Fulham appoint Martin Jol as their new manager

Fulham announced on their website that Jol had signed a two-year deal with the club, with the option of extending his contract for a further season.

The Dutchman, 55, arrives at Craven Cottage after 18 months with Ajax, where he resigned in Dec 2010.

Jol spent three seasons with Tottenham, who he guided to fifth place and the brink of Champions League qualification two years in a row.

Fulham chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed has moved quickly to replace Hughes, who walked out of the club last week after a year in charge.

"I am very happy to join Fulham Football Club, a wonderful traditional club," Jol said. "It is a club with good, solid foundations and a great fan base.

"I am looking forward to being part of the Fulham family and thank the chairman for the trust he's shown in me."

Jol, who was sacked by Spurs in 2007, was linked with the Fulham role last year but Ajax refused to release him from his post as head coach at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Hughes stepped down from his role last week after guiding the club to an eighth-place finish in the Premier League and earning them a return to Europe via the Fair Play League.

He also built on a reputation initially forged at Blackburn and then Manchester City, where many felt he was unlucky to lose his job, but departed insisting he had had no contact with any other club.

The Welshman's decision left the Cottagers searching for a new manager for the second consecutive summer, after losing Roy Hodgson to Liverpool last year.

Jol will have little time to get his feet under the table, with the Fulham players due to report back for pre-season training on June 23 and facing a Europa League qualifier in less than four weeks' time.

A club statement confirmed: "Martin joins Fulham on an initial two-year contract with the club having an option to extend for a further year.

"He will arrive at our Motspur Park training ground in advance of the players return to training later this month."

Jol moved to Spurs in summer 2004, initially as an assistant to Jacques Santini, after having started his coaching career with stints at Roda JC and RKC Waalwijk in his homeland.

The Dutchman was handed the top job at White Hart Lane when the Frenchman left the following November and won many admirers for the attractive football played under him.

Following his dismissal in Oct 2007 - he was unceremoniously dumped following the Uefa Cup defeat to Getafe - he spent the 2008/09 campaign at Hamburg before succeeding Marco van Basten as Ajax coach in May 2009.

He helped the Amsterdammers to KNVB Beker glory in 2010 before stepping down last December with the club in fourth place in the Eredivisie standings in what turned out to be a title-winning campaign.