Watford vs Fulham: How risky Cottagers rolled the dice and relegated themselves

A £150m summer outlay did nothing as not one but three managers failed to stop them succumbing to the drop before Easter

It had been sunny and raucous outside pre-match, but deep within the old corridors of Craven Cottage it was much cooler and quieter as the harsh reality of the Premier League sunk in for Fulham.

An opening day defeat to Crystal Palace wasn't the end of the world, especially with five players having arrived on deadline day just hours before, but it was a warning that Fulham would have to adapt quickly or return from whence they came.

It would be the latter.

On that August evening, head coach Slavisa Jokanovic took questions deep in the bowels of the charming riverside stadium the Cottagers call home. Could the side that swaggered their way to promotion playing possession football maintain that style in the top flight? Could Fulham, newly strengthened by a record-breaking outlay on transfers, pass and move their way to survival as opposed to hunkering down and praying for clean sheets?

"We showed the style we want to follow," he said. "If you want me to park the bus then I believe we do not have the quality to do this. We must take risks."

In the end, Fulham took too many risks. Even where they weren't willing to admit it. The risks they did take backfired, the ones they thought weren't risks turned out to be disasters and now they risk alienating their fanbase.

When Jokanovic was eventually jettisoned in favour of Claudio Ranieri after just one win in 12 games, owner Shahid Khan called the appointment of the Italian "risk free" in a statement that still lives somewhat uncomfortably on the club website. It proved to be anything but, with Ranieri gone inside months having failed to improve the fortunes of a team that had been tipped by many in pre-season to survive, possibly with ease.

So simple and seductive it is to make those predictions off the back of spending. As Sky Sports' deadline day coverage positively hummed with glee at the sums being spent by the Premier League clubs, their mammoth yellow ticker racking up dollar signs like a malfunctioning slot machine, Fulham's near-£150m outlay was seen as unprecedented strengthening by a promoted team. It turned out to be their biggest weakness.

For some of the glut of late signings that arrived, time would be short. Their goalkeeper on opening day, Fabri, never looked up to the level and started just twice before being benched. He's not played in the Premier League since August.

Havard Nordtveit, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Luciano Vietto and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa are all new signings who have played fewer than 1000 minutes for the club this season. The latter of those cost nearly £25m and will likely prove to be the biggest waste of money when this season shakes out and the damage to a scorched balance sheet is assessed.

Some existing players from the Championship who could have contributed were jettisoned in favour of overpaid new recruits while young talents like Matt O'Reilly - coveted by Bundesliga clubs - were left in the youth teams. Some of those Championship holdovers who found game time struggled with performance; most notably Tim Ream in defence, Kevin McDonald in midfield and, surprisingly, starlet Ryan Sessegnon.

Fulham are down after just one season back in the Premier League (PA)

Sessegnon was a target for elite clubs last summer, with a raft of Champions League sides falling over themselves for a shot at signing one of England's most highly-rated young players. His value has tanked with his performances, and though many put his struggles down to inconsistent usage there would be few teams now willing to countenance forking out the £50m or so that Fulham would likely have rejected out of hand last summer.

Such a failure in recruitment would usually see heads roll, but the man responsible for "building, recruiting and retaining a strong and competitive squad" is Tony Khan, the son of club owner Shahid Khan. He remains in his position - albeit one he loosely defines on his own Twitter account as "Owner/Director of Football/GM/Sporting Director" - despite Fulham's now-confirmed relegation with five games remaining. Competitive is not the word that many would use to describe a side whose tremendous outlay sees them 16 points adrift, having nailed their Premier League coffin tightly shut with nine consecutive defeats.

So it appears that little will change upstairs for Fulham but it likely will in the dugout. Scott Parker could stay on permanently if his run of five defeats from five games is attributed to something far greater - unlikely, given that would entail pointing the finger at recruitment - or simply the under-performance of players, but a new, more experienced manager may be the way to go. Many of the signings heralded last summer will depart, Jean Michael Seri the most obvious among them, and a new drive to sign players that can restore Fulham to the top flight will begin.

After such a miserable campaign in which their defence was, by a distance, the worst in the league, Fulham fans can at least look forward to next season and winning some games again. They have learned some lessons too, that money can't buy you survival - or even fun, based on many of their performances - and that nothing in the Premier League is risk free.

They have learned something else too. As ticket prices rose and performance levels dropped, there are fans who have learned that they can turn their back on the club, protesting the perceived greed of owners who a year ago were being lauded but whose direction is now under the spotlight.

The best that can come from the painful dead rubbers that remain is that these fans get meaningful answers from ownership. They have got little else from them this season as August's burgeoning hope ultimately dissolved into a pitiful relegation confirmed before Easter.