We are about to enter a crucially important phase in the
Shahid Khan era at Fulham. The decision about who you want in charge of your
football team is likely the most important decision to be made for any owner, particularly
when the club is in a fragile position. It’s like surgery to me. Everything has
to be done carefully and concisely, yet each move has to also be made with
complete confidence and any mistake can be catastrophic.
For me the fatal move this season was replacing Slavisa
Jokanovic with Claudio Ranieri. While I think that Slav’s days were numbered, I
would rather have stuck with him than have Ranieri at the helm, purely because
of just how different the footballing philosophies were of the two men. There
are a heck of a lot of ‘ifs and buts’ when it comes to life in general, never
mind football, and sometimes we are better just getting on with it than going
down the rabbit-hole and trying to dissect every decision ever made. That’s not
to say that those in charge shouldn’t be assessing, evaluating and learning,
but as fans we shouldn’t worry too much about what is behind, and instead focus
on the road to come.
The question now for Khan is who is his man to take the club
forward following our terrible Premier League return. Arguably Khan’s only successful
appointment has been Jokanovic, with Rene Meulensteen, Felix Magath, Kit Symons
and Claudio Ranieri all failing to live up to expectations, some drastically
worse than others. However, with five years now under his belt as the owner of
Fulham I believe that lessons have been learned from each of these.
In classically Fulham fashion, we have turned in three very solid displays since our relegation at Watford at the start of the month, and have won three on the bounce with three clean sheets. When Scott Parker took over he had Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool and Manchester City in his first four games so losing his first four was hardly a surprise. We did get a decent reaction from the players, however, and weren’t far off taking points from the Chelsea and Liverpool games in particular. Parker has clearly had an impact.
Scott Parker understands Fulham. He knows what it is like to
play for the club, and this is something that can’t be underestimated. There is
no doubt in my mind that he has the heart for this job. The question for me now
is does he have the head for it? We have been better since he took over, and
three wins in a row is a barely believable but I feel that he got things wrong
at both Leicester and Watford. I think he was outmanaged in both of those games
which is a worry for me. He is still developing his own way of playing but the
early signs are that he prefers a style more Jokanovic than Ranieri, something
that I’d welcome at the club. My fear is that the games that we have won, not
taking anything way from them individually, have been games played with no
pressure. Already relegated, we have been playing for pride and while it’s
great to see pride restored to an extent, it’s a different ball game entirely
getting results in the Championship.
It could work, but it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.
Parker is turning a lot of heads and making a lot more fans believe in him.
Clearly the players like playing for him, but we have no idea what the squad
will look like come August. All we can do as fans is sit and wait.
When an interim coach in charge of first-team affairs is losing fixtures, it’s understandably a lot easier to walk away than if results pick up, as does the atmosphere and performances around the football club. Even a club the size of Manchester United saw that impact as something that they could not reject after ‘loaned’ Ole Gunnar Solksjaer won over the board and was rewarded with the permanent position after winning losing just once in his first 13 fixtures and pushing what looked to be a lost season into Champions League contention. Following the permanent appointment of the Norwegian, United’s form has swung back the other and as I type, the Red Devils have lost five of their last seven matches (including exiting the Champions League).
So what relevance does this have to Fulham? Well, Scott Parker too was put in charge of first-team affairs on a basis of seeing it out to the end of the season for the club to reassess their future. Whilst Ole’s appointment sparked an immediate turn of dominant form, Fulham’s fixture list and quality of personnel saw it unlikely for Fulham to go on a similar run but other than a thoroughly disappointing display at Watford which confirmed relegation, Fulham have looked happier, more competitive and stronger. With a 2-0 home win against Everton and a 1-0 at Bournemouth, Scott Parker’s Fulham has now doubled their clean sheet tally and ensured that Parker will finish the season with more Premier League points than Slavisa Jokanovic, that man that took the Whites to the ‘promised land.’
