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Thursday fulham Stuff - 24/06/21...

Started by WhiteJC, June 24, 2021, 12:04:18 AM

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WhiteJC

Louis Saha: The Story Of A Complete Striker

When Fulham announced the signing of a striker named Louis Saha in the summer of 2000, there wasn't much hoo-hah surrounding the 21-year-old's arrival.

After scoring twice on loan with Newcastle United two seasons earlier, Saha only managed four league goals for Metz in 1999/00, though he was prolific in their Intertoto Cup campaign which took them all the way to the Final, where they were beaten by West Ham United.

Despite the youngster's apparent inconsistencies in front of goal, Jean Tigana had no doubts about making Saha his first signing as Fulham Manager.

"Louis is a very good signing," Tigana said after getting his man. "I have known him since he was 17 and he has great ability. I believe he will be a very good player in the First Division and has the right qualities to be a success in the Premiership.

"I am sure he will follow the success of his contemporaries Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka."

Tigana's faith in the young man ran deep. It's something that proved crucial in Saha making the move to SW6. Such was his disillusionment at playing out wide for Metz, Saha even considered early retirement – thankfully not an option he took up, and thereby denying the world of his talent.

Speaking to the Fulham Fix last season, Saha explained: "I really wanted to change my position. I wanted to play as a striker, and I felt like Tigana proposed a really good project to me, and would give me the keys to do that.

"I was looking for competition. I'm a competitor, I want to win games, I want to enjoy what I'm doing, I want to score goals, and I was not enjoying my football. That's the reality.

"My aim as a professional was to improve, and I didn't think everything was there [at Metz] for me, because I knew I was not a winger. I would have struggled as a winger. I needed a manager who really believed in me to play as a forward or striker.

"I felt like even if I could have gone to a really good side in Ligue 1, I was not ready. The mentality was not right for me. I was really upset about the mentality.

"Really, I was very close to stopping football.

"Human behaviour and how you act is very important to me, and I wasn't having it at all, so it was a good setup for me to have someone who understood what I was looking for."

Saha was played up top in his half a season at St James' Park, and his brief time in the North-East was enough to assure him that England was the best place for him.

"When I arrived at Newcastle, after a week I was convinced that my football should be in England, for life," he said. "I felt like I was free, I was me, I was smiling, having banter, even if I wasn't speaking very clear English!

"Alan Shearer was a big factor. He was captain of the side, captain of England, the most respected player, the best goal scorer. And he was a simple guy, he made things really simple which helped players to adapt.

"Everyone wanted to play the ball forward, and I felt like it was the football game that I wanted to play, so it was a good introduction to the mentality that we all love when you watch Premier League football."

Fulham favourite Aaron Hughes had recently broken into the Newcastle team when Saha arrived on loan, and quickly appreciated the Frenchman's potential.

"I always thought he was a really good player at Newcastle and that he certainly had the potential to go on and play regular football in the Premier League, which later proved correct," Hughes tells fulhamfc.com.

"He was a great lad as well, with a good attitude. He had that hunger to do well. To be honest, I couldn't work out why Newcastle didn't keep him."

With the Magpies thankfully not opting to make the deal permanent, Fulham were able to swoop a year later.

That said, his arrival wasn't met with the fanfare that – in hindsight – it merited.

"I was aware that he'd gone to Newcastle and not done especially well," recalls Dave Kidd, The Sun's Chief Sports Writer, and staunch Fulham fan. "I don't particularly remember seeing him play for them but I know he only scored one Premier League goal while on loan.

"Now we know he was far too good for the second tier, but I don't think anybody assumed he was going to be a roaring success. There wasn't too much excitement, until I went to the Crewe game and then everything changed."

Saturday 12th August, 2000. Peak opening day conditions with blazing sunshine and a new era beginning at Craven Cottage as we hosted Crewe Alexandra.

Saha was given a Fulham debut alongside fellow new signings John Collins and Luis Boa Morte.

He capped it with the clinching goal in a 2-0 win, demonstrating his movement and raw pace to get on the end of a long raking pass before dinking the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper.

