Martin Jol will remain in charge of Fulham next season.
The affable Dutchman was appointed as Craven Cottage boss in the summer of 2011, after Mark Hughes resigned his position after just one season at the helm. Last term he led the Londoners to a ninth place finish, with an accumulation of 52 points.
This season, the Cottagers currently lie in tenth spot on 36 points with eight games remaining, despite losing two key men – Clint Dempsey and Moussa Dembele – to Tottenham Hotspur, Jol’s former club, during the summer window. Other first team regulars, including Danny Murphy, Andrew Johnson and loanee Pavel Pogrebnyak, also left.
The 57-year-old countered against these departures by signing the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Hugo Rodallega, Mladen Petric, Sascha Riether, and Ashkan Dejagah, all of whom have gone on to feature heavily. In January, he further boosted his options by adding four players on loan, including Arsenal’s Emmanuel Frimpong, and Urby Emanuelson of Milan.
According to The Guardian, Jol has been told that the board have triggered a 12-month extension to his contract, which was inserted when he agreed a two-year deal on his arrival almost two years ago. It is believed the club actually informed him of this decision some time ago, but they have declined to publicly confirm this as they feel such an announcement unnecessary.
One of the priorities facing the former Spurs coach in the coming weeks will be to tie down Brede Hangeland, the Norway international, to a new contract. The defender is due to become a free agent at the end of the season and is likely to have several options, but Jol hopes to persuade him to remain at the club he joined back in January 2008.
