He was once dubbed ‘The Joker’ by his own fans, and this season became the first-ever Serbian to manage a Premier League club. Slavisa Jokanovic is best known to English fans for, first, his unpopular two-year stint as a player at Chelsea before guiding Watford to promotion to the Premier League in 2015 and now doing the same with Fulham three years later. However, in 2015 he left business unfinished as he was unable to lead Watford out in the Premier League after failing to agree to a new deal with the club. Now he is back and determined to leave a lasting impression in the Premier League with Fulham.
Slavisa Jokanovic: The Premier League’s First Serbian Manager
The London Connection
Jokanovic joined Chelsea in 2000 for £1.7 million as a player at the age of 32, managing to make 39 appearances in two seasons. He left a year before Roman Abramovich’s takeover and overhaul of the future Premier League-winning club.
The Serbian’s time at the West London club, however, was less than fruitful as he was often booed by the club’s own fans. A statement on Chelsea’s official website at the time of his release read: ‘He wasn’t the most popular player with the fans but his input was always appreciated by the staff and players.’
Playing Career and Managerial Career Outside England
As a player, Jokanovic famously won La Liga in 2000 with Deportivo La Coruna, making 23 league appearances and contributing two goals in the title-winning season. He also appeared 65 times for Yugoslavia, including at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 European Championships.
In his first managerial job, Jokanovic took over the reins at Partizan Belgrade, one of Serbia’s biggest clubs, in 2007. Under his leadership, Partizan did the Serbian League and Cup double for two consecutive seasons – a first in the history of Serbian football. Upon being named the ‘best coach in Serbia’ in 2008, he refused to accept the award because of Partizan’s poor results in the UEFA Cup group stages at the time.
The club’s 2008/09 season saw the Belgrade club win the 21st title in their history with five rounds of the season remaining, 18-points in front of second-placed FK Vojvodina. Partizan’s statistics say everything about their season. They were the top scorers in the league, had the top goalscorer, won more games, lost fewer and conceded less than anyone else. The season also saw their goalkeeper, Mladen Bozović, enter the history books for lasting a record 916 minutes without shipping a league goal – and this was after Jokanovic had sold midfield duo Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic to Manchester United halfway through the season in December.
After a three-year break, he joined Muangthong United in Thailand in February 2012. In his first and only season, he led the team to the third Thai Premier League title in their history – going undefeated in the process.
Success at Watford and Style of Play
He may have been a defensive midfielder in his playing days but there is nothing defensive about the way Slavisa Jokanovic sets his teams out – as can be seen from his aforementioned record-breaking feats.
Initially arriving on a short-term deal at Watford, the Serbian was the Hornets’ fourth manager in five weeks at the time of his arrival in October 2014. Under his leadership, the Hornets were promoted to the Premier League with one match to spare. The team was also minutes away from winning the league title in the final match but conceded an injury-time equaliser to Sheffield Wednesday that allowed Bournemouth to overtake them. In June 2015, after achieving automatic promotion, he parted ways with the club after failing to agree terms on a new deal.
Jokanovic always has his teams playing an attractive brand of football, focused on keeping and quick recovery of possession.
Returning to England and Being Labelled the ‘Manchester City of the Championship’
After leaving Watford, Jokanovic joined Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and led them to group stages of the Champions League for the very first time. After six months in Tel Aviv, Jokanovic was brought back to England by Fulham, who paid a £367,000 compensation fee to Maccabi to secure his services.
“He said no to everything,” said Jordi Cruyff, Jokanovic’s director of football at Maccabi. “Including to clubs in La Liga. But when Fulham came we all knew that he wanted to go back. He loves London, he likes the style, he loves the football and maybe deep inside there was some unfinished business.”
Fulham were 18th in the Championship when he joined in December 2015. He helped them avoid relegation to League One before winning promotion last season. Current Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock described Fulham as “the Manchester City of the Championship”. Fulham were top in the division for pass completion (83.1%), total passes (24,857) and also the side with the most accurate short passes, second most shots on target and the highest average possession.
Winning a Power Struggle and Looking Ahead
A resolute and principled manager, Jokanovic stood firm as he won full control over player transfers at Craven Cottage last season, with the owner Shahid Khan being forced to fire the club’s former director of statistical research, Craig Kline, in October.
The January transfer window was crucial for Fulham as the former Chelsea player brought in the players he wanted to help his side’s push for promotion. The incoming players included his compatriot Aleksandar Mitrovic, a loan signing from Newcastle. Jokanovic had known about Mitrovic for years. When Jokanovic was starting out at Partizan Belgrade, Mitrovic was a teenager in the club’s academy. In the first half of last season, the striker was not having the best of times at Newcastle but Jokanovic gave the 23-year-old a fresh start and a platform to impress at before the World Cup. Mitrovic ended up scoring 13 goals in 21 appearances in all competitions for the Cottagers, prompting Jokanovic to swiftly make his move from Tyneside permanent.
Big things await a very talented Balkan manager, still young in terms of football management at 50. He is a coach with an ever-growing reputation and managed to attract the likes of World Cup-winner Andre Schurrle and Jean-Michel Serri to Fulham this summer. Jokanovic’s Fulham possesses a host of young and talented players among their ranks, including Ryan Sessegnon, Aleksandar Mitrovic combined with new arrivals Andre Anguissa, Joe Bryan, Luciano Vietto and Sergio Rico.
Despite a reality-check in their first Premier League game versus Crystal Palace, we should not be surprised if Slavisa Jokanovic picks his boys up and leads the Cottagers to a top half finish in their first season back in the top flight.
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