Kit Symons: what I’ve learned about managing Fulham

[Friendsoffulham]

Whites boss insists he made right choices


The long walk: Symons

Kit Symons has been booed, cheered, and by his own admission - grown a thick skin as Fulham manager.

The coach, who took over from misfit Felix Magath In September, reckons what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and as a result of eight months in the hot seat has learned a few home truths.

According to the 44-year-old, he was forced to jettison personal beliefs in a bid to get results.

And the jeering when things went wrong at the end of the season? Pretty much a case of water off a duck's back.


Men in the hot seat: Symons (L) and Wigan's Gary Caldwell

"Sometimes it was a bit ugly," he said. "I didn't enjoy watching it, and a lot other people made it quite clear they didn't enjoy it. But we needed to get results.

"Criticism is a part of a job, and you shouldn't be doing the job if you can't take it."

Symons was rounded on when Whites were still in dropzone danger for taking off both scorers in a tense 2-2 dogfight against Wigan with three games to go.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=De8dN1trwbY

Matt Smith and Ross McCormack took the bench, Symons took the flak, and a fair bit more in the next home game against Rotherham.

The manager reckons he paid the price for two seasons of suffering. Note the home boos in our video.

"This could be frustration at the end of a long time, and I just happen to be on the end of it. I was going home and I knew I made the right decisions," he explained.

"I've learned to be a bit more thick-skinned; not to take criticism too personally. I've always wanted to play attractive football when I was at Crystal Palace and here with the U18s and U21s, and that's how we started.

"But in the end, I needed to get results because we were in a bit of a mess."

http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kit-symons-what-ive-learned-9231410

[Max Headroom]

As one who is currently in the Kit out camp, I can empathise with Kit on this one. We were in a mess, with a real risk of going down, so he basically gave up trying to play proper football, and decided to just grind it out and get the points to stay up.

On reflection, maybe that was the best thing as a second relegation would have been disastrous.

I am still not in the "Kit in" camp, but I can empathise with him based on where we were, and how we were playing.

[MJG]

I really hate get West London Press. All they seem to do is drag out pre and post match interviews cherry picking what they want for an article two weeks later.
This is all from around the Norwich game.

[OdecaMynoT]

Grinding out results with a 'diamond midfield' thereby inviting all and sundry freedom on the wings

with a dire defence hardly rings true.

How we got that result at Blackpool was nothing short of a miracle and the profligate Blackpool strikers.

[millsy]

Same at Huddersfield and I don't think we looked on top of Rotherham, Wigan or Charlton either. in fact there can be only a small handful of games all season, when we were the better team over the 90 minutes.

In summary, the football has been poor, the organisation has been a mess, leadership has been virtually non-existent. Unacceptable, especially over such a long period, in my view.

[snarks]

I have empathy with him, it wasn't his squad or choice of players. He admitted he couldn't get who he wanted in January.

He did change the style of play, and boy was it ugly.

I expect him to be there in August and I expect, No I WANT a better style of play.

[Riversider]

As one who is currently in the Kit out camp, I can empathise with Kit on this one. We were in a mess, with a real risk of going down, so he basically gave up trying to play proper football, and decided to just grind it out and get the points to stay up.

On reflection, maybe that was the best thing as a second relegation would have been disastrous.

I am still not in the "Kit in" camp, but I can empathise with him based on where we were, and how we were playing.

I am sick to my back teeth of Fulham supporters telling that we were in grave danger of going down on the day Kit took over !
We were exactly 8 points behind Bournemouth the day he took over, were they worrying about relegation to ?
The play offs were a distinct possibility the day he took over, Symons himself mentioned them himself right up to the turn of the year !
Aiming a bit lower 10th place and playing football with a game plan was the least that we could have expected !
Two loan windows, and one transfer window were open to Symons, and you know what, we still kept giving cheap goals away, right up to the final day at Norwich,
We survived, in the main, because it was virtually impossible for any club to finish below Millwall, Wigan, and Blackpool,
For any Fulham supporter to pat Symons on the back for saving us from relegation when he had 35 games left is a joke,
But what really boils my blood, is when Kit Symons pats himself on the back for keeping us in the division !
Thanks Kit

[HatterDon]

There seems to be a lot of sentiment here and on many other threads that goes, "If we hadn't gotten lucky against A, B, C, and D," we'd have been relegated and then Kit would have been fired an we wouldn't have to see that damn diamond again."

