Transfer speculation true test of Fulham's board and Ali Mack

[Nick Bateman]

Alistair Mackintosh has to get his proverbial finger out of his backside and resist all attempts to plunder our talent, including Fredericks, Sessengnon, Mitrovic and our much coveted manager Jokanovic.

The news that West Ham, Liverpool and Chelsea may knobble our new baptism in the Premier League must be robustly countered.

If the Hammers are offering Fredericks £6million, Fulham should offer 7.  Fredericks is a vital part of Fulham's style and a MUST to retain.  I believe Tottenham dropped a major clanger losing him and preferring the accident-prone Walker and then the naiive tattoo-laden Trippier; Fredericks will be in the next England tournament as number one right back in the country!

Mitrovic revived our season and fits in with his Serbian manager - Fulham needed a physical target man and now we are up we cannot lose him. 

Sess should stay at the club which gave him his big chance, and even £50million is not enough for someone this talented.

Our manager has insisted on this playing style, passing the ball out from the back therefore retaining possession and some intricate triangles and give and go to create attacks.  Indeed I would say, this is the BEST Fulham I have ever seen!!

Now we are in the PL we have no reason to accept money for any player we wish to keep.  Our owner can buy the likes of Gold, Sullivan & the ghastly Karen Brady ten times over.

We also have escaped the harmful clutches of FFP and will receive over £200 million by merely staying up one season.  And one should not fall into the trap of hovering around the bottom.

There is absolutely no reason Fulham cannot outbid other clubs and dissuade them.  Only if Ali Mack has learned NOTHING from his incompetance which added to Fulham's demise under Magath.

Welcome to inflation as is standard in the top division.  We should welcome it and be proactive towards our precious assets, not reactive as one is seeing at the moment.

[Stevieboy]

 :plus one:  049:gif  :wine:

[sarnian]

Sorry but stopped reading after assessment of Fredericks. If you think he is Englands next right back you know nothing about defending. Great going forward but defending is first priority and often loses his man in the penalty area.  075.gif

[Nick Bateman]

Sorry but stopped reading after assessment of Fredericks. If you think he is Englands next right back you know nothing about defending. Great going forward but defending is first priority and often loses his man in the penalty area.  075.gif

Have you seen Walker and Trippier ever??  Walker almost single-hanedly got Man.City knocked out by Liverpool in Champs' League - he did a Karius before Karius!

[Marcel_Gecov]

Feels hyperbolic. Fredericks is good but if he was THAT good then you'd have better teams than West Ham and Palace fighting with us over him.

[Nick Bateman]

Perhaps you are missing the point; how can West Ham pinch one of Fulham's best players when we have a multi-billionaire owner?  It's like a hostile takeover of General Motors done by Skoda!

[Marcel_Gecov]

Perhaps you are missing the point; how can West Ham pinch one of Fulham's best players when we have a multi-billionaire owner?  It's like a hostile takeover of General Motors done by Skoda!

Because the board don't think that fredericks is worth more than Tom Cairney and therefore aren't prepared to make him the highest paid player. I'd agree with them.

[Nick Bateman]

The board being Alistair Mackintosh who knows as much about football as I do on one fingernail.  Cairney is on a Championship salary, that amount is well below the average of top stars in the PL.

I say make Fredericks the highest paid to encourage him to sign, or at least offer more then West Ham!!??  Then once services secured raise the wages of other stars in our squad accordingly.  I am frankly SICK of this penny-pinching as soon as we hit the big time again - that's what got Fulham relegated last time!!

[Bassey the warrior]

Fredericks is largely untested at the top level, so it's too early to say how he compares to the likes of Walker and Trippier. Where he clearly falls down is his temperament, he needs to control his temper better.

If he has a good season then there's no reason he can't break into the England team, but many high flying Championship players have found the step up too much and failed to reproduce their form.

I'd be disappointed if he leaves but Christie has impressed me when I've seen him.

[Marcel_Gecov]

The board being Alistair Mackintosh who knows as much about football as I do on one fingernail.  Cairney is on a Championship salary, that amount is well below the average of top stars in the PL.

I say make Fredericks the highest paid to encourage him to sign, or at least offer more then West Ham!!??  Then once services secured raise the wages of other stars in our squad accordingly.  I am frankly SICK of this penny-pinching as soon as we hit the big time again - that's what got Fulham relegated last time!!

Then you artificially raising salaries above market rate to suit the needs of one alleged wantaway RB. That's not penny pinching thats horrendous business and also opens cans of worms for players to reject offers and become disillusioned. Why do that? Now if you are able to get a top-drawer player for more, then nobody can argue but Freds is largely untested. He has as much chance of being the next Scott Malone than Tripper.

[MJG]

Too many assumptions made in the op and also just stupid business sense in some of the comments and far too personal as well.

[Nick Bateman]

I gave Ali Mack credit for acquiring Mitrovic in January - that move alone ensured Fulham's revival and ultimate promotion.

And as a fan, one is not bothered about the costs.  It is good business however, to retain a terrific defender whom West Ham and others have identified for around £7 million while his actual worth is over the £20million mark.

