Top 5 Football Superstitions (that failed to help Fulham win the Europa League)

This would have been a more upbeat post had Fulham won in Hamburg last night. I'm still absolutely gutted we didn't but I'm starting to accept that it was still a brilliant day and a massive achievement.

1. A bet on the opposing team - I've been doing this in the domestic cups for a while now (actually ever since I didn't place a bet on Leyton Orient beating us in the FA Cup which they managed 1-0) and like to think I've helped us avoid some embarrasing slip ups against the likes of Kettering and Accrington Stanley. Fulham's progress in the Europa league has cost me a small fortune but was worth every penny. I might not bother collecting the winnings from this game.

2. Wearing my lucky socks - Back in the nineties when Mickey Adams was just starting to create a buzz at the club I discovered a pair of lucky boxer shorts. They were yellow, which isn't a colour I'd normally choose but had a remarkably long run as lucky totems. When I got a pair of yellow socks last year I couldn't help but wonder if they held the same magic. They did and I've worn them to games ever since.

3. Dad touching the boot of Johnny Haynes - Dad didn't come to Hamburg and even if he had we'd have needed to make an awkward detour to fit this one in. It's done us proud at home though but doesn't have a 100% success rate.

4. Wearing my lucky replica top - I don't buy a top every year but I got this personalised one from a mate for my 40th and it's been a very lucky shirt ever since. Then again I wore my unlucky "Steve Marlet" shirt (the black adidas one) to the recent West Ham game and we won that 3-2.

5. Going in through my lucky turnstile - Somewhere during our epic 63 game season I started to feel drawn to a particular turnstile. We'd been going in roughly the same place for quite a while but now Number 38 (slightly to the right of the picture below) is the only entrance I'll use.

Photo (c) John Hall

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Top 5 moments from the 2-0 win over United

I've had a frustrating week one way or another. Had lots of things I wanted to say about the cracking result last Saturday but didn't have any time to write. Even in the few moments I've had to think about it I wasn't sure how best to express my thoughts about the game. A game to remember. One that will stay with me for the rest of my life. When in doubt ... do a Top 5!

5. Waving bye-bye to Wayne Rooney - I've no axe to grind with Rooney. He's a great player and made a big difference when he replaced Berbatov at half time. Even with ten men we all knew United were capable of beating us and for a while in the second half I couldn't quite believe they weren't. Our second goal was too much though and Rooney's frustration was the physical evidence that the game was up. It was the final pantomime moment in a game that had made me laughing as hard as I cheered.

4. Danny Murphy's perfect penalty - My admiration for Danny Murphy right now knows no bounds. I'll be the first to admit I didn't rate him too highly last season but I've realised the error of my ways. He's been a revelation this season (the best midfielder in the Premier League?) and seems to get better every week. He does the simple stuff brilliantly and yet again was the conductor at the heart of a majestic team performance. As he stepped up to take the penalty I felt the buzz of my phone as a text arrived. It was from a Spurs supporting friend who later said he knew Murphy wouldn't miss. He was right.

3. 20,000 Fulham fans calling Ronaldo a wanker - That might seem childish and puerile but it confirmed a growing belief in my stomach that we were going to win the game. United, already a goal and a player down, were clearly getting frustrated with the Ref's refusal to fall for their attempts to win free kicks or get Fulham players sent off. I've often joked with my pals about "Fortress Cottage" and proposed ways to turn our ground into the Galatasary of south west London. Craven Cottage is not the most intimidating of grounds yet, as Ronaldo stood pleading with Phil Dowd for yet another fictional offence, we made our feelings clear. As he sulked off away from the home end it was clear we had got to him. The supposed "best player in the world" and he couldn't handle a barracking from nice little Fulham. For all his tricks and flicks he's got a lot of growing up to do before he can really show he's good enough to stand alongside the greats of the game. Maybe if he'd focused on his football he could have made a difference.

