What's going on at our football club?

[General]

Wondering if running a club is as much a case of trial and error or if there's something else going on?

How are we so tight with money this January? It can't really be for FFP, can it? Selling Mitro for £50m?

We'd presumably be in quite a bad place potentially if we were, given that we've got a fair few number of players who are out of contract in the summer - Tete, Willian, Tosin, BDR..

How come we aren't getting any additions in and why do we seemingly always leave players contracts so late?

Is it just me, or does something seem particularly off?

There were rumours in the summer that the Khan's were looking to sell. I don't know if it's true, but given how usually we spend or at least have money to spend and didn't spend much during the summer when compared to incomings it does seem out of character under their over 10 year tenureship of the club.

Does make me wonder how the club is run and it does strike me as functional but dettached - firstly they brought in FFCTV, but that's gently been wound back with free videos becoming much more normal when it comes to interviews on the website and also youtube. Then you've got their odd comments around ticket prices to the Fulham Supporters Trust, essentially trying to discredit the one key supporters network that actually exists.

Growing numbers of away fans in the home fan sections of the ground, not selling out games and charging extortionate prices to justify ambition and self sustaining business, but then not being in a position to strengthen the squad?

In addition to that, though admittedly Covid had a big say, they hired contractors who took far longer than normal to do up the riverside stand, then went bust, whilst also not really addressing key issues of toilets and entry points..

Just seems like we're still learning very basic lessons, time and again and it doesn't seem to add up?

It seems a shame that it's happening this way as there seems to be so much that's positive in terms of what we're building on the pitch that keeps trying to level up and get to the next level, and in Marco I believe we've a manager who can do that.. but we keep handicapping ourselves for some reason. Is it just me?

[demeant0r]

How many clubs have actually bought players so far this window? Not many. January window is notorious for being difficult to get cheap transfers. Even Spurs are dipping into the loan market. I also get the feeling Marco thinks Raul is good enough until the summer window.

[Eton White]

It's the 8th of Jan!
A bit early for this sort of panicky post isn't it?

[Somerset Fulham]

Oh General, come on.

[Rupert]

It's the 8th of Jan!
A bit early for this sort of panicky post isn't it?

It's never too early for this sort of thing. I'm slightly surprised they held off until after Epiphany, to be honest.

[Kingjay81]

'Is it just me, or does something seem particularly off?'

Yes, it is just you.

[St Eve]

So far so good. Nobody has gone, including JP. Maybe Vinny and Lucik will go, but not too bothered. Marco signed a new contract. So did Cairney. So did Robinson.
We are in the semis of the league cup and the 4th round of the FA cup with a nice home draw against Newcastle. We just beat Arsenal and relegation seemed highly unlikely.
We can't be criticized for a construction company going bankrupt.
There is always room for improvement, but remember we could be QPR

[McBrideOfFrankenstein]

A thus far exciting and satisfying season, that's what.

[General]

A thus far exciting and satisfying season, that's what.

Do you think we'll do we'll without bassey and Iwobi for January?

We seem to be quite dependent on all our best players being fit and on the pitch.

[General]

It's the 8th of Jan!
A bit early for this sort of panicky post isn't it?

I don't see it as a panicky post. Are the things I mentioned not fair?

[Thailand Mick]

A thus far exciting and satisfying season, that's what.

Do you think we'll do we'll without bassey and Iwobi for January?

We seem to be quite dependent on all our best players being fit and on the pitch.

Just in case people are unaware, if our players only get to the quarter finals of the AFCON we will lose them for two league games(Chelsea,Everton) if they go further we will also lose them for Burnley and Bournemouth. Regarding the cup games I have just checked the Liverpool website and they have no midweek games during February so I don't know why the semi finals could not have been arranged for after AFCON or even better been a one game semi final like the rest of the competition.

[hovewhite]

Who can say anything for sure regarding there football club,I ran the commercial side of my local non league side last year during the season and some of the decisions made by the owners baffled me and I was on the inside.

[OZ-WHITE]

Construction costs blowout on the new stand ( still not finished ) , add on the financial impact of the Pandemic . The Club is ok with the FFP but we would need to sell players in order to bring players in , we also have to be careful of the 17 player limit ( those who do not fulfil the "Home Grown Player" criteria ) . Pretty sure we will be more active in the window than Marco has stated, example : we need to get Steven Benda out on loan now that he's fully fit

[McBrideOfFrankenstein]

A thus far exciting and satisfying season, that's what.

Do you think we'll do we'll without bassey and Iwobi for January?

We seem to be quite dependent on all our best players being fit and on the pitch.

Hoping Diop will deputize nicely. Iwobi's energy will be tougher to replace imo but the squad seems up to it. Don't get me wrong it's fair to speak your mind, I'm just pretty happy with where are right now. Think we give Liverpool trouble.

[ianthailand]

Construction costs blowout on the new stand ( still not finished ) , add on the financial impact of the Pandemic . The Club is ok with the FFP but we would need to sell players in order to bring players in , we also have to be careful of the 17 player limit ( those who do not fulfil the "Home Grown Player" criteria ) . Pretty sure we will be more active in the window than Marco has stated, example : we need to get Steven Benda out on loan now that he's fully fit

We need 3 keepers in case of injury or suspension.

[KJS]

If no players coming in leads to no points being deducted due to FFP irregularities then that's fine by me, we don't know the club's financial situation so I think we should leave it to those that do

[Free Elvis Hammond]

I can imagine FFP being an issue - Mitro aside we haven't brought much in from player sales in the last three or four years, and the construction delays will have hit matchday revenue

AFCON isn't ideal but it's not worth risking a points deduction when we have four decent enough centre backs in the squad. Priority has to be keeping the side together. Only area where we're really thin is up front

[Carborundum]

We will have a better idea at the end of the window of course.  There's going to be negotiations about players coming and going.  What Marco had to say can be viewed in the context of negotiation strategies.  "We're desperate and have money to spend" not nearly as good as "We're not desperate but it sounds like you are"

[I Ronic]

The Spuds manager and Klopp both said there wouldn't be much activity in this window from their clubs. Not sure I believe that.
In the main I think it's just a device to keep selling clubs in check and prices reasonable (if there is such a thing in football).

[General]

It's the 8th of Jan!
A bit early for this sort of panicky post isn't it?

Slightly different given the comments Marco made, no?