Marco Silva reveals message to Fulham board as he urges club to ‘aim for something more’

Marco Silva said Fulham “must aim for something more” next season but played down talk of European football.

Fulham finished 10th as a newly promoted side under Silva last season and will finish between 12th and 14th this season after their final game of the season at Luton on Sunday.

Silva is a very ambitious manager and is aiming for European qualification with Fulham in the medium term, but he explained the need to be “realistic” about what his team can achieve next season, citing some of the clubs he believes he has a better cry to make Europe than the Cottagers.

“I am the manager of this football club and improvements will be there, I am 100 percent sure,” he said while presenting the upcoming campaign. “But I don’t like to just use words. Afterwards, you have to have the actions. It’s not all in my hands.

“All managers and clubs want the same improvements, and we need to see action. I said this stuff to the board. You have to prepare completely differently (for next season).

“The plan is already there, and let’s see what we will be able to do. I’m not saying that our ambition depends on how much we spend, because it’s not just that. It will depend on many, many things that are not just in my hands.

Asked specifically about Europe, Silva said: “I would prefer to talk about it in the future, not now, because it probably wouldn’t be the truth and wouldn’t be realistic.” Looking at the club as a whole, of course there has to be improvement. We must aim for something more.

“When you talk about European competitions, if you look at this country at the moment, you have the top six, you have two clubs that are really close to the top six.

“One of them played the Champions League last season – Newcastle – and Aston Villa are going to play the Champions League (next season). I’ve already put eight clubs in there, and I can put more if you want.

“(Ambition) depends on the ambition we demonstrate in the market, on our ability to convince players to come to our club. Many, many things. For this league to be very competitive, it depends on many factors.

“We have to be really professional. To fight for something that is unrealistic right now, we have to do things almost perfectly over the next two or three months.

Fulham have not played European football since finishing third in the 2011/12 Europa League group stages under Martin Jol.