He makes you are feeling like you may fly: The secrets and techniques of Marco Silva’s success as the most well liked managerial property within the high flight – and the way he led Fulham to the brink of Europe

In the away changing room at Stamford Bridge before Thursday’s historic victory, Marco Silva told his players that it was ‘too long’ since Fulham fans had seen their team win at Chelsea in the top flight. Forty-five years, in fact.

The wild celebrations that followed Rodrigo Muniz’s 95th-minute winner in front of the Shed End summed up the raw emotions, with Silva channeling his inner Jose Mourinho and running down the touchline.

Silva called it Fulham’s ‘best Boxing Day’ in decades, and it’s hard to argue with that. They have had a lot of their highest highs in recent months. Under their Portuguese manager, Fulham are competing with the best in the Premier League. They are a point off the top five, which will likely be enough to secure a Champions League place in the expanded competition next season, and European football is very much on the cards for the first time since 2011.

The Cottagers are unbeaten against each of that top five in the top flight — beating Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle and drawing against Liverpool and Arsenal.

For a man dumped by Everton five years ago this month after just a year and a half on Merseyside, competing in the Premier League has always been the dream.

Before Fulham, his last three jobs at Hull City, Watford and Goodison Park were all in England, but that sacking with the Toffees in 18th left him devastated and the options were no longer there.

It was June 2021 when Silva had his bags packed and was ready to go to Fenerbahce for a new challenge but Shahid Khan, Fulham’s billionaire American owner, got in touch and shortly after, Silva was meeting him on his superyacht ‘Kismet’. which was docked in Cascais, just outside Lisbon.

In Arabic, the word ‘Kismet’ means the idea of fate. Fulham had just got relegated. Three years on, they are flirting with the prospect of European football while Everton, who Silva led to eighth in 2018-19, haven’t finished as high since.

It speaks volumes about Silva’s desire to prove a point in English football that he took such a risk by accepting a job in the Championship.

Failure at the first time of asking would have certainly led to a third sour exit in English football in the space of five years, but Silva’s Fulham blitzed the second tier, scoring 106 goals across 46 games.

By securing two midtable finishes (10th in 2022-23 and 13th in 2023-24) since, Fulham have established themselves and broken their run as a ‘yo-yo club’ despite losing star players Aleksandar Mitrovic and Joao Palhinha in successive seasons for club-record fees.

As one Fulham source says, ‘He is a bloody good coach who prides himself on making players better.’

Of the 21 players signed since promotion, 15 have Premier League experience including names like Alex Iwobi, Issa Diop, Timothy Castagne, Emile Smith Rowe and Joachim Andersen.

At Motspur Park, Fulham’s training ground, 47-year-old Silva is the first person in and the last person to leave. He takes all the training sessions, which are known to be full of energy and the results are evident.

‘He gives everyone that love and pays attention to detail,’ says Iwobi. ‘He treats everyone the same — from the players to the physios to the people in the canteen. And he always demands the best.’

For Silva, fulfilment comes from fulfilling potential. The proof is in the pudding when it comes to his work and stretches back to the start of his managerial career where Silva, appointed aged 33 and coaching players only a few years older than him, led a tiny Estoril side from the second tier of Portuguese football to fourth place in the Primeira Liga and into Europe.

Sporting Lisbon came calling, where he won the domestic cup but was bizarrely sacked for not wearing the official suit on matchday, to make way for Jorge Jesus — one of the most revered names in Portugal.

Silva moved to Olympiakos, where they won 28 of their 30 games and won the title by a staggering 30 points before taking the Hull job in January 2017.

‘Marco was big for me,’ says Andy Robertson, who played under Silva at Hull for the five months he was there. ‘He improved all of us when he came in at Hull. Every week was different. He would look at every player his team is against and could point out their strengths and weaknesses.’

Now another left back in Antonee Robinson is thriving under Silva — the American is one of the players of the season so far, with his six assists in the Premier League behind only Mohamed Salah and Bukayo Saka.

Silva is renowned for his meticulous attention to detail, from banning apple crumble to improve diets at Hull and leaving each player’s individual stats at their spot in the training ground the day after games. The preparation for the next game starts as soon as the final whistle goes.

Players speak of an ‘aura’ around him because of the incredibly high standards he sets.

