this season

[ALG01]

I know on another thread somebody asked were their any positives to take from the season and that produced the usual round of knockabout humour and despair.

but just reading about markovic are january signing. made a short entrance and has been injured ever since, parker unsure if he will play again.

You really cannot make it up, one catastrophic unforced error after another.
I am not pointing the finger at any single son of of the owner because that would be too easy to do, but it is his fault.

I cannot think of a single redeeming feature to this campaign. They have taken the fun and pleasure out of it. we are so poor it was over at the start of April. actually t was over at midnight 31st august 2019. I think that is why it is so gloomy and painful, it was obvious with eyes in his head and a brain to think we were d**med from then. And to see the leadership simply take no action whatsoever to save us in january was so very disheartening. Getting three players just to beable to allow TK to save face 'multiple signings' was an insult to evrey thinking one of us.

So did I miss something, was there a redeeming feature?

[Arthur]

For me, yes.

As I quoted in another thread: 'Tis better to have loved and lost...'

I'm looking forward to Saturday's fixture: as a one-off event, it could be an exciting match. Of course, it's not the same as if we were in with a fighting chance of survival - but it would satisfy me to see us make a game of it, and, with a bit of luck, bring our losing streak to an end.

[hovewhite]

For me, yes.

As I quoted in another thread: 'Tis better to have loved and lost...'

I'm looking forward to Saturday's fixture: as a one-off event, it could be an exciting match. Of course, it's not the same as if we were in with a fighting chance of survival - but it would satisfy me to see us make a game of it, and, with a bit of luck, bring our losing streak to an end.

that's what I'm hoping ,and also seeing Steve sess make his debut.

[filham]

Yes , can't remember being more disappointed, our hopes were really high in May and now there is not a single positive to take from the season.

[Fulham 442]

Yes , can't remember being more disappointed, our hopes were really high in May and now there is not a single positive to take from the season.

I concur - the worst season I can remember.  It has been completely and utterly grim from start to finish and I can't wait for it to be over.  Where do we go from here though?  I think this is another thing worrying all of us - what will happen now?  We can only hope it doesn't get worse before it gets better.
Wembley and last season seem light years away now.  All that money spent in the summer to help us compete in the EPL and potentially to keep us up but that didn't work out very well did it? Basically money flushed down the drain.....

[The Old Count]

Yes , can't remember being more disappointed, our hopes were really high in May and now there is not a single positive to take from the season.

I concur - the worst season I can remember.  It has been completely and utterly grim from start to finish and I can't wait for it to be over.  Where do we go from here though?  I think this is another thing worrying all of us - what will happen now?  We can only hope it doesn't get worse before it gets better.
Wembley and last season seem light years away now.  All that money spent in the summer to help us compete in the EPL and potentially to keep us up but that didn't work out very well did it? Basically money flushed down the drain.....

Not the worst season by a mile.  Nearly going out of the league - nearly being merged with QPR. Much worse.
Now - We're solvent, we have owners who mean well (even if they have made some disastrous errors) and we have a good chance of challenging for promotion next season.

[Lighthouse]

It is down to expectations. Fans who think this is the worst season for ages forget that we had Felix in charge not that long ago. I would put that as recent contender. But we were in the Prem for one season and blew it because of mistakes by everybody. Yes the Son was at fault and made many errors in signings. But the worst thing about the season is that there wasn't anybody free of blame.

However the redeeming fact is we at least were in the best league in the World for one season.  We didn't like it and no doubt will feel less eager to make it back there too soon. 

[BestOfBrede]

Yes , can't remember being more disappointed, our hopes were really high in May and now there is not a single positive to take from the season.

I concur - the worst season I can remember.  It has been completely and utterly grim from start to finish and I can't wait for it to be over.  Where do we go from here though?  I think this is another thing worrying all of us - what will happen now?  We can only hope it doesn't get worse before it gets better.
Wembley and last season seem light years away now.  All that money spent in the summer to help us compete in the EPL and potentially to keep us up but that didn't work out very well did it? Basically money flushed down the drain.....

