The end of one of the most exhausting Fulham seasons in living memory is finally upon us. The summer, such as it is, can’t come soon enough. The Whites have long been resigned to an immediate return to the Championship, another rebuild and – potentially – a period of introspection about why they’ve proven quite so unsuccessful about bridging the gap to the English top flight.
I’ve spoken to, heard and read plenty of Fulham fans saying just how disconnected they feel from the club currently. There are a number of reasons for that of course. The first has to be the unique circumstances in which we have lived through the past couple of years. For many, a trip to Craven Cottage was so much more than a game of football – a shared experience passed down through families, living vicariously through our footballing heroes helps as a form of escapism after the working week. For some of us, just a visit to the club’s historic home – unique in English football – is quite a tonic. When the opportunity to share that experience is removed, then disenchantment will understandably follow. It just isn’t the same watching on television.
What we’ve watched also has to have played a part. Fulham haven’t been good enough over the course of a chastening season. They looked like relegation fodder when the Premier League season kicked off, hopelessly undermanned in defence, and whilst belated recruitment made the team more competitive, Scott Parker’s side were just not able to make the most of many a crucial moment. They went down with a whimper rather than a fight – and nobody was able to argue about it being an injustice.
Blame will be apportioned in plenty of directions. Parker, himself, remains a novice manager and the bald facts of his Premier League record make for grim reading. His football, never adventurous even in the Championship, was risk-averse and designed to ensure his side didn’t lose games: far too often Fulham looked content to try and stay in matches rather than win them. The collapse over the last ten games was alarming. It was almost like Fulham were trapped in a total tailspin. You’d like to give a young manager learning his trade more time to succeed, but some of his selections (or non-selections in the case of Aleksandar Mitrovic) become more baffling the longer the season went on. There’s no doubt that his attacking tactical approach could do with some work – nine home goals all season, a Premier League record, is shambolic.
The club also have to ask some serious questions about how well they prepared Parker for the task ahead: staying up as a side promoted through the play-offs is a tall order (as we’ve already experienced) and the squad assembled for the start of the season was patently not good enough. Tony Khan’s role as director of football should rightly some under scrutiny given the ignominy of this relegation and the fact that Fulham’s position this summer is so similar to 2019. A surfeit of loan players heading back to their parent clubs on completion of an underwhelming season and, perhaps most galling of all, plenty of others loaned out with their own futures up in the air. That’s before we discuss whether the pathway from the academy into the first team remains fully open. Why did it take so long for us to see Fabio Carvalho, for instance?
The template for the summer has largely been set already. Fulham have the makings of a strong Championship side when you consider that the likes of Rodak, Tete, Bryan, Robinson, Kongolo, Adarabioyo, Reed, Onomah, Decordova-Reid and Cairney are likely to be around. The club has to take a decision about how to build the rest of the squad – and how many of the academy’s promising starlets are able to progress. The work of Malcolm Elias, Huw Jennings and Steve Wigley in honing the next generation of first-team players has borne significant fruit – and the route to sustainability has to be to offer some of these youngsters a chance in the first-team. Financial fair play considerations alone will rule out a spending splurge.
Lots of football clubs and coaches spend a lot of time talking about identity these days. I genuinely couldn’t spell out what Fulham’s looks like. That needs to change – and quick. It’s far more important than protecting a few egos. The Motspur Park academy is one of the British game’s best resources. It is high time that Fulham utilised it fully – the rewards could be rich.
With a top scoring striker in the U18’s last season and that player helping the U18’s to a second Premiership U18 (South) Championship in two years – you would expect to see some Academy players progressing into the 1st team next season. With the lack of 1st team goals maybe it should have happened this season?!
I believe that there are going to be some interesting conversations between Parker and Khan and I don’t necessarily see them ending well for Parker. Khan will probably apportion the blame in Parkers direction instead of holding his hand up and saying ‘ok. I got it wrong’. Its going to be interesting
Fulham will be in the same position again unless they employ a director of football. Khan is not up to it. With a couple of signing and bring a couple of youngsters in I think we should be ok next season
Get rid of parker and under a new management/coaching team
youth may be given their deserved chance.
Can’t argue with article or any above. But must say some of ref and VAR mistakes didn’t make it easy the time we were playing well. And I don’t blame VAR it’s the people that us it, seems rigged for the bigger clubs..of course I want my club playing in highest league possible. But the Premiership is a over rated bent mess
Absolutely vital Parker stays. Also, if you bring in more than an one or two youth players we get smashed. One at a time like Cavalho is fine. Recruitment is key to what happens next. We keep getting promoted with a side just good enough to get up and then tell the manager to get on with it. Late recruiting of loan or expensive purchases doesn’t work. We need to recruit now and focus on attacking talent.
And then your next story is Tim Ream commits future to Fulham ?
Very good article Dan. It’s a conundrum. TK is definitely getting better at spotting talent from other leagues. His main problem is timing. The other problem he has is he is not seeing enough live games. Every season ticket holder and club regular can see which players are playing well and where there are holes; which players who are not quick enough, or who are out of position, who miss sitters, those who don’t try hard enough, or who are just not good enough. Hard to see from a stats spreadsheet or a graphic. I know he’s a busy man, but if he attended more matches he could see this for himself. It would possibly work better if TK was vice chairman, and he had a board who could report back to him that could advice him. This way he could be proactive, rather than having to be on the back foot.