With Robinson — a player known for his athleticism — an example was Silva telling him he hated it when he tried to run into space too early and didn’t subsequently receive the ball on the front foot because it reduced the impact he could have on the attack. His two assists at Anfield earlier this month illustrate that perfectly.

Defensively, Silva sung his praises too after impressive performances against Saka and Salah, the league’s two best right wingers. ‘Always really aggressive in a good way,’ he said.

At Everton, Silva had brought Lucas Digne in and sold Robinson, but now he’s one of the first names on the teamsheet and Fulham face a challenge to keep him. Liverpool and Manchester United have both been linked to the 27-year-old.

‘When he first came to Fulham, I thought, “Oh, I know he doesn’t like me, I’m in for a bad time here”,’ Robinson told the Athletic earlier this year. ‘But it has ended up being the opposite. I feel like I’ve come on leaps and bounds as a player. I owe a lot of it to him.’

Alex Iwobi, who Silva signed for £35million at Everton and a further £22m at Fulham, is another player thriving under him and cites the manager empowering him and his teammates to be confident and giving them license to express themselves. ‘We feel like we’re ready to fly and we can do anything together,’ Iwobi says.

The atmosphere and camaraderie within the squad is described as ‘incredible’. After being thrashed 4-1 at home by Wolves in November, the players went to Paris to ‘clear their heads’ and they haven’t lost since. Following their 2-2 draw at Anfield this month, Silva took the team out for dinner.

‘He’s warm with the players and very fair but that’s not to say he doesn’t have a go because he is so emotional,’ says a Fulham source. ‘He always gives justification for something even when he doesn’t need to, because he’s a man of values.’

That two of his substitutes scored the goals against Chelsea was no coincidence. This is a side brimming with character, winning eight points from losing positions this season. The team mantra is ‘one for all and all for one’ and encapsulated perfectly by their picture in the changing room after.

In the aftermath of their dramatic win against Brentford last month, Fulham posted a snip of Silva’s speech on social media. He saved the last words for substitute Harry Wilson, who came on with his side trailing and scored twice in injury time to win the game. 

‘It’s been tough for you H. I know and it’s not your fault,’ Silva says. ‘It’s my decision. If someone is at fault — it is my fault. More than all, you are all a group.

‘Sometimes it’s going to be you from the bench. The other time, it will be others. But you deserve this moment, enjoy it.’ Then he gets up, points at Wilson and goes over to embrace his player.

It showed the environment that Silva’s created, where he puts everything on himself to remove the pressure off the players.

At times, it boils over however. Not least when he was charged with a touchline ban for abusing referee Chris Kavanagh during a FA Cup tie at Old Trafford last year. Silva’s passion for the FA Cup goes back to his childhood, watching it on TV as a child in Lisbon and he is desperate to win silverware.

‘Prior to that, we were playing well. That reaction was pure emotion and it transcends to the players. They want to go the extra mile for him because they see who’s representing them,’ a Fulham source adds.

Asked which manager scared him the most, Troy Deeney recalled Silva at Watford for his ruthlessness, with the boss telling him frankly that he was a legend but without wanting to be disrespectful, he was too slow and he preferred Andre Gray.

‘Small in stature, a nice guy, but he’ll cut you off. It’s his way or no way,’ said Deeney.

That honesty remains and so does the hyper-ambition which saw him agree to join Everton midway through the 2017-18 season while he was at Watford.

Silva has already managed more games for Fulham (160) than he did for Hull, Watford and Everton combined (108). The three and a half years in west London is the longest he’s been at one club, having turned down an offer from Benfica in his first season and rejected a mega-money approach worth £40m from Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

For now, he is well settled with his wife and two daughters in London.

Inevitably, for an incredibly ambitious individual who ‘always looks to win, regardless of the opposition’ any decision made about his future will be made with deep care, not least after the 18 months he had in the wilderness after the Everton sacking.

Silva’s Fulham contract expires in 2026 though at this rate, more clubs will come calling.

In the clip where he embraces Wilson, Silva tells the rest of the players: ‘Football will take from you but after it will give. If you keep doing the right things, it will give you back. Just like in life.’

Right now, life is giving plenty for Marco Silva and Fulham.