"He was excellent that day," says Dave. "I didn't go loads that season because I was a junior reporter and went where I was sent, but I remember vividly the Crewe game and I remember being very impressed with him and John Collins that first day. 

"He had it all, didn't he? He was quick, the burst of pace, but he was also good in the air. He had good link-up play, he was good with his back to goal, he was an all-round outstanding centre forward. The swivel of the hips was the thing I remember most."

It's a review backed up by Sarah Brookes, who was the Club's Head of Communications at the time.

"He was unstoppable," she reminiscences. "He was like a racehorse, he was built like Red Rum or something. He was utterly phenomenal. He was unplayable."

What's nice to hear is that he had the personality to match his wonderful ability.

"He was always laughing, always smiling, much like he is now," Sarah reveals. "He hasn't changed, he's still just a lovely, lovely man."

Saha went on to bag 27 goals as Fulham romped to the Division One title – 32 in all competitions. After a difficult time in his homeland, he was enjoying his football once again.

"Tigana's style was to play on the floor, to have some flair players who were able to do that in the midfield, like Sean Davis, John Collins, who could play balls to the strikers," Saha explained. "It suited me very well. We had speed, we had strength at the back, everything in order to have, I wouldn't say an easy season, but something close to it!"

Fulham Football Club has been blessed with some wonderful frontmen in our history, but Saha is arguably the one who had the most strings to his bow.

"I think I'd have to say he's the best I've seen, because he's the most complete," admits Dave. "Ivor [Gordon Davies] was my hero as a kid, but Louis just seemed to have everything.

"We had a lot of good target men, McBride came in to replace Saha and he'd be up there, I love Mitro, Zamora, Horsfield. A lot of our best strikers have been target men, and Louis had that about him but he was also incredibly quick with a terrific eye for goal, so Louis would be number one for me in terms of centre-forwards for Fulham.

"Dimitar Berbatov was the most naturally gifted player I've seen at Fulham, as I didn't see Johnny Haynes or George Best, but he didn't have the work rate that Saha had."

Saha may have only spent three-and-a-half years in South-West London, but he certainly left his mark, not least on the Kidd household where there remains a constant reference to the agile frontman.

"My son's middle name is Louis, after Saha, so he definitely made an impression on me!"

You're not the only one, Dave.



https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2021/june/Louis-Saha-The-Story-Of-A-Complete-Striker/

WhiteJC

Update emerges on Scott Parker's Fulham position

Fulham are not willing to pay Scott Parker compensation for leaving Craven Cottage this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by The Sun, who claim that Shahid Khan is refusing to pay the 40-year-old any compensation for leaving his role as the Fulham boss this summer, with the manager expected to be owed around £2m if he were to leave the club by mutual consent – due to having two years remaining on his current contract.

Parker has been heavily linked with taking over the soon to be vacant position at Bournemouth this summer, with Jonathan Woodgate expected to leave the Cherries upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the month.

The fact that Parker would be due compensation if he were to leave his position at Fulham, even by mutual consent, does appear to be a bitter pill to swallow for the Cottagers, particularly as it is widely known that the 40-year-old has his next job pretty much already in the bag.

Indeed, the situation is a rather complicated one, as, should Bournemouth wish to appoint Parker, the usual way to go about this would be to pay whatever compensation fee is required to Fulham.

However, with the former England international simply wanting out of his current deal at Craven Cottage, as well as Khan wanting to see the back of the coach this summer, the logical thing to do would be for both parties to agree on a separation with no fee involved.

Although, while this is merely speculation, if Parker is demanding that Fulham pay him off for the remainder of his contract, as well as knowing that he will likely be taking the Bournemouth job at the end of the month, it would seem as if the 40-year-old could be trying to have his cake and eat it too, something that is sure to leave Khan livid.

