Cook Finally Signs & Former Fulham Watch #1

So in a typically Fulhamish transfer saga we finally wrapped up the signing of Lee Cook from QPR. There's an updated post here all about Lee, as I got a bit over excited last week and announced we'd already signed him on Wednesday! Oops, I should know better but it was the BBC who got my hopes up. The deal has taken an age to agree partly due to the outcry from QPR fans who are obviously gutted to see their best player leave, but also due to medical concerns over the state of Lee's knee. The last time a player failed to sign for us due to dodgy knee's it was John Carew and seeing as he scored against us last season playing for Villa I reckon we'll be OK this time!

A couple of items I noticed during the week regarding former Fulham favourites. Micky Adams has taken up the role of Assistant Manager at Colchester United. It's his first job since being sacked by Coventry City in January. I think it could be a great role for him, Colchester are punching above their weight and if they continue to do so Micky can re-establish his reputation away from the spotlights glare of another managerial reign. Good luck Micky you deserve to do well. Then ex-Right Back Jamie Smith was forced to retire from the game after failing to recover from a knee injury. He was only 32. Jamie played during the Keegan era, and probably never achieved as much with us as he might have done. He never cemented a regular first team place, but always looked pretty solid when he did get a run.

It's Brighton at the Withdean tonight, if you're going take your waterproofs because it sounds like it's going to be wet!

My First Match (and how I became a Fulham supporter)

I started supporting Fulham in 1975, just before we played in the F.A. Cup final against West Ham. I was almost 7 and don’t remember having seen football on the telly before that or even having much awareness of different football teams. My Dad must have told me about Fulham and that we had reached the Cup Final but I don’t think it really made much impression on me until he brought home two posters (one of each team) from the ESSO garage. Those two posters took pride of place on my bedroom wall and remained there for a long time after the final was over.

My knowledge of Fulham then was completely based on what information I could glean from those posters. For a very long time I confused Alan Mullery and Bobby Moore and it was some years later when I realised my mistake and had to convince my brain to reverse the faces I knew as Bobby and Alan. I also developed something of a soft spot for West Ham, knowing almost as much about their team as I did about ours. Strange that over 30 years later I would end up marrying a West Ham supporter. Before the Cup Final was played my Dad also brought home a souvenir copy of the Evening Standard, which had a full colour spread on both teams, and my Gran gave me a Fulham rosette which went up on my wall next to the posters.

I don’t remember the game at all though I’m sure I must have watched it but from then on we would watch the Cup Final every year. With televised football a rarity, and Match of the Day on too late, this was probably my only exposure to what was happening in Football. I don’t remember ’76 or ’77 but the 1978 final really made an impression. Ipswich the unfancied underdog’s took on the might of Arsenal, the Blues 1-0 win showed me how unpredictable football could be and how you could support a smaller team and still find it enjoyable. It wasn’t so easy to pick a team to cheer when Arsenal met Manchester United the following year so in the end I plumped for the London based side. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the game as much, but I was unprepared for a game that eventually proved to be one of the most exciting matches I’ve ever seen. As Alan Sunderland scored that late winner for Arsenal I was hooked. Football was great and I wanted more of it.

My knowledge of Fulham increased a little further in 1979 as I completed that years Panini sticker album. Despite only being a 2nd Division team there was still a Team photo and a silver club badge to collect. Next to these was a short summary of Fulham facts and figures. I now knew that our capacity was a staggering 42,000 (another fact that stuck with me long beyond the point when the GLC stepped in and started introducing more realistic levels) our record signing was Peter Kitchen, for £100,000 from Leyton Orient, and our record sale was Richard Money who went to Liverpool for the unusual figure of £333,333.

I don’t remember badgering my Dad to take me though maybe by then I knew other kids at school had seen real football games and had might talked to him about going one day. However, when it happened it was completely out of the blue. I remember walking up the stairs, on the way to my bedroom, when Dad stopped me and asked;

"Would you like to go the match this afternoon?"

"What match?" was my nonplussed reply,

"Fulham!" Dad said,

"Really? … err yes please!"

