Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Wildcard Wednesday: Ranking every Fulham manager of the 21st century (Part 1)
58 Plays1 month ago
For this Wildcard Wednesday edition, Gavin and Jack give their verdicts on all 13 managers to have taken charge of Fulham in the 21st century. They give their rankings from worst to best. This episode is part one of two.
Zencastr- Built for quality- Designed for growth
A new era for creation is here.
The only complete audio + video platform to get best-in-class recording, intuitive editing, Al-powered growth features, and top-tier tools all in one place.
Get started for free!
We highly recommend it!
Global Sports Podcast Network- Creating the world's first network of 30-minute daily podcasts for the world's biggest sporting export, the English Premier League.
For advertising and sponsorship details or to learn more about the scale and demographics of our audience- email Ken Davies, VP Business & Development at:
www.globalsportspodcastnetwork.com
Copyright] 2024| Global Sports Podcast Network] All Rights Reserved
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Welcome back everybody to the Daily the Fulham Podcast, your home of all things Fulham. Today is another edition of our World Card Wednesday episode. And what we are going to do is we are looking at managers.
00:00:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
We are ranking every fuller manager from the 21st century to the present date. So there's 13 in total. We'll be going through our orders from 13 all the way to one, from worst to
Hosts and Ranking Challenges
00:00:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
best. My name is Gavin Ruffell. I'm joined by Jack Kelly. Welcome back, Jack. How easy, how difficult was this this determining the order of the managers?
00:00:48
Jack Kelly
It, it was, it was fairly easy, but then it got hard because from my experiences, when it comes to, um, John Tigana and, and, and Chris Coleman, I wasn't necessarily, I hadn't even started supporting the club at that stage. So I was very much having to go off people's stories of, of that era and sort of compared it with my sort of experience and then made a list. But I think, I think this actually was easier than I thought it was going to be actually.
Fulham vs. Watford: Managerial History
00:01:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I am old enough to remember Fulham Under, Tigana and Chris Coleman. um So yeah, they've had 13 managers in total. So you've got John Tigana, Chris Coleman, Laurie Sanchez, Roy Hodgson, Mark Hughes, Martin Yall, Rene Muhlenstein, Felix McGatte, Kit Simon, Slevisia Kanovich, Claudio Ranieri, Scott Parker, Marco Silva.
00:01:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
So not a massive turnover of managers there, just the 13 in 24 years. And you can pay that to Watford. How many managers do you think Watford have had in that period of time, not including caretakers?
00:01:56
Jack Kelly
Probably like in the 30s I'd imagine
00:01:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
not quite Not quite in the firties. I think it's getting there with caretaker managers, but in in terms of permanent managers, they have had 26. So eachsh they get through ah um a manager more than one manager a year, crazy stuff.
Worst Managers: Magath and Ranieri
00:02:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
So let's let's crack on them. So starting at the bottom, let's work our way up. 13, who have you got at 13?
00:02:21
Jack Kelly
It's Felix Magarth. um It was just an utterly terrible, terrible time. um To be fair, there was a period where we won a couple of games beating...
00:02:34
Jack Kelly
I want to say we beat Aston Villa but we beat maybe Newcastle in that time as well and there were signs that we could stay up but it was his methods really more than anything it was the stories I've heard from ex-players and players at the club at the time like Sir Parker and Steve Sidwell and Breda Hangle and just really odd stories about his training methods and clearly a very eccentric man one that yes of course won the Bundesliga but um his Premier League ah that didn't translate into the Premier League and we were relegated and then he actually took over he was still in charge in the championship and we had such a bad start that it
00:03:12
Jack Kelly
causes to be in relegation battle foot for part of that season. and A player, a manager who was a complete stain on the club and fortunately we made the right decision to get rid of him and before it got even worse. So for me, just the worst manager of my full lifetime.
00:03:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, we're in total agreement here. He's also the manager I've got at the bottom of the list. He did come with a great reputation with his time in Germany, managed to win Bundesliga's and cups with Bayern Munich. As you said, he had some eccentric methods. What was the story with Hängelund and the cheese?
