Martin Jol is on his way back to London and the Premier League
as the new manager of Fulham.
The Dutchman has succumbed to Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed’s
considerable powers of persuasion and decided to quit Ajax for
Craven Cottage.
Jol’s appointment as Roy Hodgson’s successor is scheduled to be
confirmed on Monday and is a major coup for Fayed.
New job? Martin Jol could
replace Roy Hodgson at Fulham
It had been felt Fulham could not compete with Jol’s £2m wages
at Ajax, but Fayed has made an offer the 54-year-old former
Tottenham boss could not resist, including supplying the finance to
compete for new players, while Ajax are considering selling two of
their World Cup stars, Luis Suarez and Gregory van der Wiel.
One of the first of these arrivals could be Sweden striker
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has the same agent as Jol and is on his way
out of Barcelona.
Jol’s decision was greeted with surprise in Holland, where his
team finished just behind Steve McClaren’s FC Twente in the Dutch
League despite a goal difference of more than 100.
‘No one here can understand how you leave Ajax for a club like
Fulham,’ said a source in Holland. ‘It is shocking to us. We
recognise the English club want to progress, we accept they were
Europa League finalists and we know they are right that Jol can
maintain their run of success.
‘But Ajax are a club with a reputation as one of Europe’s
greatest, past and present and in the future. To walk away from
such a club at such a time is an extraordinary decision.’
Exodus: Jol was upset at the rush of players,
including Denmark international Dennis Rommedahl, who won't be at
Ajax next year
Jol was a late entry for the job after Hodgson’s move to
Liverpool, with former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson and
Switzerland’s German coach Ottmar Hitzfeld the favourites while USA
World Cup coach Bob Bradley was also in the frame.
But Fayed had his eyes firmly on the Dutchman, who was
controversially forced out of Spurs in 2007 after guiding them to
successive fifth places.
Jol has become increasingly frustrated by a lack of spending
money and Ajax demands that they sell his best players.
The Amsterdam club have suffered what for them was a massive
loss in excess of £20million last season and claimed the only way
they can recover financial stability is by weakening the squad
through player sales.
In the past two weeks, Jol has looked on as Ajax entertained a
£20million approach from Bayern Munich for Van der Wiel while
letting Denmark winger Dennis Rommedahl move to Olympiakos. It had
been made clear that he could lose Uruguay hit-man Suarez in the
next few days.
Jol, who kept the home he bought during his time at White Hart
Lane, said: ‘The board told me that everything was going to be all
right. But it clearly is not. To me that is a big
disappointment.’
Striker Bobby Zamora tapped in the equaliser to earn Fulham a
1-1 draw in a friendly at Bournemouth on Saturday.