The situation with Martin Jol had an extremely bad ending today. Martin Jol has decided to stay at Ajax and not become the next Fulham manager. I wrote a post about this earlier based upon a story from the Daily Mail. I have a feeling that Martin Jol might regret the lost opportunity of becoming Fulham manager.
In fact, he might already be wishing that he had the opportunity to become Fulham manager. If you have a chance please check out this Sky Sports interview with Martin Jol.
Well, this might not be a missed opportunity for Fulham. Now, hopefully they can find the right manager who wants to be at Fulham for the long term. Fulham is a wonderful job for any manager right now. It should not be treated as a stepping stone. The team still has most of the same players that went to the Europa League finals last season. I think you only need to add a few more players. They are not that far off from contending for a Europa League spot.
In regards to Marin Jol, I kept getting the impression by what I read and what I watched that he would have been coming to Fulham for the wrong reasons. I don't think he wanted to come to Fulham. I think he wanted to come back to the Premier League.
Fulham need a manager that has a desire to move the team forward long term. This manager also has to be on the same page with Mohamed Al Fayed. I think a strong partnership needs to exist between the chairman and the manager.
With that said, I don't think Martin Jol was the right man for the job. I think Fulham need to do whatever it takes to get the right fit. I don't care how long it takes. Ray Lewington can hold down the fort until the new manager arrives.
The best thing to happen to Fulham could be that Martin Jol is not going to be the manager. Now, I have faith that Fulham will learn from this mistake and find their right man.