ARTICLE (reposted) Tigana and Al-Fayed’s Fulham revolution. The inside story of

[WiseMind]

Article taken from The Athletic and reposted here.
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Tigana and Al-Fayed's Fulham revolution. The inside story of Fulham's amazing promotion.
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In February 1996, Fulham suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Torquay United. It was a result that saw the club slump to 91st in the Football League. Torquay United were the one team below them.

It was a new low after years of difficulty, a fall that could be traced back to the most gut-wrenching of near misses 13 years earlier. In 1983, Fulham were denied a return to the top flight under manager Malcolm MacDonald after they suffered five straight defeats on the home stretch.

Instead of a return to the top flight, Fulham fell through the divisions, enduring repeated fears of losing Craven Cottage, and even the prospect of a merger with Queens Park Rangers in 1987.

But half a decade after slipping to the bottom of the professional leagues, everything had changed. In Mohamed Al-Fayed, Fulham had found an ambitious owner who eyed the renovation of Craven Cottage and targeted a top-flight return within five years. He achieved it in four, a feat completed by a team filled with talent and led by a visionary, in Jean Tigana. They went up from the second tier as champions, with 101 points and 90 goals to their name.

It was arguably Fulham's most famous promotion season, a campaign that ended years of longing, began a new era of success, and was accomplished 20 years ago this week — with style and panache.

Kevin Keegan had secured Fulham's first league title of any description in 50 years in 1999, winning the third division. But after England took him and Fulham missed out on the play-offs under his successor Paul Bracewell, Fulham wanted a new direction.

"The chairman and board of directors had a clear vision as to what they wanted to do," recalls former managing director Michael Fiddy. "There was a set of criteria of what they really wanted for a top manager. We were quite an attractive proposition because we had ambition and were well-funded. So it was trying to get the balance between style, technical ability and quality of manager.

"Jean became available, and then it was about getting him bought into the project."

Tigana was a player who was dazzling the elites of Europe as one-quarter of France's famous "carre magique" (magic square) while Fulham were toiling in the lower reaches of the football league in the 1980s. As a player, he won the European Championship with France and the French league title five times, while as a manager, he won the league again with Monaco in 1997, reaching the Champions League semi-final in the process.

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Tigana in action for France against Canada at the 1986 World Cup (Photo: STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)
But in 2000, he was available. Directors Bill Muddyman and Tim Delaney were first dispatched to France, and then, after meeting Al-Fayed and learning a little more about the club, he was on board. He brought with him to west London two assistants, Christian Damiano and Roger Propos.

He led a revolution.

"I'd put him in the mould of Arsene Wenger, in that sense," former Fulham midfielder Lee Clark tells The Athletic.

"Our diets changed, our preparation, how we worked, how we trained, how many times a day we trained. During pre-season, and even during the season sometimes, we'd train three times a day: 6am, 10.30am and 3pm.

"It was the fittest I'd ever been. Tigana and his staff took us to a new level."

In came heart-monitoring equipment and a new gym, while body fat measurements with results were put up on the wall for comparison. The players would rise at the crack of dawn for a run before breakfast, followed by further sessions during the day. Fizzy drinks and ketchup were banned and there were even dental check-ups.

"The sessions were an eye-opener," recalls former Fulham striker Barry Hayles. "When they came in, they sent us to the dentist. We had to get our teeth checked because apparently, it helps with players balance and co-ordination. That was the first time I had heard that before! Little things they implemented turned the club around. Roger, the fitness coach was brilliant."

Propos and Damiano had not worked with Tigana before in management, but their impact as a trio was enormous. "In France, Tigana always had a physical coach," recalls John Collins, who had played under him at Monaco. "It was highly important and given a huge amount of responsibility. Roger did speed work, biometrics, player rehabilitation core work, body fats, everything. He did so much work. He was there from morning until night."

There were new arrivals like Collins but the management team also won over the British core, which included Clark, Andy Melville, Chris Coleman, Rufus Brevett, Maik Taylor and Kit Symons.

