Fulham becomes a green corner of London
August 8th, 2007, filed by Patrick Johnston
London is famed for its many international communities and it can now boast a new one (in football terms, at least) — the Northern Irish of Fulham.
While Iraqis celebrated their recent Asian Cup success in Edgware Road and fireworks were seen in Harringay when Turkey beat Greece 4-1 in Euro 2008 qualifying in March, voices of optimism are currently coming from the South West London club with the arrival of four Northern Ireland internationals.
The man responsible is Lawrie Sanchez, the country’s former manager and now Fulham boss, who after signing David Healy, Chris Baird, Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes hopes he can steer the club in the direction of European qualification and avoid another season of relegation flirtation.
The idea of signing four players from Northern Ireland four years ago, when former manager Sammy McIlroy oversaw a run of 13 matches without Northern Ireland scoring, would have brought pessimistic cries from supporters and short prices for relegation from bookmakers.
But Sanchez’s ability to gain the most from the same group of players coincided with a drastic improvement in the country’s rankings, performances and goalscoring. The reaction from the Fulham faithful has thus been a lot more positive (see this optimistic piece at There’s Only One F in Fulham for one example).
It’s obviously not a case of guaranteed success, however. Similar recruitment policies of importing players from a manager’s homeland have in the past brought mixed results.
Louis van Gaal won two league titles in his first spell in charge of Barcelona, with eight Dutchmen in the squad by the end, but coming back and trying to repeat the trick proved a mistake. When he was forced out midway through the 2002-03 season the club, with five of his compatriots on the books, Barca were in 12th place.
Gerard Houllier hardly put a foot right when he started recruiting Frenchmen at Liverpool — remember Bruno Cheyrou, Bernard Diomede, Djibril Cisse, Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama-Pongolle — and yet Arsene Wenger won the double in his first full season in charge of Arsenal, with his countrymen crucial to the success. Few Arsenal fans will have anything but happy memories of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and the rest.
So has Sanchez done a Houllier or a Wenger?
Patrick Johnston, London
August 8th, 2007 at 3:51 pm GMT
In terms of mid table comfort, I’m saying Wenger. Sanchez is a very shrewd mananger and has spent the generous bob or two he’s been given wisely. Other new signings Kamara and Bouazza should compliment the Northern Ireland boys’ steal quite well. Fulham for a top 8 finish?
August 8th, 2007 at 5:08 pm GMT
I’m not with you on Van Gaal. He was fantastic in his first spell, it was just the media were after him. Second time around it was hardly his fault: the club was going down the tubes under gaspart. and reiziger, cocu, frank de boer and even kluivert gave good service. maybe not bogarde, but there you go.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:58 pm GMT
Before Sanchez, Chris Coleman had a bit of an American fetish while at Fulham (McBride, Bocanegra, and Dempsey), which was odd considering he’s not exactly American.
Rafa Benitez does love him some Spaniards too.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:08 pm GMT
As a Fulham fan, I await the new season with interest. Splurging 25m pounds ought to guarantee safety and excite the support, but Sanchez’s purchases have failed to raise my pulse. The majority of them have not excelled at Premier League level and none have that intangible sense of class about them; a unique, exceptionally talented player who can single-handedly alter a match. Pre-season hasn’t been too encouraging and Fulham look directionless and certainly won’t be an entertaining side next season with Sanchez’s preferred long-ball tactics.
The defence remains feeble despite investment - see the goals QPR scored in the recent friendly defeat. It is the area that has cost Fulham a shot at the top ten in recent years and fans are again bracing themselves for the ‘Goals Against’ column to explode. A strong midfield is not matched by the attack: McBride is excellent but cannot, at his age, run around for 90 minutes and Kamara has a lot to prove, especially for 6m pounds. Healy looked off the pace versus QPR and Collins John has never looked Premier League quality.
We should avoid relegation, but for such a huge outlay, Fulham ought to be improving vastly on Chris Coleman’s performances - 12th-14th position - but I have little confidence in Sanchez’s managerial ability to achieve a top half climax.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:30 am GMT
Yes, if Liverpool don’t win the league this year (and let’s face it…) Rafa’s obsession with players from the Spanish league is going to cost him his job. Alonso, fine, maybe Sissoko even, but Josemi, Morientes, Nunez, Pellegrino, Auerlio, etc, etc. Bloody hell!
August 9th, 2007 at 3:52 pm GMT
Who do you think they should have signed, Matt? You’re right, 25 million is a mighty sum, and maybe they could have spent it on two players of proven class. The question is, who?