Things did not go well for SPthis season: we had some unfortunate decisions, missed too many penalties, and had strange timekeepers added on what seemed to be too many minutes.
It’s as very strange it’s as if if we were never promoted. I am sorry to see Lookman go he was a joy. I think the Khans are getting to know what is required, and expected. For them It’s been an expensive learning curve, both emotionally and financially. But they have tried. Hard to compare them to the previous chairman, but Mo went to a lot of games and surrounded himself with an excellent group of experts, who he listened too.
There is a lot of rethinking to do , given the ground is not providing income
they may not have money or want to invest. The policy of investing in young players and selling them on has not worked. Having a few seasoned heads is not a bad thing, eg Danny Murphy. We do not have a leader on the pitch. As for SP I hope he stays and is listened to. I am saying the obvious but he was let down by the strikers. If I do a TK we had a lot of opportunities. I was at the Cottage on Saturday. It was bad. No atmosphere, lack of effort, except for Ream. And we all know what happens when he plays. I’m afraid I’m not feeling exhilarated by the thought on next season.
Back Scott Parker give him a transfer budget and let him tonchose how to spend it, then if he does not succeed he should go. Tony Khan in my mind is the pr6 at the indecisive and confrontational. Give youth a chance at least from the bench. If I could chose one player to sign it would be Callum Chambers and zi would make him team captain
Which young player has Scott Parker given an opportunity to in his time at the helm?
Please don’t say Carvalho as he was only given 3 starts once we were doomed.
Why didn’t he get a chance when we so desperately needed fresh blood?
Don’t say Harvey Elliot. We all know what happened there.
Only today, we have Francois saying that he has been training with the first team squad for a while. So, obviously, one would think that Parker knew his capabilities and best position but, given a Premier debut with just 17 minutes to go, this promising midfielder got shoved on at left back- a position, he admits, that he had never played in in his entire life!
Wake up people!
Scott Parker prefers sub standard players such as Cavaleiro and Decordova Reid-no matter how consistently bad they prove to be-over blooding any young talent that we may have.
He preferred Loftus Cheek to any of our promising youngsters.
Let’s get real!
These decisions are a major reason for our being relegated.
Take note that Shahid Khan has revolutionised the Jaguars. After years of doing things other people’s way, he has ripped out the guts of the team at every level-from management to fitness to recruitment. Shahid Khan -not Tony Khan. Check out Tony Khan online. The guy is totally immersed in his wrestling world -to the detriment of anything else-including Fulham FC.
It’s just a matter of weeks before Khan Senior turns his attention to our little old club and applies the same ruthless tactics that he has employed in Jacksonville to SW6.
Fulham FC is in bad shape; a squad that is huge in number but lacking in quality, players such as Mitrovic and Odoi very unhappy at their treatment, a huge wage bill, players that cost a fortune but we have no realistic chance of recouping out outlay-the list goes on and on. We are in need of major surgery such as Khan Senior has applied to the Jaguars.
Ever since he bought the club, multi millions have been squandered under his and his son’s “leadership”. Our current wage bill doesn’t bear thinking about-especially for a Championship team.
Shoddy recruitment is the cause of this.
Shahid Khan will demand answers: why was Cavaleiro consistently selected by Parker over a proven goalscorer like Mitrovic?
What happened in our last dozen or so games that the team imploded at a time when we were so desperately close to achieving survival?
I don’t think Parker can easily answer those questions and I fully expect to wake up one morning in the next month or so to read that he has departed.
Shahid Khan delegates authority. It’s how he has become a billionaire in business. But, boy, if you don’t perform, he is ruthless!
Watch this space!
An overly doom and gloom article doesn’t provide too much clarity, and the one I just read is unfortunately a prime example.
Here’s a humble opinion from a longtime fan from America of FFC:
Scott Parker needs and deserves to stay. The hand he was dealt for this past season by TK was bad enough, and Covid and all the related problems didn’t help any. He’s proven he’s a winning manager in the Championship, and with a few personnel tweaks, I see no reason Fulham will not get automatic promotion.
That being said, TK needs to go and a full-time, experienced person should be hired, for all the obvious reasons already stated. This needs to be the #1 priority this summer.
We have much of the players we already need for next season, and I do hope we keep Tim Team. He didn’t perform much this season, but he is an above-average Championship defender. We obviously need a couple talents to score goals consistently, and once all the contracts are up, we should be able to grab some experienced strikers.
Youth is nice, but it rarely works long-term in the PL except for the Big 6. I expect to see a few of our academy talents next season, and hopefully a couple can stand out.
Having our great supporters back will help immensely, and hopefully push us over the line a few times. I actually enjoy Championship football, but will enjoy the PL more when we get back.
Keep Parker at the helm
Play Robinson at back with Joe Bryan in front of him. Find a center half akin to the likes of Anderson, and most of all a Jimmy Greaves in the attack. It’s a big ask but surely that’s the way to go