Former Fulham manager Chris Coleman has said that he hopes Marco Silva stays in his role at Fulham beyond this season as he has done a good job at Craven Cottage.
Former Fulham manager Chris Coleman has said that he hopes Marco Silva stays at Fulham beyond this season.
Silva’s five years at Fulham look as though they will be coming to an end at the conclusion of this season, with the Portuguese not signing a contract that was offered to him in October.
As things stand, Silva has another four matches left of his tenure at Fulham before he departs the club.
The 48-year-old has taken Fulham up from the Championship into the Premier League and has seen them settle as a mid-table side.
But the Portuguese is desperate to make that next step and wants to manage in Europe.
Fulham of course may qualify for Europe still, which may influence his decision, but with Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez also currently leaving at the end of the season, it it a period of immense uncertainty at Craven Cottage.
One man who knows all about what it means to play and manage at Fulham is Chris Coleman.
The 55-year-old, who has recently left his role as Asteras Tripolis manager, spent a decade at Fulham as a player and manager.
Coleman was at Fulham between 1997 and 2002 as a player, making 160 appearances in that time, before managing Fulham from 2003 until 2007.
As a result of such a long time in west London, Coleman has a soft spot for Fulham and wants them to continue doing well and he is worried about the void that Silva may leave.
He said on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast: “It looks like he is going to leave, because I like Fulham, I had 10 years at Fulham, so I hope he doesn’t because I think he has done a good job.
“He has got them promoted and he has kept them in there for four years.
“That’s my worry, that’s my worry for Fulham, that Marco is thinking, maybe it’s a good time for him to jump because he is going to lose some players.
“I don’t know what finances they’ve got and if Marco does jump then there’ll be other players that’ll be thinking, maybe it is time for us to jump, so it could be a big turnaround.”
Marco Silva looks set to depart Craven Cottage this summer.Fulham are currently set to lose 19 goals in the form of Wilson and Jimenez, who have scored 10 and nine respectively this campaign.
Sam Allardyce, who last managed Leeds in 2023, believes that Silva has done such a formidable job in west London that he deserves the chance to be in the conversation for jobs such as at Chelsea.
He added: “I think he has proved himself to be given the opportunity, on what he has achieved at Fulham.
“He has probably looked and is saying: ‘Who’s leaving?
“Because we know [Harry] Wilson is looking like he’s not staying, he’s not signed a new contract and some of the contracts are not that long because of the situation they work in,
“Is he looking at it now and saying, ‘I can’t rebuild it again,’ so he is thinking, I’ll get out now?”