Yesterday Kit Symons was the next manager in the Championship to lose his job. Therefore, there is a managerial vacancy available at Craven Cottage and it will no doubt be a popular job in terms of CV’s being sent to the football club. We are focusing on the names currently in the running to become the next Fulham manager.
Slavisa Jokanovic
The current Maccabi Tel Aviv manager is currently in the Champions League with the Israeli champions, although they are pointless and look nailed on to finish bottom of the group. This man is the current favourite to replace Symons, and does have experience of gaining promotion from the Championship. We only have to rewind a couple of months to May, as the former Yugoslavia international guided Watford back to the Premier League. Only a breakdown in contract negotiations saw him depart Vicarage Road. He also enjoyed a highly successful period in charge of Serbian giants Partizan Belgrade, winning the league and cup double for two seasons running. He is a realistic option and it wouldn’t be the greatest shock to see him return to the capital.
Steve Bruce
It is very, very interesting to see that Bruce is the second favourite in the betting for this job. There is nothing to necessarily suggest that he would want to leave Hull City at this moment in time, especially given their lofty league standing in the Championship. Perhaps the lure of a fairly large transfer kitty could be enticing to him? He is another with experience of success at this level, three times gaining promotion to the Premier League, once with Hull and twice with Birmingham City. He has previously managed in the London area with Crystal Palace but it is still a slight surprise to see him linked with this role. Perhaps he could be appealed to the ‘project’. Nevertheless, it is worth keeping an eye on this link.
Nigel Pearson
The former Leicester City boss is also supposedly being linked with the vacant job at Queens Park Rangers, so there could be something of a tug-of-war for the outspoken manager. There is something of a theme surrounding the names linked with this role, as Pearson also has success in gaining promotion out of this league. The Fulham owner hasn’t hid from the fact that he expects the play-off’s at a minimum this season. It would be fair to say that former centre back Pearson made a fairly slow start to management, never really settling down for too long. It was only between 2008 and 2010, during his first spell with Leicester where he enjoyed a degree of comfort and solidarity. He could be the type of man Fulham need to galvanise them and get them pulling back in the right direction. He is also without a club, so it would just be a case of convincing him.
Alan Curbishley
This man’s name often appears in the running for practically every managerial vacancy going nowadays, however there could be some serious substance to this link. The former Charlton stalwart currently works at Craven Cottage on their coaching staff, although he was mainly employed to provide guidance to Kit Symons. With Symons now out of the picture, Curbishley today has took Fulham training and he’ll be very familiar with the players. He has however been out of management since leaving West Ham United way back in 2008. But, you guessed it, he too has success at this level, twice guiding Charlton out of the second tier, once as champions and the other during that famous play-off final against Sunderland. It is probably fairly unlikely that he will take over, but his name has to at least be in the running. He is essentially the unofficial caretaker manager at this moment in time.
