well.

MAF wanted to meet me (insisted actually) and I duly had what can only be described as an audience whilst he went through a well practiced and quite hilarious routine.

I had the opportunity to observe how senior management acted around him and believe me there is no doubt that MAF was the boss responsible for every major decision.

He did of course though have advisors. Present at the Board lunch was someone my daughter didn't know but she told me his name. Not a former manager or player or someone known to have an association with the club but someone who had had major experience at a much bigger club than FFC. He seemed to be a regular there.

Add in the likes of Mark Collins and the loss this season has been of experience and know how. An owner who could be relied upon to take the major decisions and mostly get them right. That's what we're missing.

Everything that could go wrong this season has gone wrong in spades and it's easy to hit on scapegoats and throw the blame at them. I've no doubt that with hindsight different choices would have been made.

I happen to think that from AM on down senior management cares about the club and are doing their best. I also don't doubt Khan's good intentions.

It will take time but I think we'll emerge from this stronger.

[Moussa Dembele the 3rd]

About two years ago my daughter and son in law were MAF's match day guests. They had lunch with the Board, spent time with MAF and were treated wonderfully well.

MAF wanted to meet me (insisted actually) and I duly had what can only be described as an audience whilst he went through a well practiced and quite hilarious routine.

I had the opportunity to observe how senior management acted around him and believe me there is no doubt that MAF was the boss responsible for every major decision.

He did of course though have advisors. Present at the Board lunch was someone my daughter didn't know but she told me his name. Not a former manager or player or someone known to have an association with the club but someone who had had major experience at a much bigger club than FFC. He seemed to be a regular there.

Add in the likes of Mark Collins and the loss this season has been of experience and know how. An owner who could be relied upon to take the major decisions and mostly get them right. That's what we're missing.

Everything that could go wrong this season has gone wrong in spades and it's easy to hit on scapegoats and throw the blame at them. I've no doubt that with hindsight different choices would have been made.

I happen to think that from AM on down senior management cares about the club and are doing their best. I also don't doubt Khan's good intentions.

It will take time but I think we'll emerge from this stronger.

Yup. In the end I think we're in the state we're in because Kahn is a moron. What kind of person spends 200 million pounds on something he is so uninformed about?

[Forever Fulham]

You don't know whether he is uninformed.  We finished in 12th.  Didn't look like a fire situation.  Looked solidly mid table.  He might have deferred to those presumed to have expertise and experience in assessing managers and players.  He gave them enough rope, didn't start upsetting things upon purchase.  His management team at FFC let him done.  His manager let him down.  His players--what can you say about the effort they put out in the first half of the season?  How we all commented about the endless sideways passes and the passes back to the keeper, rather than try to take on the defender and advance the ball up the gut.  I think he showed amazing patience and deference, not ignorance.  He treated all concerned as professional.  Now it's time to clean house.  He's one of the few owners in the EPL with the deep pockets to do just that. 

[Moussa Dembele the 3rd]

You don't know whether he is uninformed.  We finished in 12th.  Didn't look like a fire situation.  Looked solidly mid table.  He might have deferred to those presumed to have expertise and experience in assessing managers and players.  He gave them enough rope, didn't start upsetting things upon purchase.  His management team at FFC let him done.  His manager let him down.  His players--what can you say about the effort they put out in the first half of the season?  How we all commented about the endless sideways passes and the passes back to the keeper, rather than try to take on the defender and advance the ball up the gut.  I think he showed amazing patience and deference, not ignorance.  He treated all concerned as professional.  Now it's time to clean house.  He's one of the few owners in the EPL with the deep pockets to do just that. 

I guess so, but I figure if he actually knew what he was doing he would have done his due diligence (on the team, on Jol, on the upper management) and made sure last August we had the right resources in place to not be in this situation.

[TonyGilroy]

Most of us expected a reasonable season. I certainly didn't see this coming.

[RaySmith]

You don't know whether he is uninformed.  We finished in 12th.  Didn't look like a fire situation.  Looked solidly mid table.  He might have deferred to those presumed to have expertise and experience in assessing managers and players.  He gave them enough rope, didn't start upsetting things upon purchase.  His management team at FFC let him done.  His manager let him down.  His players--what can you say about the effort they put out in the first half of the season?  How we all commented about the endless sideways passes and the passes back to the keeper, rather than try to take on the defender and advance the ball up the gut.  I think he showed amazing patience and deference, not ignorance.  He treated all concerned as professional.  Now it's time to clean house.  He's one of the few owners in the EPL with the deep pockets to do just that. 