Before I knew what was happening we were in the car and driving, the same route we used when visiting my Grandma and Granddad in Barnes. We carried on across the Hammersmith Bridge and I discovered a part of the world I had never seen before. I took in the whole journey, the places we passed the people we saw, and eventually, as we neared the ground, the crowd. We parked in a side road, walked down to the ground and entered the turnstiles for the Hammersmith Terrace. I think I got in for 50p and the programme was only 25p. By the time we were in there seemed to be a vast crowd probably more people than I’d ever seen in one place. Actually the attendance that day was 6,533 not bad, though nothing exceptional, but for an 11 year old at his first ever football match it seemed completely packed and very noisy.

It was 15th September 1979 and Fulham were about to face Burnley on a gorgeous sunny afternoon. I don’t remember many details about the game itself, Peter Marinello got sent off (possibly in the 1st half) and the crowd sang "There’s Only One Marinello" for the rest of the game. They also sang "The referee's a wanker" quite a bit. I had no idea what a wanker was but I figured it wasn’t a good thing. Next to us there was a huge skinhead with big lace up DM boots and drainpipe jeans. He joined in the vitriol screaming "Challis you’re a wanker". Challis, it transpired, was Ron Challis (Tonbridge, Kent) the unfortunate referee. He had become a Football League referee in 1968, the year I was born, and in 1975 was senior linesman to Pat Partridge for the FA Cup Final. He then took charge of that amazing final I'd enjoyed in 1979. In the end we beat Burnley 3-1, with two goals from Gordon Davies and one from Kevin Lock. I thought it would be like that every week. However, it was December before we won at home again and we were relegated at the end of the season, a fact that was probably more indicative of the years to come than that first victory.

After the game Dad walked me round the ground, under the Eric Miller stand and along the Putney Terrace to take a look at the famous Craven Cottage. As we were about to head home Peter Marinello came out from the changing rooms, heading for the players bar, and someone stopped him to ask about the Old Firm (I didn’t know what that meant either but it sounded quite exciting). Marinello headed on his way every inch the dashing hero. He was my new favourite player, though I wasn’t to know that he wouldn't play many more games for Fulham, falling out of favour as our season went from bad to worse before moving on to Hearts via Pheonix Inferno. I would have a new a more lasting hero pretty soon, he'd already scored two goals in that first match, but for now Marinello was the greatest. I’d had a great day and as we finally left to go home I knew I’d be back.

Reserves Friendly: Lewes 1 - FFC XI 0

Its late and I really should be in bed by now but here I am trying to find out the result of the reserves friendly. Its clearly a low profile fixture as Fulham haven't even mentioned it on the Offal, and even if they had that appears to be down ... again. Never mind, I know some guys from TFI have gone so there will probably be an update on there by tomorrow.

UPDATE: Final score was 1-0 to Lewes. Bexhill Beast from TFI went and had this to say "1-0 to Lewes - poor game overall and if anything Lewes looked more like the Premiership outfit. Mostly younger players though - apart from Runstrom up front who was appalling! Watts best player overall, though Goncalves shone in first half - rather temperamental though, like watching Ronaldo!". It was also noted that ex-youth player Tom Davis played for Lewes, who also have Junior Lewis (Lewis of Lewes!?) on their books and have just employed Justin Skinner as their number 2.

Here's a YouTube video of Roy O'Donovan, an Irish striker we're apparently trying to sign up. Cork City have confirmed they have received two bids, allegedly us and Southend United, for the 21 year old hotshot.

Friendly Report: Dagenham & Redbridge 0 - FFC 1

The first friendly of the season was played last night and Fulham got off to a good start with a 1-0 win. Diomansy Kamara striking the winner with a spectacular shot on 44 minutes. There's a decent match report on the offal here with a rather fancy graphic showing the team formation. It has to be good to win these games, even though they are more about fitness, a few more of these under our belt and we'll be in good shape for the challenges to come.