00:03:46
Jack Kelly
I usually don't really pay much attention to this sort of stuff because it doesn't interest me at all really, but um it was something about putting cheese on his knee to help it recover or something like that.
00:03:59
Jack Kelly
and
00:03:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I mean, he just he wasn't well received from the players and maybe his methods were something of a thing of the past really.
00:04:00
Jack Kelly
ah being
00:04:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
and Yeah, it was a difficult time. He ultimately ended up taking Fulham down after spending 12 consecutive seasons in the Premier League. And then in the championship, he did stay on and they won. I think they failed to win any of the first seven games. They only managed a solitary point against Cardiff City. So he's 20 games in charge at the club. He managed four wins, four draws and 12 defeats. So we're in agreement there. Who do you have next on the list?
00:04:35
Jack Kelly
Uh, it's Claudio Ranieri, uh, for me. And this was a period of where I was going to every single Fulham game at the time, um, home and away. I had to say that this was quite a miserable period. Um, Ranieri came with so much plaudits after winning the league with Leicester. Um, but we were in a relegation battle and I thought, okay, well,
00:04:57
Jack Kelly
Well, maybe he can use some of that miracle work he did at Leicester to help us out in the situation.
Sanchez and Simons: Stabilizing Attempts
00:05:02
Jack Kelly
But he um he completely changed the system. He played more of a ah back three, back five, and then played players like Kenny either up front or on the wing, like just didn't work whatsoever. Southampton away for me was that was that was the final game. He was in charge. I remember being in that game midweek and losing 2-0, it was just being an utter shambles of performance. There were some decent moments there when we when we actually beat Southampton.
00:05:26
Jack Kelly
in the home game I think that might be his first game in charge and but ultimately it was the straw that ah broke the camel's back in terms of the 18-19 season and it was almost beyond recovery once ah Scott Parker had come in as ah as we tried to stay up and he got a couple of wins Parker but ultimately Ranieri was probably the reason why we went down that season.
00:05:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it was a shame for Ranieri because you remember, of course, the fairy tale, the magic he created, the Leicester City, I think every neutral fan and as well as Leicester fans, of course, were rooting for them that season. and ah he's just he's a He's a really nice guy, so you want him to succeed.
00:06:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
um He came back to England after a brief spell in France with managed to win his first game against Southampton. It was also a difficult period because Fulham, they brought in some big-name players over the summer, didn't they? ah And big, some massive egos on high wages, the likes of Schurler and Giese, Sarri, big reputations at the time, so having to deal with those sort of egos. And I think it didn't help that they got knocked out of the FA Cup in the the third round by Oldham as well. so During his time at the club, 17 games, 3 wins, 3 draws, 11 defeats. He was part of the part the team at the time ah where there was quite a high turnover of managers. I think they had 3 managers that season. A slight difference here. I do have Laurie Sanchez as the next person on the list. He was initially appointed as a caretaker at the end of the 2006-07 season.
00:06:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah one win in five games that secured Survivor, which was a 1-0 win over Liverpool. and and This caused controversy, didn't it, with other managers? I think Neil Warnock in particular, because during that game Liverpool made a lot of changes because I think they were involved in the Champions League final, was it the following week?
00:07:15
Jack Kelly
Hmm.
00:07:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah So he managed to get the job on a long-term basis after that. He did sign a lot of Northern Ireland players, didn't he? Because he had a successful time with Northern Ireland, so he signed David Healy, Stephen Davis, Chris Baird. To his credit, Aaron Hughes was was a very successful sign, and and probably Chris Baird as well. ah But then during his first first full season in charge, he was sacked in December after a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle.
00:07:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
It only managed 2 league wins in 17 that season, so a record of 24 games, 4 wins, 8 draws and 12 defeats. So who do you have at number 11?
