Recruitment policy at Fulham

[FulhamStu]

We paid decent money for 2 strikers, both these strikers looks to have potential to be decent but jury still out I guess,other than that we spent very little, that was the problem.
A lot of loan signings which financially is probably good but not really what you want. We have not yet seen Rafa, Ojo was clearly seen as first choice before his injury as is Kalas.  Norwood proving good backup in MF and Mollo looks decent for nothing. Cisse a dissapointment so far, but cost relatively little, Graham not yet seen.  Djalo a bit of a strange one but I suspect seen as low risk and one for the future and Piazon a good squad player now injured. So our recruitment is for me ok, we just did not compete with the likes of Wolves who have gone for it and now seeing the benefit. 

Again, I repeat, I do not think the fault lies with Stats boy as much as our lack of net spending. 

Cannot agree with your assessment of our most expensive acquisition of the summer, from what I have seen of Fonte he will flatter to deceive - unlikely to contribute enough goals or assists.

Also; Ojo had been less than consistent before his injury, Cisse downright poor, Djalo a waste of time, Soares still not fit to play with a third of the season gone. For me a poor summer window except that on a net basis we turn ed a modest profit.

Well not quite a third of a season but your point also points out that if fit, Soares will play circa 30 games this season (ie, same as Malone last year). Plenty of time to make an impact, plus the fact that we can buy him if needs be.

Slav wanted the summer business done early to give players the chance to bed in. Slav wanted to keep Aluko. Why have the transfers team instead signed players on deadline day, especially injured players and then sold Aluko? I have no problem with the stats system, I do however have a problem with them ignoring the managers requests, especially when he is more experienced within the world of football than both Khan and his stats mate. Tony Khan needs to be replaced as the person in charge of recruitment by a person with experience within the game, and maybe then we can start to see the best of the current stats system. Or, at the very least he needs to be told that his job isn't to think independently, its to do as the manager says, if the manager wants players signed early, signed them early, and if the manager wants to keep a player, don't sell that player.

Ok, let's replace Khan junior with a really experienced bloke like errr. Rigg ?

[FulhamStu]

We paid decent money for 2 strikers, both these strikers looks to have potential to be decent but jury still out I guess,other than that we spent very little, that was the problem.
A lot of loan signings which financially is probably good but not really what you want. We have not yet seen Rafa, Ojo was clearly seen as first choice before his injury as is Kalas.  Norwood proving good backup in MF and Mollo looks decent for nothing. Cisse a dissapointment so far, but cost relatively little, Graham not yet seen.  Djalo a bit of a strange one but I suspect seen as low risk and one for the future and Piazon a good squad player now injured. So our recruitment is for me ok, we just did not compete with the likes of Wolves who have gone for it and now seeing the benefit. 

Again, I repeat, I do not think the fault lies with Stats boy as much as our lack of net spending. 

Cannot agree with your assessment of our most expensive acquisition of the summer, from what I have seen of Fonte he will flatter to deceive - unlikely to contribute enough goals or assists.

Also; Ojo had been less than consistent before his injury, Cisse downright poor, Djalo a waste of time, Seoares still not fit to play with a third of the season gone. For me a poor summer window except that on a net basis we turn ed a modest profit.

Chutney, you follow the team, the Aluko situation was bought on by
Aluko insisting on a new 4year contract at the age of 28 on clubs highest wages.

Fulham chose instead to take £7.5 millions revenue from Reading form whom he has been a disaster, I really can't fault the club for this.

Well not quite a third of a season but your point also points out that if fit, Soares will play circa 30 games this season (ie, same as Malone last year). Plenty of time to make an impact, plus the fact that we can buy him if needs be.

Slav wanted the summer business done early to give players the chance to bed in. Slav wanted to keep Aluko. Why have the transfers team instead signed players on deadline day, especially injured players and then sold Aluko? I have no problem with the stats system, I do however have a problem with them ignoring the managers requests, especially when he is more experienced within the world of football than both Khan and his stats mate. Tony Khan needs to be replaced as the person in charge of recruitment by a person with experience within the game, and maybe then we can start to see the best of the current stats system. Or, at the very least he needs to be told that his job isn't to think independently, its to do as the manager says, if the manager wants players signed early, signed them early, and if the manager wants to keep a player, don't sell that player.

