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Poor Martin Jol, it seems he’s disappointed because he actually has to honour the contract he signed and will be staying on as manager of Dutch team Ajax next season instead of heading over to England to manage Premier League side Fulham.

Jol, of Holland, was wanted by Fulham to replace former manager Roy Hodgson, who took off for Liverpool earlier in July, and it looked like Jol and Fulham’s chief executive Alistair Mackintosh had worked out a deal. However, there was one minor snag, he’s under contract and Ajax told Jol he wasn’t going anywhere.

Jol stated that he likes Fulham, London, and England, and was disappointed he couldn’t head over, but the Ajax board said he couldn’t go under any circumstances. He added that Mackintosh offered him a good deal and he was willing to take it, but he’s on a contract and didn’t want to go to court, so eventually told Fulham he had to turn it down.

Jol still has two years left on that contract, which he signed last year after going to Ajax from Hamburg in Germany. Now it looks like Fulham might go after Sweden’s Sven Goran Eriksson for some unknown reason, but they’ll have to sort things out pretty quick as the season kicks off in mid-August. Eriksson, who’ll manage anywhere if they pay him enough, would be on about his fifth team in the past five years if he’s hired.

Fulham stated they thought there was an escape clause in Jol’s contract with Ajax, but that clause isn’t valid anymore and the negotiations have now halted and Ray Lewington is currently the caretaker manager at the club.

I suppose it’s not really any fault of Fulham’s but both Jol and Eriksson are two prime examples of what’s wrong in football. Too many players and managers are more than happy and can’t sign their names fast enough to a good-paying, long-term contract when they’re offered one, and the moment something better comes along, they want to break their word and leave town. There’s no loyalty whatsoever and contracts are treated as nothing more than a joke by too many people in the sport.

Football clubs should solve this problem by giving out two-year contracts maximum.