00:07:54
Jack Kelly
Yeah, it was it was Laurie Sanchez for me. and This is ah this the first time I ever went to Fulham. I have a season ticket was under Laurie Sanchez and it was a ah really miserable start to the season. um It was, we got some decent results at home to Man City and Tottenham, both through three drawers. um We beat Bolton, I seem to remember, but there was a lot of losses and um our waveform was shocking. And it got to the point where in, I think it was December, right at the end of the the year, we had to make a change and bring in. Roy Hodgson obviously changed the fortunes around quite drastically. um Laurie Sanchez, for me,
00:08:34
Jack Kelly
and yeah be I just remember the fans being incredibly negative about him at the time. There was a bit of a toxic atmosphere around Craven Cottage at the time um and the results weren't good, the performances weren't good and and we needed something new. Otherwise we were facing relegation in the face and obviously we we got in Roy and he obviously changed it all around so it sort of proved that Sanchez wasn't up to it at all really.
00:09:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, and I think with managers as well, you can judge him by the the clubs they've managed before or after, and the fact that his next next manager managerial job was at Barna and then he went the grease somewhere. So it was, ah yeah, was it was probably a step too far for for Sanchez managing the club in the Premier League, having only managed ah one other team in England, that being Wickham Wanderers.
Parker and Hughes: Ambition and Struggles
00:09:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah Number 11 on my list is Claudio Renier, much for the reasons we've discussed previously. Just didn't work out for him. ah I suppose Fulham fans would have been hopingd not hoping that they were going to win the league like Leicester, but hopefully he would give them that boost, give them that star, that's that bit of magic. Working with high profile players, but no, it just didn't work out for him. Okay, so we move on to the next manager on this, and that is number 10.
00:09:49
Jack Kelly
Yeah, I actually had a quick change of heart while while while looking at this list and I've swapped around to managers. So I'm going to go with Renee Muhlenstein as the next one. It was just, again, another Premier League season where we were hiring three managers in one season or we had three managers in in in one season. Muhlenstein's period of management wasn't anything special. My memory isn't fantastic about that 13-14 season when when it comes to specific games that we had under his stewardship but I do remember it being quite short-lived because it wasn't quite working out
00:10:28
Jack Kelly
I may, it may have been the Liverpool game when we lost 3-2, which might have ended his his tenure. We were leading, I think, we led in that game 2-1, actually, and we ended up losing in the last minute, so a Gerrard penalty. ah Yeah, and it was obviously, that was a period of the season where we needed to pick up points. In 13-14, we weren't doing that. Martinelli was sacked.
00:10:52
Jack Kelly
really really interesting came in pretty inspiring and then it went to to Felix McGuff at the end so all in all it was a it was a it was a terrible season and across the season we had two managers who weren't really up for the job at all and and ultimately that's why we we're renegaded
00:11:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I also have Rene Muhlenstein at 10. I do have some sympathy for him though. he He did come in as a first-team coach to work alongside Martin Yall, ended up replacing him. He was first-team coach for a long time at Manchester United, working with Sir Alex Ferguson there. But in terms of managerial experience, experience it was quite limited. I know he had a little bit of a time in Qatar and Denmark. He was managing Anci in Russia, wasn't he?
00:11:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
Katie, as I said, came to full into work alongside Martin. You all ended up succeeded him succeeding him. ah Decent start, actually. Three out of the first seven games, but there was a big defeat in there to Hull and against Sunderland as well. I think the most memorable game was a 2-2 draw against Man United, where it was a bit of a smash and grab. when I think it was Darren Bent score the late goal. It was that famous game and the more he's went, they had like 96 crosses. And I think Dan Byrne headed away 94 of them.
00:12:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
um and he was probably unlucky actually to lose his job when he did because they had that draw against Man United and then then they only lost 3-2 to Liverpool but I think probably full and pant paniccked pushed a panic button maybe wanting to go with someone that was a bit more experienced at the time.
00:12:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
17 games, 4 wins, 3 draws and 10 defeats during his time in charge at Fulham. We will continue our countdown shortly. Before we do that I have to tell you about our sponsors here at the Global Sports Podcast Network and that is Zencast.
00:12:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Here at Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster. So now we move on to number nine.
00:13:04
Jack Kelly
Yeah, so this is ah Kit Simmons, Kit Simons, um sort of maybe underappreciated the fact that he took over and sort of steadied the ship a little bit, and whereas Renee Moonstein didn't really help our cause anyway in the Premier League, so I've switched the two around.
