The manager reckons the fans should back the team, regardless of whether or not they approve of the tactics employed. Clearly, they’re not too happy with 4-5-1. The fans made that clear with chants of “4-4-2” on Saturday.
But do the fans know what they’re talking about? Nearly every club plays a type of 4-5-1 nowadays - even Man U, Arsenal and dare I say it Chelsea.
As Chris Coleman rightly states, the media perception is different when it comes to those clubs. Man U and Chelsea are normally described as playing 4-3-3, although two of the forward players double up as midfielders, while Arsenal are considered 4-4-2 despite using a deep-lying forward playing in “the hole”.
Having said that, it’s never a good idea for managers to start calling the fans names, and Coleman’s labelling of the Fulham faithful as “mutes” will not have endeared him to the locals. After all, the fans pay the wages or at least a percentage of them.
But the fans can’t be hands on in team matters. Of course, it would be nice if a supporter represented the fans’ views in the boardroom, but they can’t manage the team. That would be chaos.
Somebody once remarked that a horse created by committee would end up like a camel. Or something like that.
The bottom line is you either back the boss or sack him. I shouldn’t expect that many Fulham fans would want Al-Fayed to take the latter option.