The Tanner Report
It’s hard to fathom the reasoning of replacing head coach Rene Meulensteen with Felix Magath. Probably owner Shahid Khan is so worried that his investment is going down the Swanee should Fulham get relegated that he looked for a manager with a record of salvation. Magath comes with a hard man reputation, forcing a player with a broken arm to do press ups, or training by running up mountains and collapsing ( I would have loved seeing Berbatov scaling one! ). Players will now have worked under Jol, Lindenans, Meulensteen, Wilkins and Curbishley.
One can imagine the texts flying around the group, especially to Reither and Dejegah who played under him at Wolfsburg. My own view is that Fulham will get relegated but, had they done so with both stability and continuity, we would have bounced back. So what happens if we go down under Magath? Does Khan appoint yet another manager experienced in promotion? No doubt the hope is that Fulham revive under a new manager, as Sunderland and Crystal Palace have done and Cardiff and WBA may yet do. Mention of Pulis makes me think if the rationale is to appoint a manager that wins ugly, why not appoint him a few months ago? Had Dennis Turner been around to watch this debacle he might have reminded the owner that, from Vic Buckingham to Lawrie Sanchez, the appointment of hard men that advocate an ugly style has not worked. In his programme notes last Wednesday Khan urged us to believe. The problem is he doesn’t.
I appreciate your considered comments, Alan. I really don’t know what to make of this. Just like under Jol, we compiled ten points from 13 matches in the League under Meulensteen. But we really did seem to be playing better save for a dire performance at Hull and poor second halves in a couple of more recent matches. It seemed like RM was on the verge of turning losses into draws and draws into wins, which quite possibly would be enough to stay up.
Who knows what morale will be like in the changing room?
I guess the most negative aspect of RM’s tenure is that we leaked a lot of goals, which you have repeatedly noted. If Magath can inject Hodgson-like defensive discipline into the squad, then perhaps this can be an inspired and well-timed appointment.
I find it odd, but have no choice but to support it. I certainly don’t want to be like Blackburn Rovers supporters demonstrating outside the ground.
Your loyalty is exemplary though like all of us hard tested. The worst thing is the total lack of feel for the supporters. The players will move on, but we stay and deserve better than this.