When they were told that pre-season training was to start 10 days earlier than ever before, the players at Fulham probably knew that their new coach, Jeannot (Jean) Tigana, was going to make quite an impression. Six months on there aren't too many complaints. Fulham look like certainties to win promotion to the Premiership after which their owner, Mohamed al-Fayed, has promised to spend "£400 million, whatever it takes to become champions". His dream, he says, is for his club to be like Manchester United. Tomorrow he'll see for himself just how tall an order that is, and by 2.45 p.m. he'll know a good deal more about the man he has entrusted with the task of realising that dream.

Born in Bamako, Mali in June 1955, Tigana was brought up in one of the rougher parts of Marseilles after his father joined the French army. He started playing football with a local club, Caillois, where Eric Cantona - a classmate and friend of his younger brother - also played. He worked as a postman until being offered a professional contract for the first time by Toulon at the age of 23.

During a club career spent entirely in France he went on to win five championship medals - three with Bordeaux, two with Marseilles - while making his name in the French national side's midfield that also included Michel Platini, Luis Fernandez and Alain Giresse.

After retirement he bought a vineyard in Bordeaux and spent 18 months away from the game before returning to manage Lyon - who he guided to second place in the league at the first attempt - and then Monaco, where he succeeded Arsene Wenger.

It was there that he made his name as an astute but sometimes ruthless coach. In the process of leading the club to the championship and two European semifinals, he famously engineered Manchester United's exit from the Champions League in 1998, pointedly dropped the then African Player of the Year, Victor Ikpeba, and quietly introduced teenagers like Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and Portugal's Costinha into the side.

John Collins, a Fulham player these days but one of his key signings at Monaco describes him as "a very quiet, private man. He knows what he wants and if he doesn't get it then you're not in the team."

After leaving Monaco when he became tired of losing his best players to bigger clubs abroad, Tigana had the opportunity to manage the French national team but turned the job down. Tempted out of retirement by a large salary, the promise of enormous resources should he secure promotion and "the opportunity to learn English in London", he has been quick to make his mark at Fulham. He has recruited wisely, Louis Saha and Collins being amongst his best signings. The time he has spent with the club's youngsters has also borne fruit. He is popular with his players who speak of "never being blamed for losing the ball while trying make a pass," and he describes his own approach as the desire to play "quick football with technique".

"When you play it is important that the team plays," he says. "You see the situation in the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League - only the team that play, win." He came out on the winning side the last time a team of his ran into Manchester United but, as he probably remembers well from his Monaco days, Alex Ferguson's lot can play a bit too.