00:13:21
Jack Kelly
um Such a strange period for Fulham, a period I look back on with just like utterfuse just utter of confusion. In comes Simmons, who has to basically get this team winning games of football and we won against, I think, Birmingham, remember we beat Bolton, 4-0, things were looking up. um We weren't playing the best football in the Championship, but we were doing enough to get by and we beat Charlton, we, you know, we drew away to Middlesbrough, which at the time was a decent result.
00:13:54
Jack Kelly
um yeah i mean there was some embarrassing defeats in in that season under simmons a 4-1 defeat at home to brentford obviously sticks out you know beating the news before three was pretty and was was pretty interesting result as well denying the news for the top two so you know at times simmons would would pull out the bag and he had it he had a very much a good relationship with the fans he you know he played for the club knows the club very very well so i was fairly encouraged by him but then obviously going forward you know in the what would have been the 15 16 campaign um the 5-2 loss to birmingham for me that was that was the end of his tenure um i was at the game i left after 3-0 i don't know why i was a bit younger at the time slightly more
00:14:39
Jack Kelly
hot-headed maybe so i had enough ah we we lost 5-2 and got a red card through i think james husband got sent off with two yellow cards in the space of a couple of minutes just really really really silly red card and and we hadn't started that season very well at all really and it was way we we actually were in more trouble that season than um than the previous season so um in came sort of easy again which after a period where we had i think ah Peter Grant in charge and also ah Stuart Gray. It took quite a while to get a manager in, it took a couple of months but Slevisa came in and well after studying the ship in Slevisa then the rest was really history from there.
00:15:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I want to pick up on something you said there, which was the relationship with the fans. Do you think after the debacle with Felix and McGat, the ownership looked at a point in someone um to to appease the fans, someone who had that relationship there that had been there as a player?
00:15:42
Jack Kelly
i I think he said all the right things as well, like he was saying his press conferences is like now the the dream job for him because yeah he he loves the club and and I think at the time the fans needed a ah massive pick me up because it wasn't going well. In fact, you know he got that result against QPR 4-0 at home and that was in the next season. um So there were some really good results under Simmons and there were some moments where yeah know we'd sing his name and and we would believe in him. but Ultimately, if we wanted to get out of the championship, which was ultimately what our aim was, he wasn't going to be the man to do that. However, he did stop us from sliding down to league one, albeit even when Sevizi took over, it was looking touch and go at times as well.
00:16:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I also have him at number nine on my list. He relinquished his position on the coaching staff at Wales to take over as first team coach, first team manager at Fulham. Guided them to 17th place finish in the 2014-15 season, bearing in mind they had started the season terribly, didn't they, with Magat just collecting one point from their first seven games.
00:16:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah But then he was psyched after an inconsistent start of the 2015-16 season which ended with a 5-2 defeat at home to Birmingham, a club like Fulham who had been an established Premier League team for a number of seasons. ah You can understand why maybe sort of the ownership would have got itchy feet given their league position because they would have been expected to be a lot higher up the table and and challenging, but that wasn't to be the case. They probably weren't living it to expectations there. so 63 games in charge, 22 wins, 17 draws and 24 losses.
Martin Yell's Rise and Fall
00:17:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Who is number 8 on the list?
00:17:23
Jack Kelly
ah Who is next? It is Scott Parker. and I think Parker obviously deserves credits for getting us promoted, but as we're seeing right now with Burnley, he's going to do it again. He's going to get Burnley promoted the most unspectacular way possible. A win at the weekend against Swansea with a last-minute penalty from Jay Rodriguez. Fans are unhappy with the performances, and unhappy with the way they attack, the way they yeah style of play and, well, I'm sort of here laughing.
00:17:53
Jack Kelly
sitting here laughing at the Burnley fans saying, I told you so. um Obviously the season is is quite early on. We still don't know what's going to happen with Burnley. But the reason I put Parker here is that there was a period where I absolutely loved Scott Parker. He said all the right things. He did all the right things in in a season in lockdown where we were so disconnected from football. um Even the most minimal of efforts of of words or performance would actually get me really on side with him.
