Fulham chairman Shahid Khan’s programme notes ahead of this afternoon’s match against Manchester United make a cursory mention of the club’s lack of activity in the transfer market.
Khan, who will watch this afternoon’s fixture from the Cottage balcony having met with the Fulham Fan Advisory Board on Friday evening, writes:
“It was a summertime priority to protect the nucleus of the squad that set a Fulham record last year for most Premier League points, and we did by extending the stays of Kenny Tete and our longtime captain, Tom Cairney. Late last month we added experienced Benjamin Lecomte from French side Montpellier of Ligue 1 to solidify our goalkeeping, and we will continue – as we always do at this time of the year – to explore all options to strengthen our squad.
As important this offseason was keeping and rewarding the next generation of Fulham Academy talent that we feel will make a positive impact on our First Team today and in the years to come. That’s why we focused on and ultimately delivered long-term deals for three of our most promising youngsters who have progressed or are advancing through our Academy in Josh King, Luc De Fougerolles and Seth Ridgeon.”
I’m not sure reading the Chairman’s notes will improve Marco Silva’s mood – given what he has said about the club’s failure to add new signings in the run-up to this fixture.
There is no doubt that phases one and two of this summer plan went well by that I mean, retaining the core players, which the in end included Muniz , and giving contracts to the best of the three in the Academy. Even the beginning of phase 3, bringing in reinforcement started well with a quality back up keeper. But clearly since then the plan as Silva has been saying is not on track and the big question is why? Is it because Khan Junior has not had his eye on the ball and distracted by other sporting events. Or is it because Khan Junior is obsessed we’re getting bargn deals at the end of the period or is there something more problematic such as keeping to the PFL rules? We are a small club and these rules clearly benefit the bigger clubs as we can see from how much they’ve been spending and selling. We haven’t sold anybody of any value. This may change now eg AP , Traore and Godo . AP it’s clearly been replaced by Josh King so logical that he’s on his way. But for the others . It’s a bit of a chicken and egg we can’t sell the wingers until we know we are 100% sure we can buy replacements … i suppose the good news is the all four wingers we are looking at all seem to be available but on condition of the right price – hopefully this can be solved by the end of the window. But there remains a concern in the midfield where we lost a couple of great opportunities so maybe we’ll be seeing Harrison Reid for another year at Craven cottage … Left back is also worrying about injuries so are there any possible late deadline reinforcements out there (this could mean dipping into Arsenal again) The main concern- expressed by everyone – is seeing Silva so frustrated… he is our best asset and if there is now bad blood between him and the owners this won’t look good for the future but let’s see COYW
Someone’s lying. It’s either Marco or Mr Khan. I tend to believe Marco. Either way it won’t end well.
Just adding –
If possible by end of window a good outcome could be
In
• Kevin / Nelson (LW)
• Chukwueze (RW)
• Young Jovanovi? as third striker (to develop)
• Possibly Zinchenko as back upm LB / defensive MF (if not picked up by Fenerbahçe, and if Arsenal are open to a loan)
Out
• Pereira
• Traoré
• Godo
Sorry that should have read young Jovanovi? !
My lack of inside knowledge/ uneducated / directly informed view is that
– we are ok on PSR as our upper limit is now extended having been in premier league for 3 years
– we have historically sought later perceived value (offsetting preparation time with squad for Lower initial value – I don’t agree but TK follows this path)
– the Riverside stand (pier or whatever you want to call it) whilst having been a monetary drain to build will now contribute 365 day return or rent and will add value/ finance
– impending rationale of squad cost to turnover – our turnover should all be going up so ability to pay wages within limits should be growing
– stated claim that we can’t afford wages for incoming winger is a sales tactic – always state that someone can’t do something if want to stimulate them into action to prove they can
– now stand nearly complete the Khans may well be lining up a sale as club will be worth more with projected income of 365 income multiplying out + for first time in ownership a settled premier league status – recoup costs to date through payment for shares that had been transferred off balance sheet debt
– importantly we need 2/3 wingers a third striker left back & holding midfielder
– biggest plus point to turn atmosphere around in club would be to tie down a silva extended contract
See you all at game later today – Up the Fulham
The only thing getting explored is the kitchen
Marco is our best asset whether the Khans can see that or not what I understood was some loans where turned into shares by Khan Snr to allow for money for transfers
Maybe the problem is Alistair Macintosh is clashing with TK we don’t know some truth needs to be told to us fans but one certainty is the squad needs strengthening to allow us to go to the next level and also the AFCON cup where we will lose Bassey and Iwobi this season for about 6 weeks the problem is trying to knock pennies off every transfer which is frustrating the fans and if we sign anybody Marco needs to integrate quickly into the squad
With what’s been going on with transfers I think Marco has probably had enough and will almost defineately walk soon or at the seasons end and who could blame him
There is surely only one outcome of TKhan’s non action is Marko walking at the end of this season.
And I don’t blame him he deserves a Board of football owners who back their manager totally.
And rest assured the supporters will not forget.
Marco’s angry pre-ManU comments are likely a response to Mr. Khan’s programme notes which in turn were likely written by the FO (Ali-Mac) well in advance and seen by Marco and which mirror the earlier club spin, as reported by the Times, “we never meant to do anything.” Why would Marco so aggressively and repeatedly say the same thing if he wasn’t told by the Club that they intended to get more players? And, why is the Club persisting in claiming that they never said this to Marco, intended to get more players while also, in the press, claiming that they want to resign him? There is something very wrong and dysfunctional going on here and I don’t think it’s Mr. Khan (I think it is those advising him).
Late to the party with this comment…how come we haven’t pursued Garnacho? Doesn’t seem to be expensive; he is explosive and given how much we like to work down the left hand side he would be ideal. We need creative scorers…what am I missing??