The 'stache of Power

Martin Jol Out!

Much to the shock of the supporters, New owner Shadid Khan has removed Martin Jol from his position as manager. Apparently the unmoustachioed manager was removed following the dismal end to the prior campaign and Khans belief that he needed a man with new ideas. That man is me.

My plan is very very simple, to try to finish in the top half, to turn a profit, and to lower the average age of the squad. It's going to be rough, going to be tough, but frankly what else is there to do? I hope to achieve a top 4 finish withing 4 seasons. Given that the starting transfer budget is only £2 million, I have made only 2 signings during pre-season.

IN:
Oguchi Onyewu - Free
Mahamadou Diarra - Free

Out
Only young players on loan

I have also agreed the transfer of Keisuke Honda on a free transfer in January, along with the departures of Keiran Richardson for £1.3 million and Philippe Senderos for 200k.

Currently, we sit 4th in the league, it's been a great year, and I've signed my first contract renewal. No new transfers in or out for now, although some have been agreed for the start of next season with Bafétimbi Gomis and Manuel Fernandes having signed deals to join on free transfers for next season. Financially we're in the black and the board have agreed upgrades to the youth facilities.

So far I'm thrilled with the season but we're beginning to pick up injuries, which with our incredibly thin squad is going to make the second half of the season interesting indeed.

The conclusion of the season is a bit of a shocker for me, first things first, I made one more free transfer signing, Mohamed Sissoko joined during the injury crisis which left me with just two fit players, he's only played 6 games but for free he did well enough.



A great second half to the campaign too left us in a fantastic spot in the end.



Unbelievably finishing in third, I'm under no illusions about this, my team is not strong enough for the Champions League, I'm not exactly sure how we managed it, playing a very attacking formation against weaker/same strength sides while playing a defensive, counter attacking strategy against much stronger sides has paid off well.



My transfers up to this point are uninspiring but solid.

We also made a fantastic profit for the season, I'm hoping for a modest budget as the form of several players has been diabolical.

Star Performers
Scott Parker, easily the heart of the team and won the Goal of the Season award.
Hugo Rodallega, shocking I know, but his contributions were often vital, second highest scorer behing Berbatov
Fernando Amorebieta, scored 7 league goals and got our highest avg. rating

The Shake Up

Been given a healthy if not generous £8.5 million budget, allowing a lot of players to leave at the end of the season.



Pleased with the signings and departures, also promoted Ange-Freddy Plumain and Dan Burn to the first team. At the beginning of December the board gave me another £5 million to spend so I've agreed a deal to bring Craig Dawson to the club.

We made a number of backroom changes, most of the original staff were coming to end of their contracts, Andy Crosby joined as our assistant manager and Rene Meulensteen to the coaching team.

The Season So Far



Our form has been cracking right up to December, no win in the last 5 is worrying but again the squad is paper thin and injuries have taken their toll. I'm unlikely to be able to sign many players until the summer so for now the squad will stay as is.

We're still doing well financially, the board have improved the youth and training facilities and agreed further improvements at the end of the season.

So near, yet so far



Our end of season results were pretty fantastic, our exit from the FA Cup was embarassing to be honest, we were 2-1 up at half time then utterly collapsed. Bayern Munich were actually extremely lucky to knock us out of the Champions League, although we lost 2-1 away in the home leg we had a 2-0 lead at half time, in the end the refereeended the match as a contest, giving them a penalty then sending off Scotty Parker.



Finishing 3rd again was amazing, we were tied with Chelsea in first until picked up more and more injuries, I'm probably more disappointed that Chelsea won than that we didn't.

The board, as a reward for our fantastic finish gave us £20 million in the transfer pot, decided to expand the stadium and upgrade the youth and training facilities.



Delighted with some of our transfer buisness over the season, got a few more free transfersto join but other than that I think we're unlikely to be spending any more money.

Thoroughly delighted with one thing, the decision to promote Ange-Freddy Plumain to the first team, his development is fantastic and he is fast becomming first choice.


Star Performers
Bafetimbi Gomis played every single match and ended the season with 23 goals in all competitions, great free transfers.
Manuel Fernandes became a real star for us. Delighted with his contribution.
Scott Parker still the teams heart, slowing down a lot but consistent as anyone in this squad.

