Three weeks with no Fulham leaves a lot of time to both ponder on the current climate of the club but also reminisce on the good and bad times that we’ve all had to endure. During Fulham’s time in the Premier League, we’ve had 13 managers take charge at the Cottage.
As you may expect, it’s a pretty mixed bag. So in an attempt to help count down the days until we kick-off again at Portman Road, I’m going to stick my neck out and rank all 13. I’m sure that nobody will disagree with this!
Not ranked: Alvaro Arbeloa
I’m going to refrain from putting AA on this list. He’s been in charge of five Premier League games and I won’t bore you to death (for the third time during this break) of how he’s fared in those opening five. As I’ve alluded to previously, it feels like a monumental October for the Spaniard. If he doesn’t hit the ground running, he’s got a slim chance of making it any higher!
12. Felix Magath
Boy oh boy, where do we start with Magath? Hired into a sinking ship in February 2014 after a departing Rene Muelensteen (we’ll get to him), Magath’s job was simple: keep Fulham in the Premier League. What followed was calamitous to say the least. Before joining, Magath was known as a bit of a mad man. His unorthodox coaching style certainly ruffled a few feathers at Motspur Park.
Following a defeat, Magath made the team come in on a day off and stand in their 4-4-2 shape for 45 minutes with no ball. He quoted “You didn’t run yesterday, so you don’t run today” and of course who could forget “cheesegate”. Brede Hangeland had injured his thigh and Magath told the Norwegian to rub alcohol-soaked cheese into it… and call his mum. The idea was that the body would release a chemical close to love when on the phone which helps the cheese work on his thigh – mental!
In news surprising to nobody, this didn’t work out. Fulham were relegated under the German and won none of their opening seven the season after in the Championship. A 5-3 defeat at Nottingham Forest was the final nail in the coffin and Magath was sacked.
11. Lawrie Sanchez
It’s not getting any better just yet. Sanchez came in for Chris Coleman in April 2007 after a poor run of form under the Welshman. Sanchez somewhat steadied the ship with a 1-0 win against Liverpool the most notable result of his tenure. That being said, Fulham were an absolute mess under Sanchez and in his 21 games, Fulham won just three. His spell was poor, but Sanchez was responsible for bringing in a few players we ended up being pretty decent - Aaron Hughes, Chris Baird and Danny Murphy among them.
10. Rene Meulensteen
The second of our three managers in the 2013-14 relegation campaign. Meulensteen came in for Martin Jol in December 2013 in a move as baffling now as it was back then. Fulham won just three of their 13 games under Meulensteen with a 6-0 defeat at Hull City the most infamous. His Manchester United links did come in handy; we signed… Larnell Cole (and Ryan Tunnicliffe to be fair).
9. Claudio Ranieri
We’ve really had some characters over the years haven’t we? Ranieri replaced Slavisa Jokanovic in November 2018 and similarly to the rest of these, he failed to deliver. Fulham won just three of 16 in the league. We also lost 2-1 to Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup, scored all three in a 2-1 defeat to Burnley, signed Lazar Markovic and a 2-0 defeat at St Marys alongside a more than sour reception when he subbed off Tom Cairney was the cherry on the cake.
8. Scott Parker
To be fair to Scott, he did get us promoted from the Championship and as a result is almost in the top half! Parker replaced Ranieri in February 2019 and despite being unable to keep Fulham up, wins against Everton, Bournemouth and Cardiff gave him the full time job the following year.
As mentioned, Parker did get us up with Fulham not losing in their final seven after football resumed and of course how could we forget that 2-1 win over Brentford (arise Sir Joe Bryan). As you all will know by now though, we were hopeless the season after. One win in our final 12 games that season, 11 games on the spin without a win from December-February and the lowest number of goals scored at home by any team ever in the Premier League.
7. Slavisa Jokanovic
It truly breaks my heart to put Slav this low down on a list of Fulham managers. But if we’re going off the Premier League, even this is probably too high. I just can’t shake the nostalgia of that 23 unbeaten team. Mitro up top, McDonald, Stef Jo and TC. Even further back with that Kebano, Ayite, Aluko front three. Pure cinema.
But we’re here to talk about the Premier League, Slav’s Fulham spent £100m in the summer we came up (although we’re still unsure just how much say he had!) but like the aforementioned names, Slav also failed to deliver. Just one win in the opening 12, defeats included 5-1 against Arsenal, 4-2 against Cardiff, 3-0 against Bournemouth and a damning 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield on a Monday night was truly the lowest of the low.