One could also compare the Parker project to Darren Moore’s appointment at West Bromwich Albion the previous year. Moore was given the reigns after Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew were both let go in between a caretaker spell for Gary Megson. West Bromwich Albion was all but relegated with a 10 point gap and six matches. Wins over Manchester United and Tottenham including a point against Liverpool had West Brom hoping to keep their Premier League status alive until the final day but a Southampton win over Swansea saw the Baggies relegated whilst watching at home. Darren Moore was rewarded with the permanent job and took West Brom into a Championship campaign hoping for an immediate bounce back. Supported with the signings of Sam Johnstone and Kyle Bartley on permanent deals and the loan of Dwight Gayle (among others), Moore had the Baggies in the promotion chase all season but two losses against promotion rivals Sheffield United and Leeds United followed by a draw at home to the now relegated Ipswich Town saw Darren Moore bizarrely (from an outside perspective at least) sacked though it seems that West Bromwich Albion’s finances may not quite enjoy another year in the Championship, the lottery of the playoffs on the face of it was not good enough.
Back to Fulham, the players are openly behind Scott Parker, a good chunk of the squad were teammates of the former club captain but I think you may struggle to find a situation where the players were against the interim coach, especially following a horrible appointment of dinosaur Claudio. It’s hard not to harp back a few years and think of Kit Symons’ appointment following Felix Magath’s reign where the stands were desperate for the then under 23 coach to the first team role on a permanent basis following a strong run of form and very different feeling around the club. That experiment may be one that will worry the Khan’s, the Welshman lasted a little over a year and although through the recruitment of Mike Rigg and Kit Symons improved the playing staff slightly (in came Ryan Fredericks, Tim Ream and Tom Cairney) as well as overseeing the development of Marcus Bettinelli and Moussa Dembele, Fulham remained a team around the bottom of the division.
It would be very difficult to argue against the permanent appointment of Scott Parker being a gamble. The 2019/20 season will see Scott Parker enter his third year of professional coaching after a year with Tottenham’s under 18s and this rollercoaster at Fulham. Parker is currently supported by Matt Wells, a young but vastly experienced coach that was brought over from Tottenham where they worked together and also Stuart Gray, part of Jokanovic’s promotion backroom staff who probably should never have been allowed to leave. Gray has volumes of Football League experience, his stint in charge of Sheffield Wednesday saw them reach their highest finish in the Championship for six years as well as equal their single-season clean sheet record. Where Parker may lack experience on the training pitch, he’s being supported hugely in his backroom staff that he has been allowed to build up to this point.
Since Scott Parker has been placed in charge, we’ve some of the best individual performances from a few players this season. Franck Anguissa has strung together some impressive displays, Sergio Rico at Bournemouth made some impressive saves to ensure he kept a clean sheet and Ryan Sessegnon, playing off of the right, gave Nathan Ake nightmares. Even without Alfie Mawson, the eleven is playing more like a team making the back four feel as solid as it has all season. These last two victories have both been at 0-0 going into half time with an increase in performance once the sides came back out, that really displays a tactical nous and motivational aspect to the job that perhaps isn’t clear to the eye.
The talk of a Steve Clarke won’t go away and I do understand why the Khan’s would want to go in that direction given their previous experience with the aforementioned emotional Kit Symons experiment. I think the last two weeks have shown that Scott Parker can set up and motivate a team in a situation where the players have nothing to play for but pride. If supported with key players staying and adding to the squad, I do believe that Scott and his backroom staff can push for promotion. It is easy to say this when I am not under the pressure of every decision being analysed and criticised, even more so after a disastrous season.
As a fan base we have been badly let down by our club this
season. The turmoil on the pitch has been matched off it when it comes to
ticket prices and policies. True fans have been exploited with massive price
increases, a lack of concession and youth tickets and the strange policy of
selling tickets to members (open to everyone) before STHs. We don’t have to
look further than the Liverpool game last week as an example of how badly the
club are failing when it comes to tickets, with the first few rows directly
behind the goal in the Hammersmith End filled with fans not celebrating Ryan
Babel’s goal against his former club. Unashamed Liverpool fans were so
obviously in every stand that it was embarrassing.