[Marcel_Gecov]

We paid decent money for 2 strikers, both these strikers looks to have potential to be decent but jury still out I guess,other than that we spent very little, that was the problem.
A lot of loan signings which financially is probably good but not really what you want. We have not yet seen Rafa, Ojo was clearly seen as first choice before his injury as is Kalas.  Norwood proving good backup in MF and Mollo looks decent for nothing. Cisse a dissapointment so far, but cost relatively little, Graham not yet seen.  Djalo a bit of a strange one but I suspect seen as low risk and one for the future and Piazon a good squad player now injured. So our recruitment is for me ok, we just did not compete with the likes of Wolves who have gone for it and now seeing the benefit. 

Again, I repeat, I do not think the fault lies with Stats boy as much as our lack of net spending. 

Cannot agree with your assessment of our most expensive acquisition of the summer, from what I have seen of Fonte he will flatter to deceive - unlikely to contribute enough goals or assists.

Also; Ojo had been less than consistent before his injury, Cisse downright poor, Djalo a waste of time, Soares still not fit to play with a third of the season gone. For me a poor summer window except that on a net basis we turn ed a modest profit.

Well not quite a third of a season but your point also points out that if fit, Soares will play circa 30 games this season (ie, same as Malone last year). Plenty of time to make an impact, plus the fact that we can buy him if needs be.

Slav wanted the summer business done early to give players the chance to bed in. Slav wanted to keep Aluko. Why have the transfers team instead signed players on deadline day, especially injured players and then sold Aluko? I have no problem with the stats system, I do however have a problem with them ignoring the managers requests, especially when he is more experienced within the world of football than both Khan and his stats mate. Tony Khan needs to be replaced as the person in charge of recruitment by a person with experience within the game, and maybe then we can start to see the best of the current stats system. Or, at the very least he needs to be told that his job isn't to think independently, its to do as the manager says, if the manager wants players signed early, signed them early, and if the manager wants to keep a player, don't sell that player.

Ok, let's replace Khan junior with a really experienced bloke like errr. Rigg ?

If we get him he'll do well but I can't see him joining. Working at the FA in a cushty job
and done a great job at QPR. He'll be perfect.

[FulhamStu]

We paid decent money for 2 strikers, both these strikers looks to have potential to be decent but jury still out I guess,other than that we spent very little, that was the problem.
A lot of loan signings which financially is probably good but not really what you want. We have not yet seen Rafa, Ojo was clearly seen as first choice before his injury as is Kalas.  Norwood proving good backup in MF and Mollo looks decent for nothing. Cisse a dissapointment so far, but cost relatively little, Graham not yet seen.  Djalo a bit of a strange one but I suspect seen as low risk and one for the future and Piazon a good squad player now injured. So our recruitment is for me ok, we just did not compete with the likes of Wolves who have gone for it and now seeing the benefit. 

Again, I repeat, I do not think the fault lies with Stats boy as much as our lack of net spending. 

Cannot agree with your assessment of our most expensive acquisition of the summer, from what I have seen of Fonte he will flatter to deceive - unlikely to contribute enough goals or assists.

Also; Ojo had been less than consistent before his injury, Cisse downright poor, Djalo a waste of time, Soares still not fit to play with a third of the season gone. For me a poor summer window except that on a net basis we turn ed a modest profit.

Well not quite a third of a season but your point also points out that if fit, Soares will play circa 30 games this season (ie, same as Malone last year). Plenty of time to make an impact, plus the fact that we can buy him if needs be.

Slav wanted the summer business done early to give players the chance to bed in. Slav wanted to keep Aluko. Why have the transfers team instead signed players on deadline day, especially injured players and then sold Aluko? I have no problem with the stats system, I do however have a problem with them ignoring the managers requests, especially when he is more experienced within the world of football than both Khan and his stats mate. Tony Khan needs to be replaced as the person in charge of recruitment by a person with experience within the game, and maybe then we can start to see the best of the current stats system. Or, at the very least he needs to be told that his job isn't to think independently, its to do as the manager says, if the manager wants players signed early, signed them early, and if the manager wants to keep a player, don't sell that player.

