Martin Jol Confirmed As Fulham Manager

Fulham have today confirmed that Martin Jol has decided to take over from Mark Hughes who resigned from Craven Cottage last week,  The former Tottenham and Ajax boss joins Fulham on an initial two-year contract, with the option to extend it for a further year.

The Dutchman was keen to take the job he was offered last summer after Roy Hodgson’s departure, but Jol decided to stay on at Ajax, but Fulham has finally got their man.

Martin Jol said: "I am very happy to join Fulham. It is a club with good, solid foundations and a great fan base.
"I am looking forward to being part of the Fulham family and thank the chairman for the trust shown in me."

John Carew hits out at manager

Norwegian striker John Carew has hit out at his manager Gerald Houllier after the manager labelled him 'stupid', Carew who is out of contract at the end of the season and took offence to his manager's comments by speaking about contract talks via the media suggested he will delay the decision on announcing where his future lies . John Carew missed yesterday's game through a calf injury,

"If he wants me to fight for a contract, he should speak to me directly and not through the media," Carew said.

"This is disrespectful to me and to the fans who sing my name week in week out."

Houllier commenting after yesterday's dismal draw with Fulham yesterday at Craven Cottage, "I think he is stupid," he said,

"How can he say that? I didn't lack respect to him or anybody.

"Somebody asked me if it was a good chance for him and I said yes. What do you want me to say? No?
"I think John is living in the past at the moment.

"He should look at the figures, how long has he played and how many goals have we scored when he has been playing.

"I didn't lack respect to him but in doing that, he is lacking respect to me.

"I don't question his ability. I am not living in the past. We have been very unlucky with him with injury and illness. I know his ability.

"If he thinks that me saying yes is lacking respect, then I am not going to say sorry.

"I feel he should focus on the games, we are in difficulty at the moment. We don't get enough points."

Mark Schwarzer to leave Fulham

Arsenal need for a goalkeeper has spurned Fulham goalkeeper into confirming that he wants a move away from Craven Cottage, Mark Schwarzer was a summer target for Arsenal and the new Fulham boss Mark Hughes dug his heels in to keep hold of the Australian stopper. But now Schwarzer has come out publicly expressing his desire to leave the West London club owned by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed.

“A lot can happen between now and January. What will be, will be,” said Schwarzer.

“If there's an opportunity in January, then we'll explore it.

“This is the only time in my career I have ever tried to force an issue. I don't have time on my side. If you were a 30-year-old you would walk away and say 'fair enough, I understand'.

“But I'm almost 38 and I want to fulfil an ambition. The sheer opportunity that was there. That was very flattering, but sometimes you've just got to grin and bear it and just get on with normal life again as much as possible.”

Fulham Boss Keen to Sign Bellamy

Fulham Manager Mark Hughes has confirmed his interest in signing Wales and Manchester City forward Craig Bellamy. Hughes originally signed the Welshman while in charge at Manchester City and the 31-year-old has been left out of City's squad for next week's Europa League clash against Timisoara and is expected to leave Eastlands.

With both Celtic and Fulham announcing an interest in getting the Welshman's signature, it looks likely that Bellamy will re-join up with Mark Hughes.

"If he comes on the market, and if we're in the position where we can conclude a deal for Craig Bellamy, then yes we would be very interested.

"It seems that Manchester City won't be using Craig at Premier League level, so from his point of view it is very important that he makes the right decision for his career.

"A wrong decision at this point in time could hurt him, so I wish him well in what decision he takes."

FOOTBALL: Mark Hughes up beat on Fulham's future

Mark Hughes was today officially unveiled as the new Fulham manager, Mark is taking over after Roy Hodgson had jumped ship to Liverpool. Hodgson was offered anything he wanted by Fulham chairman Mohammed Al-Fayed in a bid to keep his then manager. But Roy decided to take the Liverpool offer and now the Cottagers new manager has said he will take Fulham further than Roy did. Hodgson managed to guide Fulham to Europa League final last year and finishing 12th in the Premiership.

Mark Hughes added, “We want to make Fulham a top 10 club on a regular basis and we want to build on what happened last season rather than it becoming just a stand-out season,” he said. “We don't have the distraction of European football and can concentrate our minds. With the quality I have already seen then I can say we can finish better than 12th.

“The job Roy has done was magnificent. He maximised the results with the group he had. I don't think it is a situation where my abilities won't enable them to do disimilar things to what Roy did. The way I work will be benefitted by the system that is already in place.”