Seemingly the club doesn’t care about who buys the tickets. If
people buy them, Fulham fans or not, they will continue to charge the
extortionate prices. The decision to not have reduced prices for concessions
and young people is leading to true fans not being able to afford to go. Parents
are having to spend a ridiculous amount of money if they want to involve their
children in supporting the club, so it’s becoming a massive put off. For me
Fulham has always been about family values and inclusion, but with the current
ticketing policy, these values seem to be a thing of the past. What an absolute
shame.
Our good friends at the Fulhamish Podcast have been
particularly vocal over the ticket policy at the club. The #StoptheGreed
campaign was supposed to be properly launched this Saturday in the early
kick-off against the Champions, with fan funded banners displayed in the Hammersmith
End with the aim of making a point to the Fulham authorities that as a fanbase
we are not happy with the approach the club is taking. Unfortunately the club
has decided to not let the banners into the ground because they don’t want
anything, …”not supportive of the team.” Then
why flood the home sections of the grounds with Liverpool fans? Why charge so
much money that real fans are shunted out in favour of tourists and touts?
When we got promoted last season,
Fulham were faced with an opportunity to further increase a swelling fanbase.
We may have lost a number of fans following our relegation back in 2014, but
over our four years away from the top flight, we gained a heck of a lot of new
followers. The brand of football that got us promoted was so attractive and our
identity as a family club meant that many people without a club found a home on
the banks of the Thames. All that good work has possibly been undone this
season, and it’s not because of the shambles on the pitch, it’s what is
unfolding off it. I’d advise the club to think carefully about what is next. Stop
ignoring the voice of your loyal supporters or else I’d imagine that people
will start voting with their feet. We are facing another relegation and club’s
in our position need their fans more than ever. Don’t push us away.
As much as I enjoy international football, I have never
really been absolutely buzzing for international breaks to come around. They always
seem to disrupt the domestic football and there aren’t as many matches. At the
minute, however, any distraction form the Premier League is a welcome one.
Things haven’t been pretty on the banks of the Thames, to put it mildly. So
instead of talking about Fulham’s disaster of a season, I thought I’d talk
about another favourite topic of mine, Northern Irish and Irish players who
have played throughout the years in our famous white shirt. I’ll limit to just
my top 5, as I have a game to get to tonight at Windsor Park at 1945!
Aaron Hughes
The Hangeland-Hughes partnership will go down as one of the
greatest centre back pairing in Fulham’s Premier League history. Under the
guidance of Roy Hodgson Fulham became defensively sound, something that we
badly crave this season, and Hughes was vital in this. He racked up 250
appearances for Fulham across all competitions and scored a handful of goals
along the way. He was a crucial part of both the Greatest Escape year in 2008
and then the Europa League run of 2010. He is my all time favourite Northern
Irish player and captain .
2. Ollie Norwood
It might have only been a loan deal, but the decision to
bring Norwood to Fulham turn out to be a stroke of genius. Norwood has always
had a touch of quality about him, we have known that for years in Northern
Ireland. He might try a Hollywood pass too often for some, but it’s that vision
that has been so important for Northern Ireland. Last season at Fulham we badly
needed someone to step in for Cairney when he was injured, and Norwood was the
one to do that. He might not quite be the level of Cairney but he is what we
needed at the time. And who could forgot THAT tackle in the dying seconds of
the play-off final that prevented Aston Villa’s final chance? What a guy.
3. Damien Duff
Damien Duff was one of those players who when they are signed,
you get very excited about. He may have been slightly past his prime but we all
knew what he was capable of from his time at Chelsea and Newcastle. He was one
of those players who had a sweet left foot, but played on the right for the
majority of his time at Fulham. The Craven Cottage crowd used to get such a
buzz when he would cut in from the right and have a pop at goal. He always had
a bit of magic about him and I loved seeing him play at Fulham.