Well, that's completely wrong. So in your view Khan should be a lapdog, "yes sir, no sir, three bags fall sir", and just do everything Joka says. Khan is Joka's boss, and pays his wages, he doesn't have to do a thing Joka says. The system is in place so that when Joka leaves we don't have to ship out a bunch of the managers players and can move forward with continuity. For too long, managers have gone into teams, torn up the plan, pushed out decent players (ref: Koeman at Everton with Niasse) and then get fired and the process is repeated like a fatboy Slim song.

Slav may want business done early, but in most cases it doesn't happen as we exist in a marketplace which unfortunately really gets started with a chain reaction. Slav wanted to keep Aluko, Reading offered c.8m for a 29 year old with historical injury problems who doesn't score enough, quite rightly he was sold. Experience within the game leads to the same mistakes (Redknapp, jobs for the boys, Pardew, etc) to be innovative is to something different.

Just seen this, brilliantly put, thank you.

[Marcel_Gecov]

Well, that's completely wrong. So in your view Khan should be a lapdog, "yes sir, no sir, three bags fall sir", and just do everything Joka says. Khan is Joka's boss, and pays his wages, he doesn't have to do a thing Joka says. The system is in place so that when Joka leaves we don't have to ship out a bunch of the managers players and can move forward with continuity. For too long, managers have gone into teams, torn up the plan, pushed out decent players (ref: Koeman at Everton with Niasse) and then get fired and the process is repeated like a fatboy Slim song.

Weil IMO this is completely wrong.

Khan pays Joka's wages in the same way you might pay a lawyer's, doctor's or mechanic's wages. When they tell you to plead not guilty, eat less salt or replace your sparkplug, strictly speaking you don't have to do it, but if you don't it's pointless having paid for their services, and if you try to do their job having zero relevant expertise (as Khan does) you'll promptly end up on your ar$e.

And this idea that you can change managers without changing players is an utter myth as well. Players are picked to suit tactics so if the manager doesn't choose the players, he can't choose the tactics. So what, do you have someone unqualified like Khan Jnr picking the players and therefore, effectively the tactics, and someone qualified like Jokanovic left doing substantially nothing? Totally backward.

No Khan pays Jokas wages similar to any employer pays an employee. Joka isn't providing a service to Fulham, he is employed to do a job within the boundaries set and agreed at interview. In my line of work I am paid to analyse social media trends and create reports, I have no say whether we use LinkedIn or Facebook or which companies I work with to attain the info I have to make do and manage what I have. You may think it's backwards but it isn't.

Only today there was a story that Koeman was using players given to him by Walsh at Everton. We arent the only team doing this and again, Joka is not the manager he is not left doing substantially nothing, his remit is to get the players ready for Saturday.

Also in regards to your point that players are picked to suit tactics, future managers may well be too. Joka is good at what he does, but is by no means unique and if required the club would have to find someone similar. I very much doubt we will pull a Palace and bring in a DeBoer (who actually may flourish in our setup) and change their style.

[toshes mate]

'You will do what you are told to do' has a wonderful success rate at failing completely in all manner of life situations. 

Relationships and roles depend on people being people, looking, listening, understanding, communicating, facilitating, giving and taking advice, and taking responsibility.

There was a little hassle with a certain Christopher Hugh Martin a little less than a year ago which appeared to concern his understanding he was going back to his home club in December because that is what he was given to believe by one Fulham employee when he signed his loan contract.  It came to a head when another Fulham employee told him he couldn't go back until May at the earliest.  A further Fulham employee had to make an announcement to the media.  It was a mess because some employees didn't do their jobs properly leaving others in the dark.  An employee left shortly afterwards leaving us to fashion our own stories about why he was dispatched. We supporters will never know the true cost of that avoidable muck-up to Fulham FC.

