It is hard to be a Fulham fan right now and not be completely frustrated with the endless procession of players we are linked to one minute only to be dismissed the following day having seen said player sign elsewhere or deny ever wanting to leave in the first place.
Much like myself I am sure your timeline consists of a bunch of “ITK” accounts claiming to have sources much closer to the club than you, Other clubs actually making signings and a Director of football who seems to only post about Wrestling when he should in fact be getting to grips with a squad that clearly needs investment.
I want to think that I am better than most when it comes to being patient around these things but it doesn’t stop me refreshing Twitter every hour in the hope that something has occurred despite constantly reassuring myself that it is all completely out of our hands and what will be will be.
No doubt there will be some new faces when we kick off at home to Liverpool on the 6th August but whatever we achieve between now and then will in most people’s eyes never be enough. If, like me, you anticipated an early promotion meant that this time round we would have a smoother transition with lots of early arrivals then clearly you have let the optimism of last season cloud your judgement of the club you know all too well.
If you want to be optimistic about our current predicament then it should be said that our inability to secure a single new recruit so far is probably due to the fact we are in the market for a higher calibre of player and not just scrambling around for the free transfers and deadwood from other teams that are on the move. In that sense it will take longer to get these people over the line and with a world cup being just 6 months away many players are taking their time to ensure they make the right move as well as completely switching off for summer break before pre season begins.
The fact we play Liverpool first game of the season is probably a blessing in disguise as I would much rather have a “free hit” with half a squad than a “winnable game” when it’s highly likely that all the pieces won’t be in place by that point. I am of course aware of the irony that we took 4 points from them last time out and calling it a “free hit” may be a little premature.
I have no doubt that the club are very aware that we have a lot of work to do in this window and I am sure there are plenty of very capable and very focused people doing good work in the background to get these deals done but if you can hold off retweeting or posting who is holidaying where, private flights that are inbound from Portugal and general speculation from Turkish newspapers and ITK accounts with 10 followers then we will all probably all be much happier mentally.
Socrates once said “I know that I know nothing” but what I do know is that if ITK doesn’t stand for “I’m Tony Khan” then it probably isn’t even worth contemplating at this stage.
Particularly in view of this:
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/06/23/bournemouths-potential-22-23-xi-parker-signs-four-solanke-billing-stay/
or maybe these are just ‘free transfers and deadwood’?
To be honest in my opinion I think Marco will get fed up,and go before the season starts. Tony khan get your finger out.
Higher calibre of player of player makes it difficult , Bournemouth seem to be getting players to the limitations of size of club. Where looking higher level but finding it hard . Holidays and dodgy agents making it hard . Only time will tell if us or Bournemouth have it right. I’m frustrated but not blaming club
WTF is ITK?
Very diplomatic assessment of the situation may cause them to get their finger out, that’s of course if they see this
ITK is a commonly known short hand for “In the know” used by people who claim to have the inside track of something
IN THE KNOW
Bournemouth are not the only club to have made signings many of the Premier league teams have mane addition to their squad. What is sure is that we need new additions particularly in defence. Nico Williams should have been easy we have a relationship with Liverpool and he wanted to come. This should have been tied up before the season ended, unless of course we don’t want him. Several other players have supposedly about to sign but have not. I don’t blame the club but I do believe that Tony Khan is over cautious, we have the money, go get the players we want and desperately need otherwise we will be back in Championship before we know it. Remember if we don’t sign anyone until the last week of the window they will miss pre-season and the season will be 5 or 6 games old before they are ready to make an impact.
Agree with everything in the article, we all try to have some patience but mine is running out fast. All the forward motion will be lost if once again we mess up in the transfer window. This week at the latest for 2 or 3 really good signings , can’t believe we’re nearly in July now and nothing. Fingers crossed for signings but as you say the benefits of early promotion have been squandered
Its the same every time we get promoted to the PL. Promises not fulfilled. Tony Khan is and always will be a liability to this club
So why are we being linked to other clubs castoffs if we are supposed to be looking for a higher class of players? We have wasted so much time already I thought we were going to get all of our transfers done before preseason Tony Khan can’t be bothered so why do we need him he is holding us back get shot of him ffs.
Andy: ITK means ‘in the know’ and can prove as reliable as a chocolate kettle. I too am getting excited about next season and can’t wait to see some new signings in – I like the look of both Solomon and Palhinha – I think the permanent signing of Nico Williams is a ‘no brainier’ – I was sad to see Ryan Fredericks go to Bournemouth, but I understand the ‘don’t go back’ argument. Someone has said that TK works slowly, but I rather like to think that our sights are that much higher this season…
It’s irritating, but good players will be considering their options.
The encouraging thing is the quality of players linked.
The main omission to date is a CH.
I think we shouldn’t advertise any potential incomings, because it will only end up in disappointment especially if Tony Khan is involved.
We shouldn’t forget that this is a guy that likes to buy players by algorithms. History will in the end win out because we will loose another manager who is unable to work with the structure of the club.
It’s a pretty poor message when you let one of your best young talents leave just after getting promoted and you call it “brilliant business.”
Shad Khan really needs to employ a real director of football in post-because his son just hasn’t got the aptitude in my opinion.
I thought we were going to get our deals done early so the manager can get them to gell together in training etc all we have done so far is slightly better than nothing we all know what happened in our last two promotions TK told us he won’t let it happen again does he think that we have forgotten our last two promotions we are to good for the Championship but not good enough for the Premiership and this was going to be addressed by the board ie Tony Khan if and when we got promoted we need to know some clarification of what’s happening at this moment we are linked with everybody and anybody but signed nobody all we hear is that player is on holiday but other teams have signed players how but let’s hope it don’t go belly up as most things Tony Khan is involved in let’s play Villarreal with new players that would be a Statement of intent to show the Supporters they mean business