The starting line-up is pretty close to the team I would expect us to start the season with. Niemi in goal and a back four of Baird-Knight-Hughes-Konchesky is the defence I was expecting. There's room for more variation in midfield Brown & Davis started, but it sounds like Smertin put in a good 2nd half performance and I would be surprised if Diop isn't pushing very strongly for a staring role. Franck Q played left wing, a strong indication for me that he is on his way. I am sure Sanchez will be pulling out all the stops to get a new left winger signed before the end of this week in time for the trip to Hong Kong. Simon Davies started on the right wing, but his place must also be feeling some pressure from Clint Dempsey. Finally great to see Kamara get on the score sheet straight away, apparently he played in a free role just off Brian McBride and seem to enjoy the freedom. The 2nd half replacements up front were Collins John who had a couple of early chances and David Healy.

All this emphasises the depth of our squad now, particularly in midfield, with the only obvious hole being on the left wing. How many players we retain will be interesting. Franck Q seems very likely to leave, both Newcastle and West Ham have been reported in being interested, and rumours have been circulating that Wigan want Michael Brown. Bjorn Runstrom has also been linked with a move away which based on his complete lack of first team action is not surprising. Gabriel Zakuani, Philippe Christanval and Heidur Helguson didn't make the squad but I don't think Sanchez will let anyone go who doesn't want to leave or doesn't attract the right bid.

The Wisdom of George

I've just finished reading George Cohen's autobiography, the aptly titled "My Autobiography". My Dad got me a signed copy for my birthday (thanks Dad!) and it's a really great read. Well written and astutely observed, George cuts straight to the point without ever being caustic. In one of the earlier chapter's George makes some excellent comments about the game of football which seem to me, to have a great deal of relevance to both Chris Coleman's recent reign and Lawrie Sanchez' forthcoming campaign.

"Football is a simple game but a lot of hard work goes into making it so ... it will always be about time and space."

"It is not rocket science or advanced calculus, but it is a lot of hard work and a lot of concentration and if you don't learn to think and sweat at the same time you're going to be in a lot of trouble"

I think these are statements that Lawrie would agree with completely and might be considered the blueprint for the way we are going to play. I'm sure Cookie would agree with them as well, but I'm not so sure he was able to put it across as succinctly as George does.

One last quote from George that made me chuckle, Alf Ramsey in plotting England's route past Portugal to the 66 World Cup final told Nobby Stiles "I want you to take Eusebio out of the game" to which Nobby paused for a few seconds before replying "Do you mean for life Alf?"

Get your own copy at Amazon.co.uk or at AbeBooks.co.uk.

Annoyed of Shepperton

OK so I should know better. The media is always going to have a view of Fulham that doesn't match my own but an article in today's Times has really peed me off. In "The Game" there's an article examining every Premiership clubs transfer dealings and giving a mark as to how well the Times think each clubs done. Fulham get a C+. So OK we might have signed a lot of players but most of them have been playing in the championship. Anyway It doesn't really matter does it - it's just a bit of fun ...

Aston Villa get a B - Total incoming transfers 1, the massively over-rated Nigel-Reo Coker for an equally massive £8million. Apparently Martin O'Neil has £40million to spend but "will only buy big if the right players are available". So how does that make them a B - for heaven's sake!

Derby get a B+ - They've signed Earnshaw (£3.5million), Claude Davis (£3million from relegated Sheff. Utd) and Andy Todd from Blackburn. Is that better than us? I don't think so.

Man City get a B+ - They've only just announced their new manager, they've only signed two players. They claim they are about to sign Peter Crouch but they haven't yet have they!!

Wigan get a B - This is the one that really annoys me. A B!?!? What for? Their big signings are Koumas and Bramble. Titus Bramble - the unofficial "worst defender in the Premiership". They might buy Marlon Harewood, but Mr Times Journo, they might sell Leighton Baines!! Grrrrrrr!

Right, rant over. I got a bit cross there and it really shouldn't have annoyed me so much, but it is typical of the media's general opinion about Fulham and other supposedly smaller clubs. I always try and rationalise these things by saying that it's OK if the media underestimate you, it's what you do on the pitch that really matters. It doesn't stop me getting annoyed by it though especially when their opinions are based on personal preferences rather than actual facts.

Dario G

Dario Gradi is a football legend and deservedly so, his 24 years at Crewe is something to be proud of on its own, let alone the list of great players that have departed that club for bigger things. The BBC have a great article here about the planned handover of the managerial reigns from Dario to current academy boss Steve Holland. When Gradi finally makes way he will hand over the title of longest serving English football boss to Sir Alex Ferguson. I bet Fergie doesn't manage to give up the reigns at Old Trafford with as much dignity.