Great start mate. Two top 4 finishes, didn't expect that!

Yeah, it's been amazing, I think if we can pick up some results against the bigger teams we could put together a title chase for real. I want to win some trophy or other this season.

Great season mate!

Moving On Up

A whopping £20 million was put into the budget for us to secure new signings, which, along with a few free transfers should give us a squad capable of winning something this year.



Inui has been brilliant since he joined, Kalas too, even if the fans weren't too pleased with his joining. Vydra was a difficult choice for me to make, but his form last season was average and to be honest I felt the £13 million would be more useful to us.



I have every reason to be delighted with our form so far, we're currently 2nd behing Man City, trailing by 4 points, and we managed to be Man Utd Chelsea and Barcelona over the space of a few weeks.

Incoming this January are Salomón Rondón and Josip Radosevic, board gave us another £7 million, I believe Rondón will give us a striker who can bag the goals and perform the role I ideally like my forwards to play. Radosevic is an excellent prospect, if I can sell a few backup players I might be able to bring in one or two more players, but I'm starting to actually be able to afford to get picky.

He Who Bears the 'stache of Power...

Our end of season form was once again delightful and I'm pleased with most of it.



As great as those results are, there are some big disappointments in there. We were ok in the Capital One semi final at Old Trafford. United made us look like schoolboys, however, at Craven Cottage. Utterly useless, nothing we tried came off, it was in fact his performance there which led to the departure or Alessio Cersi, I had finally seen enough of the lad. Real were in the end unlucky not to run away with the tie. They were the better team by miles in both matches, our inability to create anything in the away leg meant an away goals exit, but I'm proud of how we contained them for the most part.

Still, we won the FA Cup, down to 10 men against our biggest rivals. Young Lucas Andersen slotting home the crucial goal on 15 minutes.



In the end, it was the last gasp 86th minute equiliser scored by Iago Aspas for Swansea which cost us everything, but I suppose all things have a certain balance as only Swansea and ourselves actually got 3 points against eventual champions City.



A summary of our ins and outs, pretty happy with our signings. We need to strengthen everywhere to be perfectly honest. More or less 70% of my first team are players who I would listen to offers for. Defence is really crucial for me, I want a whole new back line, we'll see who becomes available.

Proud though of two young players who I promoted to the first team, mostly for the second half of the season.
Patrick Roberts

I'm excited by this kid in real life and he did extremely well for me when I pushed him forwards, he scored the winners against West Brom and Real Madrid too.
Moussa Dembelé

I recalled this lad from his loan at Forest due to Rondon getting injured, he pushed ahead of Fletcher and Gomis, both of whom are hopefully going to attract bids after poor seasons

I was approached for the Man City job after Arsené Wenger retired. I attended the interview because I accidentally clicked the wrong tab, but to be honest I would not have wanted to leave, it did bring about some positives though. Shadid Khan, our brilliantly moustachioed owner, agreed a further, and final improvement to the youth facilities to keep me at the club, as well as adding the Build New Stadium improvement to the board screen. There's been no announcement yet, but we've finished the season with a profit once more.

Wage control is more of an issue than I hoped, but I intend to sell off some players who haven't pulled their weight this season, so fingers crossed for another amazing season.

Wow to slip away from the title and lose it on goal difference is tough but another fantastic season there chap! Well done on the FA Cup too!

The Ever Turning Wheel



I allowed a lot of players to leave during the transfer window, and got good money for most of them. I'm delighted with our transfers in, Steven Caulker was always the man I wanted as the long term replacement for Hangeland, the fans are disappointed with us bringing in Tello from Chelsea but I'm delighted with him. His early season form has been brilliant though and although hes expensive on the old wage budget I think he could help us pick up a lot of points. Hernandez is a player I'm trilled to have, he hasn't scored yet but I believe he can get us big points. The last 3 players in are youngsters with great potential, and possibly for us, a potential for big time profits.



League form is pleasing, we did well against City in the Community Shield match until Huddlestone got sent off. During pre-season I took the opportunity to experiment more than a little.

I was also appointed England manager during the off season are Sir Roy retired. I'm pleased with the opportunity to be honest, I like the look of the squad and I think we have a good chance at the 2018 world cup.