"It was a shock," says Symons, the former Fulham defender and later coach and manager. "It was very structured and organised, but there was thought and a method behind it. There was a lot of technical stuff before the warm-up. On Thursday, we would always play a big game of 'throw, head, catch'. You had to throw the ball then run with it, but you had to head it into the goal. It was part of an extended warm-up, meant to be a bit of fun.

"But footballers are footballers and these friendly games became a bit of a battle on a Thursday and Tigana had to tone it down a few times.

"We would play head tennis as well. Tigana loved Rufus, he always wanted to play against Rufus and Barry Hayles and try to beat those two. He normally did! But he was a phenomenal player still, and just his touch and everything was incredible. We had a lot of good players there. But we were all a little bit in awe of his ability.

"I'm not quite sure why or how, but everyone bought into this way of working without question. It worked straight away."

Tigana knew he was inheriting a strong squad but he wanted to complement what he had with some talent and flair. In Collins, Tigana had a reliable lieutenant who knew the style of play he wanted to bring to west London. It was an easy sell.

"I had three seasons at Monaco, we won the title together," says Collins. "It was a big challenge for him, coming to England. He said with the owner's backing, we could get promotion. He sold the project and said he was going to sign some good players and inherited a good group, and that we would be playing total football."

Along with Collins, in came young winger Fabrice Fernandes, midfielder Bjarne Goldbaek and Luis Boa Morte on loan from Southampton: "Boa Morte is probably the most horrible player to play against," former Fulham midfielder Sean Davis tells The Athletic. "But the nicest man off the pitch. You would not want to play against Boa. He was just horrible. Pinches, pulls, he was always in your face. He worked his socks off. Talent-wise as well, speed, pace, skills, scored vital goals."

Boa Morte formed one-third of Fulham's fearsome front three, along with Hayles and Louis Saha. The French striker, then 22, had spent an unsuccessful loan spell at Newcastle in 1999 before returning to Metz, where he scored just four goals in the season before signing for Fulham. But he proved to be a revelation.

"I never really knew Saha before he came in," says Collins. "But after the first couple of training sessions everybody was like, 'Woah, this boy can play'."

"I was thankful that I was a striker and not a defender," says Hayles. "Sometimes you would say, 'Save it for Saturday', because he was doing all of this stuff in training."

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Saha was prolific in the promotion season (Photo: Mark Leech/Getty Images)
Saha scored 27 league goals in his first season for Fulham, 32 in all competitions. His goals helped fire Fulham to promotion, and caught the eye of Sir Alex Ferguson when the club faced Manchester United in the FA Cup.

"He had unbelievable explosive pace, a ridiculous leap on him," says Clark. "He could leap up in the air as if he was going to head it, and then catch the ball on his chest and bring it under control, and bring midfielders into play in combinations.

"For the system we played, if you wanted to pick and choose your perfect No 9, he was it."

For Tigana, there was the appeal of helping to develop young talent, like Saha. Fulham had begun to invest heavily in their academy and he bought into that aspect of the project.

"Nowadays it seems standard, but Al-Fayed and the directors really were investing in building the academy," says managing director Fiddy. "That was where he (Tigana) seemed the happiest, developing young talent. I think that he felt he had a lot to offer, from his knowledge of Clairefontaine (the elite French football academy)."

Saha was one beneficiary, but so too was Steve Finnan, who went on to win the Champions League with Liverpool, and a young Davis, who had been with Fulham as a schoolboy and played in a similar position to the former France international.

"I was late once," Davis admits, bashfully. "Unfortunately, I had the pleasure of having to get in early, at a certain time, and go up to his office and knock on his door and tell him that I was in. It was punishment for turning up late and lasted for about a month. It was annoying at the time, but looking back at it, it was probably best for me.

"I played in the position Jean played, just in front of the back four. Positional sense, where to go, what areas of the pitch to be in when the opposition have got the ball. The transition when we get the ball, playing through the lines. I definitely learned loads from him and the style of play that he liked. It suited my game perfectly.

"He was very humble. He would speak to the chairman the same he would speak to the groundsman. Very strict but very well respected. He was the best manager I played under."

