Thursday Fulham Stuff - 06/08/20...

[WhiteJC]

Premier League propose VAR change for TV coverage next season

EXCLUSIVE: Premier League chiefs elected to show the lines being drawn on TV to offer supporters clarity and show armchair fans precisely what was going on - but it has annoyed both fans and pundits

Premier League bosses could stop drawing offside lines on-screen next season.

Sky and BT Sport have used the lines during their live games when VAR has been used to rule on marginal decisions which has led to the phrase "armpit offsides."

The Premier League opted to show the lines being drawn by the VAR at Stockley Park to offer clarity and show armchair viewers why goals were being ruled offside.

Incredibly, 34 goals were ruled out for offside by VAR last season and often by the smallest of margins.

And the long winded process of the lines being drawn has annoyed fans and pundits when they see goals ruled out.

But the rest of Europe's big leagues also uses the lines to ascertain fine margins to decide when a player is offside, although the leagues do not offer them to the broadcasters and therefore you do not get the same levels of anger when a goal is ruled out.

The Premier League have yet to make a final decision on whether to carry on showing the lines but, with the shift towards FIFA taking overall control of VAR, English football will fall into line with the world governing body's guidelines.

FIFA do not show the decision making process and therefore the Premier League may stop providing the drawing of the offside lines from Stockley Park.

There had been hope among Premier League clubs that there would be a degree of flexibility on offside decisions with even the possibility of using thicker lines to give more tolerance on tight VAR calls.

But the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) now believes FIFA, led by Pierluigi Collina, the head of the referees committee, will apply very strict rules on offside with no flexibility.

However, referees are more likely to be able to go over and consult their pitch side monitors on controversial decisions having been dissuaded from doing so by PGMOL boss Mike Riley other than on red card decisions.



https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-propose-var-change-22476290

[WhiteJC]

Fulham to offer Scott Parker bumper new contract after securing promotion - EXCLUSIVE
Fulham secured promotion to the Premier League after beating Brentford in the Championship play-off final.

Fulham are preparing to offer Scott Parker a lucrative new contract to keep their promotion-winning manager at Craven Cottage. Parker, 38, steered Fulham to promotion back to the Premier League after just one season the Championship on Tuesday night when they beat Brentford 2-1 at Wembley in the play off final.

The former Cottagers player signed a two year deal in May 2019 when he took over permanently as their new manager, after three months as caretaker when he was unable to prevent relegation.

The Fulham manager earns around £3 million a year on his current deal, but the new contract is expected to take his earnings up to around £5m.

Parker is set to have talks with the Fulham board in the next fortnight, after promotion was confirmed on Tuesday, with full-back Joe Bryan scoring both goals in the Wembley win.

Parker will also have more control over transfers this summer, after Fulham spent more than £100m on new players in the summer of 2018 on 12 players after they were promoted, only to plummet straight back down.

Fulham are already poised to trigger an £8m clause to sign midfielder Harrison Reed, who has been on loan at Craven Cottage this season, from Southampton.

Reed, 25, became a key figure for Parker after making 28 appearances this season.



https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1319130/Fulham-news-Scott-Parker-bumper-new-contract-offer-promotion-EXCLUSIVE

[WhiteJC]

Scott Parker will keep faith with Fulham's play-off heroes in the Premier League next season after the club were relegated following £100m spending spree in 2018

    Fulham are looking to learn from their past mistakes after securing promotion 
    The club were relegated in 2018-19 despite splurging £100m on new signings 
    Scott Parker wants a settled squad next term and is not seeking an overhaul
    The ex-midfielder hopes to make signings but is wary of unbalancing the squad

Fulham manager Scott Parker will be given more power than his predecessors as the club look to learn from past mistakes in the Premier League.

The 39-year-old, who guided the west Londoners back to the top flight on Tuesday with a play-off final win over Brentford, does not want to overhaul his squad after seeing the damage that did in the summer of 2018.

Two years ago, then-manager Slavisa Jokanovic spent £100million on new players but his side finished 10 points from safety in 19th.


Fulham boss Scott Parker wants his side to be settled as they bid to stay in the Premier League


While he hopes to make some signings, Parker will back the squad that helped win promotion

Tim Ream, Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen had helped Fulham escape the Championship but were barely used in the Premier League. Ryan Fredericks and some loan stars were allowed to leave.

It upset morale at the club, while new signings Jean Michael Seri and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa flopped, and Parker has spoken of the 'wounds' he had to heal.

Parker wants to make additions — Ryan Sessegnon, who they sold to Tottenham for £25m last year, could rejoin on loan, Harrison Reed is expected to make his loan from Southampton permanent for £8m.

But the former midfielder, who won 18 England caps, is wary of upsetting the balance in the squad.


London outfit spent £100m in 2018, including on Jean Michael Seri, but were still relegated

Jokanovic complained about his lack of input on transfers when he was at the helm but Parker has more power than the man who hired him as a coach in 2018.

Captain Tom Cairney said: 'We lost the team spirit in the dressing room a little bit too soon last time. Team spirit can get you results.'

Another contributing factor to Fulham's ill-fated Premier League campaign of 2018-19 was the appointment of three managers during the season. Asking players to adapt to the differing approaches of Jokanovic, Claudio Ranieri and then Parker in such a short space of time was too tall an order.

Parker will be the youngest current Premier League manager after Arsenal's Mikel Arteta and showed his tactical prowess on Tuesday as he told Joe Bryan to shoot rather than cross with his 40-yard free-kick when Fulham opened the scoring in extra time against Brentford.