4. Chris Baird
Bairdinho. When he announced his retirement this year I was genuinely
gutted. He has been such an important figure for club and country for years and
there aren’t many out there quite like him. Baird was one of the most versatile
players at Fulham, and he was happy to play wherever was required. He was a
typical ‘leave everything on the pitch’ kind of guy, and those goals at Stoke City
will stay in Fulham folklore forever.
5. Rodney McAree
Not many players can say that they have a chant that is
still sang around a club 20years or so after they have left, but Rodney McAree
can. I was too young to remember said goal, but I doubt there are many Fulham
fans out there who don’t know about McAree’s goal up at Carlisle. Rodney also
happens to be one of the nicest guys in football. He gave me one of my first
exclusive interviews a couple of years back, something that I really
appreciated. He owns a little part of Fulham history so he is rightfully
remembered by the Fulham faithful.
Premier League safety is vastly unlikely for Fulham after a horrific year back at the top sparked by dreadful recruitment, management and coaching all intertwining to create a relegation displaying everything not to do once you reach the ‘big time.’
Scott Parker mentioned in the lead up to the SW6 Derby that he wanted to see Fulham play with a bit more pace in attack, that came with the return of Ryan Sessegnon to the starting line up and quicker attempt to the final third, whether that came with longer balls or general speed of play from back to front – we saw longer balls utilised more frequently than usual but Tom Cairney was excellent in finding space and collecting the ball between Jorginho and the Chelsea back line before sliding some lovely passes in behind for the aforementioned Sessegnon typically.
Though individual mistakes were still visible, Fulham’s general performance was full of fight and had a period where they absolutely had Chelsea on the ropes. Scott Parker has already gained the support of Tom Cairney who has called for the permanent appointment of the former Fulham captain, and whilst we must be wary to avoid the Kit Symons experiment, this feels different. I think Scott showed some tactical intelligence on his first game as Cairney exploited the space behind the Chelsea midfield and he flipped Ryan Sessegnon to the right who saw some joy against Italy international Emerson. If not for some Man of the Match winning calibre saves from Kepa Arrizabalaga then Scotty Parker could well have salvaged at least a point from his managerial debut.
Back to something different about this ‘players coach’ appointment surrounding a ‘we’ve got our Fulham back narrative.’ Scott Parker throughout his playing career always seemed to command a certain level of respect and that saw him named captain, a leader who lead by example, Parker has always had the potential to have an authority over a team. Having set about his coaching ‘badges’ (my least favourite term in football, badges don’t exist) whilst at Tottenham Hotspur, this moment is years in the making. The return of Stuart Gray brings an aura of legitimacy also as an experienced and excellent coach in his own right which will help Scott through the early days of his management career whether it lasts 9 more games at Fulham or not.
Scott Parker’s Fulham made a nice start on Sunday and according to the former England international, have set a standard for the remainder of the season “I shouldn’t expect anything less, the challenge for me now is that needs to stay and how is this going to happen, making sure that it’s a given every single week.” He understands the core principles that this football club should never reject ‘passing football and a family football club.’
Every coach has to start somewhere and for Scott Parker (and Fulham), familiarity and a mutual understanding philosophically is a solid ground to build upon.
Claudio Ranieri has been relieved of his duties at Fulham Football Club (or vice-verse works too). In preparation for the event, I asked Fulham Twitter to send me their picks to replace the Italian at the helm of the football club and these are the five most popular choices analysed and evaluated with honourable mentions at the bottom.
Chris Wilder:
Wilder’s Sheffield United squad have a completely British squad utilising a 352 where Oliver Norwood acts as the midfield anchor and is having an excellent season, creating seven goals and only Leeds’ Pablo Hernandez has created more chances than the Northern Irishman that spent 2017/18 on loan at Craven Cottage prior to his permanent move to Sheffield.
Whilst Sheffield United don’t play with the pizazz and polish of a Leeds or Norwich, also contending for automatic promotion from the Championship, Sheffield United have the second best defence in the division and are only outscored by Norwich and West Bromwich Albion thanks mostly to veterans Billy Sharp and David McGoldrick.
