ACT NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, SHAHID KHAN.

The fat lady is singing, and for us Whites' fans the euphoria of that win at Wembley is one we need to remember more than ever. So where did it all go wrong? For this writer, the blame lies firmly at the hands of Shahid Khan and his nepotism towards his son, Tony. I will hear many arguments such as "He has ploughed money into the club" etc. But for me, that is not a solid argument. Unless we are all prostitutes we don't just simply go along with everything just because the man has billions of dollars.

Let's look at the facts. When Al Fayed departed there was a "Chelscum" style of hiring and firing managers, culminating with the joke that was Magath. So, there was a change of tack, promote Kit Symons from within. Kit may have been a nice bloke, but he didn't cut it as a manager (or whatever the modern terminology is). The powers that be stuck with him too long, and then there was the ridiculous managerless period whilst we waited for Slavisa to finish his European journey with an Israeli team. We should have stuck with Kit until Slav was available. OK, that may have been a little underhand and unfair on Kit, but if they knew Slav couldn't come until after Christmas why the change? Slav worked a miracle with the team, dragging us out of the relegation scrap, followed by two play-off positions, whilst instilling his football philosophy which was the "Fulham way". And, on top of this, he had to deal with having no say over transfers, as Ali Mac, Khan jr. and Kline played Football Manager style recruitment, signing players on stats and algorithms. Yet, Slav got us promoted, and still had very little say over transfers. I can just imagine a carpenter/joiner being given Poundland tools and being expected to make a Chippendale table with them. 

What was Slav given? A £30 million player off the back of one season with Marseille in the extremely average (apart from PSG and Lyon) French league, a £25 million player from Nice (hardly a European power) who was apparently wanted by Barcelona, and a few others, none of whom has any Prem. experience apart from Mawson and Chambers ( and he is on loan). Of the signings, none of them has set the world alight, except for Mitro, but he was ours anyway. Seri is a very poor man's Kante, Anguissa is average, Rico is no better than Betts, Mawson is becoming a "sick note", Bryan is a trier, but not quite up to Prem. level, Schurrle is a luxury player with occasional flashes of brilliance, Vietto is good technically but too lightweight, Chambers is probably the best of the lot, and the less said about Fosu-Mensah the better. 

I can just imagine the changing room at the start of the season. Slav had built a team playing football they enjoyed, and he had built a team that was bonding on and off the pitch. Suddenly all of these new boys were coming in  with their FIFA 19 stats. How must Kmac, Stefan Johamsen, Ayite, Kebano etc. have felt, knowing they would probably become bit part players? And what would it have done to team harmony and morale? Football is not like FM, players need to like each other and know each other. Any group of men will need to have a good interpersonal dynamic for it to work on the field. Even the shoe-ins like TC and Sess must have been a little pissed off to think that their mates would be ousted for the new boys. We all know what happens when the blokes who own the club spend big money, they will say "We paid £30 million for this guy, so play him". None of us know the truth, but I would bet that Slav was told to play certain players, when he knew that 4 or 5 signings with Prem. experience was a much better idea. I will accept that Slav had no plan B, but he had a football philosophy that we enjoyed, and with the signings he was given, I doubt a plan B, plan C, or plan D would have made much difference. I think we should have given Slav the season, and total say over transfers in January, and who knows what would have happened. Burnley went up with Dyche, stayed with him after immediate relegation, and look where they are now. 

So what do we get? Ranieri who seems to want to hack off TC and Sess. Playing TC out of position when he was the fulcrum behind our success last year, and publicly criticising a player who is FFC through and through, and stayed with us when he could have easily chased the big money with Spurs. And as for a plan B, that Slav was criticised for not having, I am still trying to work out if the Clown has a plan A. And, before people start saying compare his record with Slavs', nobody knows what would have happened if Slav had been kept. 

It is too easy for us all to slate the managers, and I am not even going to slate the new players. Good luck to them if they were given good salaries and the chance to play in the Prem. I am a massive Slav fan, but I accept he is gone. I am not a Ranieri fan, but I accept he can only work with what he is given. The real problem is how the club is run regarding transfer policy, and I also wonder how much say Ali Mac and Khan jr. have over who the manager selects. My brother fell out with my father when he worked for him, and they parted company. No nepotism when it comes to business, and that was a small business, not a football club who can make or break so many hearts. Shahid Khan, do the decent thing and get rid of your son, before he gets rid of the thousands of FFC fans who without us the club would not exist. TIME TO ACT, KHAN Sr. before it is too late.