And, if an agreement is not reached between the two parties over a compensation fee, this would appear to be an issue that very much has the potential to drag on over the summer, an outcome that neither side of the argument would like.



https://www.footballfancast.com/fulham-fc-transfer-rumours/fulham-manager-search-transfer-news-scott-parker-bournemouth-shahid-khan-the-championship

WhiteJC

How Jean Tigana transformed Fulham

Twenty years on, it still seems like a dream. Fulham, so pedestrian under Paul Bracewell the previous season, stormed to the Division One title at a canter. Plenty of sides have done that in the past but there was something different about this one. Fulham played a type of football that nobody had seen down by the banks of the Thames before. The fact that they were able to keep it going, in the depths of winter as well as the heat of summer and spring, and beat their nearest challengers – with adversity against them – in the closing of weeks of the season only underlined the magnificence of the achievement. Although he was modest and shied away from interviews, one man was responsible – Jean Tigana.

Just luring Tigana to Craven Cottage was a coup in itself. The French maestro, well known to football obsessives for his role in that brilliant 1982 national side, fancied a crack at English football following his success with Monaco but it was the project of reviving Fulham's fortunes from outside the top flight that really appealed. His early visits to the Cottage reinforced the idea that this would be something different to what he was used to – and, assured of the unstinting supporting of Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed, Tigana threw himself into the role.

Initially, it was a culture shock – even for the more successful members of Fulham's already expensively-assembled squad. Tigana took encouragement from an early dinner with Arsene Wenger and revolutionised the way Fulham did things. The players returned earlier from their summer break than anyone else and were submitted to a series of baffling tests – medicals, blood tests, x-rays and trips to the dentist. Their diets were handed over to a dietician that Tigana trusted and alcohol was out. Peak performance was the aim and the club's fitness programme was overhauled under the stewardship of Roger Propos.

That began with three training sessions a day in the hot summer months, including during what some players thought would be a relaxing pre-season trip to Devon. Many of them were without a ball. It paid off when Fulham proved to be far fitter than their competitors. In the longer term, it also extended the careers of some Fulham stalwarts who feared they would be on the way out under the new regime – the likes of Andy Melville, Rufus Brevett and Barry Hayles flourished when given their opportunity in the first team.

Tigana didn't tweak his squad – he immediately reshaped it in accordance with the way he wanted to play football. One of the first arrivals was John Collins, an important cog in the Fulham midfield for sure, but also an experienced player who had thrived under Tigana at Monaco and, at least initially, acted as a conduit for the manager's ideas on the field as well as a translator. He describes the radical surgery he carried out on Fulham's forward line as a risk. Out went crowd favourite Geoff Horsfield, who had scored 31 goals in 74 games. In came Louis Saha, best known to British audiences for a forgettable spell at Newcastle. The French forward's touch, class and mobility would soon terrorise English defences.

Saha was joined in an enterprising attack by Luis Boa Morte, who had struggled at Southampton after getting his start under Wenger at Arsenal. Eyebrows were raised at the decision to loan him in from the south coast, but the Portuguese winger – who often operated up front in the First Division – scored 21 goals in 46 appearances scaring Division One defences with his pace, direct running and desire to win. Then there was Fabrice Fernandes, a mercurial winger from Rennes, whose loan spell might have fizzled out but he provided plenty of moments of magic. All of them together was a truly frightening prospect.

Tigana's footballing methods seem old hat now, but he insisted on goalkeeper Maik Taylor playing the ball out from the back rather than thumping it downfield. The players recall the manager erupting in fury after a pre-season win over Brentford when the Northern Ireland keeper launched the ball forward once the opposition latched onto the tactic. Early in the season, Melville feared the drop when one poor ball cost Fulham a goal. Instead, Tigana encouraged him in the dressing afterwards – insistent that the rewards would come.

And they did. Fulham's football was spellbinding. Collins and the evergreen Lee Clark formed a telepathic triumvirate with the academy graduate Sean Davis in central midfield. Davis has spoken previously about wondering where his career was going as he struggled to nail down a position in the side under Bracewell and Kevin Keegan having been handed his senior debut by Micky Adams. Tigana tried him in a deeper role and it proved a masterstroke, with the youngster blossoming into the archetypal holding midfielder, whose energetic bursts forward delivered vital goals.

