Being prepared

[MikeW]

Interesting article in The Times today about how we will more than survive next season:

There is a high degree of embarrassment to being relegated after an investment that exceeded £100 million but Fulham intend to win immediate promotion back to the Premier League, buoyed by the knowledge that relegation will incur minimal financial damage.

None of the players contracted to the west London club beyond this summer can leave at a discount and none has a release clause that would be triggered by dropping back into the Sky Bet Championship. In other words, if clubs think they can secure the services of Aleksandar Mitrovic, the club's 24-year-old striker, at a discount, they will be disappointed.

It is unlikely Fulham will be weighed down by a hefty wage bill in the Championship given that all playing staff have, in their present deals, a trigger for a reduced salary in the event of relegation and in some cases this reduction is as high as 50 per cent. The club are also helped by the fact that loan players automatically return to their parent club and so Fulham will bid farewell to Sergio Rico, the goalkeeper, Calum Chambers, the Arsenal defender, and Luciano Vietto, the Argentine striker. Overall, the player-wage bill should come down from £70 million to £28 million and they will receive a parachute payment of £43 million.

André Schürrle, a World Cup winner who signed on a two-year loan deal from Borussia Dortmund last summer and was supposed to add leadership and nous to Fulham's bid to stay in the Premier League, will leave the club as his contract was constructed to end should the club suffer relegation.

The club were, in spite of their summer outlay, busy in the January window but far more conservatively and the three deals made were for six months only, so the wages of Ryan Babel, the former Liverpool winger, Havard Nordtveit, the Norway defender, and Lazar Markovic, the winger still on Liverpool's books, will not be a drain on resources.

Other than Schürrle, few of the remaining squad are deemed unsuitable for a campaign in the Championship and those who want to leave can do so at the right price. There were bids made for Jean Michaël Seri, for example, in January. Although the club believe that the 27-year-old Ivorian could make the transition to a lower division, they would expect to recoup most of the £25 million they paid for the midfielder, who had previously been linked with a move to Barcelona, should he prefer to leave.

It is the second time that Shahid Khan, the club's owner, has experienced relegation from the Premier League and on both occasions the American billionaire, who also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise, appointed three different managers in attempt to stave off the drop. Khan, 68, bought Fulham from Mohamed Al Fayed in July 2013 when they had become a selling club but Khan lost faith in successive managers and the team were relegated. They won promotion via the play-offs in May last year, led by Slavisa Jokanovic, and the club backed him with 12 new signings and in so doing became the first to break the £100 million barrier for outlay by a newly promoted side.

It quickly became clear that the mix of new faces and established players was unproductive and Tim Ream, the highly regarded defender, publicly questioned the attitude of his team-mates. Jokanovic was sacked in November for failing to respond to a vote of confidence and his replacement, Claudio Ranieri, was described as a "risk-free" appointment by Khan. However, the Italian, who had famously led Leicester City to title glory in 2016, tried to impose a counterattacking style unsuited to the squad and was sacked by the club in February after only 16 games in charge, with Scott Parker taking over as caretaker and promising to instil pride in the "Fulham way".

[Buffalo76]

People said we would more than survive this season 🤨

[Mickeyboro]

Sorry, but this to my mind is spin - pure and simple.

How much value did we get from two of our three Jan short term signings?

And the whole loan thing may have cut our ongoing wage bill, but we will need to sign replacements.

You can't polish a t*rd...

[Sting of the North]

Sorry, but this to my mind is spin - pure and simple.

How much value did we get from two of our three Jan short term signings?

And the whole loan thing may have cut our ongoing wage bill, but we will need to sign replacements.

You can't polish a t*rd...

If everything in the article is actually true (which may be put into question of course), I see that as very good news for next season. I don't see this as spinning anything really. The bit about the January signings to me was quite obviously referring to the fact that the signings would have no long term negative economic impact. I didn't read it as trying to say that January was a success. The same with the wage bill. We would quite obviously not sign players on the same wages in the Championship, so how getting huge wages of the books is not a good thing I don't understand. Again, the article didn't claim that this season was a success, just gave the perspective that economically not everything is doom and gloom come next season.

Just because the season has been a disappointment doesn't mean that every single thing done by the club has been a total disaster.