The combination of exciting young talent, and a fierce team spirit first conjured under Keegan in the third tier, proved a potent recipe for success.

"It was just a privilege to play with such great players," says Davis.

Fulham raced out of the blocks, securing 11 wins on the trot and doing so with swagger.

"It was almost total football," says Symons, "which is what he (Tigana) wanted from day one. I remember we played Brentford in a pre-season game. First half, we just played out from the back every time, created attacks and built through the thirds. Second half, they just played with four men up to stop us playing out from the back. (Goalkeeper) Maik Taylor started kicking it.

"Tigana went mad! We were like, 'What do you want?'. He said, 'Find a solution'. If they push on to the back four, find the next best solution. There's always a solution. He wanted us to play out all the time.

"There were other things. Rufus, for example, was a no-nonsense, tough-tackling left-back, who loved putting people into the stands. But suddenly Tigana came in, and for all of us defenders, the big thing was 'no faults', meaning don't give away any fouls. His philosophy was that we would be better all the time the ball was in play. But their best opportunity to score against us would be from set pieces and to make the game scrappy. Even in training, if we gave away a foul, he would be throwing his hands up in the air."

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Brevett celebrates promotion with Tigana (Photo: Gareth Copley – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
In attack, the forwards had the licence to find space across the pitch in a free shape. "That's why with Louis, Boa and Clarky, we scored so many goals," says Hayles. "Because we were free to find the spaces that were around the pitch.

"Tigana was superb for me. I had a one to one with him when he came in. He said you are part of my plans first and foremost, which was pleasing, and that he wanted me to tone down my aggressiveness on the pitch. He said I know that's your style of play, I've watched your videos. I took that on board.

"Any banter he had, would be directed at me. Who's the worst trainer? It would be me. No matter how well I played in training. We'd play head tennis every day. And Tigana never lost, his team never lost! He was such a competitor. But he did say the only time he would expect to lose would be playing with me. We had to put that to the test, but we still won!"

Fulham raced to the top of the division from the second week of the season and never let it slip. The team were cruising, and only suffered one defeat, against Preston North End, before Christmas.

The second defeat fell on New Year's Day, a 2-0 loss at Stockport County. It preceded an exciting clash with Premier League leaders Manchester United in the FA Cup.

But the build-up was overshadowed by a horrific car accident, suffered by captain Coleman, which ended his playing career.

"It was awful, we'd lost our leader," says Clark. "He was a brilliant captain because he was inspirational, and he was also a top player, a left-footed centre-half, he could defend and he could use the ball well.

"It was a shock. I went to see him in hospital the next day; we were really big pals, we are big pals. Even in a situation like that, he probably saw the shock on my face when I saw the state of his leg, how bad it was, and he still tried to make a joke of it."

For Symons, who later worked closely with Coleman as his right-hand man during his management career, it was very difficult: "It was hard for me, just because I'd been grumbling about not getting enough game time, and then suddenly, I'm now starting the Man United game, but only at the expense of my best mate who has had this horrific car crash. It was almost guilt, if you like, that I was moaning before."

Coleman, 32 at the time, was unable to return and retired in 2002. It led to a successful career in management.

"Jean Tigana brought him in on his staff," adds Clark. "I've got to say, at that time I didn't envisage him going on to become a manager, as he did eventually, and he did an unbelievable job at it.

"It hit the club hard but gave everyone a little bit of a shock, and it was a bit of motivation as well as if to say, 'Come on, let's get this done for him as well'. The promotion became about doing it for him as well."

Everyone has a game that stands out from that season.

Barnsley, 5-1 at Craven Cottage. "The pre-match talk beforehand was Dave Bassett saying his Barnsley team would be able to handle us," says Clark. "He'd heard about our super fitness and it wouldn't be an issue. Then in the last 15 minutes or so we just blew them away."

Watford, 5-0 at Craven Cottage. "On Boxing Day," says Davis. "Barry scored a hat-trick. I remember going into that game thinking this is a big game, and there was a lot of talk from Graham Taylor at the time saying not too many of our players would get in our team, something like that. We ended up beating them 5-0, it could have been 10."

