Fulham's pursuit of Martin Jol continues
Fulham surprised one and all last season by making it to the final of UEFA Europa League, even though they lost to Atletico Madrid in the final. The journey to the final was still quite astonishing as they beat big European names on the way and earned the respect of many.
Nonetheless, for a mediocre club like Fulham such success does come at a price. Either players who make an impression are taken away by big clubs or the manager gets a call from a reputable club.
That is exactly what happened; their manager Roy Hodgson was later signed by Liverpool and now they are looking for a man good enough to continue the good work started by Roy. The search though is proving more difficult than they thought.
Fulham have been pursuing former Spurs manager Martin Jol but the chase continues to frustrate the cottagers. Jol is currently with the Dutch club Ajax and they are not making things any easy. Ajax is not agreeing to have talks regarding the compensation fee to let go off their manager.
There have been conflicting reports coming out of Holland; it is believed that Jol made a complete U-turn on his stance of wanting to stay in Holland. Still Ajax is determined to keep their man and is not willing to negotiate openly with Fulham.
Alistair Mackintosh, the Chief Executive of Fulham, is currently in Amsterdam to discuss the matter with Ajax, but he has not been able to make any headway in the process as Ajax remains unwilling to discuss the matter.
Jol still has 2 years left on his contract, and if Fulham are to avail his services they will have to pay compensation fee to Ajax.
Earlier there were reports in Dutch media that Jol has committed to Ajax, and said if they fulfil his financial requirements during the transfer window he will stay.
A news paper in Amsterdam quoted Jol by saying that even though he knows Fulham want him badly he will like to stay at Ajax.
Jol was believed to have been having some problems with Ajax board, who had told him that he would not have funds available for transfers until Luis Suarez and Van der Weil were sold.
Reportedly Jol was also not happy by the sale of Marko Pantelic and Dennis Rommedahl, whom he wanted to keep. These problems were believed to be the reason Jol was willing to make the switch.
Later the 53 year old held talks with Ajax board and was assured of financial backing. Jol was told that he would be allowed to bring in a right back at a low price, but still big money would be made available only once Suarez and Van der Wiel were sold.
Fulham though still remain hopeful that they will get their man. Fulham fans who have been somewhat spoiled by the extraordinary performance of the team last season, expect a lot more this time round. The fans will not settle for anyone less than the credential of Jol or someone else who can carry forward the momentum achieved last season.
Martin Jol seems to fit the profile; he has had great amount of experience in English football having spent 3 seasons with Tottenham hotspurs and did enjoy some good success with the London club. Also the fact that he was managing a club in London means he does understand the culture and demands of a London club.
His best season with Spurs was in 2006 he got them on the verge of Champions’ League qualification. Spurs lost to another London club West Ham in the final game of the season and finished 5th.
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