Kit Symons has been booed, cheered, and by his own admission - grown a thick skin as Fulham manager.
The coach, who took over from misfit Felix Magath In September, reckons what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and as a result of eight months in the hot seat has learned a few home truths.
According to the 44-year-old, he was forced to jettison personal beliefs in a bid to get results.
And the jeering when things went wrong at the end of the season? Pretty much a case of water off a duck’s back.
“Sometimes it was a bit ugly,” he said. “I didn’t enjoy watching it, and a lot other people made it quite clear they didn’t enjoy it. But we needed to get results.
“Criticism is a part of a job, and you shouldn’t be doing the job if you can’t take it.”
Symons was rounded on when Whites were still in dropzone danger for taking off both scorers in a tense 2-2 dogfight against Wigan with three games to go.
Matt Smith and Ross McCormack took the bench, Symons took the flak, and a fair bit more in the next home game against Rotherham.
The manager reckons he paid the price for two seasons of suffering. Note the home boos in our video.
“This could be frustration at the end of a long time, and I just happen to be on the end of it. I was going home and I knew I made the right decisions," he explained.
“I’ve learned to be a bit more thick-skinned; not to take criticism too personally. I’ve always wanted to play attractive football when I was at Crystal Palace and here with the U18s and U21s, and that’s how we started.
“But in the end, I needed to get results because we were in a bit of a mess.”
