If Fulham have bought success, Tigana was the most important acquisition.
At the
start of this season, when Jean Tigana, the new manager of Fulham, expounded his
“philosophy” of the game, some wondered how that credo of passing football would
stand up to the rigours of a first division campaign and what his side, expected
to be fortified immediately with several expensive signings from overseas, would
make of a cold night at Tranmere.
With Fulham poised to claim the Nationwide League championship today, and the
record points total in the first division of 105 in sight, we have our answer.
By the way, eight of the players on the pitch at Huddersfield, as promotion was
clinched on Saturday, were already at Craven Cottage when he arrived — seven of
them British — and Fulham won 4-1 at Tranmere on a Friday night.
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Jean Tigana
to win the Division One Championship at the first attempt |
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Tigana, the former France midfield player and manager of AS Monaco, lacked
experience of the second level of English football, but he has been anything
but naive. He had seen that Charlton Athletic and Ipswich Town had succeeded
by playing the way he wanted to, and almost all his decisions have proved correct.
Geoff Horsfield, imagined by many to be the type of bustling forward required
for promotion, was transferred to Birmingham City, while Barry Hayles, expected
to be surplus to requirements, has thrived, as have other players previously
regarded as journeymen.
The few foreign imports have included Louis Saha, anonymous at Newcastle United,
signed from FC Metz for £2.1 million and arguably the best forward in the division,
alongside Luis Boa Morte, promising but unfulfilled at both Arsenal and Southampton.
Tigana has also promoted young players such as Sean Davis, whose ability in the
holding position has allowed Lee Clark to attack from midfield with such purpose.
Problems have been overcome. Fabrice Fernandes was shown the door when he failed
to respect the team ethic, and the side have coped with the absence of Chris
Coleman, the influential captain, who suffered career-threatening injuries in
a car crash.
Tigana has built his success on the training ground, changing the regimes familiar
to British professionals by starting sessions at 6.30am in pre-season, and ending
at six o’clock in the evening. Alcohol is out and good diet is in.
“Maybe at the end of the season we’ll have a few halves,” Clark said. “We believed
we had the players to cope with anything. We showed that on Wednesday at Blackburn
(when Fulham beat their nearest rivals 2-1, despite being reduced to ten men).
The critics thought we couldn’t do it under pressure, but we’ve shown we can
battle.”
Given that the chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, is one of the richest men in the
country, it will be said that Fulham have bought success, but plenty of managers
have spent more for less return; Tigana, after a recommendation from Eric Cantona,
was the most important acquisition. Even so, although Liverpool required extra
time to eliminate Fulham from the Worthington Cup and only a late goal by Manchester
United knocked them out of the FA Cup, the squad will need strengthening for
the Premiership.
New signings such as Gary Speed, of Newcastle, and Jan Koller, the Czech Republic
forward, are reported to be on their way, with more arrivals anticipated. William
Hill have already offered a price of 25-1 on the club to win the Premiership
title next season — not bad for a team who, five years ago, were sixteenth in
the third division after a 2-2 draw away to Colchester United.
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Fulham's
new 30,000 seater stadium |
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If there is a downside to this season for the club, it is that home crowds
have been unspectacular, but full houses can be expected next season, when Craven
Cottage brings terracing back to the Premiership. About £70 million is to be
spent on redeveloping the ground, after winning final planning approval last
month,which will require a groundsharing arrangement the season after next.
At the present rate of progress, the New Den or Loftus Road, or wherever Fulham
end up, could be staging European football.