I admire what Chris Wilder has been able to do at Sheffield United, but also at Northampton Town before then as he won League Two in impressive style. It’d be fascinating to see what he could do with a larger budget but as a Sheffield born professional with seven years of his playing career spent at Sheffield United, I’m not sure he’d leave the club where he has more ‘old-school’ managerial responsibilities for us in the same division with someone with zero footballing experience giving him the tools to work with and happy to sack him if it doesn’t work.
Oscar Garcia:
The man replaced by Slavisa Jokanovic at Watford, it was at Brighton where Garcia caught the eye for me at least. His possession based footballing style starved the opposition of the ball to the extent where they had the second tightest defence in the division. In his sole season at the Seagulls, he replicated Gus Poyet’s unsuccessful play off campaign from the previous year despite a lack of goals beyond top scorer Leonardo Ulloa.
The Guardian have a nice write up which hints as his tactical philosophy (https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/aug/21/saint-etienne-unshackled-from-lifeless-approach-by-oscar-garcia). Groomed in Spain, notably ex-Barcelona, the comparisons can be drawn between Oscar Garcia and former Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic – the inability to really hold down a position prior to ‘arriving’ at Fulham, the aesthetics of their footballing philosophy and even the clubs (both coached Watford, Maccabi Tel Aviv and both have success in the outer reaches of global football – Jokanovic in Thailand and Garcia in Austria).
Oscar Garcia would be fascinating appointment, and arguably a correct one for the footballing parallels this squad was built for and accustomed to. Though question marks will no doubt hover over the futures of the likes of Tom Cairney and Aleksander Mitrovic with relegation, there’s enough there to replicate that style by looking back to those that were part of the promotion squad.
Graham Potter:
Under the radar, Graham Potter is having a really excellent first season at Swansea where he has harnessed an excellent crop of young players to play some eye catching, tidy football in a mid-table season. Though finishing mid-table isn’t quite the most appealing characteristic, it’s about where their playing squad belongs at this point in their rebuild following relegation whilst 9 of their 13 most used footballers this season are aged 24 or younger.
The Swans didn’t even reach £10m spent in their first summer back in the Championship yet with Potter’s coaching and some smart recruitment, Swansea are set up for the future with their cavalcade of prospects (including Dan James who was subject of £12m interest of Leeds in January). Potter has taken a tough situation and Swansea are 100% in a better place now than where they were when he took over and that is always a good sign of excellent coaching, this amongst some chaos and confusion in the upper management.
Graham Potter is a modern footballing man and a ‘proper’ football coach. He wants his teams to play good football, is happy to work with young players but brings all the values you want in the current footballing climate. Whilst he may not be ‘keen’ on leaving a club that offered him such a great opportunity, a bigger budget and life in London could tempt him. I think Potter has shown he’s no fluke or novelty, he’s a bright, young coach who will be in the Premier League soon enough, it’d be nice if Fulham were that club.
Slavisa Jokanovic:
I won’t go on too long, but Slavisa Jokanovic was in the top 5 of Fulham Twitter’s picks to be the next permanent Fulham manager. After the Ranieri experiment, it seems supporters may be showing their fickle side and saying “oh, it wasn’t quite you.” I hated the sacking at the time but to go into that side is another post for another day.
?We know what we get from Slavisa Jokanovic teams, it’s passing, attacking football that saw us become one of the more entertaining, appealing and eye catching teams in recent Championship history. We saw improvement with each year despite the club forcing a rebuild level of player movement with each window and that’s promising.
I don’t see this happening, but I wouldn’t hate it.
Lee Johnson:
?Perhaps aided by the ‘Fulham’ connection, his father Gary (current manager of Torquay United), grew up in Fulham and is allegedly a Fulham supporter. This has probably led to Fulham eyes more so than usual but his success already in his career before the age of 40 is commendable.