Not the worst season by a mile.  Nearly going out of the league - nearly being merged with QPR. Much worse.
Now - We're solvent, we have owners who mean well (even if they have made some disastrous errors) and we have a good chance of challenging for promotion next season.

0001.jpeg
Well said Old Count

[Statto]

Yes , can't remember being more disappointed, our hopes were really high in May and now there is not a single positive to take from the season.

I concur - the worst season I can remember.  It has been completely and utterly grim from start to finish and I can't wait for it to be over.  Where do we go from here though?  I think this is another thing worrying all of us - what will happen now?  We can only hope it doesn't get worse before it gets better.
Wembley and last season seem light years away now.  All that money spent in the summer to help us compete in the EPL and potentially to keep us up but that didn't work out very well did it? Basically money flushed down the drain.....

Not the worst season by a mile.  Nearly going out of the league - nearly being merged with QPR. Much worse.
Now - We're solvent, we have owners who mean well (even if they have made some disastrous errors) and we have a good chance of challenging for promotion next season.

To some extent I agree with you. But don't underestimate the significance of the word "nearly". I accept that merging with QPR would be worse than our current situation. But we didn't actually merge with QPR. Whereas the events of this season did actually happen: "Three managers, no away win, the worst defence in the top five leagues of Europe; an expensive defender who got injured for months putting on his football boots; team-mates fighting on the pitch over a penalty and, off it, in a yoga class..."

[Robbie]

The utter lack of fight and fibre has been really disappointing.

I am not distraught about getting back to the Championship.

We need to back build a sustainable, owned, hungry, rapid playing squad.

[davew]

we are so poor it was over at the start of April. actually it was over at midnight 31st august 2019.

So did I miss something, was there a redeeming feature?

Yes you did, we aren't at the 31 August yet!!!

[SuffolkWhite]

The utter lack of fight and fibre has been really disappointing.

I am not distraught about getting back to the Championship.

We need to back build a sustainable, owned, hungry, rapid playing squad.

Agree, 100% commitment from players that want to be at Fulham.

[ALG01]

we are so poor it was over at the start of April. actually it was over at midnight 31st august 2019.

So did I miss something, was there a redeeming feature?

Yes you did, we aren't at the 31 August yet!!!

very well spotted and I stand in error by a simple slip on the keyboard :005:

[ALG01]

For me, yes.

As I quoted in another thread: 'Tis better to have loved and lost...'

I'm looking forward to Saturday's fixture: as a one-off event, it could be an exciting match. Of course, it's not the same as if we were in with a fighting chance of survival - but it would satisfy me to see us make a game of it, and, with a bit of luck, bring our losing streak to an end.

very nicely put and I suppose i almost agree, except we never got past the initial flourish of romance because the flickering flame was extinguished before it ever got going properly.

[ALG01]

It is down to expectations. Fans who think this is the worst season for ages forget that we had Felix in charge not that long ago. I would put that as recent contender. But we were in the Prem for one season and blew it because of mistakes by everybody. Yes the Son was at fault and made many errors in signings. But the worst thing about the season is that there wasn't anybody free of blame.

However the redeeming fact is we at least were in the best league in the World for one season.  We didn't like it and no doubt will feel less eager to make it back there too soon.

I have to disagree. first felix was hopeless and that season a shambles but intellectually one thought of it it as mega niavety of brand new owners.
But in management usually there is one overiding reason things go quite so spectaculalry wrong and we all know it was sonny boy fault. he assembeled an expensive but essentially third rate, lazy and injured squad far too late. He pulled the rug from under the manager and managed to totally demoralise the whole place. we all saw it it and we all knew that many were blameless in the grand scheme of things. maybe the manager, slav, could have done better earlier but in reality that squad was devisive, read what ream has said more than once.

To defend the culprit does us no favours and I am sure that in the vast majority of fans hearts they know if TK remains anywhere near team matters  next season and beyond, we are in for a very unpleasant ride. he simply does not learn from previous errors or listen to his very many betters.

what makes this season so bad, and worse than any other was the futility of what happened. every other season we were either broke or there was a major negative and unforseable reason for failure. this time it was just rank bad management by amateurs.

