As Fulham struggled, Coleman decided that in the summer there would be change and recruited the coach Steve Nance from the Brisbane Broncos to revamp pre-season training. One that Coleman admits, without regret, had some of the players "going nuts" in the first week. "Big heavy weights, loads of running, boxing, it was everything you can think of," Coleman recalls "The players were going mad. Players like Claus Jensen who are gifted players, they don't want to be doing that.
Claus was the first complaining about it, but since the start of the season he has been outstanding, he has been stronger and fitter and that is because of the training. "Our ProZone statistics, where we can measure the running, say that 95 per cent of the games this year we have worked harder than the opposition... And we have played better football, we have created a lot of chances but we haven't finished them. The work ethic has been the best since I have been the manager and is as good as the season when we finished ninth." That training, Coleman hopes, will take care of the fitness of a team who know that they will have to be at their best physically to match better-resourced sides. What has proved more difficult for the Fulham manager has been judging the right approach to his relationship with his players, some of whom he was scarcely older than when he took the job He searched his experience as a player and made a decision. "I picked up more of what I wouldn't do, the things I didn't like You can't copy anyone else because you get found out.
I get asked so many times who are my influences? And do I want somebody in who is more experienced to help me out? I say no, if I fail at this job it will be because I did it the wrong way and if I succeed it will be because I did it the right way and I won't have any arguments. I can't say I should have done that or I shouldn't have listened to him I only listen to myself and make my own mind up. "People expect managers, maybe those of yesteryear, to make a big speech every team-talk, loads of points, screaming and shouting The game has changed, players have changed They don't all respond to that. There is a time to do that and the art is to know when exactly is the best time. You have to talk to players, they know what is expected of them and you have to be clear because you can give players too much information." The team-talk, as even Tigana will know, is only a fraction of the story. Mention Papa Bouba Diop, who has become the latest Fulham player to be coveted by a bigger club - Arsenal in this case - and Coleman talks in more general terms about the managerial art of "putting out little fires". They can ignite anywhere, he explains: "Something in the press, someone said that, the phone rings and - oops - there's a little problem, you have to deal with.