That is of course the squad as it is at the moment, I still want to bring in a lot of new players but I think I can compete for trophies with this bunch. Our new look central defence is all round better. I could have sold Hangeland during the summer but the man is a club legend and still a good enough player to be useful to us.

Thanks Dan, yeah I was delighted to pick up our first trophy. I hope to win the title this season. Seeing it slip away was gutting but City have the best squad in the League, and have only made it stronger during the summer. They spend like there is no tomorrow and I am a little envious but I think this year we can match them if we can tighten up at the back.

Developing Talent



Cracking season so far. We were knocked out of the Capital One Cup in the Quarter Final by Liverpool in a match I would describe as how not to play, sat back and got battered by them. I didn't actually try to employ the counter attacking game I usually use against stronger sides either so our lack of forward intent was embarassing. It was the same story when Man Utd ended our unbeaten start.

So far it's been the year of Lucas Andersen who has been our outstanding performer. He has 13 league goals so far and leads our assist stats. Plumain, Roberts and Dembele are all improving rapidly, and have had great years so far.

No Transfer Window

We brought precisely nobody in, we've lost money hand over fist this season so far so even with the board making more transfer funds available I decided to spend nothing. I wanted to sell a few players but no approach was made for them, except Gregory Van Der Wiel who has left on loan, Nedem Halilovic has developed well and has been trusted as our back up right full back.

We need to have a good season and a decent run in the Champions League if we're going to turn a profit this year. We're first and 9 points clear in the League but Man Utd have 2 games in hand so no slacking off for my boys.

COME ON YOU WHITES!!!! Fantastic so far.

Great form your in pal!

No Time For Losers



Because we are the Champions of the League! With another fantastic run of results we clinched our first ever Premier League trophy! It's been a wonderful season, and I'm very proud of this group of lads.



We also retained the FA Cup this year and still have a Champions League final to look forward to. Signing Steven Caulker was genius, he made the team of the year and was immense for us in defence. Lucas Andersen has matured into a fantastic player, our superstar in fact.



Truly deserved, he was excellent from start to finish, I turned down a £20 million bid for him from Man Utd during January and to be honest I think unless he asks to leave I will be selling only for a massive bid.

Champions!!!!

It Ain't What You Do...



It's the way that you do it. When we let them back into the match I was genuinely worried we were going to throw it all away, but we did it! 4-1 on penalties in the end. Our boys handled the pressure very very well. I'm not sure if the squad were, what I would call, the strongest in the competition but it was amazing. I can hardly wait for the start of next season.

Star Performers
Lucas Andersen - As stated before, he was amazing for us all season. Been given a bumper new contract and hopefully he's happy to stay.
Steven Caulker - My best signing this season, he leads the line amazingly well and is the man I aim to build my defence around.
Patrick Roberts - Mr Inconsistent if I'm completely honest, but on his day he's one of the best players in this squad and has a bright future ahead of him.

brilliant mate! Pure brilliance! Great to see you win the league and claim the champions league!

Thanks, it was a fantastic season, going to be hard to build on that but I remain optimistic about the future.

We Build, and Build Again



To my crushing disappointment, Man Utd matched Salomon Rondons release clause, in spite of me offering him a massive new deal he chose to join them. I was hoping he would stay, and wish he had even more since he's also bagged 9 goals in his first 3 matches for them. I had to sell Juan Jesus after he refused to sign a new deal, it wasn't something I was happy about but he was moaning on about wanting a new contract and then refusing to sign one without a ridiculous wage. Hernandez was an acceptable loss, a return of just 11 goals in 40+ matches was not good enough and to be honest I was paying him to much to sit on the bench.

I'm delighted to bring Ben Davies and Romangnoli to our squad, they make our defensive unit stronger on the whole, Yann M'Villa and Yassine Benzia add to the impressive collection of free transfers I've brought in, I'm thrilled with both, Benzia I signed on the Beta when I was playing with a few different systems and I know how good he could become. Butland is less impressive this time around than he was on FM13 but I'm pretty pleased, he came in cheeply and still has room to grow. I hadn't planned on selling Stekelenburg until Real Madrid bid for him and I rejected, causing him to ask to leave.