We lost matches where the "fair result on the basis of overall play" should have been a win for us. The reverse is true also. We finished 11 points above the relegation zone after 1 point out of 24 to start the season. Considering our eviscerated squad in September, this was a reasonable end result.

I'm sorry we didn't do worse and, as a result, guarantee Kit's firing. But there it is. I guess you guys are just ... unlucky.

[snarks]

As one who is currently in the Kit out camp, I can empathise with Kit on this one. We were in a mess, with a real risk of going down, so he basically gave up trying to play proper football, and decided to just grind it out and get the points to stay up.

On reflection, maybe that was the best thing as a second relegation would have been disastrous.

I am still not in the "Kit in" camp, but I can empathise with him based on where we were, and how we were playing.

I am sick to my back teeth of Fulham supporters telling that we were in grave danger of going down on the day Kit took over !
We were exactly 8 points behind Bournemouth the day he took over, were they worrying about relegation to ?
The play offs were a distinct possibility the day he took over, Symons himself mentioned them himself right up to the turn of the year !
Aiming a bit lower 10th place and playing football with a game plan was the least that we could have expected !
Two loan windows, and one transfer window were open to Symons, and you know what, we still kept giving cheap goals away, right up to the final day at Norwich,
We survived, in the main, because it was virtually impossible for any club to finish below Millwall, Wigan, and Blackpool,
For any Fulham supporter to pat Symons on the back for saving us from relegation when he had 35 games left is a joke,
But what really boils my blood, is when Kit Symons pats himself on the back for keeping us in the division !
Thanks Kit
Perhaps next season you can play McCormack as a striker, cos guess what, he's a bloody good one, and maybe next season we can pair him up with Matt Smith, instead of loaning him out for 3 months, as you know what, they work well together !

Blackpool were closer to Bournemouth, so were Millwall, Wigan, Reading, Brighton, Bolton, Leeds, Birmingham in fact any of the teams up to Charlton. Yet 3 of them went down. It wasn't the points it was they play. If Fulham had carried on like that, the only competition would have been to get the fewest points Fulham or Blackpool. It's perverse to say there was no danger when he took over there clearly was or FM wouldn't have been sacked.

Yes he wanted playoff's so did the supporters as MJG has posted many a time, that was impossible given the start. I'm not saying I was happy with the team performances, I wasn't. However to compare Fulham to Bournemouth is just odd, and lets face it after Matt Smith's debut, I can't recall any protests when he was sent on loan. It was only when formed dipped for Hugo, and MS was scoring, he was suddenly worth recalling (and I agree by then he was).

[fulhamben]

He had to abandon his beliefs to get results? Christ how bad were his beliefs if they couldn't better what he served up? 10 strikers 1 midfielder and no defence or keeper, or something along those lines

[mikestrand]

As one who is currently in the Kit out camp, I can empathise with Kit on this one. We were in a mess, with a real risk of going down, so he basically gave up trying to play proper football, and decided to just grind it out and get the points to stay up.

On reflection, maybe that was the best thing as a second relegation would have been disastrous.

I am still not in the "Kit in" camp, but I can empathise with him based on where we were, and how we were playing.

