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Jean Tigana earns a bonus |
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Jean Tigana's success in guiding Fulham to the First Division title has earned
him a £400,000 bonus.
The Frenchman is already one of the highest paid managers in the country with
a £7.5 million salary package.
But he also has performance-based financial incentives built into the five-year
contract he started last summer and will earn similar size bonuses for success
in the Premiership.
The former European Championship winner with France is independently wealthy
with his own vineyard in his homeland and has claimed he was lured to Fulham
by their potential rather than their riches.
His lucrative financial package was the last factor he asked about when considering
the job of manager with the ambitious First Division club.
When Tigana arrived in England he said "I have chosen to take control of
Fulham rather than other clubs because of the challenge and the opportunity
to build a team to play in the way I believe football should be played."
But the man who had a glittering playing career with Bordeaux and Marseille
knew his market value after coaching at Lyon and taking Monaco into the semi-finals
of the Champions League in 1998.
Fulham agreed to meet his wage demands at the end of last season because they
wanted to recruit a top-quality manager after sacking Paul Bracewell.
They also accepted Tigana would bring in his own coaching team and assistant
manager Christian Damiano and fitness coach Roger Propos have also earned handsome
bonuses for Fulham's success.
The financial backing of chairman Mohamed Fayed has meant that money matters
have rarely caused a problem at Craven Cottage in the past four years.
Fayed has again promised Tigana all the transfer funds he wants in the summer
but the Frenchman is likely to try to resolve issues with the players he already
has before making any signings.
One of those is the future of Luis Boa Morte, who has scored 20 goals for Fulham
during his season-long loan from Southampton, who want £4m for the striker.
Tigana is prepared to pay £2m.
Another problem to be solved is the future of defender Rufus Brevett, who is
out of contract at the end of the season.