Chris Coleman is Sacked!

[Aud300]

Just saw the link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/6543541.stm

[AHCL20]

Yes the club isn't getting decent results but look at the squad at Coleman's disposal.

Boro and Villa are only 4 points ahead of Fulham, and both these clubs have splashed out on players. Fulham needed to buy some new players but all they had done (could do) was to bring in Routledge and Montella by loan deals.

Especially after they sold Malbranque and Boa Morte, there isn't really anyone to fill the gaps.

I feel sorry for Coleman. I am sure he'll do a top job elsewhere.

[ATL_Iron]

I was stunned to be honest, Coleman is a great manager and has done miracles at Fulham with the available funds.
Having said that though you can see why it was done. All they need is one "new manager" win game and they are safe

[tomwilhelm]

I completely didn't see this coming. I thought Coleman did more with less better than just about anyone... consistently... since his hiring in '03.

Please don't let this come back to haunt us. :(

[sublicon]

Sad to see him go, was shocked at this. My question is, what the hell is Sanchez going to do with the club for the next month that Coleman wouldn't be able to do? It doesn't seem like it makes sense to fire him now unless he has burned his bridge with the board. Why couldn't he finish out the season?

[Blue Eyed Soul]

Sad to see him go, was shocked at this. My question is, what the hell is Sanchez going to do with the club for the next month that Coleman wouldn't be able to do? It doesn't seem like it makes sense to fire him now unless he has burned his bridge with the board. Why couldn't he finish out the season?

I couldn't agree more. Results have been sorely lacking this year, but I think Coleman was trying to do it with mirrors and an empty wallet, and nobody squeezed more out of the talent at hand than him. You could tell he cared and he was Fulham institution. I wish him the best.

To be honest, some of the players have been atrocious. I call out Liam Rosenior, Anti Niemi (second half of the season), Zat Knight and Simon Davies specifically. They've been crap this year.

I think this move bodes poorly for the morale of the team because no matter who you bring in, he's going to have the same financial constraints to deal with. The club's platitudes about goals and dreams are nice but if you don't spend the loot you won't rise above mid-table, period.

Let's get to safety and re-organize the whole thing this summer.

Spend some money Al-Fayed!

...and Thank You, Chris Coleman.

[JayRockers!]

Coleman was one of the top ten tenured managers in English professional football. Only behind the likes of Gradi (500 years), Ferguson (20 years), Wenger (10 years) and that guy in Wales who's been at Swansea or Wrexham forever.

My guess is Cookie takes over the Wales job for a bit then comes back to the EPL to bring a Villa or a Man City into perennial Euro/Cup contention like Hughes has done at Blackburn.

Where else did he play, other than Fulham?

Thx,

Jay!

[andythemick]

I'm not a Fulham fan per se, but I still think that sacking Cookie is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen made. Fulham has had no business achieving the success that they have the past few years given the squads he's had to work with. It was inevitable that they would struggle down the stretch, since they are one of the thinnest squads in the league. This will do much more harm than good for Fulham down the road. Horrible front office move.

[OKTerrific]

I like Lawrie Sanchez, mainly because I just like Irish people. One could make the argument that the wins against England and Sweden came down to coaching. I'm interested to see how the next 5 games play out.

Let's hope the Fulham QPR derby is not renewed next year. :eek:

[Aud300]

I am not a Fulham fan but a premiership fan and watched the leauge for the last 6 seasons here in the states on FSC and my local Fox sports channel with the weekly game and the internet. Chris Coleman's sacking is be far the worse I have seen all season .. Fulham is a club with no squad, sold off all their good Mid players and only have 2 strikers who can head the ball in. Mcbride is solid and so is Helgusson but if they had a striker who could run off of them .... But that's the buss. and I hope Coleman gets antoher job in the prem because .. He has done ALOT with nothing.

[sublicon]

Furthermore, where is team morale going to go now. The players know none of this is Coleman's fault. His firing is based on their performance, their concession of goals. Relegation could be a reality this season.

[Footie4ever]

Furthermore, where is team morale going to go now. The players know none of this is Coleman's fault. His firing is based on their performance, their concession of goals. Relegation could be a reality this season.