QPR, 2-0 at Craven Cottage. "I just remember the fans chanting 'We'll never play you again'," says Fiddy. "It summed up the direction of travel and belief."

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Collins celebrates promotion (Photo: Jon Buckle/EMPICS via Getty Images)
Some are remembered for more curious reasons. Like Watford away, 3-1.

"I got drug tested after the game," recalls Symons. "There were three of us. I couldn't pee in the bottle basically. So I had to wait. The coach was waiting so I said to Pudsey (Bevan, the kit man), 'Listen: tell the coach to go and I will come back with you. There's no point everyone waiting just for me'.

"So I've managed to pee, I came out and there's no Pudsey. The kit man had gone. So I phoned him up, 'Puds where are you?', 'I'm around the M25 where do you think I am?', 'What, you were meant to wait for me, you idiot!'. He said someone told him I had gone. I was stuck at Vicarage Road in a Fulham tracksuit with no one there. Luckily, one of the Watford staff dropped me at the train station. It wasn't all glamour that season!"

But above all, everyone remembers this very week, in 2001, when Fulham secured promotion. It was secured on April 14, thanks to a 2-1 win away at Huddersfield Town, and was followed by a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday that wrapped up the title. But the game that stands out most is Blackburn away, on April 11, the game that all but secured promotion.

Beforehand, Blackburn manager Graeme Souness described his team as the best in the league, despite trailing Fulham by 10 points.

"That was Tigana's team talk done," says Symons. "They had a really, really good team... Brad Friedel, Gary Flitcroft, Matt Jansen, Damien Duff."

"It was typical Graeme, he always believes in his team," says Collins. "He thought they were the best but he was proven wrong."

Things seemed to be going Blackburn's way. Jansen opened the scoring in the first half before Brevett was sent off. Fulham had played expansive football all season. But here, they needed something different.

"This was us showing that we had real character and guts as well," says Symons. "We could roll our sleeves up and fight and scrap, and that's what we had to do to stay in the game. Let alone show the character to go and win it."

Friedel dropped the ball inside the penalty area after being knocked by a defender, helped by a crafty nudge from Davis. "I looked around at the referee straightaway thinking he was going to give a foul here," Davis says. "But he didn't, so to go in at half-time 1-1 was massive."

It was all Blackburn in the second half, until in the dying embers of the game, when a Fulham counter-attack made history.

"That was the one time I actually saw Tigana properly animated," says Symons. "Running down the touchline when Sean scored the winner. I couldn't believe it."

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Fulham celebrate at Huddersfield (Photo: Alex Livesey/Allsport)
It was Davis, the defensive midfielder, who scored the winning goal. "I don't really know why I was so high up the pitch," he admits. "I got cramp two minutes earlier down by the left-hand side of the box. Normally I got told off for crossing the halfway line.

"It was just energy, I'm not sure what got me through it. But the rest is history. I thought Clarky should have crossed it anyway, but he was greedy and went for the shot, and it got deflected and it just fell in the right place at the right time. It was a fantastic atmosphere, especially with our away crowd. There was a lot of them there and to celebrate with them there after the game was great."

Then came the dance moves.

"I always say, 'The knee won't allow me to do that kind of dance anymore'," laughs Davis. "Those were my house and garage days. They are over now, but the longer the night goes on..."

And fans forever buying him drinks.

"A lot of free Jagerbombs, that Blackburn goal," he jokes. "I'll never forget going on a boat to Charlton to watch a Fulham game with Barry. I went out the night out before. I got on the boat at 8.30am and everyone was just piling in the drinks, 'Oh Blackburn away, let me get you a drink'. I've never turned a drink down in my life. I think I had about 10 Jagerbombs before 9am. I know most of the old-school Fulham fans, it's always nice to mix with them."

Davis would again break a Tigana rule by venturing forward to score a 90th-minute equaliser against Sheffield Wednesday the following week, the goal that sealed the title.

