Martin Jol sees no reason why Fulham cannot repeat their 2010 Europa League heroics

Martin Jol, Fulham

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Fulham manager Martin Jol has expressed his excitement about the Cottagers’ return to Europa League action and has backed his club to impress the world and repeat the success of only two years ago.

The Londoners began their pre-season training much earlier than many clubs in preparation for their first Europa League qualifying match against NSI Runavik of the Faroe Islands.

The Cottagers reached the final of the competition in 2010 after defeating the likes of Hamburg and Juventus before being beaten by Atletico Madrid in the final, and fans will be hoping for similar showings this season.

Jol believes plenty of sides must envy Fulham’s position despite having such an early start to their season.

“I would imagine that there are quite a few teams that would like to be in Europe. In Holland you play for Europe and I think it is the same in England,” he told reporters.

“You want to stay in the league firstly but secondly you want to finish in the first five or six spots. You want to be in Europe. That is the goal.”

Discussing the team’s performances in 2010, Jol stated: “Two years ago they did unbelievably well, gave the club a good profile in Europe and the money was coming in as well.”

Asked whether his side could repeat the exploits of 2010, he added: “You need a bit of luck but I remember Fulham playing against Shakhtar Donetsk and beating them.

“I can’t remember Shakhtar losing a game at home so they certainly played a way that could be successful in Europe, so why not?”

However, the Fulham manager admitted that the club would have to add players if are to be competitive in Europe, but Jol refused to name any of his targets, with the likes of David Bentley linked in recent weeks, and said he will not burden his squad with too many signings in case they block the path of youngsters coming through the ranks.

“We will do that privately,” he said. “I have seen eight or nine names linked with us and that was not true. We need a couple of additions but I won’t bring players here for the sake of it because we still have young players as well.

“I have to give them a chance to play, to be happy and to develop themselves.

“I think there will be two or three players coming into my squad and I will give them a chance in the next couple of weeks to prove themselves.”

More than 12,000 tickets have already been sold for the Europa League tie and the Cottagers boss is confident of success despite missing Clint Dempsey, Moussa Dembele and Carlos Salcido.

“I can’t imagine going out in the first round but it is football so you never know,” he added.

“You could say that it is 90 per cent sure that we go through but you still have to do the business and our players know that.”