[Woolly Mammoth]

It is down to expectations. Fans who think this is the worst season for ages forget that we had Felix in charge not that long ago. I would put that as recent contender. But we were in the Prem for one season and blew it because of mistakes by everybody. Yes the Son was at fault and made many errors in signings. But the worst thing about the season is that there wasn't anybody free of blame.

However the redeeming fact is we at least were in the best league in the World for one season.  We didn't like it and no doubt will feel less eager to make it back there too soon.

I have to disagree. first felix was hopeless and that season a shambles but intellectually one thought of it it as mega niavety of brand new owners.
But in management usually there is one overiding reason things go quite so spectaculalry wrong and we all know it was sonny boy fault. he assembeled an expensive but essentially third rate, lazy and injured squad far too late. He pulled the rug from under the manager and managed to totally demoralise the whole place. we all saw it it and we all knew that many were blameless in the grand scheme of things. maybe the manager, slav, could have done better earlier but in reality that squad was devisive, read what ream has said more than once.

To defend the culprit does us no favours and I am sure that in the vast majority of fans hearts they know if TK remains anywhere near team matters  next season and beyond, we are in for a very unpleasant ride. he simply does not learn from previous errors or listen to his very many betters.

what makes this season so bad, and worse than any other was the futility of what happened. every other season we were either broke or there was a major negative and unforseable reason for failure. this time it was just rank bad management by amateurs.

I agree ALGO1

[Lighthouse]

But TK cannot be the only reason we did so badly? He didn't make the players we had last season that got us promotion play poorly or out of step or look confused or make mistakes or give the ball away. That is my point. All this trying to pin the blame on one person doesn't male any sense when we have seen so many catastrophic errors by so may players. So many poor tactical errors by the coaches.

I wish I could go along with blaming one person. It would make it all so easy. It would make the solution so much easier. But sadly it just isn't so. TK deserves all the criticism he is getting. But to pretend he is the only one at fault is the real naivety.

[The Rational Fan]

It is down to expectations. Fans who think this is the worst season for ages forget that we had Felix in charge not that long ago. I would put that as recent contender. But we were in the Prem for one season and blew it because of mistakes by everybody. Yes the Son was at fault and made many errors in signings. But the worst thing about the season is that there wasn't anybody free of blame.

However the redeeming fact is we at least were in the best league in the World for one season.  We didn't like it and no doubt will feel less eager to make it back there too soon.

I have to disagree. first felix was hopeless and that season a shambles but intellectually one thought of it it as mega niavety of brand new owners.
But in management usually there is one overiding reason things go quite so spectaculalry wrong and we all know it was sonny boy fault. he assembeled an expensive but essentially third rate, lazy and injured squad far too late. He pulled the rug from under the manager and managed to totally demoralise the whole place. we all saw it it and we all knew that many were blameless in the grand scheme of things. maybe the manager, slav, could have done better earlier but in reality that squad was devisive, read what ream has said more than once.

To defend the culprit does us no favours and I am sure that in the vast majority of fans hearts they know if TK remains anywhere near team matters  next season and beyond, we are in for a very unpleasant ride. he simply does not learn from previous errors or listen to his very many betters.

what makes this season so bad, and worse than any other was the futility of what happened. every other season we were either broke or there was a major negative and unforseable reason for failure. this time it was just rank bad management by amateurs.

I like that you "speak your mind" and articulate what most fans are thinking, but disagree with everything highlighted in bold.

Firstly, you say there "one overiding reason things go quite so spectaculalry wrong", I completely disagree because to "blame one area" is to imply other areas are blameless. Recruitment maybe the reason we are relegated, but it is not the reason we lost to Cardiff and Huddersfield, plus it is not the reason last years players didn't play well.  Every area needs to take a look at themselves not just the DoF and managers, but also training coaches and players.

Secondly, you say "he pulled the rug from under the manager", which is true but after the Huddersfield Game most fans wanted Slavisa sacked (even if the Liverpool game changed most of our fans mind again). I would point out that Tony Khan was already really getting blamed at that point for his recruitment by Slavisa Fans. It seems Raneri after observing this squad for 12 games, thought that the recruitment was good enough to stay up. SK did what any sane person would do sack the person that said the squad is rubbish, and hire Raneri that thought he could keep the team up.