I am sick to my back teeth of Fulham supporters telling that we were in grave danger of going down on the day Kit took over !
We were exactly 8 points behind Bournemouth the day he took over, were they worrying about relegation to ?
The play offs were a distinct possibility the day he took over, Symons himself mentioned them himself right up to the turn of the year !
Aiming a bit lower 10th place and playing football with a game plan was the least that we could have expected !
Two loan windows, and one transfer window were open to Symons, and you know what, we still kept giving cheap goals away, right up to the final day at Norwich,
We survived, in the main, because it was virtually impossible for any club to finish below Millwall, Wigan, and Blackpool,
For any Fulham supporter to pat Symons on the back for saving us from relegation when he had 35 games left is a joke,
But what really boils my blood, is when Kit Symons pats himself on the back for keeping us in the division !
Thanks Kit
Perhaps next season you can play McCormack as a striker, cos guess what, he's a bloody good one, and maybe next season we can pair him up with Matt Smith, instead of loaning him out for 3 months, as you know what, they work well together !

Blackpool were closer to Bournemouth, so were Millwall, Wigan, Reading, Brighton, Bolton, Leeds, Birmingham in fact any of the teams up to Charlton. Yet 3 of them went down. It wasn't the points it was they play. If Fulham had carried on like that, the only competition would have been to get the fewest points Fulham or Blackpool. It's perverse to say there was no danger when he took over there clearly was or FM wouldn't have been sacked.

Yes he wanted playoff's so did the supporters as MJG has posted many a time, that was impossible given the start. I'm not saying I was happy with the team performances, I wasn't. However to compare Fulham to Bournemouth is just odd, and lets face it after Matt Smith's debut, I can't recall any protests when he was sent on loan. It was only when formed dipped for Hugo, and MS was scoring, he was suddenly worth recalling (and I agree by then he was).

Play offs were improbable not impossible, and the protests for sending Smith a proven championship goalscorer out on loan were many on fof alone.

[H4usuallysitting]

Do you know, out of the 6 games against  Millwall, Blackpool and Wigan we got 7 points - that's 7 points out of a total of 15.......the 1st Millwall game was under Felix, the rest under Kit......oh, and why did it take so long to get Matt Smith back.....not everyone's cup of tea, but he was our plan B......Matt came back and ended up being our plan A,B and C

[hovewhite]

As one who is currently in the Kit out camp, I can empathise with Kit on this one. We were in a mess, with a real risk of going down, so he basically gave up trying to play proper football, and decided to just grind it out and get the points to stay up.

On reflection, maybe that was the best thing as a second relegation would have been disastrous.

I am still not in the "Kit in" camp, but I can empathise with him based on where we were, and how we were playing.

I am sick to my back teeth of Fulham supporters telling that we were in grave danger of going down on the day Kit took over !
We were exactly 8 points behind Bournemouth the day he took over, were they worrying about relegation to ?
The play offs were a distinct possibility the day he took over, Symons himself mentioned them himself right up to the turn of the year !
Aiming a bit lower 10th place and playing football with a game plan was the least that we could have expected !
Two loan windows, and one transfer window were open to Symons, and you know what, we still kept giving cheap goals away, right up to the final day at Norwich,
We survived, in the main, because it was virtually impossible for any club to finish below Millwall, Wigan, and Blackpool,
For any Fulham supporter to pat Symons on the back for saving us from relegation when he had 35 games left is a joke,
But what really boils my blood, is when Kit Symons pats himself on the back for keeping us in the division !
Thanks Kit

[Riversider]

As one who is currently in the Kit out camp, I can empathise with Kit on this one. We were in a mess, with a real risk of going down, so he basically gave up trying to play proper football, and decided to just grind it out and get the points to stay up.

On reflection, maybe that was the best thing as a second relegation would have been disastrous.

I am still not in the "Kit in" camp, but I can empathise with him based on where we were, and how we were playing.