00:18:21
Jack Kelly
then um it then actually got me to to sit down and realize that what he was doing was alienating our best player and in Alexander Mitrovich and playing a style of football that was just never going to get us surviving in the Premier League with all the talent that we had. In hindsight, you look at all those players who ah were in that team and they're all thriving now, Loftus Cheek is, Lukman is, Ariola is, and Gisa is. I mean, all these players are doing fantastically well, even now Josh Madja was seeing for West Premier Champion. Parker got us up.
00:18:51
Jack Kelly
Yeah, you beat Brenton in the player final, a tactical masterclass, but I can't really think of any more tactical masterclasses from Parker at Fulham. Started really well. In fact, didn't start very well losing to Barnsley, but the 4-0 win against Millwall will always stick out with me ah for me as one of the best Fulham performers I've ever seen. And I still stand by that. However, it was um it was was a really, really, really bad Premier League season where Fulham were late in their business, and I think that's obviously partially to blame the people upstairs, but and Parker didn't get the best out of that squad. and If you look at our current manager, Marco Silva, if we were in that same situation, I think we would have survived and survived quite comfortably. um But yeah, it was a bad, bad time and to be a Fulham fan, despite promotion. and but i've got I've got managers in here who achieved far less
00:19:46
Jack Kelly
higher up on the um the list because they just performed better with the team they had. And Parker with Bournemouth, Parker with Burnley, it seems like it's going to be a familiar story.
00:19:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
Surprise, surprise. Scott Parker is also eight on my list, the second player on this list who used to play for Fulham as well, returned to the club in a managerial role. And he did guide Fulham back to the Premier League through the playoffs with that win over Brentford, as you said, but it was largely expected with the talent of the players, the pool of players they had at their disposal. ah They had missed out. ah No, they got relegated the season before. They've been in the playoffs a couple of times ah under Jukanovic, haven't they? So they got that playoff success there for the second time.
00:20:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
and And I think in the Premier League he was he was naive, sometimes in his decision making. The one that stands out for me was I don't know what happened with the relationship with Mitrovic, because of course in the championship season he scored something like 43 goals, so he was a big part of the team's success, wasn't he?
00:20:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
But for some reason there might have been an injury. I know he had some maybe a crisis in confidence because he missed the penalty for Serbia, which meant they missed out on, the was it the Euros or the World Cup, something like that?
00:20:55
Jack Kelly
The thing is, he yeah.
00:20:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, and and you missed it he missed the penalty, I think, I remember for shit for Fulham as well, was it against Sheffield Gennady? He had a habit of missing penalties, didn't he?
00:21:02
Jack Kelly
Yeah, hit the ball.
00:21:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
But, yeah, I don't know what happened there, and he ended up playing Ivan Cavallero, didn't he, up front for the majority of that season, which was just a baffling decision, really, you see what Mitro Vich has come on to do after that.
00:21:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
It just makes it all the more bizarre. um Yeah, they got relegated quite comfortably in the end, didn't they? They played some decent football at times, at times, i I'll stress, and then subsequently what we've seen in him go on to do is he's he's inherited sort of the best collection, the best pool of players in the Championship, got them promoted, ah got Bournemouth promoted in the year, and then he got subsequently relegated after nine the other feet at Anfield, and then Burnley fans were waxing lyrical at the start of the season then and then you saw us seeing the same things that's being said that were said by Fulham fans, that were said by Bournemouth fans. Whether they get promotion or not well we'll find out but whether he can hack it in the Premier League and prove that he's capable of
00:21:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
keeping the team up, only time will tell. But yeah, he he is at eight because ultimately he did take Fulham up, but know he didn't either ended on a bit of a sour note and he probably didn't leave a great impression on most of the Fulham fanbase.
Sponsorship Shoutout and Ranking Recap
00:22:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
105 games, 37 wins, 25 draws and 43 defeats. We will continue again with this list just in a moment, but we are brought to you by the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:22:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
And let me tell you about them. The Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasts with dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football and a daily Premier League rapid broadcast in five different languages. It's your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts. So next we come to number seven.
00:22:52
Jack Kelly
Yeah, and I've gone with Mark Hughes. And the reason for that is he was in charge for for one season in the 10-11 season, full and finished eighth, and actually qualified for Europe, I think, through financial fair, not financial fair play, but through the fair play rules.
00:23:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Fair play here.