The list of former players makes impressive reading and includes David Platt, Rob Jones, Craig Hignett, Neil Lennon, Danny Murphy, Dean Ashton and of course ex-Fulham midfielder Wayne Collins. The one thing they all had in common was the ability to play good football. My other interest in Dario G is due to friends of my parents who lived in a maisonette above Dario's Mum. I had hoped that one day we might bump into him and could invite him up for a cup of tea and a bit of cake while we chatted about football, but alas it never happened. I wish Crewe well for the coming season and hope they have found the man to lead them on through the next 25 years.

New Signing - David Healy

Oh my giddy aunt! What a week - I'm breathless with anticipation. Striker David Healy has become our sixth signing of the summer so far, agreeing a move from Leeds for around £1.5million. Healy was one of the first players to be linked with Fulham, having been outstanding under Sanchez when playing for Northern Ireland. The ongoing saga of Leeds' attempt to come out of administration has delayed any transfer dealings but with Bates now back in control the deal has finally been agreed.

Healy began his career at Manchester United where he was restricted to 3 substitute appearances, before heading out on loan to first Port Vale and then Preston North End. He eventually signed for Preston making a total of 155 appearances and scoring 44 goals. He then went on loan again, to Norwich, before signing for Leeds United where he made 121 appearances scoring 31 goals. He has really come to prominence via his international career with Northern Ireland with whom he has won 46 caps scoring an impressive 19 goals. Those goals include the winner against Sven-Goran Eriksson's England in the 1-0 victory at Windsor Park in 2005, a stunning hatrick in the 3-2 victory over Spain in September 2006 and both goals in the 2-1 win over Sweden in March of this year.

New Signing - Paul Konchesky

Blige! It's all go this week isn't it. Out of nowhere we've signed Left Back Paul Konchesky from West Ham. Poor old Konch had been at Charlton for ages when he fell out of favour with Alan Curbishley, after a period on loan at Tottenham he eventually opted to move to West Ham, the team he supported as a boy, in July 2005. We were interested at the time as well but missed out. After a very successful first season, culminating in a goal scoring (see picture above) F.A. Cup Final appearance, last season saw Alan Pardew sacked and Paul's ex-manager Curbishley installed. It seems they still don't get along so the Spammers loss is our gain.

Konchesky played 70 times for West Ham scoring twice, having made 169 appearances for Charlton scoring 6 goals and 15 appearances for Tottenham. He's also played twice for England and 15 times for the England U21 side. His signing will almost certainly pave the way for the departure of Franck Queudrue who has made no secret of his desire to leave the club.

It's all gone horribly wrong

No not the Lee Cook transfer. My six-a-side football team lost today in our last game of the season and in doing so blew our, admittedly slim, chance of winning the inter-department league. I'm gutted. I've been playing in this damn league for getting on for 18 years now and only managed to win it twice, both times when I sold my sole to the devil and played for our office equivalent of Manchester United. This would have been my first ever victory with my own team. We'd beaten said Man Utd clones a week ago, and had then seen results go our way setting up a final week in which we still had a chance of taking the title. Today we played an unfancied side, but with one player less (key man Brown choosing fishing over football) and needing to win by 3 clear goals. It was always going to be tough but we were 1-0 up at the break and the title looked on.

I had gambled on using the fresher legs of Welsh Boy Jones on pitch with me in goal but that plan fell apart as I made a series of catastrophic errors in the second half. I'd also broken my glasses in the first half which didn't help. Ginger Rich worked hard to cover the defence but as we pushed forward to try and score the necessary goals I was caught in no-man's land too many times and we ran out 4-1 losers. Jones scored our goal to finish as our top scorer - which is more than impressive when you realise he played over 3/4 of our matches in goal. I had hoped a league title might be seen as some kind of good omen for the coming season but it wasn't to be. I blame Brown. Fishing! I ask you.

OK so we haven’t got Lee Cook after all (I knew I’d end up regretting doing that piece yesterday) but there still seems to be a good chance we will get him in the end. He was born in Hammersmith and grew up a Ranger's fan but, despite rumours that he hates Fulham, it sounds like he wants Premiership Football and is happy to come to us. Fingers crossed, I've a good feeling about this one.

