Tuesday Fulham Stuff (27/05/14)...

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Fulham keen to fend off interest from United

Fulham are understood to have slapped a £15m price tag on Patrick Roberts after the youngster has attracted interest recently.

Roberts has featured just a handful of times for the Fulham first team, making his debut as a substitute in the loss to Manchester City last season. However, the 17-year-old is highly regarded by boss Felix Magath, who believes he has what it takes to make the step up to the senior squad next term in the Championship. The striker played a key role in helping the England under-17's claim the European Championship title with a penalty shoot-out victory over Holland last week and it has been reported that his stand-out performances have drawn interest from Manchester United. Fulham rewarded the youngster with a two-and-a-half-year professional contract when he turned 17 in February and are now prepared to do everything possible to keep hold of him as they bid for an immediate return to the top-flight.



Read more at: http://www.clubcall.com/fulham/fulham-keen-to-fend-off-interest-from-united-1726733.html?

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Newcastle Add Steve Sidwell To Transfer Wish List Alongside Remy Cabella

Newcastle will explore both ends of the transfer spectrum this summer by pursuing a deal for free agent Steve Sidwell alongside their efforts to sign Remy Cabella from Montpellier.

We know that Alan Pardew is desperate to inject his squad with proven Premier League players and the Journal have revealed to us that Sidwell is a player that ranks high on the Magpies boss' transfer shopping list after he was released by relegated Fulham.

It comes as no surprise that Sidwell is a target for Pardew given he managed the midfielder when he was in charge at Reading and has previously spoken of his admiration for the 31-year-old, who scored an impressive seven goals last term for a club that dropped into the Championship.

However, despite being out of contract and available for nothing, we doubt Mike Ashley will sanction a deal for Sidwell given his reluctance to sign players with little sell-on-value. In all sincerity the former Chelsea and Aston Villa midfielder would bring nothing to a midfield in urgent need of a shot of creativity rather than another technically limited workhorse.

Efforts are still being made by the Club to address that issue by signing Cabella, who has long been earmarked to fill the hole left by Yohan Cabaye in January, but will have to wait until after the World Cup when the 24-year-old makes a decision on his future.

Our chances of signing the playmaker, included in France's provisional squad for the tournament, significantly reduced over the weekend with reports that Chelsea have taken a fancy to him and it would be a bitter, albeit unsurprising, blow if we failed to secure his signature.



Read more at http://whatculture.com/sport/newcastle-add-steve-sidwell-transfer-wish-list-alongside-remy-cabella.php#EtFLVIml07josjFl.99

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Why They Went Down – Fulham

Fulham FC, for so long a mainstay in the Premier League, were relegated following a turbulent 2013/14 campaign. While the Premier League season is over, the nightmare continues for Fulham as they prepare for life in the Championship. This is the PA postmortem on the Cottager's decline.

When the season starts you think you have an idea of what teams are going to be struggling at the wrong end of the table. The cliché that most managers offer is that anyone in the bottom half can be relegated, but we know that is not true. Before the 2013/2014 Premier League campaign, one could imagine that the three newly promoted teams (Cardiff, Hull and Crystal Palace) might be in trouble, coupled with the teams that narrowly avoided relegation the previous year (Sunderland, Aston Villa and Norwich). It was realistic for the likes of Stoke, West Ham and Newcastle to assume that, while they might flirt with the possibility of going down, the likelihood was that they would remain in the Premier League for another season.

Fulham are one of those teams.

They have been an established team in England's top flight for many years and always seem to be able to attract quality players. Footbalers such as Danny Murphy, Damien Duff, Dimitar Berbatov, Scott Parker, John Arne Riise, Darren Bent, Mark Schwarzer, Clint Dempsey and more have all played for the Cottagers in the last three years. These are all players who have had great careers in the Premier League. But after more than a decade in England's top tier, Fulham will be playing in the Championship next season.

The two main reasons why Fulham went down are:

1. Squad Too Old
In Fulham's second last game of the season against Stoke the starting eleven's average age was 29 while there were seven players aged 30 or over. It is important to have experience but you also need a bit of youth in the squad to provide energy and vitality. Of the players mentioned above that have played for Fulham, all of them bar (Bent and Dempsey) were 30 or over when they joined the club.

The Cottagers had become something of a safety net for players approaching the twilight of their careers but who still wanted to play in the Premier League. As a result, these players came to Fulham where they knew they would get their game while not having too much pressure on them to finish high up the table.

All players are supposed to be ambitious in their approach to the game but some players just want to get paid and have lost their passion for the game. Berbatov is a perfect example of this. He had his glory years at Tottenham and Manchester United winning leagues and cups, so he was happyto take his wages at any old club. Fulham was a good fit for him because it allowed him to stay in England and they probably paid him huge wages to come to the club due to his high stature in the game. Riise and Duff had made their names with Liverpool and Chelsea respectively and were happy to settle at Fulham so as to hold onto the prestige of playing at a high level. If the squad is too old and generally not that interested, then what hope does a club have to stay in the league? Most of these players will move on now that they have been relegated. Duff, Berbatov and Bent have already said that they will leave the club.

2. Three Managers in One Season
At the start of the season, Martin Jol was Fulham's manager. When it ended Felix Magath was the gaffer. In between these two managerial stints Rene Meulensteen took charge of the team for a few months. Having three managers in one season means that there will be a large rotation of the playing staff with each manager wanting to bring in the players they know and trust. It also means the players have to adapt to three different styles of play throughout a ten month season.

It is no wonder Fulham were relegated.How are the players supposed to respect a manager who they know will be punished for their mistakes? Why should the players bother to try to impress this manager if they know he will only be there for a few months? A manager is hired to coach a football team and bring success to a club. If you heard of any other business doing this you would think that they were crazy.

Gary Neville said on Monday Night Football a few weeks ago that you would never hear of a major business hiring a new CEO and then sacking him after six months. And that is exactly what these clubs are now: major businesses. So how they can expect instant success in a few months from someone who is barely in the job?

Fulham need a serious change in their philosophy over the next few years. They can no longer afford to offer these ageing players a safe haven in which they can go through the motions of playing football. A major overhaul is needed with regards to the playing staff in order to get the Cottagers back to the Premier League.

To be fair, Magath was playing a few of the academy players from the first game he got in there so one can believe he will continue to do that. Some of the young players that got a chance in the first team actually did quite well so if Magath continues with this and adds more quality young players to the squad, then this writer could see Fulham returning to the top flight in the next four or five years.

Gavin Nolan, Pundit Arena


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