[ScalleysDad]

Thanks for this interesting read. So we probably won't see Schurle again and the short term contracts could be terminated now, although I would like to think somebody might agree least dangle a carrot in front of Babel, and the likes of Vietta can go. I have to say I had forgotten all about him.
The two main quandaries are Rico and Chambers. Stick or bust with Fabri and Kmac the only alternatives.

[Statto]

If everything in the article is actually true (which may be put into question of course), I see that as very good news for next season. I don't see this as spinning anything really. The bit about the January signings to me was quite obviously referring to the fact that the signings would have no long term negative economic impact. I didn't read it as trying to say that January was a success. The same with the wage bill. We would quite obviously not sign players on the same wages in the Championship, so how getting huge wages of the books is not a good thing I don't understand. Again, the article didn't claim that this season was a success, just gave the perspective that economically not everything is doom and gloom come next season.

Just because the season has been a disappointment doesn't mean that every single thing done by the club has been a total disaster.

+1

[FFC1987]

Sorry, but this to my mind is spin - pure and simple.

How much value did we get from two of our three Jan short term signings?

And the whole loan thing may have cut our ongoing wage bill, but we will need to sign replacements.

You can't polish a t*rd...

If everything in the article is actually true (which may be put into question of course), I see that as very good news for next season. I don't see this as spinning anything really. The bit about the January signings to me was quite obviously referring to the fact that the signings would have no long term negative economic impact. I didn't read it as trying to say that January was a success. The same with the wage bill. We would quite obviously not sign players on the same wages in the Championship, so how getting huge wages of the books is not a good thing I don't understand. Again, the article didn't claim that this season was a success, just gave the perspective that economically not everything is doom and gloom come next season.

Just because the season has been a disappointment doesn't mean that every single thing done by the club has been a total disaster.

Whilst I agree, you have to admit, it's a bloody big IF!

[Kentish Gent]

The combination of the Chairman's message and Alyson Rudd's piece in The Times has cheered me up no end. Shahid Khan didn't make his billions by not learning from his mistakes, and it would appear that players' contracts stipulate significant pay cuts in the event of relegation, with loanees returning to their original clubs. With SK's declaration of further backing, then maybe we can look forward to next season with some optimism.

But who to instal as manager? Never in my life have I suggested that you look back at a previous incumbent, but as Jokanovic is still unemployed, I'd love to see him re-installed as manager.

Both SK and SJ are intelligent enough to recognise the mistakes they made since Wembley. I reckon it would be a winning combination again, with one major proviso. They have to sort out the recruitment policy - and we know, for family reasons, why that might be very difficult for Shahid.

[JoelH5]

Thanks for this interesting read. So we probably won't see Schurle again and the short term contracts could be terminated now, although I would like to think somebody might agree least dangle a carrot in front of Babel, and the likes of Vietta can go. I have to say I had forgotten all about him.
The two main quandaries are Rico and Chambers. Stick or bust with Fabri and Kmac the only alternatives.

Why not Betteneli?

[ScalleysDad]

Thanks for this interesting read. So we probably won't see Schurle again and the short term contracts could be terminated now, although I would like to think somebody might agree least dangle a carrot in front of Babel, and the likes of Vietta can go. I have to say I had forgotten all about him.
The two main quandaries are Rico and Chambers. Stick or bust with Fabri and Kmac the only alternatives.

Why not Betteneli?

I thought he was out for the season. If not and if Match fit then he is in.

[filham]

Some task trying to sort that lot out before next season, there are going to be lots of journalists speculating over moves for Sess., Cairney and Mitrovic all through the summer, I suspect all three will move on and it would then be best for us if it happens sooner than later.

[MikeW]

Of those on loan I personally think we should make a determind effort for Chambers.  He is going to be peripheral at Arsenal while here, in his mid field role, I think he could become leadership material.  The others we can get rid of but must keep Sess and Mitro.  Cairney in my view can go unless his attitude changes.  Offers for the highly paid French mid-field duo will be received and we have a Spanish goalkeeper in the bargain basement.  Betts No.1 next year for me and get the lad Rodak back from Rotherham.  I think Joe Bryan will have learned a lot this year and will be better for it.  Cyrus I worry about.  Has anyone ever tried him as a central defender?  He's big enough.  Tim will be good off the bench.

Quite honestly the rest are if's & buts.

Finally - Joca coming back?  It rarely works.  You can't live in the past and there are a few bright sparks out there who with Gray and a few wise heads (?) could just do the trick.

Sorry, bit of a ramble but it's that sort of day.