New Signing - Chris Baird

No really this time! Chris Baird has signed today for a smidge over £3million. This one has been rumbling on and off for a long time. Southampton really didn’t want to sell him, but after they accepted Sunderland’s bid it was inevitable he would move on. All that bid really achieved was to set the price, Fulham matched it and then it was down to the player to decide. Given a choice between working for Roy Keane, who let’s be honest is bound to shout at you in a very scary way at some point in the future, or Lawrie Sanchez, who you know already as your international manager, its not that surprising that we eventually got our man.

Baird is 25 and played most of last season at Centre Back. He won Saint’s Player of the Season award by a country mile and may have also captained the side. He began as a trainee at Southampton and made a total of 79 appearances scoring 3 goals. He has actually played most of his career at Right Back (which is also where he plays for Northern Ireland) and I still remember his outstanding performance in that position for Saint’s in the 2003 F.A. Cup Final. It will be interesting to see where Lawrie intends to play him. I reckon he may well fill the Right Back slot which could see Liam move to cover the Left Back role or not even make the starting eleven.

Reserve Fixtures

The reserve teams fixtures have just been published on the Offal. They kick off, like the 1st team, with a match against Arsenal. The reserves are at home though. Its scheduled to be played at Motspur Park but with the possibility of it being Jimmy Bullard's first match after his long-term injury and the fact that the kids will still be on their summer holidays maybe the club will consider moving it to a bigger venue. I went to MP for the Arsenal game at the end of last season and fancy going. Junior Chop the Elder is a Gooner and would love to see them beat us again, Junior Chop the Younger is so far untainted by a chosen team but would love to join his big brother for a late night out. We'll see.

The reserves also have some friendlies scheduled. They don't seem to be listed on the Offal yet so I asked on T-F-I and found the following games arranged so far.

18th July AWAY vs Lewes F.C.
1st August AWAY vs Staines Town
7th August AWAY vs Aldershot Town

There could be more to come. Lewes would be worth a trip, if only to see their famous Dripping Pan ground, but I think I'm going to miss out on that. Will probably head along to Staines Town though as it is just round the corner from Chronicle H.Q.

New Signing - Lee Cook

Width! Left Width! Finally after a typically lengthy transfer saga we have now signed left winger Lee Cook of QPR for something in the region of £2.5million. He's almost 25 and he's had a pretty good season for the bitters (voted last years Player of the Season), so much so that Chairman Gianni Paladini was quoted as stating that he would refuse to allow Lee Cook to be sold for under £10million. Really Gianni? Did you get that decimal point in the wrong place? The interest in Cook was first rumoured early on in the summer then last week I jumped the gun when the BBC suggested we'd captured Lee for £1.5million. Paladini made things difficult for us, partly due to the outcry from QPR supporters but in the end Lawrie got his man.

Cook has played 140 times for Rangers scoring 11 goals, having been signed for a paltry £125,000 from Watford where he had scored 7 goals in 64 appearances. Let's hope he can make the step up to the Prem, because by my reckoning he hasn't got much competition for his position.

The New Manager

Lawrie Sanchez did not make the impact I had hoped for when he came in as Fulham's very own Red Adair. I was expecting direct football, I was expecting passion and excitement, I was expecting a few more wins, but in the end he did the job he was asked to do. Having got quite excited at the prospect of Ronald Koeman (or another high profile manager) coming to the club, and a possible return to the pure footballing style of the Tigana years, I now accept that Sanchez was always the sensible and more likely choice. He's now got the chance to build the team that he wants and has certainly wasted little time in bringing in new faces. I am surprised by the size of the transfer fees reportedly paid so far, I thought Sanchez was brought in as a frugal option, but it seems the board have realised the need to keep investing in the team.

