SOCCER NEWS ROUND-UP:FULHAM ARE confident Martin Jol will be appointed as their new manager this week, after the Dutchman signalled he is willing to leave Ajax and move to Craven Cottage. Negotiations with Jol and Ajax continued last night and although Fulham will travel to Sweden today for a pre-season training camp without a manager, the club are hopeful that Roy Hodgson's successor will be in place for the friendly against Halmstad on Thursday.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former England manager who took charge of Ivory Coast at the World Cup, had also been in the running for the position, but Jol was top of the club’s shortlist.
Fulham held positive talks with the 54-year-old Dutchman before the weekend and it now appears a matter of when and not if he will be welcomed as their new manager, with the London club putting together an attractive financial package to match his salary at Ajax as well as providing assurances that money will be available for signings.
Jol’s appointment at Craven Cottage is likely to be welcomed by Fulham’s supporters in the wake of Hodgson’s departure to Liverpool. Although Jol’s three-year spell in charge of Tottenham Hotspur ended in 2007 with him being sacked and replaced by Juande Ramos, he came close to bringing Champions League football to White Hart Lane and was a popular figure with the club’s fans as well as the players because of his management style.
His interest in the Fulham position has been greeted with surprise in the Netherlands, where many had expected him to stay on at Ajax for at least another season, especially as they are preparing for a Champions League qualifier. Jol took over only last year but he has become increasingly frustrated with the constraints that have been placed upon him because of Ajax’s financial problems.
Gregory van der Wiel, the Netherlands right back, is set to join Bayern Munich and there is speculation Luis Suarez, the centre forward who was part of the Uruguay team who reached the World Cup semi-finals, will also depart, with little of the money raised likely to be available for players.
Jol has always talked warmly of his time in England, including his spells as a player in the 80s with West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City, and the period he spent in charge of Spurs. His name was linked to Fulham not long after his dismissal at Tottenham but Jol withdrew his interest in the post and later took over at Hamburg. Fulham’s latest pursuit of Jol, however, looks like being more successful, with the club optimistic that an agreement can be reached over the next few days.
Liverpool manager Hodgson has stressed he will not risk damaging the club’s Premier League campaign for the sake of progress in Europe.
The club face a potentially-tricky Europa League third-round qualifier against Macedonian side Rabotnicki or Armenia’s Mika later this month.
Hodgson is likely to have to play both legs, the first scheduled for July 29th, without any of his World Cup stars after the club’s medical staff warned him about forcing them into action too early after a gruelling and lengthy season.
“Possibly none of our World Cup players will play in the early Europa Cup games if we listen to the advice of the sports science people,” said the 62-year-old.
“They are telling me we would be very foolhardy to use players who have only been training for three or four days on the back of the World Cup that early on because that will affect us further on down the road.
Liverpool’s England contingent of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson, Denmark’s Daniel Agger and Slovakia’s Martin Skrtel will all return to individual programmes at the club’s training ground in the coming days while a squad made up largely of reserves are still at their Switzerland training camp.
Argentina duo Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez are due back a week tomorrow while Spain’s World Cup winners Fernando Torres and Jose Reina and beaten Dutch finalists Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel do not return until after the first leg.
GuardianService