Just an illustration as to why employer and employees have to be team players or things will go wrong. 

'You do exactly what I tell you and nothing else' is a recipe for disaster.

[aaronmcguigan]

Everyone brings their own personality and experience to the job, that makes them stand out above everyone else. But "do exactly what I tell you and nothing else" sounds like another name for "terms and conditions of employment" which sounds like contract which is what has been signed.

Anyone can sense Slavs frustrations, but if he has literally signed up to be a head coach and work within a given structure, to simply motivate, inspire and coach a set of given players, why should a head coach say who is brought into the club.
I'm a retail manager and i know a few people who would be great at the job my firm are recruiting for, but if they don't pass the aptitude tests and interview stage then they ain't joining.
SImilar Fulham must have their own aptitude test, the stats that they need to consider signing them, it's been a mixed bag so far, but that is the set structure and don't see why there's a fuss about it. Some people don't agree with it but the club do, and clearly Slav has literally signed up to it.

Watfords approach has worked which is similar to ours, and they do it because they accept managerial tenures are short, so they focus on recruitment at the higher levels and bring in coaches who they accept are short term to focus on the motivation and coaching. Just because a manager has been a manager doesn't give him the right to say stats are wrong. That scenario will leave us with a lot of Redknapp style signings where the likes of Crouch/Defoe etc followed him in and out of clubs

[toshes mate]

...if [SJ] has literally signed up to be a head coach and work within a given structure, to simply motivate, inspire and coach a set of given players, why should a head coach say who is brought into the club.

The absolute is that SJ has chosen to not involve himself in recruitment at all which is what he has said all along.  I have repeatedly said on here that SJ accepts the lines of demarcation (terms and conditions) and gets on with what he 'is good at' - coaching a team to success.  SJ has nothing to prove to anybody other than himself that he is doing the very best he can because he is the complete professional with the motivation that involves.   He has played the game after all.

The margins, which is what my earlier post was driving at, involve the benefits of tinkering and tuning to get the very best out of the whole vehicle.  It's pointless having a supercharged engine under the bonnet if the car has no wheels or the wrong wheels.  And how do you find out if you have wheels and the right ones?

[MJG]

In conversations with the coaches they are used to the setup of them being exactly that. The coaches and having a DOF or higher management structure working above them. It's the European way and they get on with it. Yes, they want specific players just as many of us in our own jobs want to see certain things delivered to us by our managers. If not given, they get on with what they have (or we have).
They knew the setup and as I have always stated on here (even before Joka rocked up) and elsewhere I believe that kind of structure is best for a club like ours.
Yes, Joka bitches and moans at it at every club he goes to. It's his way.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

   Sustainability was/is a word our chairman uses a lot. I'm pretty sure it doesn't just mean not spending money. More about spending it wisely. Correct me if I'm wrong but have we lost a lot of money on transfers of late? We seem to be in the positive there.
Some players won't fit. Every company in commerce has experienced that.
   There surely must have been a meeting after the end of the season to discuss what was needed to build onto that success. Blowing all the money in the summer wouldn't leave us much wiggle room in the Jan window to make the final push and have a bedrock of players able to play in the Premiership without having to completely change the side.
   Wolves are no further away from the rest than Newcastle were last season. The teams in the playoff spots are equally no further away from those of the previous season. Our record is much the same.
   Tom Cairney being out has been a blow but he's on his way back. The Derby player and the Wally with the Brolly disrupted us over the Christmas period last year. Something I guess we'd be more prepared for and have a contingency plan for along with one to plug any gaps in the team come January.
   Most of us can see what's wrong at the moment. So can the Chairman and Slav. Difference is they're far better at what they do than we could be and I really doubt they aren't putting things right as we go along.

