Fulham have tonight confirmed the appointment of former Watford boss Slavisa Jokanovic as their new head coach.
The Serbian coach leaves Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv to take over from Stuart Gray at Craven Cottage after a fraught seven week search to find a successor to Kit Symons, who was sacked in November. Maccabi Tel Aviv confirmed the news shortly after their 5-0 victory over Hapoel Kiryat Shmona tonight and Jokanovic leaves the club top of the Israeli top flight.
The former Chelsea midfielder, who won 64 caps for the former Yugoslavia during his player career, is best known in the English game for guiding Watford to the Premier League last season with a game to spare, having only been brought in at Vicarage Road in October, and leading the Hornets to fifteen wins in twenty games. He has previously guided Partizan Belgrade to back-to-back domestic doubles and won the Thai Premier League with Muangthong United.
Fulham chairman Shahid Khan said tonight in a statement:
“I am extremely proud to announce that Slaviša Jokanovic will be joining Fulham as our first team head coach.
“We considered many quality candidates for what we considered to be one of the best positions in football, and I personally interviewed most of them.
“While the search was time-consuming and painstaking at times, I knew that when the process was complete that Fulham would have the best man possible for this opportunity and challenge.
“Slaviša’s credentials and passion for the job rose to the top through every stage of this process, and we cannot wait to welcome him to Motspur Park and Craven Cottage to get things going in the right direction for the second half of the season.”
Jokanovic’s first game in charge of Fulham will be Tuesday’s crucial clash with Rotherham United at Craven Cottage.