Agreed...this is a poor decision...I wish him well! :(

[tigerdave]

If Fulham are relegated, it will be because Coleman was sacked. They could have been down but for him the last couple of years.

[OKTerrific]

If Fulham are relegated, it will be because Coleman was sacked. They could have been down but for him the last couple of years.

Are you kidding? They got to this point for a reason, and I doubt that the manager's hands are clean in this.

Where the F has Dempsey been? Why is he on the bench? Why is Montella coming off the bench on Monday at home to Manchester City? Some of the decisions he has made leave little to the imagination as to why he was sacked.

It's time for a change. Lawrie Sanchez is a winner and he will keep us up this season. Let's hope we can steal him away from the IFA. I like watching Ulster win, but Fulham is a bigger opportunity for him.

[FCfrodizzle]

Much as I love Dempsey, when he was in he didn't really show much save for a few choice tackles, but it is puzzling that he hasn't even been a late sub in the past few matches. Montella I figure we were down already, might as well give one of the top scorers ever in Italy a shot...but I'm interested to see what Sanchez can do. I just think the timing, with but a few games left, is not good for a new coach. He can't expect the boys to change tactics, routines, practices, etc. on such short notice, so I don't know what kind of different results Fayed is expecting. One can only do so much with key players injured and team morale shot to piss.

[Fulham South]

I am saddened to see Cookie go. He has done a great job with the club since taking over. Maybe it is for the best though. I would like to see what Lawrie Sanchez can accomplish with this team. Sanchez hasn't had outstanding success in English football (87-97-71 in basically 3 1/2 years at Wycombe), but he has held his on decently well and has done a great job at Northern Ireland.

Sad to see Cookie go. May he have all the success he deserves in the future (just not against Fulham)

[tigerdave]

Are you kidding? They got to this point for a reason, and I doubt that the manager's hands are clean in this.

Where the F has Dempsey been? Why is he on the bench? Why is Montella coming off the bench on Monday at home to Manchester City? Some of the decisions he has made leave little to the imagination as to why he was sacked.

It's time for a change. Lawrie Sanchez is a winner and he will keep us up this season. Let's hope we can steal him away from the IFA. I like watching Ulster win, but Fulham is a bigger opportunity for him.

His hands may not be completely clean, but if not for Coleman, Fulham might have been down two years ago, and surely would have been down last year. He managed with smoke and mirrors, and did as well as anyone could hope to in that situation. I don't think that's up for debate at all.

Selling off the likes of Saha, Boa Morte and Malbranque and replacing them inconsistent players like Montella, Routledge and Dempsey, along with the inability of anyone not named Brian McBride of Carlos Bocanegra being able to bulge the net as well as the shortcomings of the defence, have more to do with Fulham being where they are in the form table (and the overall table) than any perceived ineptitude of the manager. All of those things I mentioned come from a chairman who isn't willing to spend what it takes to get there, not a manager who got more out of a bare-bones club than would most gaffers.

Their slide down the table started with the Saha incident which precipitated his move to Old Trafford. Fulham finished ninth that season but had 31 points before his departure in the January window. They replaced him with..who? Same with Boa Morte, van der Sar and Malbranque. Take away four of your best players and replace them with cheaper players who aren't as good and you have a recipe for disaster that's not really the manager's concoction.

[OKTerrific]

How can you so that Dempsey is inconsistent when for some reason his ass has been warming the bench the entire time he's been with the club. Montella is not inconsistent. Montella is a good compliment to the scoring abilities of McBride and the playmaking and hussle of Radzinski.

I feel the talent on the club is much better than 15th, 3 points off the drop. Let's hope Lawrie can exploit the talent that Coleman seemed to forget how to do.

[tigerdave]

I feel the talent on the club is much better than 15th, 3 points off the drop.

I don't, frankly. I'm not even convinced 15th isn't flattering to them a bit, but we'll have to agree to disagree.

I understand that managers are the ones who take the fall, but I just don't think that this is Coleman's fault in just about any way, shape, or form. If any team were to sell off four of the best players to wear the shirt in a relatively quick span, they're bound to flirt with disaster. Just ask Leeds.

[kaiser kraut]

The only way to save the lockerroom is for the new coach to inspire the team to play the last few games to honor Coleman. The best gift they can give their former skipper is to stay up. `