The memories from that unforgettable season are bountiful. Saha's sensational first half hat-trick against Barnsley, Barry Hayles' brilliant treble that blew Watford away on Boxing Day and the ease of a derby win over QPR at Craven Cottage. The matches that bring back all the nostalgia are of course those at the close of the campaign when promotion was within touching distance. Tigana fondly remembers the way Fulham fought back at Blackburn, a man down, after Graeme Souness had insisted his side were the best in the division:

"If I was to choose one memory from my time at Fulham, though, it would be a game at Blackburn towards the end of my first season. We played half the match with 10 men, but Sean Davis scored a 90th-minute winner – it was the moment when promotion was all but assured. It was the first and only time that I jumped off the bench to hug my players. The only time in my whole career."

Promotion was clinched at Huddersfield three days later and it was somehow fitting that Davis, who had netted that improbable winner at Ewood Park, secured the title with a last-gasp strike against Sheffield Wednesday. The scenes on the Hammersmith End terrace that afternoon will remain with me for a lifetime.

So successful was Tigana's first season in charge that Fulham even put Al-Fayed's five year target to reach the top flight. A summer of spending, including the purchase of Edwin van der Sar, showed they weren't intending to make the numbers – as Saha's brace at Old Trafford that twice put Fulham in front emphasised. Their excellent start to the season hit a road bump before Christmas, but the Whites still reached an FA Cup semi final and winning the InterToto Cup took them into the UEFA Cup. Tigana's time at Fulham might have ended in recriminations and disappointment, but there's no doubt he totally transformed London's oldest professional club.

He also built the most stylish Fulham side I've ever seen. Today is his 66th birthday. I hope he's celebrating at one of his vineyards in Cassis. He certainly deserves to.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/06/how-jean-tigana-transformed-fulham/


WhiteJC

Bournemouth hope to appoint Scott Parker in days after Fulham contract terminated

Bournemouth are keen to confirm Scott Parker as their new manager by this weekend.

Parker is set to leave Fulham and has been in talks with the club over the mutual termination of his contract before entering into negotiations with the Cherries.

Jonathan Woodgate, who took over at Bournemouth following the sacking of Jason Tindall last season, is under contract until July 1, although the players will return for pre-season testing on Saturday and begin training on Monday.

Parker is less than a year into a three-year deal — signed in September 2020 — but is expected to leave, following friction between him and the club's owner, Shahid Khan, and his son and director of football at Craven Cottage, Tony Khan.

Former England midfielder Parker was unable to prevent Fulham's immediate return to the Championship last season, with their relegation confirmed with three games of the season remaining.

The Championship season gets underway on the weekend of August 7, with the fixtures to be announced tomorrow.



https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/bournemouth-scott-parker-fulham-b942217.html

WhiteJC

Bournemouth aiming to appoint Parker by weekend

Bournemouth are now confident of appointing Scott Parker as their manager by this weekend, according to a report from the Evening Standard.

Parker has been locked in talks with Fulham over the past few days regarding a mutual termination of his current contract at Craven Cottage. Various reports last night suggested that these protracted negotiations had reached a breakthrough. Parker is apparently keen to leave Fulham following their relegation from the Premier League after a deterioration in his relationship with the club's ownership and hierarchy.

The 40 year-old, who guided Fulham to promotion via the Championship play-offs in 2020, has long been coveted by Bournemouth. The Cherries had him on their shortlist to replace Eddie Howe but Fulham's promotion to the top flight scuppered any chance of luring him to Dean Court. Parker is now the south coast club's number one target to succeed Jonathan Woodgate, whose contract as Bournemouth's caretaker manager expires at the end of this month, and they expect negotiations over personal terms and the composition of his backroom staff to be relatively straightforward.



https://hammyend.com/index.php/2021/06/bournemouth-aiming-to-appoint-parker-by-weekend/

WhiteJC

Fulham scout: Jersey could have Premier League players in pipeline

THE man who unearthed the talents of Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott says Jersey is an ideal breeding ground for young players.


