Fulham vice-chairman Tony Khan has told BBC Radio London that he wants head coach Marco Silva to stay at Craven Cottage ‘forever’.
Silva, who has turned down approaches from West Ham United and two Saudi Pro League clubs since guiding the Whites back to the top flight, has been linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur this summer but Khan, son of Fulham chairman Shahid Khan and the club’s director of football, says that the Whites want to keep the former Hull City, Watford and Everton boss in SW6.
Khan told BBC Radio London’s Aaron Paul:
“We’re having a tremendous season. We have got a great team, we have a great coach with Marco Silva and we have a great squad. We have so many great players, a great dressing room, these are really great people on and off the pitch. And we have the best fans. It is a really exciting time at Craven Cottage and at all our matches. The team has had a really great season and everyone is really proud of them and really looking forward to the run-in.
“Marco’s a huge, huge asset to Fulham Football Club. He’s such an amazing person – and he’s so important to the football club. Marco has a great relationship with my father and with me. We really love Marco and we want him to stay at Fulham forever. He’s a huge part of what we’ve got going for the future and the present and he’s a great man, Marco Silva.”
So if you want him to stay at Fulham at least for now, you and the board are going to have to back him in the transfer market with the right players. I’m aware you have bought in some very good players up to now, but there are still many missing pieces in the squad and positions that need strengthening this summer. And Marco knows what he needs and so do the supporters. Their is inconsistency within this current squad which is stopping Fulham from pushing on further and really pushing for honours. Thus the result yesterday and in the cup a few weeks ago highlight this fact. Now is the time to strengthen with better players in those crucial areas.
I wonder if TK has opened his lap top and woken Talbot from his deep slumber to start searching the market for necessary replacements, especially if they are free.
I suppose extending Tom Cairney’s contract has resolved the midfield problem, one less to get.
Let’s hope that Marco sees the Spurs job for what it is (and I quote Bill Shankley or was it Tommy Docherty?) : “A poison chalice – without the chalice.”
If you want Marco to stay then hurry up and get some good players signed in the summer and not old cheap has been’s, we need a few class players if we are looking to get into Europe.
As I write this, I’m strapping on my crash helmet—tight.
My relationship with Fulham began 57 years ago, when I first walked into Craven Cottage as a wide-eyed six-year-old. Since then, I’ve been to Hamburg, Wembley (more than once), and sat through countless matches that have all blended into a blur of hope, heartbreak, and joy.
Fulham is my club. Always has been. Always will be.
And now, somehow, we find ourselves in a place I couldn’t have imagined 10, 20, even 30 years ago. Managers come and go—Roy, Kevin, even Felix (ha ha not really)—and of course, Marco Silva will move on one day too. Maybe even this summer to Spuds?. But this time, it feels different. (Just as a side line, when players, managers leave Fulham, it doesn’t appear to always work out? )
Because we’re not just surviving anymore—we’re established. We’re not the plucky underdog sneaking into the top flight—we’re a proper Premier League club. Solid. ambitious. grown-up. More so, I’d argue, than we ever were under the Egyptian saviour.
Back then, when managers left, it felt like the end of something. Like we were clinging to a high we didn’t quite believe we deserved. But now? If Marco does move on, it won’t be the end of the story. It’ll be a new chapter—because Fulham is now a place I really believe managers will want to come to.
So let’s enjoy the run-in. Personally, I think we’ll be dusting off the passports. But if not, let’s keep the faith. We’ll go again. Very Fulhamish, I know—but that’s who we are. With (hopefully) or without Marco
I never doubted that Marco would stay – he’s turned down offers before and he’s loyal – that is until the final whistle last night and I thought his face said, “I can’t be doing with this sh1t. If a bigger club comes in for me, and they’ll back me for p£ayers, I’m away.”
I hope I’m wrong ??
I think we need to realise that there is no long term loyalty in football today, from either players managers or owners. Badge kissing, manager for life declarations mean nothing when current circumstances would dictate a move or sacking.
Personally I think that Marcio is the best manager we have had, in my memory (70+ years) and I hope he does stay forever.
Tony Khan can say anything and might want to keep long term,but whether he will sign another extention is anybody guess !!!
Yay Tony Khan
He’s been doing a Great job: good selection of players and coaching staff
Don’t think he needs advice on contract negotiations.
He even listened to ticket pricing for cup match, long may that continue.Hope they can see the benefit of encouraging young families and young fans to come to the Cottage.
The Khans have been doing a great job. We are lucky to have them.
COYW