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Davis celebrates scoring against Wednesday (Photo: David Ashdown/Getty Images)
"It was a better finish than the Blackburn goal," says Davis. "It was a bit surreal to be fair, it happened so quickly. I just tried to get good contact and it ended up going in the top corner."

Hayes, who had a busted eye at Blackburn, was again in the wars, but made a key intervention. "I had one leg, hobbling around," he says. "I would have come off naturally, but because it was so important, Tigana said to stay on the pitch and just be a body out there. Ironically, I was the one who helped the ball on for Sean to put in the top corner with my one leg. I did assist him!"

Promotion completed Al-Fayed's project ahead of time. There was euphoria at a feat completed so emphatically, and also relief.

"Al-Fayed had put a huge amount into the project," says Fiddy. "People were delighted for him.

"It was outstanding, amazing, et cetera, but there was a large part of me that was just bloody relief. We felt within touching distance for what seemed like an age. We could get on with trying to plan for the Premier League, because we were very aware there was a lot of work to do."

But before all that, there was time to celebrate, including an open-top bus parade and a special dinner at Harrods.

"It was brilliant," says Clark. "No expense spared. On the top floor, the main restaurant at Harrods all to ourselves, any amount of food and drink, the most expensive champagnes on offer."

"I had my daughter with me on the open-top bus," reflects Collins. "We sometimes get the pictures out. It was one of the most magical moments in her and my life. Harrods was five-star, Al-Fayed was floating about on cloud nine. Just joy and happiness."

Davis, who is the only Fulham player to have ever played in all four divisions for the club, is able to sum up what that promotion meant to the club and fans perfectly. He first joined the club as a schoolboy when Ian Branfoot was in charge, overseeing the team as they fought to bounce back from the foot of the English football pyramid.

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Al-Fayed joins the bus celebrations (Photo: Jon Buckle/EMPICS via Getty Images)
"I knew where the club had come from," says Davis. "I saw the changes, and I can relate to that. I was there as a kid. I was just playing football because that was all I could do.

"When you look back at that time, you have fond memories of everyone. The team, the staff. Gerry Kirton, who has sadly passed now, was always there when I was a youth team player. We used to help him with the teas and we would take the piss out of him, but he was lovely, a lifelong Fulham fan. For him to see us get promoted, and for us to be a part of it, that was special.

"Good people deserve good times. The group we had was full of great lads, honest and humble people. We deserved what we got."

(Top photo: David Ashdown/Getty Images)

[Andy S]

Great memories. Thanks for posting

[The Old Count]

Something to cheer us all up as we slide back down to the Championship. Thanks for posting.

[JimOG]

Something to cheer us all up as we slide back down to the Championship. Thanks for posting.

And from me. I'll always remember the game at the Reebok early in the season. I think Bolton were top having played one more game and were also unbeaten. We beat them 0-2 but it was the style of play that astonished me. Playing out from the back in those days was unheard of. Yet here below me was Maik Taylor, Coleman & Kit playing triangles around bemused Bolton attackers. Boa got one of the goals. We got the second around the 86th minute and after we won the ball back they didn't seem to get near it for the next 7/8 minutes including injury time. Had Jussi Jasskeleinen not been in the form of his life we'd have beaten them by 7 or 8...and that was the comment on Bolton Radio!

At Huddersfield we were so good Saha took the penalty with his weaker right foot....so cocky. Wouldn't mind another season like that next year.. somehow I don't think we'll ever see the like of that again

[bobby01]

Makes you feel good that with even the dross we are currently watching, what great football we saw under Tigana, and another version under jokanovich. Lucky to be a fan, let's hope those times can return as I for one go to watch football, not results and usually good football gets results.

[FFC In Oz]

Makes you feel good that with even the dross we are currently watching, what great football we saw under Tigana, and another version under jokanovich. Lucky to be a fan, let's hope those times can return as I for one go to watch football, not results and usually good football gets results.

+1

Tigana was an unbelievable manager, it's amazing how quickly the players brought in to his style given how foreign it was to what they were used to.

A great squad as well, some real passion, grit and class.