My e-mail to & reply from Jim Woodcock

[grandad]

 


I became a Fulham supporter on 8 September 1954 when my late father took me to see my first match.

In the 60 years since I have seen us reach the dizzy hights of an FA Cup Final & a Europa Cup Final, promotion twice to the highest league in England. I have also seen us plunge to the 92nd position & very nearly cease to exist.

There has always been a saviour. Whether it was Tommy Trinder, Jimmy Hill, Mohammed al Fayed & now Mr Khan.

In my lifetime Fulham has always had the reputation of being a family club, a friendly club, a club that warm to whether they support it or not.

I have witnessed many managers in my time. Some more successful than others. However, in my view, we have not employed a manager who understands what Fulham are since Roy Hodgson left for greater things. Hughes left citing a lack of ambition which happened to be true. Jol was a decent manager when surrounded by class players but with our hotch potch of ageing players he was unable to motivate. Mulensteen was a great coach at Manchester United but never had any experience of management. The addition of Curbishly & Wilkins was an absolute disaster.

We now have Felix Magath. His CV is most impressive. However his methods are alien to the English game. He appears dictatorial in that he wants complete control of everything. Whether this was part of his contract or not I wouldn´t know.
After 12 matches last season, a full summer , a complete transfer window and 7 matches this season he is still undecided on which players are his best in each position. The players look lost & devoid of any confidence. Players find themselves not selected even after good performances the previous match.

I am the first to say that stability of management is vital. However I feel that now is the time to replace Magath as his management of my club is failing.

I would never presume to suggest how Mr Khan runs FFC but I would ask that he looks into bringing onto the board of directors people who know the English game both from the financial point of view as well as the football side. Alistair Mackintosh has achieved some good things at the club but he has also been involved with too many disasters. I feel it is time that he also moved on.

I love my club passionately & all I want is for it to be successful but only in a sustainable way. That does not mean winning Leagues or Cups. Only the very few "big" clubs can do this on a regular basis.

I sincerely hope that Mr Khan can view my e-mail. Especially as I know that you have already been inundated with many before me.

Yours respectfully

Reply

Hi, ***** ... I am glad you wrote to me as a representative of Mr. Khan.  It is clear you follow the club closely and love it dearly.  You have your history down!



Above all, the way you describe Fulham -- a family club, a friendly club – was a chief factor in Mr. Khan's decision to purchase FFC last year.



I thank you for such a thoughtful email and guarantee you that Mr. Khan will see it.  I am admittedly summarizing to him the sentiments of many supporters, as there have been too many emails in the past 24 hours to pass each one on.  But, some deserve to be read word for word, and yours is one.



The way you end your email brings everything into focus nicely ... sustainable success.  That's Mr. Khan's goal and he's been successful in everything he has done.



Best wishes and thanks for taking the time to write, *****.  Your passion and loyalty is evident, and will never be taken for granted.  Cheers to you and yours.

Jim Woodcock

[Peabody]

Well said Grandad, as someone who shares your history with the club, I only wish that I could have expressed my views as well as you have done, unfortunately, mine became a bit garbled but, the word inundated in the reply , is interesting.

[supersimmo123]

Good email, calm and too the point, im sorry but after some of these responces i cannot see Magath lasting the week, if he does Khan is a plonker and the emails have not made it to him. Its nice to see some loyal and long term fans using their voices. Good work guys.

[Reznor]

Good work grandad.

[TheManOnTheBus]

Yes - well done indeed Grandad.  A good reply too I thought from Mr W. 

Its interesting that he is summarizing the sentiments of many emails.  Good that your (well written) one with the historical perspective is one that he will send in entirety.

He sounds honest (but then that's part of a PR man's job!) and lets hope he is. 

[JIMMY D]

Well done Grandad. Fantastic email :)

[colinwhite]

Great letter grandad. Very well put , particularly the part about football people in the club . The only catch 22 is can we get rid of both AM and felix at the same time ? If we don't then AM will appoint someone else and then you can't really fire him can you ? AM has to be replaced long term but just now he is the only thing that we have in the club that is any where near continuity . On the other hand our continuity is invalid as the results for the last year and a half are pathetic .
Maybe khan is going to surprise us all by bringing in a new chief exec who then  appoints his own head coach or both at the same time . Then he really will have proved to us that he means business !
Khan must be extremely ticked off about the whole Midrogulo farce , I would n`t  be surprised if he is just waiting until he can get everything in place . Please God !

[Lighthouse]

A wonderful e mail and nice reply. I think we should have left you to write it and just add signatures to it afterwards. You can do no more and at least your pride in the club has been acknowledged and we hope that something good can at last come out of these dark times for Fulham.

[FortCollinsFulham]

Nicely written indeed.



Also, his name is Woodcock hehe  :005:

[Supermitch]

I got a reply to mine this morning - repeated in its entirety:

Dave, belated thanks for this.  I am just getting back to the longer letters that I have received today.  Your thoughtful note below will be shared verbatim with Mr. Khan on Tuesday.  While I am summarizing all thoughts from all supporters, some of the better letters from fans with significant equity and heart in the team are being forwarded in their entirety.  Yours will be one of them.

You make many good points, and everything you say below is worthy of our reflection.  I do want to thank you for caring enough to share your opinion in such a meaningful manner.  It makes a difference.

I hope we can connect soon under better circumstances.  Until then, my respect and thanks to you, Dave.  Best wishes.

[millsy]

Excellent letter Grandad and the prompt and sensitive response is encouraging. Also looks like Dave's letter has hit the spot.

The responses confirm that these are just two of many and this guy will be briefing his boss today. Let's hope he decides to act!

Well done all.

[TheManOnTheBus]

It really does all point towards a sacking soon (following loss tomorrow).

[grandad]

Well done Supermitch. Let´s keep these e-mails wending their way over the pond. Just remember,don´t be abusive or it will not be passed up.

[nose]

I got a reply to mine this morning - repeated in its entirety:

Dave, belated thanks for this.  I am just getting back to the longer letters that I have received today.  Your thoughtful note below will be shared verbatim with Mr. Khan on Tuesday.  While I am summarizing all thoughts from all supporters, some of the better letters from fans with significant equity and heart in the team are being forwarded in their entirety.  Yours will be one of them.

You make many good points, and everything you say below is worthy of our reflection.  I do want to thank you for caring enough to share your opinion in such a meaningful manner.  It makes a difference.

I hope we can connect soon under better circumstances.  Until then, my respect and thanks to you, Dave.  Best wishes.

Your thoughtful note below will be shared verbatim with Mr. Khan on Tuesday.
I am pleased with your reply and also Grandad's but Tuesday?
We are sinking fast, we lost again on saturday. by th time Kahn gets to see the e-mails, and consults and then finally acts, we could have lost another two games.

Otherwise well done to all that have written... I cannot manage to tone down my owbnbitterness sufficently to be capable of writing a politic balanced piece.

[Fulham1959]

As a lover of well-expressed written English (and well-expressed thoughts) I congratulate you, 'grandad', on your e-mailed letter.  I suspect that I am of a similar age to you, and a grandad too !

It seems that the various e-mails are beginning to hit home and yours is the best of the ones that I've seen so far because it is levelheaded and calm, but also pretty comprehensive.

[Classic94]

What a fantastic letter and a decent, heart-felt response. I truly feel that Magath's time is limited.

[The Bronsons]

I'm taking encouragement from the fact that Khan's man is sending individual replies to emails. If the rest of the operation can aspire to be as classy as that we can hope we really are in safe hands.

Well written, Grandad.