Comments made by Sanchez early on pointed the way to our future. He is looking for players who will give him 100% every week, he will get us organised in every department and will aim to play simple football with every player knowing his role. I think we are trying to emulate the pattern that has proved effective for Bolton and Blackburn and even Reading. This might not be pretty football, but if we can do it well it could be exciting. I also think Sanchez won't be afraid to give youth a chance so Elliott Omozusi, Gabriel Zakuani, Chris James and the like could all see some first team action. Matthew Briggs debut on Saturday at 'Boro last season made him the Premierships youngest ever player at 16 years 65 days, a nice touch by Sanchez, if a little self-aggrandising, and hopefully a sign of things to come.

Lawrie didn't waste much time in clearing the decks with Montella sent back to Italy before the 'Boro game, Radzinski and Claus Jensen released and Lastuvka and Routledge returned at the end of their loans. Ten days into July and we've already got three new players on board and Sanchez has talked about bringing in 3 or 4 more before we depart for Hong Kong, on the 21st July to play in the Barclay's Asia Trophy. Despite my early reservations I like Lawrie, he talks a lot of sense and seems to be single-minded and ambitious enough to succeed at this level. There's a story in the Vinnie Jones biography that says Lawrie was never much liked at Wimbledon and never considered one of the lads. Eventually this led to Sanchez getting involved in a fight with John Fashanu (awooga!). Fash is a big bloke and kept knocking Sanchez down only to see him get back up to his feet each time. Fashanu eventually asked if he'd had enough to which Sanchez replied something along the lines of "I will never give in to you, it doesn't matter how many times you knock me down I'll keep getting up". If Lawrie can instill that sort of spirit in our football team then I think we're going to do OK.

New Signing - Diomansy Kamara

BBC and Sky Sports both now reporting that Diomansy Kamara has finally signed for Fulham in a deal reportedly worth £6Million. Crikey that's a lot of money! No doubt the official Fulham website will get around to telling us about this by Wednesday or Thursday, by which time it will probably be an "undisclosed fee" - we like those. I doubt it's a full £6Million up front, there's probably staged payments and appearance related clauses but heck I'm just pleased we've got a striker through the doors. Diomansy is 26 and scored 21 goals (though most of them in the Championship) in around 60 appearances for West Brom. Prior to that he scored 4 goals in 25 appearances for Pompey and he has made 3 appearances so far for Senegal.

Mr Sanchez gets to work

Two players already signed and with a flurry of rumours being reported it seems it won't be long before we've got more players through the door. Today Sky Sports have reported that Fulham lodged a £4Million bid for Henri Camara with Wigan. It seems Lawrie's not content to sit back and wait for other teams to agree to deals, £4Million is a very serious bid but it must also put some pressure on West Brom and Blackburn if they are seriously considering letting their players go. The Diomansy Kamara bid seems to hinge around Heidar's reluctance to move to WBA. I'd be amazed if we are genuinely contemplating signing both K/Camara's so I think the move for Henri must be down to an inability to agree a price for Diomansy. The bid of £2.5Million for Roberts has apparently been knocked back, with Blackburn looking for around £4Million. Maybe they also will reconsider the price if they think we're just going to move on and buy someone else. Either way I think it bodes well for Sanchez mode of practice. Under Coleman we'd be linked with players but rarely did we hear of genuine bids being made. Mo might be backing Lawrie more in his first year than Cookie but it does appear that Lawrie is more comfortable with wheeling and dealing for a number of players at the same time.

Whilst it does look like we'll be buying two speedy strikers fairly soon, the news on David Healy has been very quiet of late. Leeds are clearly in a mess at the moment, and maybe we can benefit by picking him up on the cheap near the end of the window. If we do though he'll be fighting with 5 or 6 other strikers unless we manage to move on some of the old guard. I don't think Healy will be a regular starter but I do think there's a place for him in the Sanchez plan.

Franck Queudrue has been vocal about his desire to leave. He's clearly not happy with the new manager and suggests this is down to the style of football we'll be playing. I reckon it might have more with his failure to put in a decent performance (though to be fair I think he was injured) once Sanchez took over. We've not really been linked with a left back at all so it's possible we might see Bocanegra or Rosenior have to fill the role. Aaron Hughes is capable of playing right back, and Chris Baird (who seems set to go to Sunderland but may still join us) is actually a right back capable of playing in the centre. Moritz Volz could also be on his way, with the news that Celtic are interested. It would be very sad to see him go, but you couldn't blame him if he did as he needs to be playing regular first team football. Finally I heard a rumour, from a Spurs fan who's not one to pull my leg, that Martin Jol may be looking at Liam Rosenior if the £12Million (That does say twelve!) bid from the Filth for Pascal Chimobonda goes through.