00:23:09
Jack Kelly
um
00:23:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's not still around, by the way, is it?
00:23:11
Jack Kelly
No, they've they've scrapped that now, but it was such a great way to qualify for Europe. It was almost like, well, it doesn't matter how we perform as long as we don't get any yellow cards.
00:23:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, just don't make a tackle or anything.
00:23:21
Jack Kelly
and and we And we got in and in that way, and and I think we'll come on to to that Europa League run because we could have and should have done much, much better. But I have to say, Mark Hughes, it's an impressive campaign to finish eighth, you know, 49 points. um There was a bit of a gap between ourselves and the actual European places. but for Fulham who you know it was a steady Premier League team and I remember bringing in Musa Dembele and players like that. We still had Clint Dempsey and some fantastic players like ah Bobby Zamora who broke his leg that season, Andy Johnson. So it really was a a good time to be a Fulham fan. But the reason I have him low on the low-ish on the list, even if it was just the one season is because of, well, that isn't one reason, you know just one season at the club. you
00:24:09
Jack Kelly
you have to make your mark and as impressive as season it was, and it was the fact that he said that Fulham lacked ambition and that's something that really does um still stick with the Fulham fans and to this day because he obviously went on to manage Queens Park Rangers and um there was a ah feeling that Fulham obviously had more ambition than Queens Park Rangers and thus has obviously proved to be the case.
00:24:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, well, it's interesting you say that because I actually, he was heavily rumoured for the Aston Villa job at the time. I get the feeling he left because he thought he was going to Villa, but then there was that bit of a fallout without fire. I mean, there's just two sides to every story, isn't there? I mean, if if he felt full and like the um couldn't match his ambition, then you you got to applaud him really in some ways. Maybe um he wanted more players, better calibre of players to to join the club so they can push on further and maybe compete for Europe. but Yeah, I mean, to to leave them after one season, ultimately end up QPR. I think you actually said years later that um you regret you regretted that decision.
00:25:13
Jack Kelly
Yeah, I think he was in a good place. Like he he had a European campaign to take on the the next season, a good group of players who are who were really, really, um it was a good squad. It was a very, very good squad, but so unfortunately he might have let himself down in that situation. I think obviously Martin Yo, who came in afterwards,
00:25:34
Jack Kelly
did a fairly okay job at Fulham, and I think we'll talk about him soon, but um Mark Hughes, it's an interesting one, it left a bitter taste in the mouth of of some fans, and he's still sung about to this day, really, whenever we play Queensborough Rangers, which actually isn't very often these days.
00:25:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
There is a bit of a difference here because I have Slevisia Kanovich at number seven. He did take over during a difficult time after Kit Simons were full and were languishing at the wrong end of the championship. he If you remember, he actually took Watford up six months prior to that. He took them up to the Premier League, but he couldn't agree on a longer term contract.
00:26:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah He spent a brief time abroad before returning to the championship to take over at Fulham and that was a difficult first spell first assignment and I think they finished 20th which is Fulham's lowest position in a long time um but the following season they did secure the playoffs losing out to Reading and then they managed to get promoted ah the following season. Beating Aston Villa in a player final, of course, he's that he's responsible for Fulham signing Mitrovic and we've seen the goals he's gone gone on to score um after that and developing Ryan Sessony on bringing him through as well.
00:26:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
And then he got his chance in the Premier League and it was it was difficult a difficult time because there was a a big turnover of players maybe full and weren't necessarily so loyal to the players they got promoted. They spent well in excess of 100 million and those players maybe didn't settle, didn't hit the heights that was expected. Maybe he wasn't given ah a great chance, maybe he should have been given long because he was sacked in November 2018 but I think I think there was ah an ambition there from from the owners wasn't it?
00:27:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Just not to just survive, but to be well clear of relegation given the signings they had made, but it didn't quite materialise. So yeah, just after set at seven consecutive defeats, ah he bit the bullet, 144 games in charge, 63 wins, 36 draws and 45 defeats.
00:27:31
Jack Kelly
Thank you.
00:27:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Number six is the next on this list. Who have you got?