Malcolm Elias, Fulham FC's head of talent ID and recruitment, talks football in the changing rooms at Springfield Stadium Picture: DAVID FERGUSON

Malcolm Elias, Fulham FC's chief academy scout, believes the Island is due another 'top player' and suggests that visits by world-renowned sides from any sport – including the British and Irish Lions – could reduce the wait.

Brett Pitman, Peter Vincenti, Kurtis Guthrie and Cavaghn Miley have all made names for themselves as professional footballers over the past decade, but not since Graeme Le Saux's retirement in 2005 has a Jerseyman played in the Premier League.

Elias – a regular visitor to the Channel Islands – has previously facilitated the recruitment of no fewer than four Caesarean juniors at Fulham.

'Jersey has got a lot going for it in terms of sport,' said Elias, who was personally responsible for the discoveries of Bale and Walcott while employed by Southampton.

'Just look at the new gym up by the rugby club [Strive Academy]; it's unbelievable. And I went to the Radisson today and they've got the British Lions there. What an accolade that is for the Island. However it happened is irrelevant – the fact that one of the major touring teams in the world has decided to come to Jersey... it just goes to show what sport means to the Island and I'd like to think that in a few years' time Jersey will have produced another Premier League player. That will be fantastic.'



https://jerseyeveningpost.com/sport/football/2021/06/23/fulham-scout-jersey-could-have-premier-league-players-in-pipeline/


WhiteJC

Update emerges in managerial saga involving Scott Parker, Fulham and AFC Bournemouth

Championship side AFC Bournemouth are hoping to appoint Fulham manager Scott Parker before the weekend according to the Evening Standard, as the Cherries look forward to their 2021/22 campaign.

40-year-old Parker's future at Fulham became uncertain ever since the Premier League season finished – but this potential move to AFC Bournemouth was reported by The Athletic last week and it now seems the final details are being sorted before the managerial transfer is complete.

As per a report in The Sun, these negotiations between the West London side and their manager over a mutual termination are still ongoing, with the club refusing to pay the former England international a single penny in a potential severance package.

However, this deal is still likely to get over the line considering how deep into negotiations the two parties are.

Parker was relegated from the top tier with the Cottagers last month – but has a Championship promotion on his CV after beating Brentford in the 2019/20 playoff final and Bournemouth will be hoping the Fulham boss can repeat this at the Vitality Stadium.

They fell just short last year under Jonathan Woodgate, with the south coast side capitulating in the play-off semi-final second leg against Brentford and because of that, the former Middlesbrough man was not offered a new deal to remain with the club. But their new man will be on their way very shortly if a mutual termination of Parker's contract is finally agreed.

The Verdict:

With pre-season just around the corner, it's no wonder Bournemouth want to get this deal completed as soon as possible. Parker will need time to assess his current squad, deal with the Philip Billing situation amid the Norwich City rumours and decide who he wants to bring in to bolster his chances of winning a second managerial promotion.

For the Cherries' sake, they will be hoping Parker's tough negotiations with Fulham conclude very soon, because this is nothing but a disadvantageous distraction to both Championship teams involved and the Cottagers will be hoping to make their own appointment shortly after the move is complete.

Either way, the 40-year-old is now past the point of no return. He will either end up at Bournemouth or become unemployed, how could he possibly carry on at Craven Cottage after this event? He can't, surely?



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/update-emerges-in-managerial-saga-involving-scott-parker-fulham-and-afc-bournemouth/

WhiteJC

Fulham interested in Slaven Bilic

Fulham are interested in appointing Slaven Bilic as Scott Parker's successor at Craven Cottage.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by The Sun, who claim that, with Parker looking set to leave the Cottagers in the coming days, Shahid Khan is considering a move to appoint the 52-year-old as Fulham's next boss.

The report also suggests that the Swansea City manager Steve Cooper is a name of interest to the Fulham hierarchy, with the west London side looking to appoint a coach who will be capable of leading the side back to the Premier League next season.