All quite exciting and it would seem that the team that starts this season will look very different from the one that started last.

New Signing - Steven Davis

Hurrah! Signing number 2 confirmed. Steven Davis (that's him above scoring against Man City) is 22 and generally a central midfielder. He came through the youth team at Aston Villa but despite his age has already made 102 appearances and scored 9 goals. He's also played 16 times for Northern Ireland, scoring once, and recently became his countries youngest captain standing in for our other new boy Aaron Hughes.

I think this is a great signing, he didn't get to feature as much last season as Martin O'Neil began to restructure his side, but in the 2005/2006 season he was voted Aston Villa Player Of The Season, Aston Villa Young Player Of The Season and Aston Villa Fans Player Of The Season. He's got good experience at this level and is still so young. I believe he has played in a wider role for Villa but I'm pretty certain Sanchez will want to use him down the middle. With Brown, Diop, Smertin, Bullard (soon) and potentially Dempsey (not to mention Simon Elliott!?) all vying for a central role I think it's likely we'll see someone shipped out too. Wigan have reportedly bid £2.5Million for Brown and maybe, as important he was for us at times last season, that might be worth considering. However, it's still not very clear where Alexey Smertin stands. He's not been seen since Coleman departed and there have been rumours that he doesn't get on with assistant manager Les Reed. Whatever the truth is I think at least one of those will now move on.

New Signings

I have been pretty relaxed this close season about transfer activity (or the lack thereof). My feeling is that Sanchez has a style of Football that he wants to play and whilst the names we are linked with may not seem the greatest in the world, they will fit the plan. We certainly can't afford to compete with the likes of Arsenal or Spurs for the type of players that play quality football (at least not in the numbers we need) but we can become a more organised and disciplined side, one capable of doing the simple stuff effectively and making ourselves hard to beat. I am pleased with the names we are being linked with, they generally suggest pace and width and those are two attributes that the team that finished last season was desperately lacking.

The next four weeks are when we're likely to see the most activity in signing players. It does amaze me how long it takes to complete a deal. Diomansy Kamara has all but agreed to sign for us, with the BBC, Sky and the West Brom site all mentioning the likelihood that he is coming to us, yet there still seems to be a sticking point over the transfer of Heidur Helgusson in the opposite direction. Typically so far no comment from Fulham, and as we all know until the player has been announced on the Official website its not a done deal. I don't think we're likely to get "Reyna-ed" again but if H does not agree a move to WBA there could be more haggling to do over Kamara's price.

I wonder if the transfer window is this hard for everyone or is it just Fulham? Obviously being more interested in Fulham we pick up on the rumours and gossip about our club and don't pay as much notice to other teams. Is it really like that for every club in the Premier League or is it something unique to Fulham that makes things drag out for so long? Sky were saying on Thursday night it was a done deal and even the normally reticent BBC were reporting we were "close to signing" Kamara on Saturday, yet come Tuesday we've still not been able to announce it officially. Fingers crossed it will be done soon - it gets to the point where I don't actually care if the player's any good I just want to know the uncertainty is over!

Other potential targets mentioned have been Aston Villa's Steven Davis (central midfield), Leeds' David Healy (striker and Northern Ireland lucky charm), Blackburn's Jason Roberts (striker), Sheffield Wednesday's Chris Brunt (Left wing) and QPR-ha-ha-ha's Lee Cook (Right Wing). Now you too can start counting the days until they get announced!

Happy Birthday to me!

I haven't actually got anything particular to say, but as it's my birthday today I felt I ought to post something. Our telly's broken at the moment (all the colours are still there they're just displaying in the wrong order - seen a lot of green blood and blue pasta in the last week!) so we drove into Kingston in the afternoon. It was hell, took a very long time and proved subsequently fruitless as we dithered on making a final decision and still haven't bought a telly. Took a different route home only to get caught up in three far worse traffic jams and take twice as long as the journey in. