The future of FFC

[jumpkutz]

So is a 4th place finish (except this year, of course) a reasonable goal? Or is it out of reach?

[pettyfog]

I think it's a good thing to revisit this every year:
It's like this guy says, in Why Soccer Is Better Than Football:

But as a fan, the structure of league play here—gripping fans from the top of the standings to the bottom, across the Continent, to the end of the season—delivers unparalleled drama. And this season has one final twist to deliver.

So, recalling back a few years where the 'last day drama' was whether FFC would stay up or not.. Do you LIKE the drama? Or would you rather know you were fairly comfy midtable and just dwell on the team/player performances game by game?
Whatever the concensus, I dont expect that to last.. in a few years of midtable, I expect there will be a few who would rather the team go down than be boringly predictable.

[Clevelandmo]

I like the drama from an ocean away, but if I lived in England and really felt the reality of relegation to my "home" team, I'm not sure I could take it.

[SoCalJoe]

So is a 4th place finish (except this year, of course) a reasonable goal? Or is it out of reach?

I would love to say yes to both those questions, but I can't. The team isn't far away right now, but unless MAF decided to scrap the business model and pump in a few hundred million more pounds it's not going to happen. The Premier League is so stratified (the number one thing that is wrong with the league) that only a billionaire (and their willingness to throw away money) can make a run at the top.

I think it's a good thing to revisit this every year:
It's like this guy says, in Why Soccer Is Better Than Football:

But as a fan, the structure of league play here—gripping fans from the top of the standings to the bottom, across the Continent, to the end of the season—delivers unparalleled drama. And this season has one final twist to deliver.

So, recalling back a few years where the 'last day drama' was whether FFC would stay up or not.. Do you LIKE the drama? Or would you rather know you were fairly comfy midtable and just dwell on the team/player performances game by game?
Whatever the concensus, I dont expect that to last.. in a few years of midtable, I expect there will be a few who would rather the team go down than be boringly predictable.

I enjoyed the drama after it was over and the team pulled a rabbit out of it's hat. However, it was only after months of horrendous football that had zero 'drama' in it. That said relegation/promotion adds a lot to a league where usually only 2 teams have a shot at the title and 3 or 4 teams have a chance at the other CL spots.

[tim]

Grant Wahl posted this earlier
http://www.channel4.com/news/premier-league-the-alternative-results-table

If accurate, then this is concerning. Can we really have the second-most debt of any club in the league? Can anyone here shed some light on this? Where on earth is it coming from?

[nevzter]

Grant Wahl posted this earlier
http://www.channel4.com/news/premier-league-the-alternative-results-table

If accurate, then this is concerning. Can we really have the second-most debt of any club in the league? Can anyone here shed some light on this? Where on earth is it coming from?

Tim, there is information that a sizeable portion of Fulham's debt is owed to MAF himself...hopefully he doesn't call the club on it.

[tim]

Grant Wahl posted this earlier
http://www.channel4.com/news/premier-league-the-alternative-results-table

If accurate, then this is concerning. Can we really have the second-most debt of any club in the league? Can anyone here shed some light on this? Where on earth is it coming from?

Tim, there is information that a sizeable portion of Fulham's debt is owed to MAF himself...hopefully he doesn't call the club on it.

I guess that's a little comforting, in that we won't have external creditors coming knocking on the door. Still, not a great position to be in. Is this going to cause problems under Financial Fair Play?

[jumpkutz]

Financial Fair Play's a joke as long as Man City is owned by Sheikh Monsour.

[VegasJustin]

Most that debt also came during our run up to the premier league and into the first couple of years into the league. We have actually done really well with our money the last eight years or so. This is only going to improve as our income increases with the expansion and more success.

[SoCalJoe]

Courtesy of White Noise, very interesting panel discussion (well worth the 6 minutes) about Fulham.

http://www.lifesapitch.co.uk/laptv/fulh ... achievers/

[jumpkutz]

The recent promotions of Brendan Rogers and Paul Lambert (both deserving, IMHO) got me thinking. Could we hold on to a manager who got us into the CL?

[SoCalJoe]

[quote="jumpkutz"]The recent promotions of Brendan Rogers and Paul Lambert (both deserving, IMHO) got me thinking. Could we hold on to a manager who got us into the CL?[/quote

Would depend on a variety of factors, but since we couldn't hold onto one when the team got to the Europa Final it would be tough if that scenario were to play out.

[VegasJustin]

Yes, we could. Why go to another club when we are already in the Champions League. At that point they have nothing on us, but history.

[AggieMatt]

We have zero shot at Champions League or making a "Newcastle-like" run. There simply aren't anywhere near enough goals in the side for us to push that far up the table. In the 5-1/2 yrs I've followed the club, we've gone into every transfer window saying we need a striker or two and yet the club never make a serious attempt to address the issue. We took a shot on a crocked AJ, and that appeared to eat up whatever wages we were willing to put into a front line striker. We took a flyer on Zamora (w Paintsil) and he put together one decent season before going down to injury & then a hissy. Most recently we brought in Pog and he feasted on some crap defenses before turning up on a milk carton. Dembele turned out to be a midfielder and Ruiz looks to be on the same course. I think Ruiz can create more offense than Dembele, but I don't see him as more than a 4-6 goals a year threat, but rather as a facilitator.

Financially, I think Fulham should finish between 12th-14th most years relative to what the teams around us spend. I believe we should be able to push for a top 10 finish every other year and maybe we can nick a 6th or 7th once every 4-5 years. Stability in management would go a long way to making that happen, assuming we get/have the right guy. For me, the jury is still out on Jol. People are quick to credit him for transforming the way we play, but we netted fewer goals than the year prior and if you take Dempsey out of the equation, it's frighteningly anemic.

This summer will answer a lot of questions. First, do we bring in a serious striker candidate (or 2) or at least take a flyer on a Fletcher type, who has proven he can net double digit goals? We haven't had a striker do that in the Prem since I've followed the club. Then there's the issue with the Dem's. Losing Moussa doesn't particularly worry me. He has a unique skill set and can create space for other players, but more often than not, what he does provides no end product. A center mid with a different skill set could actually benefit us more, but w/o providing all of the ooh's & aah's. Take Murphy for example. His impact on our offense, as it pertains to goals, has been far more significant than Dembele's. Losing Dempsey, however, will be potentially crippling. The offense he scores and creates (23 of our 43 goals, and that only tallies primary assists, not all of the secondary ones he created) is significant & as shown from every transfer we've done in the last 5 years, not easily replaced by Mackintosh and Co.

Obviously we'll see what happens this summer, but I suspect we're more likely in for a decline than to be on the rise. For me, those odds correlate directly to our odds of keeping Dempsey. And whether Jol brings in more Euros who need a year to adjust to the league.

[dneville80]

Does anyone know what this Oranje thing is that's kn Fulhams webssite. I clicked kn it but it just says to.register