Our early matches are good results, United were miles better than us in that match, only the brilliance of Andersen had kept us in that one for as long as we were. Against Liverpool we were shocking until they got a man sent off. Wolves should have been long done before grabbing 2 late on, but if we can win when we're playing badly then hopefully we will turn in better performances later on.

The squad is somewhat bigger than I would've had it before, in some ways I'm happy with that, our overall squad should cope well with injuries, but our wage budget is almost exhausted and we're going to have to do well again to keep ourselves in the black. Having said that, I do hope to do ourselves proud again this year.

Extremely impressive season so far, results wise at least. Performances on the otherhand have been a bit fo a mixed bag. Benzia leads the League in goals but most of his performances up to December had been poor. Coming into January though and it seems he's getting comfortable here. Ben Davies has been much better than expected as well.



January saw only promising Goalie Dave Woodley join but did also see the departures of a couple of players. Manuel Fernandes was a player I was sad to see go but who has only player 5 times this season. Radosevic was good this season but the bid was a good one and to be honest he's been kept out of the squad for long periods.

The club is doing well enough, we tread the water between stable and rich every season, and make small improvements year on year. We now have a top notch youth set up including recruitment and coaching, and very good training facilities which are due another upgrade. I felt this was the wisest course for investment as we still struggle to compete on the transfer market. When we can afford players their wages are often outside a structure I feel the club can accept. We are working on a new stadium but it is currently planned for being finished in 2020, and thats if there are no delays.

End of season fixtures were once again brilliant, sad to lose out in the F.A. Cup, but we did a fantastic job, and the Champions League final has an all too familiar look to it. I can't believe we are back in the final, I honestly believed we had throw it away against both Spurs and Man Utd in the second legs but we held on.



We were brilliant in the end and retained the title comfortably. Our results against the big clubs have improved dramatically but I think it's going to be even harder next season. Benzia finished second highest goal scorer in the League and in spite of very up and down performances he's great at tucking away the chances.

Incredible! Even more amazing than winning last year was retaining it this year. We were lucky, Kompany getting sent off so early was a stroke of luck to be honest. They were at times still the better side, Plumain got the winner but even that was against the run of play. While I'm delighted to win it, I realise that with 11 men, Man City would've won that match in my opinion.

Star Performers
Yassine Benzia - Up and down from one match to the next, but he knows where the goal is.
Steven Caulker - He is the leader of our defence and he's quality.
Bruno Fernandes - Great signing, he's a great creative outlet and has rarely had a bad game.

Moving On...

The club has officially announced plans for the new Fulham Stadium, it will be officially become our home in June 2020. Undersoil heating and a capacity of 61,514. It's a massive announcement. The club have taken out a loan to make it possible which is going to make turning a profit even harder still. I'm delighted with the new stadium of course, it's just gonna be a tough journey to it.

Players are beginning to ask for very expensive contracts, understandably, but until we move to the new ground I'm not convinced we can support that, sadly that means bids for our players will have to be taken seriously, I won't sell anyone I can't replace with equal quality or better players unless the bid is truly massive.

Two Seasons in a row an unavoidable loss of our top scorer has happened. PSG bid £40 million for Yassine Benzia and it matched his release clause. It was unfortunate but to be honest, even if I could've refused it I would probably not have. It's a lot of money and hopefully I can find a replacement but if not Ongenda and Dembele are going to have to step up although to be honest I think they're both capable of doing better.

Good news the stadium pal, well will be when you move in!

Yes mate, I'm thrilled with it, it should turn us into a real world force as I'll be able to actually afford to keep our best players. The board have been ambitious with the new ground too I think which is exciting for me.

Sign of the times



Impressive transfer window profits, some players I was sad to see the back of, I had high hopes for Sovik but we have lots of clauses on that deal which should earn us even more in profits. Benzia I was extremely sad to say bye to. However, Higuain is 30 but is also still quality, same with Ozil except he's 29 of course. I'm delighted with these 2 as they are truly world class and proper stars on the world scene. They definitely show how much we've grown as a club.



Great opening few games for the season, Higuain has bagged 4 goals so far, Ozil has been a little disappointing but I think if I get him set up right he will win us games alone.