[SuffolkWhite]

   Sustainability was/is a word our chairman uses a lot. I'm pretty sure it doesn't just mean not spending money. More about spending it wisely. Correct me if I'm wrong but have we lost a lot of money on transfers of late? We seem to be in the positive there.
Some players won't fit. Every company in commerce has experienced that.
   There surely must have been a meeting after the end of the season to discuss what was needed to build onto that success. Blowing all the money in the summer wouldn't leave us much wiggle room in the Jan window to make the final push and have a bedrock of players able to play in the Premiership without having to completely change the side.
   Wolves are no further away from the rest than Newcastle were last season. The teams in the playoff spots are equally no further away from those of the previous season. Our record is much the same.
   Tom Cairney being out has been a blow but he's on his way back. The Derby player and the Wally with the Brolly disrupted us over the Christmas period last year. Something I guess we'd be more prepared for and have a contingency plan for along with one to plug any gaps in the team come January.
   Most of us can see what's wrong at the moment. So can the Chairman and Slav. Difference is they're far better at what they do than we could be and I really doubt they aren't putting things right as we go along.

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[The Old Count]

No Khan pays Jokas wages similar to any employer pays an employee. Joka isn't providing a service to Fulham, he is employed to do a job within the boundaries set and agreed at interview. In my line of work I am paid to analyse social media trends and create reports, I have no say whether we use LinkedIn or Facebook or which companies I work with to attain the info I have to make do and manage what I have. You may think it's backwards but it isn't.

Only today there was a story that Koeman was using players given to him by Walsh at Everton. We arent the only team doing this and again, Joka is not the manager he is not left doing substantially nothing, his remit is to get the players ready for Saturday.

Also in regards to your point that players are picked to suit tactics, future managers may well be too. Joka is good at what he does, but is by no means unique and if required the club would have to find someone similar. I very much doubt we will pull a Palace and bring in a DeBoer (who actually may flourish in our setup) and change their style.

No offence but you cannot compare you employment to Jokanovic's. For a start I'm guessing your boss has the skills and experience to do your job himself, but delegates it to a minion so he can do something more important. That's why he tells you what to do. Jokanovic's knowledge and experience greatly exceeds that of his boss and everyone else in the organisation. If you pay someone to do something you can't be ar$ed to do, then no you don't have to take their advice, but if you pay someone to do something you're totally incapable of doing yourself, different situation.

As to replacing the manager, we exhausted this debate in the summer so I say we agree to disagree. We can revisit it if/when Joka leaves, then we can debate the broad field of alternative successful managers who are prepared to work in the Championship, with Craig Kline, and play possession-based football with 6 midfielders and no striker.

'You can't compare your employment to Jokanovic's'.  'You're a minion'.   Nothing like insults and condescension to validate an argument.

[Jims Dentist]

We lose a game and it's all the fault of Stats man.   Slav has has no say in recruitment and the yanks know nothing about football.  We should never have sold Aluko. These lines are trotted out after every defeat.

Can I suggest it's not as simple as that.  Signing a good striker is a priority for most clubs, scoring goals is the hardest part of the game and why goal scorers are at a premium.  What goes on behind the scenes we don't know however in the past few years we have tried to sign players like Mourne, Gayle, Huggill and others who would have been ideal.  Surely this suggests our recruitment team know what they are doing, however getting these signings over the line is hard.  It's hard to attract top strikers into tier 2 football, we will have to work within a budget not only for transfer fees but salaries of players.

I simply refuse to believe Slav has no say in who we buy.  He may not be the final decision maker but pretty much all the players bough in have similar characteristics.  Technical ability, athletic, etc.  Kamara probably the exception, however I suspect we see him as work in progress, someone with raw abilities who we can coach into a more technical player.

My issue with our recruitment is we lack a certain type.  Someone with presence, height and airiel ability.  This is why KMac is so important.   The reason we are impotent at corners is nobody has the physical attributes to attack and win the header.  I suspect Slav does not want a Flint type central defender as he feels he needs these players to start our attacks and wants players who are good on the ball in tight positions.  This however in my opinion leads us to being one dimensional, great on the eye but with limited options.

Is this down to Stats man, I very much doubt it.  I would love to have a one on one with Slav and put these points to him.  Yes, he wants better players and I suspect we will see another striker coming in during January, I doubt however they will be a big dominant central defender or striker, someone like Gayle would be my guess and this will be because this is what our head coach is asking for.

