There weren't too many dissenting voices around Craven Cottage when Fulham appointed Martin Jol as manager in the summer, but a worst ever start to a Premiership season has nerves fraying a little.
For all the talk of looking to emulate the likes of Stoke and compete with teams like Newcastle and Aston Villa the honest truth is that the best QPR can probably hope for in the Premiership is to match what Fulham have done.
These two West London clubs, separated by less than three miles of expensive real estate but historically lacking the meetings to build up a really fierce rivalry, share an otherwise unique set of circumstances that make Premiership football almost impossible to maintain sustainably. Fulham have been n the top flight for ten years now and it has cost chairman Mohammed Al Fayed £196m to do that, on top of all the television money they have received in that time.
When they first shot through the leagues, cruelly sweeping aside one of the worst QPR teams of all time en route in 2000/01, Al Fayed was making grand promises about being the "Man Utd of the south" and indeed upon arrival in the Premiership he spent massive money on the likes of Steed Malbranque, Steve Marlet and Edwin van der Sarr to make them competitive. But plans for a new super stadium on the current Craven Cottage site were repeatedly turned down (Al Fayed never has had much luck with applications to authorities in this country, be they planning or passport) and they actually ended up playing at Loftus Road for two years while a cheaper, quicker fix was put into place. Craven Cottage is an odd place now, not only because of the Michael Jackson statue behind the main stand.
The lack of conferencing, banqueting, hospitality and hotel facilities means that Craven Cottage, like Loftus Road, only earns money for the club on matchdays and a capacity that only just creeps past the 20,000 mark means it doesn't make much of that - certainly not when compared to the majority of the rest of the Premiership. Everton stated again this week that they are unable to compete at this level because of their stadium, and Goodison Park is more than twice the size of both Craven Cottage and Loftus Road.
Even with the television money clubs like ours need subsidising to stay at this level. Al Fayed has happily done it to date but isn't getting any younger, Tony Fernandes seems willing to do the same for Rangers at the moment but time will tell. This summer Fulham spent £12m on Bryan Ruiz, a striker who is relatively unproven at the highest level who was previously playing in the Dutch League which isn't that much better than the pointless farce that they currently have in Scotland. That's the going rate these days, and Ruiz looked completely shell shocked by English football in his debut against Blackburn last week.
The problem for clubs like Fulham and QPR is that even with extensive subsidy it only needs one thing to go wrong and the trapdoor will start to creak. Fulham were exceptionally fortunate to stay in this league in the 2006/07 season when they replaced long serving Chris Coleman with Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez. Now Sanchez had done the best job of any manager for two decades with his country but his decision to try and move those Northern Ireland players to Fulham with him en masse looked flawed from the start - even with Sanchez as manager Northern Ireland were never particularly good. Only a miraculous rescue job, that included previously unheard of back to back away wins at Man City and Portsmouth, by Roy Hodgson saved them from what seemed like certain relegation. Hodgson, of course, went on to do a superb job with the Cottagers and led them to a Europa League final.
When he left for Liverpool Fulham turned to Mark Hughes which worked out nicely, but then this summer he walked out in something of a farce. With Aston Villa in the market for a boss and fluttering their eyelashes at Hughes he chose to take advantage of a break clause in his Fulham contract and walk away. Villa then promptly went after David Moyes instead, and then Roberto Martinez, and although they got neither the pride of both Randy Lerner and Mark Hughes meant they couldn't get back together. Hughes ended up with nothing, Villa ended up with worse than nothing, and Fulham went for Martin Jol.
The Dutchman's persona, attitude and style of football would seem to make him a perfect fit for Fulham but they have started the season very badly - picking up excellent results in the Europa League which they qualified for through the fair play league necessitating a summer of trips to the Faroe Islands and elsewhere, but failing to win any of their first six Premiership matches. It's their worst start to a top flight campaign since they returned ten years ago and even recent improved showings against Chelsea in the League Cup and Man City in the league, where they came from two down to draw, will count for little if it continues much longer.
Read the full article here - Fulham have to shake slow start quickly - opposition focus