I guess so, but I figure if he actually knew what he was doing he would have done his due diligence (on the team, on Jol, on the upper management) and made sure last August we had the right resources in place to not be in this situation.

A team like Fulham is always likely to fall towards the trapdoor -it's a difficult balancing act managing financially. but getting and keeping the right quality players.

You could turn things round and applaud everyone involved with the management of the club for attaining midtable Prem level for so many years.

This year has been particularly competitive in the Prem with the increase in TV money, and more foreign owners prepared to spend big money, even on the smaller teams e.g. Cardiff, Hull and Saints.

Khan hasn't really had a chance to assess the situation - well, it was generally thought that Fulham would at least survive at the beginning of the season, and now he is trying to remedy things at the last minute.

I don't think you can blame individuals like AM - history may find that he has actually done well for Fulham over the course of his time here, under very difficult circumstances.

[Baszab]

Sorry to harp on about AM ...........but this is not right - everyone at the club - players and management staff could see that Jol was not right for the job, his training and tactics were useless - sometimes, players did not have the proper instructions on the field and some of the performances were absolutely chaotic (not much better under RM by the way) -- therefore AM, as the CEO, should have been aware of the situation earlier and taken action earlier. A CEO MANAGES the company - that is what he is there for - not to pick the team obviously, but to manage the company from the top - and he has failed. Zamora's first day with Jol ended up with him broadcasting to the football world -- "it's a shambles, get me out of here" !!

[Lighthouse]

The side was bringing in mostly old free transfers and out of contract players. So it was only logical to assume that we would be in trouble. We were short upfront and poor in many areas. The only thing that we couldn't see coming was the collapse of our defence week in week out.

What is now totally inexusable is the January transfer window. This was our last throw of the dice and one we actually spent money in.

Now we have only one or sometimes two players who are in the first 11.

[GloucesterWhite]

Sorry to harp on about AM ...........but this is not right - everyone at the club - players and management staff could see that Jol was not right for the job, his training and tactics were useless - sometimes, players did not have the proper instructions on the field and some of the performances were absolutely chaotic (not much better under RM by the way) -- therefore AM, as the CEO, should have been aware of the situation earlier and taken action earlier. A CEO MANAGES the company - that is what he is there for - not to pick the team obviously, but to manage the company from the top - and he has failed. Zamora's first day with Jol ended up with him broadcasting to the football world -- "it's a shambles, get me out of here" !!

Football is not like other businesses. the CEO does not manage from the top down. There's no blueprint on how clubs operate, and I don't have any inside knowledge of how Fulham is run, but I do have some knowledge of the football world.

My uncle (now dead) was a director of Watford for many years and my family has close connections with the club - my brother has been their 'fan of the year' several times (and was Radio 5 Live's fan of the year too). At that club it is the directors who are effectively the ones who run the club, much more 'hands on' than in a normal business. The directors did what most here think that Mackintosh does, and they decided who to buy and even went on scouting missions. The CEO was more of a middle manager and was there to basically carry out the wishes of the directors.

I suspect that our woes are due to mainly lack of funding, changes at director level, and the loss of MAF's firm hand on the tiller.

[StuFFC]

Even when MAF was in charge, AM would stop managers spending and give players stupid contracts with get out clauses (Dembele). We could of got a lot more from Tottenham for him, yet we have not seen sufficient investment since he departed.

We sign too many players on loan and when your suppose to have a billionaire running the club as a owner, the CEO is probably the middle man between the manager and the owner.

Didn't Man City struggle when AM was in charge??

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Even when MAF was in charge, AM would stop managers spending and give players stupid contracts with get out clauses (Dembele). We could of got a lot more from Tottenham for him, yet we have not seen sufficient investment since he departed.

We sign too many players on loan and when your suppose to have a billionaire running the club as a owner, the CEO is probably the middle man between the manager and the owner.

Didn't Man City struggle when AM was in charge??

Possibly AM `would stop managers spending' when the owner has set a transfer because that is his job as CEO.

Get out clauses are not uncommon. Suarez has one. £15m was reasonable for Dembele unless two or three clubs got into a desperate fight for his signature.

The loans are again because we have had limited transfer budgets.

Did AM do a poor job at Man. City? No. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/2303116/Alistair-Mackintosh-the-latest-casualty-of-Thaksin-Shinawatra-era-at-Manchester-City.html