Cardiff have done what Fulham should have...

[Nick Bateman]

The January window saw one of the teams relegated with Fulham last season act positively to strengthen, while the our board sat on their hands hoping to impress our multi-billionaire chairman with a balanced bank statement.

Cardiff signed one of the top goalscorers from the lower leagues, something Fulham were crying out fo, as well as other signingsr.  While rookie manager Kit Symons does not rate the qualities of traditional striker Matt Smith, he has allowed Fulham to struggle to put the ball in the net.

It is not too late, as Fulham do not need to sign players outside of the Premier league within the transfer window.  So we can still acquire the next Cyrill Regis, the new Peter Beardsley.  That task is up to our scouts, on behalf of the manager. 

But I feel Symons knows so little about running a football team, he has not directed the scouts to this duty.  Furthermore, the board beleive showing Khan a balance sheet that appears financially sound (because we are still receiving £30million+ in 'parachute payments') is far more important than what happens on the pitch.  Having Symons in charge is basically saying "Fulham have no ambition".

I would love Kit to succeed, and am grateful for what he has already achieved from the broken Magath legacy, but it is fairly obvious to anyone who is not led by their heart how lacking we are at the moment.  A couple new signings from clubs we can attract their best players from, would turn our season around and upwards.

PS:  A shout here for Micael Bradley of the USA.  He has one of the finest engines in football and would rejuvenate our entire squad.  Not sure if we can get him at this moment.  It makes sense in so many ways.

[Brandon]

Bradley just signed a huge contract with Toronto in MLS. How in the world would Fulham get him?

[Wimbledon_White]

All of this is just opinion and conjecture.

Thanks for the post but I respectively disagree with quite a lot of it. Or at least I do not believe you can prove the motives behind the things you have written about.

[ToodlesMcToot]

I would agree that Bradley would be a huge and successful addition for Fulham (exactly the kind of player we need) but, he's on at least 6.5 million per year in MLS and wouldn't come to the Championship I don't believe.

Scored a nice Olympico in his last match for the U.S. team. Has little bearing on his quality as a player or usefulness for Fulham but, it was still pretty sweet to watch.


I too am getting impatient for Fulham to make moves that signal the club moving in a more proactive direction with regard to competing in this league for promotion. The only thing to do is be patient and see what develops. Unfortunately for the club, they've mucked up the last several seasons so badly that patience is not something that many supporters have much of anymore.

[snarks]

Actually I disagree with a lot of what you have written.

The Scouts are Fulham are targeted mainly at youth players to recruit them that way. Kit will not be involved in that at all. More established players for other professional clubs will be watched and then looked at by the manager or his assistant in all probability. So I think to say Kit hasn't directed the scouting team given their remit is wrong.

I also think that 43 goals in Kits 28 games isn't too bad either (including cup games), certainly it's enough to stop thinking about an inability to score goals, in fact take away Magaths period and Fulham have a positive goal difference. Also whilst I think Matt Smith would have some use at Fulham he has scored 7 goals against Gillingham, so 7 in 3 is great statistics, so is 11 in 15 but taking those away 4 in 12 is good but not great. (statistics can be twisted in so many ways)

As I asked someone else the other day, who would you actually want to sign that would add to the team. It's no good signing potential Fulham have that already. You need proven players at this or a higher level who are not coming at the end of their careers (that's happened too much already)

So whilst I follow your comments I don't think you're right or that your logic is sound.

[Nick Bateman]

The Scouts are Fulham are targeted mainly at youth players to recruit them that way. Kit will not be involved in that at all. More established players for other professional clubs will be watched and then looked at by the manager or his assistant in all probability. So I think to say Kit hasn't directed the scouting team given their remit is wrong

First point, it is folly to target youth players at this current moment when we have enough in our academy and you win nothing with 'kids', as they say.

Secondly, if that is the scouts' remit then the remit is wrong, and again emphasises again how much a novice Kit Symons is.  A proper manager like Steve Bruce would immediately change that and identify who are the talented footballers languishing in the lower leagues.  Once identified by the scouts, THEN, the manager or his assistant goes to watch the fellow play.

Thirdly, Fulham can attract any player outside the PL; we can pay more than most in the top division too and we already have the highest payroll as testimony to that fact.  Unlike both Cardiff & Norwich, Fulham were an established Premiership team for many seasons so our status is still high.