Tom Cairney said: 'We lost the team spirit in the dressing room a little bit too soon last time'

He has also used press conferences to play mind games, as Sir Alex Ferguson famously did.

Last week, before their play-off semi-final second leg against Cardiff, Parker claimed Aleksandar Mitrovic could be fit for the final because the Serbia striker was back in training. It now transpires the Fulham boss was fibbing to leave his opponents guessing.

Mitrovic only returned to training the day before Fulham beat Brentford at Wembley, where he came off the bench.


Parker will be the youngest boss in the Premier League next season and is showing promise

Cairney said of Parker: 'He is a young manager, a British manager in the same group as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Sol Campbell. I hope the country can use them going forward.

'He has the intelligence and the tactical skill. We need to push young managers like that.

'Obviously we don't want to lose him — but I think he will go on to one of the top jobs.

'When you get to the Premier League you have to bring in Premier League-quality players, and that is what the club tried to do (in 2018).'



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8597273/Scott-Parker-faith-play-heroes-Fulham-seeks-settled-Premier-League-squad.html

[WhiteJC]

Parker poised for Fulham talks over new contract

Scott Parker will open talks with Fulham over a new contract in the next few days after guiding the Whites back to the Premier League.

The former Fulham captain, 39, guided the club back to the top flight at the first time of asking in his first full season of club management. Parker, whose only previous coaching role prior to joining Slavisa Jokanovic's backroom staff in 2018 was at the Tottenham academy, has a year left on his current deal at Craven Cottage and is understood to be keen to commit his future to the club ahead of the start of the new season in September.

For their part, Fulham are eager to reward Parker's progression after what has been a challenging and ultimately successful season. The club are open to increasing Parker's yearly salary from around £3m to £5m – in recognition of his revival of Fulham's fortunes. The former England skipper has spoken at length about the difficulties of trying to change the club's culture following the damage inflicted by Claudio Ranieri's reign and losing eleven of their last 15 matches as they went down with a whimper. Despite being well behind Leeds and West Bromwich Albion at various stages of the season, Parker rallied his troops and Fulham's push for automatic promotion continued all the way to a dramatic final day of the regular season.

The Fulham boss showed the coaching credentials that have long been spoken about within the game during the play-offs, inspiring a textbook away win at Cardiff City in the semi-final and nullifying Brentford's lauded attack at Wembley last night to clinch a famous success. Penning a long term deal would allow Parker and Fulham to concentrate on requirement in what promises to be a hectic five weeks before the big kick off as they aim to avoid the mistakes that doomed their previous top flight campaign.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2020/08/parker-poised-for-fulham-talks-over-new-contract/

[WhiteJC]

Fulham plotting raid on Tottenham quartet – report

Fulham are showing an interest in four Tottenham players after their promotion back to the Premier League, including Kyle Walker-Peters, according to the Evening Standard.

The full-back is on the cusp of joining Southampton permanently after a successful loan spell at St Mary's in the second half of last season, but Fulham are looking to hijack a deal for the 23-year-old, although a move to the South Coast is his most likely destination.

Walker-Peters isn't the only Spurs full-back Fulham want to sign. We relayed a story from the Telegraph on Wednesday morning that the Whites were keen on re-signing Ryan Sessegnon on a season-long loan deal. However, despite his tricky first campaign in north London, Spurs want to keep the 20-year-old, even though he didn't feature after lockdown.

Elsewhere, Fulham remain keen on loan deals for 19-year-old pair Jack Clarke and Oliver Skipp.

The Standard first reported of Fulham's interest in Skipp last week – with the news coming just weeks after Jose Mourinho, whose tipped the centre-midfielder to become a future Tottenham captain, confirmed that he'll be loaned out next season to continue his development after an encouraging campaign in which he made 11 first-team appearances.

Lastly, Scott Parker's men are considering a move for Jack Clarke, whose yet to make his Spurs debut, although the report suggests that Mourinho will give the former Leeds ace an opportunity to win a place in his squad in pre-season before making a decision on his short-term future.



http://www.tottenhamblog.com/2020/08/06/fulham-plotting-raid-on-tottenham-quartet-report/

[WhiteJC]

Tottenham Hotspur: Fulham enter race to sign Spurs' Ryan Sessegnon after promotion to Premier League

Fulham have emerged as front-runners to sign Tottenham youngster Ryan Sessegnon on loan this summer, according to reports.

The Telegraph claimed that Sessegnon could be set for a shock return to the Cottagers after his boyhood club secured promotion to the Premier League.

Scott Parker's side beat Brentford 2-1 at Wembley to bounce back to the top flight one year after they were relegated to the Championship and his former club are leading the race to re-sign the 20-year-old just 12 months after he left Craven Cottage for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tottenham are reportedly reluctant to let Sessegnon leave this summer but he has struggled for game-time under Jose Mourinho, starting only four matches in the Premier League last season.

The England under-21 international, who is currently valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt, wants to be playing regularly. He is apparently open to a sensational return to Stevenage Road, having made more than 100 appearances for the Cottagers after breaking through the youth ranks into the first team.



https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/tottenham-transfer-rumours/tottenham-ryan-sessegnon-fulham-return-rumours/

[filham]

Great pictures in this thread, I particularly like the one of Bryan's goal celebration with Parker in the background, certainly deserves a place in a club album.

Just wish Bryan could jump so high when defending corners.