Does a summer of consistency equal success?
We may have the same squad as last season going into our opening game, but that's no bad thing.
As pre-season draws to a close, fans have bemoaned the lack of transfer activity. Sections of the fanbase want to see a player who could transform the club into a European competitor, but it might be worth arguing that we already have a team capable of moving the needle. Alex Howell’s recent piece for BBC Sport backs up this theory on transfer policy.
Playing devil’s advocate is a running theme in this article. I’ll start by saying Liverpool won the league after making just one signing last year - Federico Chiesa as back-up for Mohammed Salah. Liverpool have experienced wholesale change this summer and just lost in the Community Shield to a Crystal Palace side who remain identical to the team that captured its first piece of major silverware last term.
Lots of clubs have had major transitional summers. Managers have moved on, and players have flocked to the ‘top six’ clubs attempting to write off last season as a blip. Fulham are fortunate to have experienced some consistency.
A scan of the horizon shows that Marco Silva’s contract is entering its final year. That shouldn’t impact the club this early on in 2025/26, but there will be plenty of musings concerning his future in the months ahead.
So as this season approaches, it’s important to look at the owners and examine how they’ve steered the club to this point. Certain fans feel the board has not always represented interests of the proverbial ‘everyfan’. However, the board and the club staff, from chairman to kitman, have all invested their livelihoods into this club. Some fans might see the club as a hobby that is deeply integrated within their psyche. But the fact is, come matchday, the tangible impact on fans’ material life is smaller than those who work at the club directly.
When we care about the club in a purely emotional way, our thinking can lack clarity. For example, it would be easy to say that Josh King deserves 15 starts next season; we all know we need him to grow. But ultimately his involvement will depend on the form of others and his actual performances. What if Emile Smith Rowe scores five in five?
Similarly, it would be easy to make the decision to offer Marco another three-year deal with the club. He has steered us to some of the most successful Premier League years in the club’s history. However, offering that kind of contract to Marco might displease him given the interest he has in managing at a higher level, or even because he wants four years with an option on a fifth.
Promises given are always remembered. Negotiations are held on a knife edge. Managing intricacies and delicate issues in a game full of raw emotion is challenging. Being able to manage those conversations is what separates us fans from the board and management.
Marco Silva himself may have wanted to reduce fan access in the pre-season tour to ensure maximum focus for each player. For all we know, we as fans could be a distraction from player instructions and building communication. Explanations of processes behind decision making are practically trade secrets in the footballing world.
Lots of fans are also divided around the re-branding of the Fulham Pier, which is new to the community. However, I have been bowled over by the upgrade. Some of that money is going back into the club. It puts Fulham FC firmly on the map to the non-footballing world, who are likely to visit regularly. It is fair to say that this stand is a sign of one thing: club growth.
When Peter Rutzler joined the Fulhamish podcast last year for his season’s predictions, his big prediction was that Fulham would be up for sale at some point in the following 12 months. This has turned out to be wrong, but Peter witnessed the club grow into a Premier League regular with a world-class stand. There have been some bumps in the road, and when the club was relegated, it was a steep learning curve for the Khan ownership. Nevertheless, learn they have.
The introduction of squad cost ratio (SCR), and an independent regulator will be a big part of how clubs are run in the future. But for now, we must accept that in the absence of an ownership that has genuine ground root connections to the club, the Khan’s have rolled Fulham to a place where footballing success is achievable.
As we enter the new season, we should be binding together for what promises to be an era-defining season. Marco will want to finish with a flourish if this is to be his final year. Emile Smith Rowe will have targets to prove sections of the fanbase wrong. Josh King will want to show everyone what the hype is about. Alex Iwobi wants to continue wheeling out his celebratory dances. And lastly, the Khans will want to see a return on their investment. There is no reason why we can’t all sing from the same hymn sheet.
When looking for signs of togetherness, don’t look up at the board and the executives, look to the pitch. That’s where the board and the executives look to guide their decision making. Even though our two paddocks are examining the proceedings through different lenses, each paddock can still want the same result.
I think you make some good points but….there is also evidence of deep incompetence on the part of Alistair Mackintosh. The club - under his leadership - has failed at basic things like communicating with the fanbase about pre-season friendlies or ticket prices (and managing the subquent crises created). This is not atypical - we’ve seen this kind of boneheadness over the past several years. Now, we see him mis-managing things with Silva where the club places a story (we don’t plan to make any moves) directly at odds with the publicly stated hopes of the manager they seem to want to keep and thereby humiliating him in the press (for reasons that are unclear but likely not very smart - burnishing TK’s rep, trying to fool trading partners?). It’s entirely possible that AM did this because he wants Silva out (because he is more concerned with consolidating his power than with pushing the club forward). This after continually failing to deliver earlier signings (or communicating with Silva about the club’s approach) when the manager has called publicly for earlier signings over multiple seasons. And the real kicker was the mismanagement of the Riverside Stand end (both with the vendor picked and the follow through) which has created huge financial challenges for the club and limited the budget for transfers (and created pressure for higher ticket prices). I think we may now lose Silva and have to play a season with a lame duck manager (who is the main reason why the players we have are here) because of AM’s incompetence. The only thing that AM seems to be good at, unfortunately, is convincing the Khans that he’s good at his job (so he gets to keep it). I hope, when Silva leaves, the Khans realize that he is not and also kick AM to the curb.
A great thing about Fulhamish - passionate people still capable of rational, reasoned thinking, and willing to say it out loud. Yes it's frustrating we haven't signed more/earlier, but this is the best full squad we've ever had. They are working for a manager who, if not our best ever, is in our top two. We are finally keeping our best academy players and signing them long term. We have a new stand that can make money 365 days a year, not just the 20 to 25 when we have home game. (And we should only really care about the Riverside on match days.) More than that it shows we won't have the ground sold from under us and end up watching games at Loftus Road again. The money the Khan's have invested in the facilities at Motspur Park have tranformed it - meaning we can attract and keep better players and bring more through the youth system. I know we all love a good moan, but let's save that for the important things: season ticket prices, the Hammersmith bogs, Andreas on free kicks and corners. These could be the best of times. (But it's Fulham, so I'm also ready for the worst.)