[res]

The January window saw one of the teams relegated with Fulham last season act positively to strengthen, while the our board sat on their hands hoping to impress our multi-billionaire chairman with a balanced bank statement.

Cardiff signed one of the top goalscorers from the lower leagues, something Fulham were crying out fo, as well as other signingsr.  While rookie manager Kit Symons does not rate the qualities of traditional striker Matt Smith, he has allowed Fulham to struggle to put the ball in the net.

It is not too late, as Fulham do not need to sign players outside of the Premier league within the transfer window.  So we can still acquire the next Cyrill Regis, the new Peter Beardsley.  That task is up to our scouts, on behalf of the manager. 

But I feel Symons knows so little about running a football team, he has not directed the scouts to this duty.  Furthermore, the board beleive showing Khan a balance sheet that appears financially sound (because we are still receiving £30million+ in 'parachute payments') is far more important than what happens on the pitch.  Having Symons in charge is basically saying "Fulham have no ambition".

I would love Kit to succeed, and am grateful for what he has already achieved from the broken Magath legacy, but it is fairly obvious to anyone who is not led by their heart how lacking we are at the moment.  A couple new signings from clubs we can attract their best players from, would turn our season around and upwards.

PS:  A shout here for Micael Bradley of the USA.  He has one of the finest engines in football and would rejuvenate our entire squad.  Not sure if we can get him at this moment.  It makes sense in so many ways.

With all due respect, you've a few things wrong. Since Kit has taken over we've scored 36 goals in 21 League games  plus 8 in 5 Cup games....so "putting the ball in the back of the net" is not a big problem. His record since taking over would put us on the edge of the play offs over a full season. The defence is culpable, partly because we have porous full backs (albeit developing well) and partly because the back 4 are not protected very well. Kit's opportunities to do this are limited by the squad he inherited and by the lack of investment in the January transfer window. But history tell us that January transfer dealings are often worse than useless as they are often lead to overpriced mercenaries on last minutes purchases/loans...and we've had experiences of those. So by avoiding past mistakes, we're keeping a reasonable financial base (what's the problem with that?...remember what happened to Portsmouth/Leeds who bought short term success at the cost of long term relegations)
I still don't understand why so many of us are downgrading what Kit has done for the team in such a short period of time; give the guy until the end of the season before assessing him. I'm happy to admit my ill founded optimism if it all goes wrong...but at the moment I think the glass is 3/4 full.

[domprague]

Lionel Messi is just the kind of player who would rejuvenate our squad along with Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Mats Hummels. It's a sign of the lack of ambition of the Board and their lack of confidence in Symons that we haven't gone after them.

[davew]

Lionel Messi is just the kind of player who would rejuvenate our squad along with Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Mats Hummels. It's a sign of the lack of ambition of the Board and their lack of confidence in Symons that we haven't gone after them.

Messi is too old!!

[FulhamStu]

I would have gone for Dorrans and not messed up Ruiz loan !!

[Twig]

Lionel Messi is just the kind of player who would rejuvenate our squad along with Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Mats Hummels. It's a sign of the lack of ambition of the Board and their lack of confidence in Symons that we haven't gone after them.

Sure, because according to Nick we can attract anyone outside of the prem!

[snarks]

The Scouts are Fulham are targeted mainly at youth players to recruit them that way. Kit will not be involved in that at all. More established players for other professional clubs will be watched and then looked at by the manager or his assistant in all probability. So I think to say Kit hasn't directed the scouting team given their remit is wrong

First point, it is folly to target youth players at this current moment when we have enough in our academy and you win nothing with 'kids', as they say.

Secondly, if that is the scouts' remit then the remit is wrong, and again emphasises again how much a novice Kit Symons is.  A proper manager like Steve Bruce would immediately change that and identify who are the talented footballers languishing in the lower leagues.  Once identified by the scouts, THEN, the manager or his assistant goes to watch the fellow play.

Thirdly, Fulham can attract any player outside the PL; we can pay more than most in the top division too and we already have the highest payroll as testimony to that fact.  Unlike both Cardiff & Norwich, Fulham were an established Premiership team for many seasons so our status is still high.