Sorry FulhamStu but straight off the bat you've just unknowingly contradicted yourself.

You're implying that the same excuses get brought out all the time and he blame is being put on the recruitment side of things where instead it might go deeper..

Then you say we've been linked with hugill, gayle etc but say it's hard to get these players to play in the championship and it's hard to get these deals over the line.

Firstly gayle and hugill have both played in the championship - so they clearly haven't got an ego about playing in the league.

Secondly you say it's hard to get the deals over the line...

Well answering that firstly - it's the recruitment teams job to get deals over the line regardless of difficulty... and secondly to that, as a team based in London,  with a premiership past and having played the nicest football in the league and creating the most chances etc... we should've been considered as arguably one of the most attractive clubs for players considering this league to come to.

Now there's a difference if recruitment chase after foreign players in teams much higher than us. Rolan at bordeaux for instance.. they wasted soo much time on him and got nothing for their efforts. For me that is shockingly bad work.

Then they struggled to tie down a striker as a result who knew the league well enough to guarantee goals and hit the ground running... which we've arguably had in the past 4 seasons with McCormack, Dembele and Martin... and now we've got a striker who's scored one goal in six and even missed a penalty and who cost perhaps 7/8 million who so far isn't worth the investment and will require further additional investment on top of the original sum to buy in another player who hopefully can. It's such a joke of a scenario it genuinely isn't funny.

Why make a half arsed investment which may or may not pay off when you can put a bit more money in and get a better player, better results, better brand awareness and ticket sales etc.. it's so self evident that the main difference between last season and this season is the playing staff we have available it beggars belief people think it's more than that.

Sone had the ability to win the ball and change the direction of a game on a pinpoint... the amount of times I saw him closely marked, turn his opposition marker and then burn him for pace last season alone was ridiculous.. not only that but he net contributed to nearly 20 goals for us in the form of goals and assists... if you had a 20 goal striker you would be ridiculously short sighted to pay genuine attention to the chances he misses... it may frustrate you but I'd still have 20 goals and loads of near chances or misses too than none of any of it.

Ludicrous that people are focusing on what he could've added more instead of the reality of what he added. I imagine he probably added even more by being in and around the box, keeping defenDersingham occupied or playing that bit deeper or defensively because of him or the amount of goals he contributed to as a pass before the key assist.

4 chances a game is currently in keeping with a third of our current chances. If you as a striker had potentially 25 to 30% more chances a game I guarantee that you'd a) probably score more goals and b) be in and around key areas and pushing to make the extra yards as a result.

Not to forget that Martin contributed another 9/10 goals and malone another 7 or so.. we've essentially at a most basic level seen our recruitment policy allow for 25- 30 goals go in the summer and have seen them replaced by 4 goals so far after nearly 1/3rd of a season.

If you think that has no influence on where we stand, our results and isn't directly due to the change in personnel and that that comes down to our recruitment process entirely then I'm lost for words.

It's like being in torrential rain without an umbrella and saying it's not raining and trying to convince others it isn't too.

Brilliant post General!!☺

[FulhamStu]

Many of the posts on this thread accept that Slav has no part or say in recruitment.  One of my initial comments was that I don't accept this.  I do accept he has been critical, even saying things like you had better talk to other about recruitment.  On the Other hand, Khan junior says Slav plays a key role in recruitment and the recruitment team lead by Talbot and Kline, work to supply Slav with what he wants/needs.

You see, I just can't see that they would work without consulting Slav, that would make no sense at all.  Khan has even said that after all the work from the Talbot scouts and Kline Stats, Slav has the final say.   It's a collaborative process, that we have been told time and time again and Slav IS part of that process.

So, I agree, Slav is not in charge of recruitment like say, Redknapp was when he bankrupted Portsmouth and QPR, but he is involved and is crucial to who we sign.

[Carborundum]

Valued employee having a moan about working conditions, but then not doing anything about it = normal letting off steam, arguably healthy state of affairs

Use of stats in transfer research = normal

Head coach not having total control over transfers = normal

Stats man not having a football background =. Quite a good idea I.e. input purely about the stats

Stats man being mate of owners son = things that make you go "hmmm"

[toshes mate]

I will use the Martin saga to illustrate the way that Fulham's recruitment process does not run in a team like fashion in the manner posters, like FulhamStu, claim. 