Bilic could transform Fulham

Having highly impressed during spells at both West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion, Bilic is certainly a manager who boasts a great deal of experience in the English game, and, crucially, has proven that he is capable of securing promotion to the top flight of English football.

In his time in east London, the Croatian took over a West Ham side that had consistently finished in the lower half of the Premier League table, going on to win 16, draw 14 and lose just eight of his first 38 league games in charge of the Hammers, with a seventh-place finish being enough for the club to qualify for European football in a highly impressive first season for the coach.

Another solid season followed, with the 52-year-old securing an 11th place finish in the top flight – an impressive feat considering West Ham clearly struggled following their move from Upton Park to the London Stadium – before a poor run of results in his third term at the club saw him sacked from his position in November of 2017.

Upon his return to the English game, Bilic took over a West Brom side that had failed in their bid to secure an immediate return to the Premier League in the season prior, with the Croatian leading the Baggies to 22 wins, 17 draws and just seven losses in his debut league campaign, taking Albion to the promised land automatically after a second-place finish.

And, while results were rather expectedly poor at the start of West Brom's Premier League campaign the following year, Bilic's sacking after just 13 games of the season came as something of a surprise, with reports suggesting that the 52-year-old had fallen out with then-West Brom technical director Luke Dowling, as Dowling had sanctioned the sale of Ahmed Hegazi without the consent of the manager.

However, West Brom's 2019/20 promotion-winning campaign is all the Fulham board should be concerned about, as, with the Cottagers hoping for an immediate return to the Premier League themselves, Bilic has proven that he has the determination and know-how to pull this feat off, as well as boasting a highly impressive win rate of 47.8% in the second tier of English football.

As such, it would appear as if the 52-year-old dubbed a "determined" coach by Dowling is very much a suitable candidate for the Fulham job this summer – if the club do eventually wave goodbye to Parker.



https://www.footballfancast.com/fulham-fc-transfer-rumours/fulham-manager-search-transfer-news-scott-parker-slaven-bilic-shahid-khan-the-championship

WhiteJC

In Focus: Fulham

With the release of the 2021/22 Championship fixtures now less than a day away, we are bringing our 'In Focus' series to a close, with Fulham the last team being put under the microscope.

2020/21 season

After achieving promotion via the Play-Offs in the 2019/20 campaign, Fulham made some solid summer signings, with the likes of Harrison Reed and Tosin Adarabioyo arriving on permanent deals.

Following a tricky start to the season, the Cottagers picked up a couple of victories in November, and then between December and February they lost just four times in 17 games.

That run ended with a brilliant 1-0 win away at Liverpool which gave them major hopes of staying up, but from that point on they went winless and ultimately finished 11 points below the dotted line in 18th.

Star man

Fulham, on paper, have a squad filled with quality, with arguably the standout player being Harrison Reed.

The central midfielder had been at Craven Cottage in their promotion-winning campaign, only on loan from Southampton, but that deal was made permanent last summer.

Reed went on to hugely impress in his 31 Premier League appearances, going on to finish third in the Player of the Season ballot.

The 26-year-old has always shone at this level, with both his current club and also Blackburn Rovers, so if Fulham can keep hold of him amid reported interest from Leeds United then keep an eye out for his performances in the upcoming season.

The gaffer

Former Fulham captain Scott Parker was handed the managerial job on a permanent basis in May 2019 and in his first season at the club, he took them back to the Premier League.

Despite not being able to keep them in the top flight, Parker was praised by the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp for his style of football throughout the course of the campaign.

At the time of writing, Parker is still the Fulham manager, although wide reports in the media suggest that situation may soon change.

Recent clashes

PNE haven't had the best of times against Fulham in recent years, winning just once in their last eight meetings with the Cottagers.

That victory came in the 2019/20 season, when goals from Sean Maguire and David Nugent earned PNE all three points against the promotion challengers.

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a late consolation that evening at Deepdale, making it seven goals in six games against North End, so the Lilywhites defence will have a job on their hands keeping him quiet if he stays with the Cottagers over the summer.



https://www.pnefc.net/news/2021/june/in-focus-fulham/