The appointment of Ian Branfoot as Fulham Manager in 1994 was a controversial one.
Branfoot had a reputation for a physical approach to the game, with an emphasis on the long ball.
As a player, he had been a tough, uncompromising defender, with Sheffield Wednesday and Lincoln City, and the Reading sides he managed to promotion from the Fourth and Third Divisions in the 1980s were certainly direct and took no prisoners.
His reputation suffered at Southampton, but he was seen as a no-nonsense manager who could stop the rot at the Cottage.
The football certainly was not pretty, and initially not very successful, but his term did mark a turning point. There was a new commitment amongst the players who applied themselves to the demands of lower-level football.
He created a new spirit amongst the squad and, if the results were not apparent during his reign, he created the conditions on which his successor could build.
As Fulham drifted down the Third Division table in the winter of 1996, Branfoot stepped aside to become General Manager, with Player-Coach Micky Adams taking on team responsibilities.
