Our managers only comment on recruitment in January

[Woolly Mammoth]

SJ asked for 2-3 players & got 2. In the article he said he was proud of the people working with us. In my view this means everyone at the club. I am satisfied with the way the Jan window turned out. We have 25 players covering every position, all of whom can be regarded as a starter. In addition there are several youth teamers who can step up if needed.
In the Malone interview he said that having a fairly tight knitted squad is preferable to having constant wholesale changes. He mentioned Villa in this respect.

I cannot agree with you once again, we have 19 outfield players in the first team squad, you only play one keeper at a time. We have picked up players that were after thoughts and second and third choice Penny pinching all the way, wheras other clubs negotiated well and got their targets. Who does Fulham's negotiations, a chimp ? and why is it always last minute. With respect to these other clubs. We are not Burton Albion or Rotherham Utd, they over achieve and all credit to their managers and players and Chairman. But we are Fulham FC, I do not remember us over achieving once under the hapless Khan, and his son, and his sons best mate. Yes it really is jobs for the boys. We are going for promotion with a small squad that is going to have to rely on a lot of good fortune with avoiding injuries.
I am sure Jok who is a football professional, unlike his employers, is clearly not particularly happy with the lack of support, but knows he has to get on with it.
If we do reach the top six, it will despite the Board not because of them.
Fortunately Jok does not have his head in the sand, unlike Khan and his apologists.

[cookieg]

I'm sure SJ did expect more, as I am sure we all did.But if it's a case that one target had a better offer from his parent club so that fell through, the agent of another target demanded too much money or a work permit issue so they fell though then these things happen.

We got rid of players who have had very little game time this year so no real impact on the squad so why not call up some of the youngsters and give these a chance if some gaps in the squad need filling if the players the club wanted aren't available.

The only thing which is really frustrating is why don't we do our business early doors rather than last minute.

[Holders]

I suspect that he expected Enrich and didn't expect the last-minute contractual difficulty over the E4m. It could be argued that it could have been flushed out earlier but it was a ploy/barrier deliberately put in the way by the selling club to keep him.

I was disappointed not to get Kamara and don't know why that didn't happen.

[nose]

SJ asked for 2-3 players & got 2. In the article he said he was proud of the people working with us. In my view this means everyone at the club. I am satisfied with the way the Jan window turned out. We have 25 players covering every position, all of whom can be regarded as a starter. In addition there are several youth teamers who can step up if needed.
In the Malone interview he said that having a fairly tight knitted squad is preferable to having constant wholesale changes. He mentioned Villa in this respect.

Well grandad you may be satisfied with the window but I don't see how you can suggest SJ is.  You quote SJ very selectively, which part of "I expected more" do you not understand?

I think after his august outburst he was correctly told not to comment thusly in public....I do agree  that was wrong of him then although very valuable for us the supporters to get an insight to how the team is managed from on high. He has said in this interview the maximum I suspect he can without really causing grief that would cause problems all round.

To suggest he is happy is frankly bizarre and thefact some people always toe the party line no matter what dross is served up is also bizarre.

[nose]

I'm sure SJ did expect more, as I am sure we all did.But if it's a case that one target had a better offer from his parent club so that fell through, the agent of another target demanded too much money or a work permit issue so they fell though then these things happen.

We got rid of players who have had very little game time this year so no real impact on the squad so why not call up some of the youngsters and give these a chance if some gaps in the squad need filling if the players the club wanted aren't available.

The only thing which is really frustrating is why don't we do our business early doors rather than last minute.

which I have been saying for weeks but was shouted down by the usual suspects that it is a delicate task to get players in this windo of january. not if you are determined and committed. with a stay away, not that interested owner that occasionally shows up at motspur for a pr shoot, i am not surprised we didn't do better with recruitment. The management have no heart or feel for what is required. That is certainly the way it appears.

Personally i feel getting rid of LVC and woodrow was an error of Joca's. He obviously does not rate them, but come an injury crisis, in parallel with suspensions he may well have needed their back up and now we are actually left with a lot of very samey players. Mayebe joca really thought our management was on the case.

[Jim©]

Perhaps it's not the party line, just an opinion that differs to yours. I don't expect for a minute that he will mourn the loss of the players that have gone out on loan (when you look at their minutes played recently) or that of Matt Smith (as he has been replaced).
I'm sure we would all have liked one more CF, but it didnt materialise for whatever reason. Is our squad good enouh to keep winning games? Yep, without a doubt.

Biggest concern for me is SJ and how this affects him. Did he want investment? Did he want more? Who knows, but i guess his contract, when he stated it was taking a while to sort out, will tell us all we need to know.

[cookieg]

I'm sure SJ did expect more, as I am sure we all did.But if it's a case that one target had a better offer from his parent club so that fell through, the agent of another target demanded too much money or a work permit issue so they fell though then these things happen.

We got rid of players who have had very little game time this year so no real impact on the squad so why not call up some of the youngsters and give these a chance if some gaps in the squad need filling if the players the club wanted aren't available.