Thirdly, you say "many were blameless in the grand scheme of things", but apart from the tea lady who is blameless this season. Who at this club has improved their performance since last season? Anyone that thinks they are blameless are part of the problem.

Fourthly, you say "To defend the culprit does us no favours", but sometimes defending the culprit does help. Our four most inexperienced people at the club in their position are Tony Khan as DoF, Ryan Sessegnon as EPL player, Scott Parker as manager and Slavisa Jokanvoivc as EPL manager. I think it makes a lot of sense defending the culprit, if we think the culprit will learn from their mistakes, because blaming people destroys their confidence. I don't see the point in blaming TK, if he's isn't going to get sacked by his father and will be doing our recruitment going foward.

Fifth, you state "he [TK] simply does not learn from previous errors or listen to his very many betters" and you could be correct, but his father obviously doesn't think this is true and an owner backing the DoF with money for player wages is the biggest statistically determinate of success (around a 92% correlation in the premier league between wages and success). That is to say, success is mostly determined more "by the owner believing in the DoF" than the "DoF actually being brilliant". SK belief in the DoF is critical.

Lastly, you infer things wouldn't be so bad "if we were broke", I think being broke is much worse. The truth is apart from Left Back (with Bryan and MLM) this team had two international players in every position, and will still have more than 11 internationals next year.

Next Season, we can do great things, but we need to get away from a "blame culture" and into a "team culture". We have the players we have and we should just do the best we can with them. Norwich, Leeds and Sheffield United have done better this season, with squads much weaker than ours, if we can get our players to their level of fitness and team workout, no reason why we cannot be as good.

Tony Khan gave us a Championship XI capable of promotion in 16/17, Tony Khan spent another 100m and we will have Championship Squad of 18 capable of automatic promotion in 19/20. Things could be worse, a lot worse.

[SuffolkWhite]

I agree with Lighthouse in as much it's not just one person or one things fault for this failure of a season.

I really feel that Joka not playing the main Championship squad that got us up is also an issue and probably caused divisive issues in the squad (I appreciate there were injuries at the start of the season to some players). But there were other things like the lacklustre performances and no fight from the players, and the fault falls at their feet to.   

[toshes mate]

First felix was hopeless and that season a shambles but intellectually one thought of it it as mega niavety of brand new owners.
But in management usually there is one overiding reason things go quite so spectaculalry wrong and we all know it was sonny boy fault. he assembeled an expensive but essentially third rate, lazy and injured squad far too late. He pulled the rug from under the manager and managed to totally demoralise the whole place. we all saw it it and we all knew that many were blameless in the grand scheme of things. maybe the manager, slav, could have done better earlier but in reality that squad was devisive, read what ream has said more than once.

To defend the culprit does us no favours and I am sure that in the vast majority of fans hearts they know if TK remains anywhere near team matters  next season and beyond, we are in for a very unpleasant ride. he simply does not learn from previous errors or listen to his very many betters.

what makes this season so bad, and worse than any other was the futility of what happened. every other season we were either broke or there was a major negative and unforseeable reason for failure. this time it was just rank bad management by amateurs.

Absolutely agree with this, especially those who continue to perpetuate the lauding of the owner's son by not holding a finger firmly pointing in his direction, and his alone.  The problems surround the conduct of one mind which was clearly not up to the task of leading Fulham's assault on the PL from the front.  His conduct throughout this farce of a season has fallen way below anything anybody should have reasonably expected from a Club with history as rich as ours is.  It is those at the top who set the agenda for their subordinates, and for what it is worth I don't believe that agenda was ever firmly laid down.  What I don't know is the reason why that happened - sheer incompetence; sheer mental incapacity; sheer bravado; sheer laziness; sheer ignorance?  What I do know is that the cause is clear for everyone to see and whilst one remedy may be unpalatable to some, there are others that would save face and overcome the true causes of the Club's failures in so many obvious ways.  Inaction is not, however, an option, because it will be forever same again.