Thursday, March 28, 2024

Al Fayed and Hodgson show the way at Fulham

Hodgson and Al Fayed

Hodgson and Al Fayed

When all the talk in the Premier League has been about huge debts and clubs heading towards or into administration, one club doesn’t get a mention.

Awards

When people are nominating managers for awards, the likes of Ancelotti, Wenger and Ferguson are talked about but one manager doesn’t get a mention.

I am talking about Fulham and Roy Hodgson. They are something special.

When Mohammed Al Fayed took over the reins at Fulham in 1997 they were in the old second division in a run down, ramshackle old ground and in a very sorry state indeed. Things are a lot different now.

“I have great satisfaction. It’s not easy, it costs lots of money, but it’s a pleasure to see a club come up from the third division to reach this level. I’m very satisfied.”

Roy Hodgson has managed more clubs and national teams than most and seems to have been around for ever. He has had great success around the world but perhaps none more so than he has at Fulham.

There is much talk that big clubs and even England, after the world cup, will be looking to tempt Hodgson away from Craven Cottage. Al Fayed doesn’t think they will succeed.

“I don’t think he’ll leave me. I’m sure he’ll have lots of approaches from other clubs but I give him anything he wants to reach results and we have a good relationship.”

Al Fayed was talking to the BBC prior to Fulham’s Europa League semi-final last Thursday and he was full of praise for the man who has helped him begin to live his dream.

“I think it’s a great achievement for a manager who I respect immensely. He’s a maestro, the way he trains the players and makes them want to win. To build the team who have the will to win is a tremendous achievement and I’m very happy, I’m very grateful and I respect him immensely.”

Sixty-two year old Hodgson took over at Fulham at the end of 2007. He kept the club in the Premier League at the end of that season with a remarkable run of results after relegation had seemed almost inevitable. Last season, his first full season in charge, he led them to an amazing seventh place finish and European qualification.

Astonishing

This season, the league form has been decent and a mid-table finish has always been the likely outcome, and the progress made by his team in the Europa League has been astonishing.

There are many people who complain about the ‘foreign’ owners in the Premier League. The Egyptian born Harrods owner was the first of what has now become many, although he has tried very hard, without success, to be given British citizenship

Al Fayed told the BBC that he was sympathetic towards Portsmouth and the financial problems they have.

“I feel sorry for Portsmouth and I hope it is an example to others. I don’t think the Premier League and the FA are doing enough to help clubs. I always voice my complaints in meetings.”

Fulham have not achieved their rise to success without accumulating debts of their own. Since Al Fayed took over thirteen years ago, the debts have reached nearly £170 million. Almost all of that, however, is owed to Al Fayed himself.

“Ambition and common sense have to go together. It’s a problem for any foreign owner to not appreciate that they own a British football club.”

Fulham as a club and Roy Hodgson as a manager can be regarded as an example to the many others who dream of achieving what they have achieved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Graham Fisher


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