2. Sensing the big match atmosphere as we entered the Hammy End - Maybe familiarity breeds contempt but I wasn't particularly excited about playing United before we arrived. The traffic was bad and we cut it a bit finer than we'd have liked so the match was seconds from kick-off as we climbed the steps into the Hammersmith End. As I stepped into the stand the sense of anticipation was tangible. This was a massive game, a real big match atmosphere. My mood changed instantly and I felt strangely optimistic for a good result. A good game at least. That feeling never left me. A great day.

1. Zoltan Gera's overhead volley - Zoltan Gera hadn't won my sympathy in the way Bobby Zamora had. Whilst I could see he was going through a difficult settling in phase I didn't feel moved enough to really support him. His arrival against United was a necessary change coming at the point where Dempsey's willingness to chase every ball was finally overcome by his bout of food poisoning. We needed a fresh pair of legs. He did well in the build up to the second goal, collected it from Dickson Etuhu, played a good pass to AJ who almost got a shot in before returning the ball. As Gera chipped it up off his toe the first thought through my mind was - oh Zoltan, you've messed that up. Then something incredible happened. The ball hung in the air, Gera twisted his body in an unlikely shape and pulled off an amazing overhead volley into the far corner. A goal! A really great goal! A goal that was going to beat Manchester United! Hooray for Zoltan! Zoltan, destroyer of worlds!.

Friday snippet

This headline from FulhamWeb about the Ref for Saturday's game made me chuckle - Fulham hater Halsey back for Sunderland - oh well, I reckon he owes us a favour or two!

Also it's FA Cup weekend (if only ...) so, seeing as how the competition seems to have recaptured its magic this season, I've done a Top 5 FA Cup Semi Finals on my other blog.

Er ... that's it.

Top 5 Fulham Players I didn't see play

I went to my first match in 1979 so having missed the first 100 years of the club there are plenty of great players to choose from. The first four really picked themselves but my final choice took a bit of thinking about. At my Dad's request I'm not going to make you trawl over to Chop's Top Fives today and if you hadn't bothered before I have also added the extra comments to the previous Top 5 posts. Back to normal tomorrow!

1. Johnny Haynes

2. George Cohen

3. George Best

4. Bobby Moore

5. Allan Clarke

There's not much more to add. Seeing Haynes play in the flesh would have been something special. TV footage of the time is limited and doesn't really do him justice, but his stats say it all 658 appearances, scoring 158 goals for Fulham and 56 appearances (including the '54, '58 & '62 World Cups) for England, 22 of which were as Captain, scoring 18 goals. My Dad occasionally tries to explain how good a player he was, able to see passes no one else could and execute them perfectly, but I would love to have seen him play with my own eyes.

George Cohen's career was cut short due to injury in 1969 a mere 3 years after he had helped England lift the World Cup. 459 appearances for Fulham, scoring 6 goals and 37 appearances for England. I'm sure he would have made the 1970 World Cup squad had he continued playing and who knows what he could have achieved.

I only missed George Best by a couple of seasons, and whilst he was not at his peak when he played for the Whites, it would have been a privilege to have seen one of the world's greatest players at Craven Cottage. He managed 42 appearances for us and scored 8 goals.

Like Best, Bobby Moore was also at the tail end of his career but probably made a bigger contribution to our history. Leading us to the F.A. Cup final in his first season at the club and making a total of 108 appearances in which he scored just once. Another world great at the Cottage.

Allan Clarke was probably the ultimate goal scorer, his career stats show an incredible number of goals per game. He joined us as a 19 year old from Walsall, and played for two seasons during which he scored 45 goals in 86 appearances. We sold him to First Division Leicester City for £150,000. He would of course go on to be a legend at Leeds United where he scored a stunning 151 goals in 273 appearances. What would you give for someone who could score like that now?

