Can Fulham Hold On To Slavisa Jokanovic?

At any level of the English Football League the play-offs can undoubtedly be a cruel mistress and no one knows that more in recent times than Fulham. After pipping Leeds to 6th place in the regular season they were then paired with Reading over two legs to see who would advance to Wembley on Bank Holiday Monday.

Eventually it would be Jaap Stam’s Reading who would secure a return to Wembley for a Championship play-off Final after their defeat to Swansea back in 2011. They will naturally look to go one better this time around but for Fulham it is a case of having to pick themselves off the floor and go again next season.

If they are to make a serious challenge on the Championship promotion spots then they are going to have to keep hold of their in demand manager Slavisa Jokanovic. He has been reportedly linked with a number of current vacancies and their is now a question mark as to whether he will be in the Fulham hotseat come August.

Betfred currently have Fulham at 9/1 to win the Championship next season, which must be said is decent value. If that is something that you agree with then you can take full advantage of their many promo offers that are currently available.

But those odds will only be at that price should they keep hold of the much esteemed Jokanovic. The Serbian has already achieved promotion success with Watford, albeit he did not take charge of any matches in the top flight and he is being earmarked as a potential candidate for the Middlesbrough vacancy.

He is arguably third favourite right now with both the newly available Garry Monk and Nigel Pearson ahead of him in the at present but even with that being the case it will be a nervy few months for Fulham fans as with every high profile managerial opening that comes around, Jokanovic’s name will not be too far away.

But it’s not just Middlesbrough that are keeping tabs on the 48 year old as Crystal Palace are believed to be ready to make an attempt to acquire his services in a move which would see him swap the West of London for that of the South.

Palace were rocked by the resignation of Sam Allardyce earlier in the week and are looking to act quickly to install a replacement. Not only so that a new manager can have as much time as possible to build a squad of his own but to also make sure they get their desired target.

There is no doubting Fulham’s ambition to get back among the top flight after suffering the ignomy of relegation in 2014 and these three season in the second tier wilderness have been hard to bear. They are on the cusp of a return but their most important piece of business this Summer will be making sure that Jokanovic is still at the Craven Cottage helm.