New Fulham head coach Rene Meulensteen is confident his new partnership with manager Martin Jol will help the Cottagers climb the Premier League table.
The 49-year-old Dutchman, who was formerly assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, was appointed to his new role on Wednesday with Fulham sitting down in 18th place with 10 points from 11 matches.
Meulensteen said “I have been in England now for 12 years and worked in every department at Manchester United, and the last five years as assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson, so I know the Premier League well.
“It is obviously different being with Manchester United, we had different ambitions which were quite clear, but hopefully my experience and expertise will help Fulham climb up the table.
“It will work very similar to how I worked with Sir Alex Ferguson. Martin is obviously a very, very experienced manager in the game. I think it comes to a time in his life – as a manager as well – when he has got experience and he wants to step back a little bit and give the groundwork over to somebody like myself. I think we can perfectly work well together.
“People must not forget that Fulham have played a lot of strong teams already. They’ve played Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United so they have had a tough run.
“I think the key is now making sure that hopefully I can bring a new sort of energy to the whole place because they have got good enough footballers. Fulham is a football team, that’s what they are good at.
“They just need to make sure they do the basics right, take responsibility, be disciplined and work hard and then the results will come.”
Meulensteen had been strongly linked with the vacant Crystal Palace job before taking the Fulham position but he insists that was not a realistic option at this stage.
He added: “It was to be fairly honest a bit of a surprise to myself that I was strongly linked with Crystal Palace because I never really had formal contact with them so I don’t know what happened there.
“Fulham contacted me quite quickly after I left Manchester United. I didn’t really get my head around it at that particular time as there was so much happening and the last five months have been very turbulent for me.
“But I am happy that we finally came to this decision and I am very happy with it.”
Meulensteen worked with Dimitar Berbatov at Old Trafford and he is hoping to bring the best out of the Bulgarian striker at Craven Cottage.
He said: “It is without doubt the talent Dimitar brings to the table and also it is very clear sometimes the frustration that goes with it.
“But I think that what you get with that sort of player, they are geniuses in some ways and I always find it a challenge to make sure that we can serve those players in the right way that they can bring out the best in themselves and serve the best purpose for the team.”
