Fulham FC have confirmed former Manchester United assistant manager Rene Meulentseen will take charge at Craven Cottage, after the club’s American owner, Shahid Khan, drew the line on Martin Jol’s two season’s spell on Sunday.
This hardly comes as a surprise news to Jol himself who was asked after Saturday’s woeful 3-0 loss to West Ham if he feels he was going to be leading the side against Tottenham in the midweek and he replied “it is not in my hands.”
A run of six straight defeat was capped with an uneventful outing at Upton Park in the Dutchman’s last match in charge, where they failed to have a single shot on target.
The Cottagers’ lacklustre performance last weekend fueled speculation Jol may have led the side for the last time. As expected, Khan announced Meulentseen, who was earlier brought in to assist the ousted coach, now moves up the hierarchy, although; there was no mention of if he were to remain there permanently.
Born in Beugen, Netherlands, the 49-year-old former United youth and reserve team coach was appointed as head coach of Fulham on 13 November after a spell at Manchester United, where he worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson between 2007 and last summer.
“Rene Meulensteen was brought to Fulham to assist Martin and today was offered the challenge and opportunity to
step in for Martin,” said owner Shahid Khan. “I thank Rene for accepting and now we move forward. I have great
confidence in Rene and high expectations for our squad to respond.”
The London club presently sits three points adrift the third relegation zone and Meulentseen, who aside from a short stint at Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, has not managed a club before, will be charged with the responsibility of stearing the club to safety- starting with the Spurs match.
Meulensteen said: “I appreciate the faith Mr Khan has put in me and will do my very best to honour his trust. We aim to
get Fulham back on track, starting [against Tottenham on] Wednesday night.”