I am sick to my back teeth of Fulham supporters telling that we were in grave danger of going down on the day Kit took over !
We were exactly 8 points behind Bournemouth the day he took over, were they worrying about relegation to ?
The play offs were a distinct possibility the day he took over, Symons himself mentioned them himself right up to the turn of the year !
Aiming a bit lower 10th place and playing football with a game plan was the least that we could have expected !
Two loan windows, and one transfer window were open to Symons, and you know what, we still kept giving cheap goals away, right up to the final day at Norwich,
We survived, in the main, because it was virtually impossible for any club to finish below Millwall, Wigan, and Blackpool,
For any Fulham supporter to pat Symons on the back for saving us from relegation when he had 35 games left is a joke,
But what really boils my blood, is when Kit Symons pats himself on the back for keeping us in the division !
Thanks Kit
Perhaps next season you can play McCormack as a striker, cos guess what, he's a bloody good one, and maybe next season we can pair him up with Matt Smith, instead of loaning him out for 3 months, as you know what, they work well together !

Blackpool were closer to Bournemouth, so were Millwall, Wigan, Reading, Brighton, Bolton, Leeds, Birmingham in fact any of the teams up to Charlton. Yet 3 of them went down. It wasn't the points it was they play. If Fulham had carried on like that, the only competition would have been to get the fewest points Fulham or Blackpool. It's perverse to say there was no danger when he took over there clearly was or FM wouldn't have been sacked.

Yes he wanted playoff's so did the supporters as MJG has posted many a time, that was impossible given the start. I'm not saying I was happy with the team performances, I wasn't. However to compare Fulham to Bournemouth is just odd, and lets face it after Matt Smith's debut, I can't recall any protests when he was sent on loan. It was only when formed dipped for Hugo, and MS was scoring, he was suddenly worth recalling (and I agree by then he was).

No offence, but what a load of tosh !

[snarks]

As one who is currently in the Kit out camp, I can empathise with Kit on this one. We were in a mess, with a real risk of going down, so he basically gave up trying to play proper football, and decided to just grind it out and get the points to stay up.

On reflection, maybe that was the best thing as a second relegation would have been disastrous.

I am still not in the "Kit in" camp, but I can empathise with him based on where we were, and how we were playing.

I am sick to my back teeth of Fulham supporters telling that we were in grave danger of going down on the day Kit took over !
We were exactly 8 points behind Bournemouth the day he took over, were they worrying about relegation to ?
The play offs were a distinct possibility the day he took over, Symons himself mentioned them himself right up to the turn of the year !
Aiming a bit lower 10th place and playing football with a game plan was the least that we could have expected !
Two loan windows, and one transfer window were open to Symons, and you know what, we still kept giving cheap goals away, right up to the final day at Norwich,
We survived, in the main, because it was virtually impossible for any club to finish below Millwall, Wigan, and Blackpool,
For any Fulham supporter to pat Symons on the back for saving us from relegation when he had 35 games left is a joke,
But what really boils my blood, is when Kit Symons pats himself on the back for keeping us in the division !
Thanks Kit
Perhaps next season you can play McCormack as a striker, cos guess what, he's a bloody good one, and maybe next season we can pair him up with Matt Smith, instead of loaning him out for 3 months, as you know what, they work well together !

Blackpool were closer to Bournemouth, so were Millwall, Wigan, Reading, Brighton, Bolton, Leeds, Birmingham in fact any of the teams up to Charlton. Yet 3 of them went down. It wasn't the points it was they play. If Fulham had carried on like that, the only competition would have been to get the fewest points Fulham or Blackpool. It's perverse to say there was no danger when he took over there clearly was or FM wouldn't have been sacked.

Yes he wanted playoff's so did the supporters as MJG has posted many a time, that was impossible given the start. I'm not saying I was happy with the team performances, I wasn't. However to compare Fulham to Bournemouth is just odd, and lets face it after Matt Smith's debut, I can't recall any protests when he was sent on loan. It was only when formed dipped for Hugo, and MS was scoring, he was suddenly worth recalling (and I agree by then he was).

No offence, but what a load of tosh !

Thanks for the lucid and well reasoned response

[..FOF..]

If he can explain or anybody saw him talking about why he have to keep using the Diamond Formation and unable to experiment, I might just give him another chance to learn from his first team experience :)