But while Khan flaunts his wealth at procuring Wembley Stadium for £900 million, Fulham lose players worth more, to rivals I might add, and I would like these armchair accountants to respond in 6 months time if Fulham are struggling to stay up because we were too concerned about the non-existent budget.

Khan has the wealth, let him finally live up to Al Fayed's promises!

[simplyfulham]

I gave Ali Mack credit for acquiring Mitrovic in January - that move alone ensured Fulham's revival and ultimate promotion.

And as a fan, one is not bothered about the costs.  It is good business however, to retain a terrific defender whom West Ham and others have identified for around £7 million while his actual worth is over the £20million mark.

But while Khan flaunts his wealth at procuring Wembley Stadium for £900 million, Fulham lose players worth more, to rivals I might add, and I would like these armchair accountants to respond in 6 months time if Fulham are struggling to stay up because we were too concerned about the non-existent budget.

Khan has the wealth, let him finally live up to Al Fayed's promises!

I'd rather see you respond when Trent Alexander-Arnold lines up as No.2 for England at the next major international tournament.

[Baszab]

Hear Hear - agree with all OP's sentiments

Surely now he has got FFC up, Khan has to trust the manager's judgements and invest in new players (to back up  the existing ones ALL who deserve a chance in PL) - we can not afford to muck it up like 2013

Not sure you are correct on Mitro's absolute last minute signing though

[filham]

Look, Fredericks has been a good Championship player for us, but by no means our best and we have yet to see how good he will be in the Premiership. Sure we should give him a new contract with a pay level expected by good Premiership players but not one with sky high pay above that of his better team mates.

There has to be a reasonable level of financial control within the club otherwise we will quickly go the same way as the likes of Portsmouth.
Lets keep our feet on the ground and remember we have seen better full backs than Fredericks playing for Fulham, perhaps a little chat with George Cohen may bring him back to earth.

[millsy]

I agree with the sentiment of the original post i.e. that our club need to step up their resolve and ambition this window. I think, however, that some of the arguments are flawed.

Don't want to lose Sess this soon but for me £50m overstates his current worth. Would rather not lose Fred either but he's not that good and mustn't be allowed to hold us to ransome. Next England RB? Seems unlikely.

As for the insults to our management, this is OTT. Yes, mistakes have been made but there is no evidence to suggest that those errors will be repeated. In my view, January suggested that lessons have been learnt and as we approach this exciting crossroads, I feel we should give the club the chance to show what they can do and reserve judgement until we see what actually unfolds.

I'm not expecting miracle signings but feel quietly confident that we'll emerge from the window with a stronger squad. Exciting times!

[alfie]

The board being Alistair Mackintosh who knows as much about football as I do on one fingernail.  Cairney is on a Championship salary, that amount is well below the average of top stars in the PL.

I say make Fredericks the highest paid to encourage him to sign, or at least offer more then West Ham!!??  Then once services secured raise the wages of other stars in our squad accordingly.  I am frankly SICK of this penny-pinching as soon as we hit the big time again - that's what got Fulham relegated last time!!

The only point I would argue is that alimac has been around football for many years, he was at man city before us, and I reckon he knows a dam site more than you, me, and quite a few others.
Never mind it's another statement from you that you really don't know the answer.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Fredericks could well be the next England right back. Statistically, he's more likely be the next hyped right back that fails to live up to the next step up the ladder. There are many more who fail at it than succeed.

For this reason, Fulham need to resist the "keep the band together at all costs" mentality. If Ryan wants a salary that exceeds the club's valuation or West Ham offer a premium that exceeds same, then they should trust their own judgement and recruiting, count on Christie and go out looking for a better replacement.

I'd feel this way about almost all of our players. Sess, I'd hold onto unless the offer was ridiculous and Cairney would be incredibly difficult to replace, I think....to give two examples.

The most important signature to retain, IMHO, is Slavisa's. His style of play works. It's an attractive recruiting tool. And, any change in culture - not to mention possibly playing style - would be a huge obstacle to success in our first season back in the PL. Additionally, we need to sign him to a multi-year contract. No more 18 month or rolling contracts. We need some sort of return if bigger clubs come in for him....just like with the players.

In the end though, we have to be willing to accept that our best player's success will mean their leaving at some point. As such, we need to keep the conveyor belt from the academy turning and continually recruit players who provide a true challenge for places within the team. We don't need to sign backups.

[Nick Bateman]

Pompey had an Icelandic banking fraudster one recalls, Fulham have a MULTI-BILLIONAIRE owner.

He is the 158th RICHEST billionaire on Earth according to Forbes!!!!

Now some of you are concerned about a few ha'pennies in comparison to his extra-ordinary wealth.  Why are Fulham SECOND in your train of thinking?

And if he did spend billions (which one is not proposing but adding as conjecture), Fulham would be challenging Manchester City as that is all they did. 

One would like to see Richard Scudamore (PL chair) sitting next to Khan next season every match as he did with the Mansours.

[hovewhite]

If slav kicks up a fuss,but don't think he will over Frederick as christie is temperament wise more calmer and not as prone to dissent bookings.