00:27:44
Jack Kelly
It's Martin, Martin Yo. Martin Yo, obviously taking over from ah Mark Hughes. He came through in the 11-12 season. So um I'm just looking at the table now and full of finishing in in ninth place, which is fairly solid. um it's ah It's a decent finish, 52 points, which is quite a high points tally as well um at the time.
00:28:08
Jack Kelly
uh... mark martin y'all that was an interesting period and we went into the republic for the second time in just a few years but failed to make it possible stages uh... due to a two to draw to o'dents bk in the last group game it was a pretty horrible night i think familiar to not uh... um you can see it in the last minutes it's a dropout of the republic i don't think we would have hit the heights we hit under sir roe hodgson but i don't necessarily think um I think we could have gave it a good go. I think we could have got to the knockout round and and from there anything's possible. And then obviously the the 12-13 season which was probably the first season where I was properly properly into Fulham where I still wasn't going to away games but I was really clued up in what was going on. I would dedicate every Saturday to at least watch Fulham
00:28:59
Jack Kelly
and whereas before I was still younger enough to sort of check the result after the game sort of thing and we finished 12th which again is is fairly solid um it was a bit of a weird season where I thought that we could really push on but so certain results let us down in the end and we ended up finishing you know only seven points above the relegation zone but I never really felt we were in any relegation problems that season And then of course we we go to the 13-14 season s where he was sacked after attending my first ever away game at West Hamaway. 3-0 defeat, fans are calling the old to be sacked and I sort of... sort of joined in because I thought that was just the right way thing to do, but so he he was sacked. um I liked the Martin Yill period. It gives me good memories. um you know Clint Dempsey was on fire in that 11-12 season. In the 12-13, we had some really good players like Dimitar Berbitov come in. We started the season so well. We were top of the league after one game after beating Norwich 5-0.
00:30:00
Jack Kelly
And that was a fairly solid season. In fact, there's always a game that everyone looks back on under Martin Yeo, and that was the final game of the 12-13 season, where basically fans were feeling like he would leave at the end of the season and after maybe a fairly underwhelming end of the season. But we beat Swansea 3-0 completely against the run of play.
00:30:19
Jack Kelly
And that kept him his job. And they think a lot of film fans say that was one of our the worst wins to get um in our history because he stayed on for 13-14 where the squad was aging. and um And we saw what happened in that season as well. Martin Yeo, I've got respect for him. I liked his tenure at the club. And yeah, that's why he's high up on my list.
00:30:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, he's also number six on my list. He did a decent job at Spurs, didn't he? And he got them... We talk about Spurs now in sort of the big six. I mean, whether they they should be there or not, because they they don't really win trophies today. The last one being, I think, in 2009. But he sort of brought them up there from a team that was... mid-table lower mid-table sort of thing and so he deserves a lot of credit for that and he went he went to Fulham after Speller broadly managing Germany and Holland didn't he he finished ninth in his first season which is that they actually finished level and points with Liverpool that season on 52 and I think their record is 53 so one point off their record tally for a Premier League season of course they're going well this season they might end up beating that.
00:31:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
So, yeah, everything was looking good next season. Comfortable mid-table, finishing 12th. But as you said, they were sort of spiralling downwards really because they did manage to be swamped in the last day of the season. Prior to that, they had lost five consecutive games. um So we had been under pressure there. And then the 2013-14 season, which ultimately ended in disaster for Fulham with a relegation. He was the manager in charge for the beginning of that. Ended with six consecutive defeats.
00:31:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Fulham, the one on the weekend and against Crystal Palace, that was his last win, which of course is remembered famously for the Paitin-Kasami goal, probably Fulham's greatest ever goal in the Premier League. um But yeah, so two success, well, one very successful season managed to pursue a secure top of, another season season of mid-table mediocrity, I suppose, which you would accept. But yeah, ended, ended badly with six consecutive defeats, but overall 113 games, 39 wins, 26 draws and 48 the feats. So that is our list from 13 down to six.
Teaser for Top 5 Managers
00:32:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Some differences, a lot of similarities there. That is part one of our countdown of Fulham's Managers of the 21st Century. ah Be sure to tune in next time as we give you our five to one for our Wild Card Wednesday. We'll see you all then.