Top 5 Fulham Goals

My memory for the details of games is actually shocking so there could well be some great goals I saw that I just don't remember. Kamara's overhead kick to equalise against Spurs is a recent contender, Louis Saha's against Newcastle another, and Sean O'Driscoll's goal direct from a corner against Newport County also memorable. However, I reckon the fact this lot have stuck in my head so firmly means they're worthy entrants. As always your welcome to add your own selection in the comments, that's the beauty of Top 5 lists, they're not supposed to be definitive just your favourite choices. Check out Chop's Top Fives for descriptions of the goals listed and my reasons for choosing them.

1. Gordon Davies from the left wing against Chesterfield (30th Jan 1982)

2. Simon Morgan header against Villa in Cup (23rd Jan 1999)

3. Rodney MacAree at Carlisle (5th April 1997)

4. "Super" Mick Conroy from the half way line at Wycombe (12th August 1997)

5. Kevin Moore equaliser against Walsall (13th August 1994)

I must have seen Gordon Davies score a hundred goals but I can't actually remember many of them. I guess Ivor was more of a "fox in the box" than a 40 yard man. This one has never left me though. A hoofed clearance from Roger Brown was latched onto by our Ivor who then shot from somewhere near the Stevenage Road byline right in front of the Cottage. It probably wasn't as far out as my memory would have me believe, but it was certainly not an angle from where you'd expect anyone to score. It shot past the Chesterfield 'keeper though and hit the back of the net, 1-0 Fulham, game over! A glorious goal.

The trip up to Villa Park for this 4th round F.A. Cup match was probably my first trip to a big ground with Fulham. I remember being stunned at how big the Holt End was and never believed we would get away with a win. Eight minutes in though and Simon Morgan rose to head home a Stevie Hayward free kick. I don't think I've ever seen Morgs get up so high and it was a real bullet header into the back of the net. Amazingly we went on to put in a really solid performance and after Stevie H had added a second just before half time, managed to defend our lead against the team that were then top of the Premier League.

OK, I have to admit I'm breaking my own rules here. I wasn't at Carlisle. I was with the three other guys I regular go to the football with at a mates stag do in London. None of us were best pleased with the timing but there was no choice to make. We bundled into a pub to try and catch news of the game and find out the Grand National result. The National had been cancelled but when news came through that we'd won 2-1 we were ecstatic. I couldn't have a top 5 list that didn't include this wonder volley from McAree, probably the most important goal in the history of the club so far. "Who put the ball in the Carlisle net? Rodney McAree!"

It was a first round league cup match, but Wycombe wasn't too far away and ground we'd never been to before. There'd been some chaos getting into the ground at the start and we'd ended up down the side in with a mixture of Fulham and Wycombe fans. Half the Fulham squad, including Kit Symons, were sitting behind us as well. It was a quiet sort of game, we weren't expecting too much as the teams trooped off at half time with the scores tied at 1-1. Then it happened. "Super" Mick Conroy controlled the ball in the centre circle, and then shot. "What the hell are you do ...? Oh my G ... GOOOOOAAALLLLLLLLL!!!". An unbelievable strike, I never thought it was likely to be even close but back then "Super" Mick could do no wrong. It wasn't quite from the half way line but it was near as damn it, and why should we let the facts get in the way of a good song.

My final choice is unlikely to be a goal many people remember. It was our first home match in the basement division, I had taken a philosophical view to relegation the previous season believing we could waltz the league title and re-establish ourselves once again. However, the stark reality of live at the bottom did not take long to hit home. The game was a fairly even affair but Walsall had taken the lead in the first half through Kyle Lightbourne. Attacking the Hammy End in the second half we just couldn't quite find the cutting edge to pull one back, until, in the final minutes, new signing Kevin Moore rose to head home a corner. I celebrated this goal like no other, the emotion of relegation and 15 years of steady decline had built up to the point where I actually shed tears of joy. Of course in the end it would get worse before it got better, but right then it seemed that we had finally turned the corner.

Top 5 Fulham Kits

A club's kit is often intrinsically linked to a particular era of their footballing history, and sometimes a specific player (the Black away kit of 2003/04 will always be the unlucky "Steve Marlet kit" to me). These are my favourite five Fulham kits to date. Check out my Top 5's blog for more about my choices and the players I most associate with them. Take a look at HistoricalKits.co.uk for pictures of every Fulham home kit since 1886.