Lee Johnson got his first managerial job at Oldham at the age of 31, his first season was amidst a successful relegation battle. In his first full season, he rebuilt the squad and took the club to their highest ever finish in League One. He left Oldham for Barnsley in February 2016 where he stayed for a year before moving to Bristol City. Like at Oldham, Johnson has taken Bristol City from relegation contenders to play off pushers and this is despite a fairly frequent turnaround of players (since taking charge, he’s had to deal with the losses of: Jonathan Kodjia, Tammy Abraham, Luke Freeman, Aden Flint, Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan).
Johnson’s team impressed at Craven Cottage in our promotion campaign, displaying high pressing and quick interplay were rewarded making a squad that would ultimately go down as one of the most entertaining in the division as very ordinary. We were naturally quite disappointed when later that season we went to Ashton Gate and Bristol City played long ball, long throw and ‘kick-em’ football but I believe that to be a tactical decision against us (which was odd given performance earlier in the season). Johnson has dealt with adversity, receiving death threats and calls for his resignation but has won the Bristol City supporters around after the board kept faith (importantly). Lee Johnson also has an EFL Cup run to his name, a semi final no less that was ended by Manchester City and were a 92nd minute Sergio Aguero goal from a draw at the Etihad and a 96th minute Kevin De Bruyne winner from a draw at Ashton Gate – along this run, Johnson’s side knocked out Watford, Crystal Palace and Manchester United.
In terms of availability, it’s easy to sit here and say “why wouldn’t he join Fulham?” But Johnson has been shown faith, they’ve let him work through hard periods and he knows he’s backed by wealthy investors in the football club (not near Shahid Khan’s billions but billions nonetheless). We chewed up and spat out the saviour to our time in the Championship because the players purchased for him were poor and didn’t fit – so why would Johnson leave his situation for this?
Johnson is an intriguing option, and according to my Twitter feedback, is the popular option. I wouldn’t be unhappy for sure, but whether he’s the best option? I would have some doubts. Though to be fair, there’s doubts for every manager – no one is truly ‘risk free’ – which is why you shouldn’t throw away a good one for a poor run of form…
Honourable mentions:
Daniel Stendel (Barnsley), Steve Clarke (Kilmarnock), Dean Smith (Aston Villa), Aitor Karanka (unattached), Carlos Carvalhal (unattached), Nathan Jones (Stoke City), David Wagner (unattached).
And a couple from me not mentioned by others: Alex Neil (Preston North End) and Michael Appleton (unattached).
Fulham have sacked Claudio Ranieri after just sixteen Premier League games in charge and replaced the Italian with former captain Scott Parker as a caretaker manager.
Ranieri, who was only appointed in November as the successor to Slavisa Jokanovic, had run out of road at Craven Cottage after a dismal defeat at the hands of Southampton last night. The 67 year-old’s final game in charge saw Fulham start with three defensive midfielders and never look like seriously challenging one of their relegation rivals after conceding two first half goals.
Ranieri, who only won three of his games in charge and saw his side dumped out of the FA Cup at the third round stage by League Two Oldham, leaves Fulham ten points from safety with ten games left. Parker, who returned to the club this summer after a spell coaching Tottenham’s under 18 side, will take charge for the first time against Chelsea, one of his former clubs, in a west London derby on Sunday afternoon.
The 38 year-old, who made 128 appearances in a four-year playing career at Craven Cottage, completed his coaching badges prior to hanging up his boots and the former England captain has spent this season as Fulham’s first team coach.
It’s around 7pm on 25th May, 2018. Ten of thousands of Fulham fans are in complete delirium at Wembley, completely overwhelmed at what we have witnessed. Our Fulham sealed promotion to the Premier League playing a wonderful, fun-filled style of football. We have done it with a group of players who clearly love playing with each other, and with an 18 year-old kid who has been a revelation in the side. We have owners willing to spend both on and off the pitch with a new stadium development incoming. The future is very bright for Fulham.
Fast forward to 10pm, 27th February 2019. We have
just witnessed an extremely deflated Fulham side limp to a 2-0 defeat to
relegation rivals Southampton. Our Italian manager, the man who led Leicester
to the most unlikely of Premier League titles a few years ago, set his side up
in a negative way, playing players out of position and leaving our best midfielder
in Seri out of the side altogether despite saying that we had no injury
concerns.
