Fulham captain Scott Parker insists a fog of confusion has been lifted at Fulham’s training ground since Stuart Gray took over the running of the first team.

Gray was appointed senior coach last week to look after matters while the search for a head coach continues, and led them to a 2-2 draw against Brentford in his first game on Saturday.

Alan Curbishley initially filled the role following Kit Symons’ sacking , before U21s coach Peter Grant filled in for three games, then handing over to Gray.

And it was Grant who pointed out the muddle the players had suffered after hearing too many voices in charge in such a small space of time.

Parker said: “Stuart’s not been able to make much a difference yet as he’s only been here a week, but things have been up in the air, so his appointment has at least cleared that up.

“Just like in any job, you need somebody to lead you and to know who it is. There’s been a lot of change and a lot of voices recently.

“We now have one voice and one clear direction, which is key really. It’s made things clearer and given us more focus. It was a good decision to make.

“Now we want to look ahead and get into the play-offs. We need to go forward from here as we haven’t given the fans a lot to shout about over the past couple of years.”

Parker believes the derby draw against a side who won 4-1 at Craven Cottage last season, in which they showed the character to come from behind and even briefly lead, will be a good starting point.

He added: “When we went 2-1 up we looked like going on and winning it, so we’re a bit disappointed. We feel a bit hard done by, but a draw was probably fair on reflection.

“The wind was swirling all over the place, and it was a difficult game to get into, but we showed a lot of character to come back from a goal down, and we’ve got to build on that now.

“We need to take this as a step, take the positives and move on. Every game is crucial now, and we need to win as many games as we can to get back into the mix.”