1. 1999-2001 Home Kit (Adidas)

2. 1975-1977 FA Cup Final Kit (Umbro)

3. 1981-1983 Home Kit (Oscar)

4. 1993-1994 Away Kit (Vandanel)

5. 1952-1963 Home Kit

The vogue for adults buying football shirts really only started in the 90's, and so despite the fact that four of my top five kits are white the 1999/2001 Home Kit was the first white shirt I had bought since my Mum & Dad had bought a polyester replica Adidas top for me when I was about 12. I really liked this kit, it had a feeling of quality about it and was different to previous Fulham shirts whilst still looking quite traditional. Even a season under Paul Bracewell did little to dampen my enthusiasm and when Tigana arrived it got the chance to claim it's place amongst our most successful kits by seeing the team win the League and gain promotion to the Premier League. Player I most associate with it: Stan Collymore.

The kit we wore for our only F.A. Cup final appearance (to date) and then for the two subsequent seasons was possibly the first time we had deviated from a plain white shirt. The black collar and cuffs gave it a bit of seventies style and the "retro" FFC logo has remained popular ever since. Player I most associate with it: George Best.

This was the kit the MacDonald team wore as we won promotion back to Division 2 and then almost Division 1 the following season. Made by previously unheard of Oscar, this kit saw the addition of black eppilettes and was just as smart in the red away flavour. Oscar produced one more kit for the club in 1983/84 before disappearing completely from the kit manufacturing scene. Player I most associate with it: Ray Houghton.

I'm not sure I've got the year right but I'm sure I remember wearing this on that long trip down to Swansea to see us finally drop into the lowest league. It was the first of a series of red & black away kits that took their inspiration from the 1975 "A.C. Milan" away kit. Player I most associate with it: Gary Brazil

Really our kit hardly changed at all from 1903 right up to 1975, the reason I've singled out this period is that it was probably our "Golden Era" and for several of these seasons we wore some fancy stripey socks. The Historical Football Kits website has the stripey socks down as 1955-56 and 1959-61, so maybe they are correct, but scanning through the Turner & Coton book "Fulham - The Team" suggests players were less concerned with wearing matching socks back then. Anyway I'm basically saying I like the plain white shirt and this season's Nike version is just as good and could be a future Top 5 contender. We've not worn a completely plain white shirt since 1975 so it was due a return. Player I most associate with it: Johnny Haynes

Somehow I've failed to include any of the numerous away kits I have bought nor the 1977-1980 kit that was the first one I saw the team play in. That was a classic Adidas kit with black collars and the famous three stripes. I was maybe slightly put of it at the time thanks to that kit my Mum & Dad bought me as a 12 year old. My kit was always slightly too small, was made of a horrible polyester mix that was never nice to put on and had a badge that was a dodgy transfer which started to come of after a couple of washes. I wore it religiously to football training though, until eventually I had to accept it really was too small. Looking back it was a great kit as well but for now sits just outside my Top 5.

Top 5 Fulham Matches

The five most memorable Fulham games I have ever seen. I'm sure there are loads I've forgotten but for various reasons these are the games that stick in my mind more than any others. Head on over to Chop's Top Fives to see my recollections of the games and my reasons for selecting them. If you want to add your own then please do so using the comments page, I'll add permanent links to them in the Hammy End Features menu so that you can go away and think about it before committing finger to keyboard! Tomorrow's Top 5 list will be an easier one - Top 5 Fulham Kits.