I can't believe you really lack basic knowledge of the scouting system, have a look at liverpools chief scout, he has a profile explaining that their scouting system is aimed at youth, brentford are advertising for a scout looking at the 9-16 age group. Man city have a page on their scouting system aimed at youth players. That's what scouts do, Kit is doing what ALL managers do.

Bargains in the lower leagues that make it to the higher divisions are getting rarer, and are more often good players who mature later. There are a lot of former premiership youth players who play in the lower leagues now. The best options are from abroad but all clubs are wise to that now.

I really think you're living in a dream world if you think anyone outside the prem will automatically choose Fulham.

[Logicalman]

Seriously, YOU believe "Kit knows little about running a football team" because he doesn't do the things YOU say he should have done.

Stroll on, please  fp.gif

You obviously KNOW these things as facts then? eh? If it wasn't for you're obvious attack on Kit and the board your points might have carried some weight, but attached to your other comments .. enough said.

[McBride78]

Disagree with a lot of the original post.  The squad has over 34 points or so since Kit took over.  We would need a player better than Hugo or Ross to make a difference up front which we would have overpaid for in the window.  I think our options are quite good with a few guys coming back from injury.  Could use a mid fielder, yes...absolutely.

As to Bradley, he is over valued in the US Market.  He is a good, hard working, Defensive minded mid fielder.  The US team plays him as a playmaker because they have no options.  I believe he is good enough, but only at less than half the price that MLS would want for him...so it is never going to happen.  Same team just gave Altidore huge money and he is completely useless.  There is talent in the MLS, but it is all overvalued because they can not afford to lose players from a league that struggles for credibility in the US market.  As ridiculous as it sounds, bet MLS would not part with Bradley for less that 10-15 million, if that.  Landon retired, and Clint is not getting any younger.  They are counting on him to be the face of the league as far as US players are concerned.   

[domprague]

They're just stopgaps for the rest of the season. The real spending spree will happen in the summer. We will buy the entire squads of Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Paris St Germain. Mind you, if we did Kit would probably play Ibrahimovic at sweeper.

Lionel Messi is just the kind of player who would rejuvenate our squad along with Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Mats Hummels. It's a sign of the lack of ambition of the Board and their lack of confidence in Symons that we haven't gone after them.

Sure, because according to Nick we can attract anyone outside of the prem!

[ToodlesMcToot]

Disagree with a lot of the original post.  The squad has over 34 points or so since Kit took over.  We would need a player better than Hugo or Ross to make a difference up front which we would have overpaid for in the window.  I think our options are quite good with a few guys coming back from injury.  Could use a mid fielder, yes...absolutely.

As to Bradley, he is over valued in the US Market.  He is a good, hard working, Defensive minded mid fielder.  The US team plays him as a playmaker because they have no options.  I believe he is good enough, but only at less than half the price that MLS would want for him...so it is never going to happen.  Same team just gave Altidore huge money and he is completely useless.  There is talent in the MLS, but it is all overvalued because they can not afford to lose players from a league that struggles for credibility in the US market.  As ridiculous as it sounds, bet MLS would not part with Bradley for less that 10-15 million, if that.  Landon retired, and Clint is not getting any younger.  They are counting on him to be the face of the league as far as US players are concerned.   

Agree that Bradley is overvalued in MLS....as are many US National team players. But, there is method to the MLS owners' madness here. US stars mean more attention, bigger story lines, and improvement to the league level of play. They are worth what MLS is paying because of the value they bring off the fields in addition to on it.

I'd love to hear by which standard you believe Jozy Altidore is useless.

By the way, throwing out blanket statements like "all MLS talent is overvalued b/c they can't afford to lose players from a league that struggles for credibility" is just hyperbolic nonsense at best. Just plain false really.

[ToodlesMcToot]

They're just stopgaps for the rest of the season. The real spending spree will happen in the summer. We will buy the entire squads of Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Paris St Germain. Mind you, if we did Kit would probably play Ibrahimovic at sweeper.

Lionel Messi is just the kind of player who would rejuvenate our squad along with Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Mats Hummels. It's a sign of the lack of ambition of the Board and their lack of confidence in Symons that we haven't gone after them.

Sure, because according to Nick we can attract anyone outside of the prem!

I'd settle for Simeone from Atletico.