SOCCER:MARTIN JOL'S last involvement in English football might have ended in distrust, disarray and a shambolic botched sacking but Fulham's new manager has dismissed the idea that he was attracted back to the Premier League by thoughts of scores to settle and unfinished business.
After twice leading Tottenham to fifth-place finishes Jol was sacked in October 2007, the news broken to him by text message in the middle of a Uefa Cup tie against Getafe.
Though Spurs had by then won only one of 10 league games, the club’s worst start to a season for 19 years, his replacement, Juande Ramos, had been pursued for months, and was photographed in a Spanish hotel holding discussions with Spurs’ deputy chairman that August.
“I won’t lie, I didn’t feel great at that moment,” Jol said. “But later on you go to another club. I was in Germany, and Hamburg have 55,000 season-ticket holders, not bloody 30,000, so that was a bigger club. I played in the semi-finals in Europe, and I played in the quarter-finals with Spurs, so it was even better. There’s no looking back, no hard feelings.”
A rumoured €4.5 million payout would have eased the pain caused by the manner of his departure, but Jol hinted that his chances of succeeding had been undermined by the presence of the club’s then sporting director Damien Comolli, who now occupies a similar role overseeing player recruitment at Liverpool.
Since leaving London Jol spent a single successful season at Hamburg followed by 18 months at Ajax, ending with his resignation last December. But throughout that time he has been repeatedly linked with vacancies in England, where he also spent three years as a player in the mid-80s.
Fulham finally got their man at the third attempt, having held discussions with the Dutchman, now 55, about replacing Lawrie Sanchez at the end of 2007, and Roy Hodgson last summer.
“When I left Spurs I said I was like Arnold Schwarzenegger – ‘I’ll be back’. And now I am back. It’s got nothing to do with unfinished business,” Jol said. “England is the football country in Europe, maybe in the world. That’s the only reason why you want to come back. I love the English people. Maybe that is wrong because at the end at Spurs there were a few people who were not nice to me.
“I always loved it here, and not only in London. I was even in Walsall and loved it, and that is maybe not the best of places.”
Jol’s targets will inevitably be a little lower than those which he failed to meet for his last English employer. “Here the target is to be in the league, then as high as possible in the top 10. I could never say that at Spurs,” he said.
“But last season Fulham were eighth, after having a bad start. You never know.”
His first fixture will be a Europa League qualifying tie against Runavik of the Faroe Islands, with the first leg to be played at Craven Cottage a week today. He expects to sign “four or five” players with a focus on youth. “On average we are a bit old,” he said.
Guardian Service
