I’ve been doing a deep dive on our owner as part of research on his investment in Fulham, and in so doing came across a story about the Jaguars that could be prescient about Fulham’s future in terms of our manager and front office situation.
Did you know: at the start of 2025 Shad was forced to shake up his long-time loyal, but underachieving executive team because he wanted/needed a top-level coach and his first-choice coaching candidates refused to commit to the Jags because they didn’t want to work for incompetents?
What does this mean for Fulham? Well, I think it means we are potentially at a similar crossroads because, as the Jax saga and clear push to try and keep Marco show, the Khans will ultimately make changes to get the manager/coach they think they need to achieve their hopes and dreams.
Unfortunately, the Jaguars also show that - as Fulham fans know (from the departure of Scott Parker) - that this kind of managerial change can be pretty ugly because Shad and Tony have a habit of sticking by undeserving execs for way too long.
The Jacksonville lowdown
The crown jewel of the Khans’ sporting empire is the Jacksonville Jaguars. Shad Khan bought the Jaguars for $770m in 2011 and the NFL team is now worth $5.6bn, according to Forbes.
Incredibly, Shad has made nearly $5bn on his investment despite terrible on-field performance under his leadership. Since Khan bought the team (up until the start of last year), the Jaguars won 64 games and lost 148 times - the worst record in the NFL for that time period.
The knock on Shad is that, even though he was willing to spend money, he was too patient and unwilling to move on from his execs even when things were not working. Sound familiar?
After the 2024 season, after the team went four and 13, Khan had enough and decided to fire his coach, Doug Pederson, and get a new one to fix things. At the same time, Khan also inexplicably decided to keep on board the general manager, Trent Baalke, who had presided over all that losing.
Amazingly, fans in Jacksonville, FL (a place not exactly known for activism) couldn’t take it any more and called for Khan to fire the guy. Some even paid for an airplane banner to fly over and make the point.
The fan protest did not move the Khans. What did was the fact that the coaches they wanted to come to Jacksonville balked at working for incompetents. The two leading coach candidates, Ben Johnson and Liam Coen, refused the Khans’ overtures to join the team.
This was the straw that broke the incompetents’ back - Shad decided to fire his guy - Baalke - to get his man: Coen.
Like I said, messy. But, Fulham fans, what it shows is that the Khans really believe that coaches/managers are keys to success and are willing to get rid of the other execs - even the ones they really like - to make it happen.
The good news - for Fulham - is that following Shad’s decision to move on from Baalke, the Jags went and had a fantastic season under Coen and went 13-4 last year and made the playoffs. Shad was also lauded by the press for his hires in the new front office, which now includes a 35 year-old wunderkind (data first) general manager called James Gladstone. Shad is happy about this new direction for the Jags:
“I’ve liked pretty much everything about it,” Khan said. “The results, again, speak for themselves. What James has really brought in, which is in a way common sense – but certainly we weren’t doing it – was you look at the attributes of a football player – the speed, the weight, the height, brain power, their processing speed, how they are as a team member and are they the glue that’s going to hold the rest of that?
“That ability to anticipate that and really put it in the mix, then practicing it and you see the results … I think that’s really the X-factor on what the team as a whole, with James’ leadership, is doing.”
Clearly, right now, the Khans want to keep Marco. To do so they are going to have to take away power from Ali Mac (and improve the transfer process) to keep him. And, if Marco does move on, the kind of managers that the Khans seem likely to try and hire - cutting-edge, sought-after ones - are also likely to raise the same issues and be reluctant to join Fulham unless things change in the front office. And, Shad has seen that making this kind of move pays off.
Oh, one last thing: don’t expect Shad to move on from Tony. Working with Tony is really the main reason why Shad owns the club (and his other sporting interests) - more on that later.
But, I hope - based on what just happened in Jacksonville, that Shad will be ready to make changes (and hire around Tony) to get his man - if the managers he wants to get demand them.
Frank is a shoo-in since he didn’t have much to do with recruitment down the road.
Interesting stuff, thank you.