1. Portsmouth 4 Fulham 4 (1st Jan 1985 at Fratton Park)

2. Fulham 7 Swansea 0 (11th Nov 1995 FA Cup 1st round at Craven Cottage)

3. Fulham 1 Lincoln 1 (18th May 1982 promotion clincher at Craven Cottage)

4. Fulham 3 Spurs 2 (11th Sep 2002 at Loftus Road)

5. Fulham 4 Stockport Co. 1 (26th August 2000 at Craven Cottage)

A New Year's Day trip to a windy Fratton Park and the most amazing game of football I have ever seen. Within the first 15 minutes we had already lost Robert Wilson to injury and had seen a Pompey goal disallowed for offside. Less than 10 minutes later and we were 3 goals down. Pompey added a forth thanks to Jeff Hopkins (never my favourite player) attempting a clearance that only managed to smash into Alan Biley's face before looping back over a stranded Jim Stannard and finding the back of the net. 4-0 down at half time and nobody in the away enclosure really believed we were going to win the game. As the Whites trotted out for the second half though the away end sang loud and clear determined to make the most of a Bank Holiday afternoon out. With the wind in our favour we made a great start scoring the first goal two minutes into the second half. Coney reaching a far post cross from Ray Lewington. "We're gonna win 5-4" we sang hilariously - as if! Then we added two more in three minutes and suddenly, with 15 minutes still to play, realised we actually could win. Pompey fought desperately to stem the tide and for a while it looked like our hopes would be dashed. Hopkins headed a Portsmouth free kick into our own net but miraculously we got a reprieve as the Ref ordered the free kick retaken. In the final minute Cliffy Carr surged forward and was brought down in the box. Kevin Lock stepped up, right in front of the away crowd, incredible pressure but Locky was always the consummate penalty taker and he slotted it away to level the match at 4-4. The away end erupted in joy and as the final whistle blew we knew we'd seen something spectacular. Even being held back for 1/2 hour after the game did not dampen our spirits, in fact if anything we were happy for a bit of extra time to bask in the glory of the greatest Fulham comeback of all time.

Quite often victories by big scorelines don't make for great games. Its all too one sided and there's no edge to the game. This F.A. Cup success was something different though. We weren't having the best of times and Swansea were doing well in the division above us. We took the lead after just two minutes, Nick Cusack flicking on a Tony Lange goal kick for "Super" Mick Conroy to fire home. Conroy got his second after 16 minutes before Lea Barkus had to leave the field to be replaced by Paul Brooker making his Fulham debut. We added a third within the first half hour as Duncan Jupp shot home after a Gary Brazil corner. I remember being slightly concerned that we may lose our momentum having lost Barkus, Brooker however, turned in one of the greatest debut performances I have ever seen. In the second half he ripped Swansea apart time and time again and by the end of the game I genuinely believed we had a new Fulham hero in the making. Conroy completed his hatrick, before Cusack and Brooker made it six. Martin Thomas then completed the rout with a cracking volley from a Robbie Herrera cross. At the time this was the biggest-ever defeat of a club from a higher division in the history of the F.A. Cup.A crunch match which could have seen either team claim a promotion spot.

It was a dark and misty old night with a big crowd of around 20,000. We struggled to find our rhythm, and Lincoln looked by far the better team. Then "Big" Roger Brown came crashing in with a header to take the lead and we were back in the driving seat. Lincoln pulled one back with around a quarter of an hour remaining, but we held on and the point was enough to confirm our promotion back to the 2nd division. As the final whistle blew the pitch was swamped by supporters, who carried the players from the field. We stayed to see the team come out onto the Cottage balcony to soak up the cheers and applause, a great night, my first promotion season and one I will never forget.

Another cracking Fulham come back, and THE game I think of when I remember our years at Loftus Road. 2-0 down, having lost Saha early on to injury and not looking that impressive, we came out for the second half a different team. Inamoto scored on 68 minutes to give us hope before Malbranque slotted home a penalty, with about 5 minutes left, to level the scores. Having pulled it back to 2-2 no one could have complained, but then Sylvain Legwinski raced onto a through ball and fired home an unstoppable shot into the far corner of the goal to make it 3-2. It was just about the last kick of the game and we went home unable to stop smiling.