The only thing which is really frustrating is why don't we do our business early doors rather than last minute.

which I have been saying for weeks but was shouted down by the usual suspects that it is a delicate task to get players in this windo of january. not if you are determined and committed. with a stay away, not that interested owner that occasionally shows up at motspur for a pr shoot, i am not surprised we didn't do better with recruitment. The management have no heart or feel for what is required. That is certainly the way it appears.

Personally i feel getting rid of LVC and woodrow was an error of Joca's. He obviously does not rate them, but come an injury crisis, in parallel with suspensions he may well have needed their back up and now we are actually left with a lot of very samey players. Mayebe joca really thought our management was on the case.

I'm sure negotiations don't start at 5.00pm on deadline day. Maybe some of the targets were being spoken to for a while but for whatever reason didn't happen especially if the selling club or agent decide to move the goal posts. And I can't believe that SJ wouldn't know what was happening during the window.

[nose]

I'm sure SJ did expect more, as I am sure we all did.But if it's a case that one target had a better offer from his parent club so that fell through, the agent of another target demanded too much money or a work permit issue so they fell though then these things happen.

We got rid of players who have had very little game time this year so no real impact on the squad so why not call up some of the youngsters and give these a chance if some gaps in the squad need filling if the players the club wanted aren't available.

The only thing which is really frustrating is why don't we do our business early doors rather than last minute.

which I have been saying for weeks but was shouted down by the usual suspects that it is a delicate task to get players in this windo of january. not if you are determined and committed. with a stay away, not that interested owner that occasionally shows up at motspur for a pr shoot, i am not surprised we didn't do better with recruitment. The management have no heart or feel for what is required. That is certainly the way it appears.

Personally i feel getting rid of LVC and woodrow was an error of Joca's. He obviously does not rate them, but come an injury crisis, in parallel with suspensions he may well have needed their back up and now we are actually left with a lot of very samey players. Mayebe joca really thought our management was on the case.

I'm sure negotiations don't start at 5.00pm on deadline day. Maybe some of the targets were being spoken to for a while but for whatever reason didn't happen especially if the selling club or agent decide to move the goal posts. And I can't believe that SJ wouldn't know what was happening during the window.

all you say is true. my point throught the period of the window was we should have been ready on day one and showed initiative and taken the lead. yes we would have paid a bit over the odds but IMO that was a price worth paying. that is not saying be made a total mug of but rather worth a bit more if it helps guarantee success (insofar as success is ever guaranteed with football).

what we did was to wait till the bitter end and watch it slip through our fingers. a week ago the manager on radio london said he hoped the club were going to show ambition and he repeated the phrase confirming recuritment was out of his hands; after the hull game on radio london. so we do know he was hoping for great things...show some ambition....   that was what he said (or as close as makes no difference).

so the question is are two unkowns, not really tearing up trees at the moment what constitutes ambition?

[@jolslover]

Not convinced that he knows any more about our new striker than we do and I knew absolutely nothing about him until I read up on the net since we signed him.

You got it,unknown from an unknown club..Exciting Stuff

Not quite true in the sense that we were after him in the summer.

Agree with this. For me The crucial word jokanovic uses is "more", ie, he may, like me and a lot of us, be disappointed with the quantity, but I see no reason for jokanovic or the rest of us to be unhappy with the quality of the couple of players we did get. I think the only people unhappy about Cyriac are the one or two posters who'll be disappointed with any signing outside the very small, limited pool of exclusively British-based players they're familiar with

Agree

[ToodlesMcToot]

My reading of SJ's comments in last couple of weeks ( I think it was ) that he was expecting or hoping for 2 to 3 new signings was that he knew who we were after or were close to signing at the time. I didn't take it as he was stating a general desire for 2 to 3 new players. His comments regarding specific questions about signings to the effect that he's not in charge of recruitment and that there are others to which those questions should be directed, I think are a bit misleading. I don't believe for a second that he's not involved in approving the players we try and recruit. He helps to identify them and signs off on them coming into his squad. Kline, of course, has to have his stamp of approval. And, AM makes the deals. I also think that deflecting questions about that to AM, TK and CK allows him to vent a bit of frustration without causing too much trouble while still basically saying the required "no comment".

Ultimately, he's not happy with the pace with which we move in the transfer market, something I believe we all understand perfectly well. Like with any job, you gotta take a little bad with the good. He has said that he's happy here and with Fulham. I hope that he's been sincere enough that that will mean there's an opportunity for him and the club to extend their relationship. It will be devastating if not....well, to that part of MY heart that bleeds Fulham anyway.