To compare and contrast POVs we have SJ effectively saying recruitment is not his job, and the Khan's saying SJ is integral to the manner in which the recruitment team operates.  Is there a conciliation point between these two opposed positions?  If we look at the Martin saga, forgetting for a moment the 'new contract with Derby' angle which happened after the lad downed tools and left the training camp, we can see how the cogs can get meshed together.  The battle ground was initially 'is he injured or not', and SJ was wheeled out after the Reading game by Sarah Brookes to be Fulham's spokesperson.  We then had further information suggesting that it was clear to Martin he was returning to Derby when the window re-opened, with SJ saying 'Oh, no is isn't'.  Where was Khan Jnr at this time since the matter was now about Martin's contract which was 'nothing to do' with SJ but everything to do with the recruitment team?  Let's open our minds to the possibility Martin was influenced into signing the last moment loan contract by the recruitment team's suggestion he would be able to return to Derby in January (because Fulham would be looking for better).  SJ in the meantime, having been annoyed by Martin's attitude, recants the view he is a Fulham player until the end of the season leaving Khan Jnr in no position to do other than back his head coach when he is finally confronted by a decision.  SJ's position may have been - I have Martin and I don't believe I can trust the recruitment team to get me better (a fact that has indeed been borne out in the recent past) and so I'll force their hands into retaining him. 

SJ's new contract, Khan Jnr's apparent 'worship' of him ('I really like the guy'), and tighter job parameters all around are a natural progression from the scenario.  One employee left the Club during the saga, and another at the end of the season.  Coincidence or what?   

What really transpired in the Martin Saga is the messy role playing at the heart of the Club which isn't at all as neat and fancy as some would claim.  SJ doesn't want or need to be involved in transfer protocols other than to explain the set up of the team, the formation, and the ingredients of players who can perform that way.  He can also say what was wrong with those who are signed but didn't fit the bill, the kind of facts that refine any 'good' computer system.  SJ can see, from his POV, things are better for him if he distances himself from recruitment issues unless and until his job is made impossible.   Khan Jnr needs SJ to succeed to (a) consolidate his position (b) sell his stats system for him (c) sustain FFC as a business.   It's as dysfunctional as any other relationship but that's life.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

If there had been any agreement with Derby or their player about a return in January. They would of brought it up and seriously kicked off to the press about it. It was a season long loan. He got stroppy as soon as Derby looked like serious contenders to occupy a play-off spot.
Slav is his own man I seriously doubt he would let himself be used as a mouth piece to save someone else's behind.

[toshes mate]

The original season long loan agreement with an option to buy could, last season, have been terminated by agreement between the clubs in January 2017.  It did not require Derby's aggravated  intervention.  It is possible that Martin's actions were choreographed.  SJ's actions, as spokesperson on a number of occasions, are consistent with someone acting as if he can be his own man with the added assurance that Sarah Brookes had been cleared by her boss (Khan Jnr) to allow that to happen.  I have assumed he was not directed to say anything and we have evidence of a short (twenty four hours minimum) but significant delay before the Club confirmed that Martin would stay (via SJ again).   

[FulhamStu]

These are my points.
1.Stats man does not run our recruitment program
2. Stats man does play an important role and does have a veto.
3. Slav does have a say in recruitment, he does not run it, but we try to give him what he wants.
4. All execs, esp the Khans should front up more I agree with Toshes mate.

Why all clubs use the coach or team manager as the club spokesman all the time baffles me, esp when their skill are not in speaking the English Language.

[Twig]

After today's game against Bolton I felel confident in saying that our recruitment policy is failing. Fonte? Expensive lightweight underperformer. Djalo? Why bother?  Cisse? Not good enough.  Soares? Still not available so that was a stupid punt. Mollo? Jury's out. Ojo? Sorry he got injured but he had just had a couple of mares. My rating 2 out of 10.