To say I’m angry at the state of affairs at Fulham right now
would be an understatement. I’m furious. What a complete and utter shambles
this season has been. What a wasted opportunity. While I think that Slav was
out of his depth, I would honestly rather have stuck with him than have sacked
him when we did for Claudio Ranieri. While there were some slight improvements at
the start under him, the negatives since then have just piled up.
Alongside his frustratingly negative tactics and his insistence
on playing Cairney out wide whenever everything good comes through him in the
middle, it’s his treatment of Ryan Sessegnon that upsets me the most. He has
turned Sessegnon into someone afraid of the football. Benching him, publically
saying that he is out of form, not strong enough etc and then the few times
that he does play, hauling him off at half time because of a couple of mistakes
have all contributed to deflating the player of confidence . Sessegnon was our
brightest spark last season and that was because he was given the opportunity to
flourish. I’m from a teaching background, and I remember my tutor at university
saying that our job as teachers was to create an environment in which pupils
could, and wanted, to flourish. I believe that coaching football, or any sport
for that matter, has the same principles. Ranieri should be laying the
foundations for our players to become great, but instead it’s like the life has
been sucked out of them, and it’s just heartbreaking.
We are so far away from that showing of unity last year. Our
next three games at home are Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City- all games
that 7 months ago we were relishing. Getting to see your club compete with some
of the biggest clubs in the world is something that every fan should relish,
but now I just wish that we could fast forward a month. We have a talented squad,
but under our current boss I don’t see those players being able to play with
any sort of freedom. At the minute we aren’t just going down, we are plummeting
so fast that it’s a blink and you’ll miss it sort of scenario.
If we are going down,
I want us to go down fighting but to do that we need to remove Ranieri now. I
don’t want us to rush into another managerial change, so my choice would be
Parker until the end of the season to buy time to consider properly who we want
in charge of the team. Another rushed decision isn’t going to do us any
favours, but keeping Ranieri for me will do more harm than good.
Fulham made a little bit of history back in 2017 when Ben Davis, a
16 year old from Singapore signed to the academy. A Singaporean has never
played in the Premier League or Championship, and Davis could be the first one
to do that. The only other player from Singapore to play in the professional
game in England is Daniel Bennet, who played for Wrexham in the old English Third Division a number of years
ago.
However, back when Davis signed for Fulham, the question of his
duty to complete National Service in Singapore when he became 18 came up
straight away. In Singapore, every male at the age of 18 must complete some
form of National Service for two years. Around the same time that Davis signed,
he and his family had applied for deferred NS, but his request was rejected. NS
can be deferred, but it mostly happens for academic purposes, but it can happen
for the Arts and for sport. Sport is a difficult one, because it’s only for sportsmen
and women who are “…representing Singapore in top-tier international competitions,” or “…displaying potential to win (medals).”
While Davis is seen as a huge talent in Singaporean football, he isn’t
yet close to helping them win medals at an event. In fact, deferring NS for
sport has only happen three times since 2003, twice for national swimmers and
once for a sailor. Davis has been called up to the Singapore national side but
is yet to win a cap which could be one of the reasons why he hasn’t been able
to defer it. It’s important to note that Davis is not trying to get away with doing
his NS altogether, rather it’s putting it off until his football development is
much further on.
We are now at the stage were Davis should be back in Singapore starting
his NS, so because he has essentially defaulted, he is now in danger of being
sent to prison if and when he returns home. He is at the age were NS is due,
and he should have reported back to Singapore in January. According to ‘Singapore
Legal Advice’, any defaulter can be punished with “…a fine of $10,000 and/or a term of imprisonment up to 3 years.”
This is a potentially very serious issue for Davis and his
family if he ever wants to return back to Singapore, but his family are said to
be appealing the original decision to reject to request of deferment. Generally
speaking, countries who have NS are very strict with it. In the case of Son
Heung-min of Spurs, he had to actually win the Asian Games with his South Korean
football side to be spared military service there, so who knows if Davis will ever
be in a position were he can help Singapore win a competition.