[copthornemike]

I don't believe SJ suffers fools gladly and once told how the transfer operation was to be he has settled into his job described role with no expectations or hopes other than what appears at the end of the process.  At least that has enabled him to coach a team that is playing as it is now certainly beyond the expectations most of us had at the start of the season.  He is determined to succeed with his plan because he doesn't like failure now anymore than he did as a player.   He is unlike any manager I have come across in a long time, confident, assured in his ways, and prepared to take all the blame for what occurs on the pitch that has been disappointing or bad.  He has never oversold or undersold the team in the manner of someone who is realistic about what they have and what they can do with it.  His greatest strength is the ability to get players to trust him about football matters and his has done a massive job on the psyches of almost the entire squad.  He has not diminished one player other than in his selection policy and no doubt he is as straight as a die when it comes to delivering the reasons why.  I don't believe he thinks fighting the Board is worth it beacuse they have more to lose from him than he has from them.  He will work his way around the deficiencies he experiences as he has on the pitch playing a good striker giving less than one hundred percent rather than a poorer striker giving one hundred percent but only half as good.  He isn't interested in what he cannot do because he is totally absorbed in what he can do.  And coaches like that do not grow on trees.

A top man who I believe can get us into the PL, regardless of all the obstacles that may be set in his path.   And if we do get promoted then he'll be the first to say to the team 'there, I told you you could'.
[/quote]
Excellent summary

[Arthur]

The only thing which is really frustrating is why don't we do our business early doors rather than last minute.

Why, indeed?

But it's not just us; so many clubs don't.

I followed the link on page 1 of this thread to the Get West London website and ended up watching a video of Brentford fans being interviewed on their team's transfer business prior to the Villa game. They were saying the same as us: that their club always leave it too late. They couldn't understand why their club hadn't brought in a striker when it was known throughout the window that Hogan would be departing.

I'm not trying to suggest that we couldn't have done things better, but when the fans of such a number of clubs express frustration at the tardiness of their club's transfer dealings, surely there must be more to it than simply that they all possess inept chairmen and CEOs.

[ffcwickford]

I think copthorne mike has summed this up very succintly.

He (Jokanovic) is possibly the shrewdest man manager in British football today.

He has disassembled a horribly underperforming group of players who were not playing as a cohesive unit and brought into the club fourteen players in the Summer and a further two in the last week, turning us to the most entertaining club in the championship who with a little good fortune in the coming months may well make the play-offs.

He has given a few chosen youngsters their heads in the cup games and been rewarded well.

I think he will sign a new contract shortly for which he will be well rewarded.

Onwards and upwards - COYW!!!!!

[Southfield White]

 
I see the negative brigade us out in full force.

Of course he probably would of liked more in the transferee window, you ask every other manager and 90% would also said they would of liked more.

But the main quote is with him saying how proud he is of those who he works with, in other words they did all they could to get targets in but for one reason or another they fell through.

But if people want to remain negative and put a negative switch on things that's up to them,

Slav is happy , shame some of our fans ain't .

[Lighthouse]

What is always frustrating to me and because it happens every time I no longer believe we really want to sign players. Is the fact we go for overseas players with hours to go. It may well be that is only when we hear the news. But so often we fail to bring in players because of some contract or time problem. As was the case this time.

[MJG]

Ok just throwing this out there

99 championship transfers into clubs (data from BBC) and 47 in last 2 days, 62 in last week.

[Arthur]

Of course he probably would of liked more in the transferee window, you ask every other manager and 90% would also said they would of liked more.

True...

Slav is happy , shame some of our fans ain't .

...and yet however happy our manager is, for us to be pursuing a player - Enrich - valued at £8.6M and then fail to sign him has surely to be regarded as a significant loss to the squad/team. Missing out on a bit-part player is one thing, but we don't go spending upwards of £8M on a player two-or-three times in every transfer window; this must have been looked upon as an important acquisition and his non-arrival must be a blow to Jokanovic's plans for the remainder of the season.

[FFCFOREVER]

Im genuinely concerned that Slav wont sign a new deal due to the shenanegens surrounding player recruitment.If he was happy he would have stated that he was.The problem does not lie with Khan and his investment but more so the buffoons who are in between him and Slav and that does boil down to how Khan is running the club.I mean if a club is genuinely interested in signing a player then why wait until last knockings to make the move.I know we arent the only club that operates this way but FFC board members seem very incompetent when it comes to pushing to get a deal done and we end up short in squad depth as this last window has proven.

[Southfield White]

Ok just throwing this out there

99 championship transfers into clubs (data from BBC) and 47 in last 2 days, 62 in last week.

Fine... but at least those 47 transfer bids were successful!

Take a chance that pays off and no one will complain. But if you keep taking those same chances and it keeps backfiring and leaving you up sh1t creek without a paddle then people are going to complain you should stop taking those chances.

But it didn't should unsuccessful bids by clubs, which I'd expect to be just as many, if not many more unsuccessful bids.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Ok just throwing this out there

99 championship transfers into clubs (data from BBC) and 47 in last 2 days, 62 in last week.

Thank you for this. It should become a sticky so that we can point to it when someone's says "Why oh why . . .".

We should all know by now that this happens even if it makes little sense to us why it is the case.