I still believe that if we’d beaten Brighton at the Amex on that August day, we’d have probably done a bit better under Slav. Alas, still a Fulham icon.
6. Mark Hughes
The less said about Mark Hughes the better. He took over in 2010 after Roy Hodgson departed for Liverpool. To be fair, we actually did alright in his year at the club. Fulham finished in the top-half despite drawing 16 times that season.
Fulham were also very “un-Fulham” that year, only losing seven games away from home. Fulham and Hughes also qualified for Europe through the UEFA Fair Play Ranking (remember that!) but the Welshman left that summer claiming he was more ambitious. Hughes left Carlisle in the summer following a defeat to Boreham Wood in the National League Play-Off Semi-Final.
5. Martin Jol
The Dutchman took over from Mark Hughes in the summer of 2011 and led Fulham to another top-half finish in that first year with a more-than-respectable 52 points. Although our actions at home to Odense in that Europa League Group Stage match have left a much longer lasting impression. Fulham picked up after that European dismay losing two of their last eight including a 1-0 win away at Anfield.
The second season was not so great. The club were slowly sleepwalking to relegation and despite finishing 13th we were only four points off the drop. Fulham won just one of their final 8 that year, with that win coming on the final day away at Swansea. I do wonder if we’d have lost that game, would he have lasted the summer? Fulham won three of the opening 13 the season after and Jol was sacked in December 2013.
4. Chris Coleman
Cookie took over from Jean Tigana in April 2003 and steered the club away from danger with three wins from five games including a point away at Chelsea. We started the 2003-04 season well, losing just two of the opening 10 and ended the year in ninth. Things slowly began to unravel for Fulham and Coleman though as top players were pinched by those above us. Steady 13th and 12th-placed finishes followed, and Coleman was eventually sacked in April 2007 following one win from 15 games.
3. Jean Tigana
I, like many others, love Jean Tigana. The personification of Fulham in those early 2000s. Tigana got Fulham promoted in his first season at Fulham with a whopping 101 points. What followed was a venture into the unknown, which saw Fulham swim rather than sink. The Whites finished 13th in their first season but Tigana also brought the club an FA Cup semi-final, the Intertoto Cup and a crack at the UEFA Cup during his time at Fulham.
Although he departed in April 2003 after three defeats on the spin, that’s all in the past. Whenever Tigana comes back to Fulham, he’s welcomed in open arms. As he should be.
2. Marco Silva
Silva, like Tigana, brought Fulham up to the top flight, but unlike his French counterpart, Marco couldn’t get Fulham into Europe. But he did bring an era of stability and competitiveness.
Silva took over the reins of a club in disarray following another relegation to the Championship. But what followed was one of Fulham’s greatest years. HMS Piss the League was in full force. 106 goals scored, three 7-0 wins and we managed to score four times or more on 11 occasions.
Fulham romped the league and were rightfully back where they belonged. The outside noise of a yo-yo club meant nothing to Silva who guided Fulham to a top-half finish at the first time of asking. Fulham went on to break their points record, knock on the door for Europe, reach a first ever Carabao Cup semi-final and reach two FA Cup quarter finals (including that dreaded day at Old Trafford).
We may have never got over the line, but Silva and co delivered Fulham some wonderful memories and led the club to Premier League stability, something a lot on this list failed to achieve.
1. Roy Hodgson
It had to be, didn’t it? But as we know, it wasn’t plain sailing to begin with. Fulham looked doomed for the drop and Hodgson’s side won just two of his opening 13. Things clicked on the home straight though. That infamous 3-2 win away at Manchester City, the 2-0 win at home to Birmingham and Danny Murphy’s Fratton Park header saw Fulham scratch and claw their way out of the drop.
What followed was nothing short of remarkable. At the time our highest ever points tally saw Fulham finish in eighth and reach the promise land of the UEFA Europa League. What we thought was the peak was just the beginning.
Memorable nights against Shakhtar, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg saw Fulham reach the 2010 Europa League final. That damned deflected Forlan dagger still lives rent free in my head. I am still convinced if it went to penalties, we’d have won.
Fulham’s league form dropped that year but honestly who cares? We finished the year in 12th before Hodgson departed for the Liverpool job. It may not have gone well for him there or at England, but Hodgson is and will always be a Fulham legend. If anyone is going to top him, I for one cannot wait.