One thing is sure though, taking two years out of football
at 18, just when you could be on the brink of making it, is more of less
kissing goodbye to a career in England. Watch this space.
If you are anything like me, you probably used the weekend to forget all about the fine little mess Fulham Football Club have gotten ourselves into. The romance of the FA Cup, in which we played a bit-part role last month in capitulating to a spirited Oldham Athletic side roared to victory at Craven Cottage by their magnificent supporters, stands in stark contrast to the monotony of the Premier League, where even the most noble of ambitions is soon sacrificed as you desperately try to cling on to a seat at English football’s top table.
There’s no point revisiting the hole Fulham fell into after that glorious day at Wembley in May – we’ve had our fill of the £100m problems with the club’s summer recruitment, whether Slavisa Jokanovic was given enough time to try and figure out a way of playing in the Premier League or even if Claudio Ranieri was the right replacement when the powers-that-be decided to pull the trigger. The predicament is pitiful now – remaining in the top flight will require the sort of escape that Steve McQueen would blanch at, never mind Roy Hodgson.
The defeats, especially the most recent reverse at the hands of a revitalised Manchester United, are becoming a little too routine now. I’m reminded of that wonderful scene in The Lion in Winter, where three brothers were locked in Henry II’s dungeon awaiting their execution. Richard tells them to take their fate like men only for Geoffrey to protest, ‘You fool! As if it matters how a man falls down.’ The reply is wonderful: ‘When the fall’s all that’s left, it matters a great deal’.
Fulham’s fall has been far from glorious to date. A defence that has looked dazed and confused ever since they emerged blinking into the unforgiving light of Premier League football has hardly improved under Ranieri’s tutelage, which was supposed to be the main reason for his appointment. To what extent the Italian can be fairly blamed for that – given that there’s probably only one proven Premier League centre back amongst all the defenders on Fulham’s books – is question that might never be satisfactorily resolved.
Ranieri’s attempts to remake a misfiring side in his own image have floundered largely because Fulham have been too busy shooting ourselves in the foot. The glee that greeted a couple of clean sheets either side of Christmas proved fleeting – and the manager’s preferred method of accruing points, boring the opposition into submission, dates from the last century. It is so far removed from the flowing football that brought the Whites back to the promised land, we might as well be on another planet. You could stomach it for salvation, but at the moment it feels like Fulham’s agony is prolonged.
Ranieri’s demand for more fighting spirit was probably designed to get everyone pulling in the same direction – but it has had the opposite affect. It provoked some literal fisticuffs in the case of Aboubakar Kamara, but not enough bite from a side that still looks far too easy to play through. The presence of Andre Schurrle, who produces the odd moment of effortless brilliance and then glides through games as if unhurried by the gravity of the situation, only serves to infuriate at this point, especially when two of the club’s most successful battlers – in Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegon – are confined to the sidelines.
Fulham have barely managed to put together a compelling ninety minutes under Ranieri – but the closest they came was in a stirring second half comeback against Brighton. They wiped out a 2-0 half-time deficit by scoring four without reply in a display that married some of last season’s flair with plenty of fight. Cairney and Sessegnon featured prominently, as they did when combining to set up Aleksandar Mitrovic for the stoppage-time winner against Huddersfield back in December. It is inconceivable that any other manager would conclude that they wouldn’t form part of Fulham’s best side.
And that leads to my final point. Caution is understandable if you are trying to hold onto a result against the top six, who seem light years ahead of what Fulham can muster at the moment. But, with the Whites sitting some eight points from safety and time ticking away, some ambition and adventure are required. Ranieri’s rearguard isn’t good enough to grind out results so taking on the opposition is the only way Fulham will glimpse survival now. The question is whether Ranieri is willing to deviate from his classical Italian method.
If Fulham are going to fall through the trapdoor, as appears ever so likely now, they might as well give us something to remember aside from atrocious defending. These might be our last few months of seeing Sessegnon in a Fulham shirt. Let’s at least go out in a blaze of glory.
