Bobby Zamora has admitted that Mark Hughes’ departure was a total shock to the Fulham squad.
Mark resigning was a total shock. I’ve been in with the England camp and don’t really know too much. There was no hint of it.
It was going well. He had his ideas and I think we were just starting to play the way he wanted. But he’s decided not to carry on and we go on and look for another manager.
Obviously Mark’s got his reasons for going and I don’t blame him at all. It’s one of those things. Managers and players both come and go
Hopefully we will have someone in place by then [pre-season], but if it takes time to find the right person then fair enough. That was the situation last year. Pre-season we went into it with Ray Lewington and he did a good job before Mark came in. We need to take our time to find the right person.
UPDATE: Some more extensive quotes, courtesy of the Guardian.
Where does it leave us? It leaves us without a manager. It was going so well. Everyone had bought into his ideas and we were just starting to play the way I think he wanted us to, but he’s decided not to [stay] and we go on and try to find another manager and, hopefully, do well.
Obviously Mark’s got his reasons. I don’t blame him at all. It’s one of the those things. Managers and players come and go. We just want the right person for the job, though I’ve no idea who that is.
But we’re supposed to be back on the 23rd [of June] for the Europa League game on the 30th. We’ll get two weeks off, and you can’t do much in two weeks. I’ll just try and rest as much as I can. Ideally I’d like the new manager to be there when we come back but if it takes time to find the right person, then fair enough.
That was the situation last season when we came back for pre-season and it was Ray Lewington in charge, before Mark came in and put his ideas across.