This was the game when I realised exactly how good we were under Tigana. I'd missed a few of the early games that season due to the birth of my first son in May and I think this might have been the first chance I had had to see the team for real. We were so good that I actually felt sorry for Stockport. They couldn't get the ball of us, we just passed them to death and how they ended up on the scoresheet I have no idea. We probably could have won by many more but this was as impressive display as I have ever seen from a Fulham team. It would go on to be one of our greatest seasons and eventually see us achieve Premier League status for the first time.

Incidentally in case you are wondering about some obvious games not included in this Top 5 here's a few great games that I missed; Carlisle 1 FFC 2 (5th April 1997), Blackburn 1 FFC 2 (11th April 2001), FFC 1 Sheff. Weds 1 (16th April 2001), FFC 2 Liverpool 0 (22nd Oct 2005), FFC 1 Chavs 0 (19th Mar 2006) and FFC 2 Arsenal 1 (29th Nov 2006).

Top 5 Fulham Players I have seen

With another 6 days before there's much Fulham related news to talk about I thought I'd try something different this week. If all goes well I'll have a different Top 5 for every day. This is also designed to highlight my other blog Chop's Top Fives which is, unsurprisingly, a bunch of my Top 5 lists. Today's top 5 is reproduced in full below, please fell free to add your own on either blog.

These are my favourite Fulham players that I actually saw play. Not necessarily the greatest to have pulled on a white shirt but the ones that I enjoyed watching the most.

1. Gordon Davies

2. Steed Malbranque

3. Ray Houghton

4. Simon Morgan

5. Louis Saha

Gordon "Ivor" Davies was my first and greatest Fulham hero. He scored twice in my first ever match, and went on to become Fulham's all time leading goalscorer. During his two spells at the club you just got used to the fact that Ivor would probably score. After he finally hung up his boots it was a very long time before we found someone who could score goals as often as he did. In fact we never really did.

Steed may have left under a bit of a cloud, but for five seasons he left me spellbound with his wizardry and work ethic. He brought a joy of playing to our team. Initially under Tigana he played his part in a team that could all play football the way it should be played, and eventually under Coleman he was the star man, the driving force behind a team of more workman like cloggers.

Much like Steed, Ray Houghton was the creative spark behind the MacDonald team of the 80's. A team made up of promising youngsters and a few old heads that went to the brink of the top division before spiralling back down again as the key players were sold. Signed for free from West Ham, Houghton was a bundle of energy, and played a starring role in our epic series of games against Liverpool in the League Cup. Having been sold to Oxford he got to claim a League Cup winner's medal (beating QPR 3-0 in the final and scoring the final goal). Having played for several seasons in a very successful Liverpool team he then moved to Aston Villa and during the 1994 World Cup scored his most memorable goal as the Republic of Ireland beat Italy 1-0.

The 90's was a grim time to be a Fulham supporter. Having spent a couple of years away from football, my return saw a team I didn't recognise. No one stood out and we were frankly appalling. As I got more games under my belt one player did start to set himself apart from the rest. Morgs gave 100% in every game, he worked his socks of and whilst he didn't look the greatest I appreciated the effort. However, as our fortunes slowly changed, and new managers came and went, it turned out Morgs really could play. Under Micky Adams he drove the team on, moaning at every contentious decision but putting his all into every performance. Having joined a team expecting a return to 2nd tier football, he ended up Captaining the side that dropped into the 4th tier. It's a testament to his character that he stuck with us through those dark days and saw us back in the 2nd tier and on the brink of the 1st before his knees could take no more.

Another "black sheep" of the Fulham family, Louis Saha arrived from Metz with no great reputation to boast about. A short loan spell at Newcastle had not impressed anyone, but under Tigana's guidance and playing in a team that was all about style, Saha flourished. Our top scorer in the team that won the Championship, he continued to impress in the Premier League. Two goals in our first match, a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford, may have sealed his fate as far as we were concerned, but we did get to watch his style and goalscoring for a couple of seasons before he left us for "better things" and provided us with £12m which was just enough to offset the £11m we had wasted on Steve Marlet and ensure our return to Craven Cottage.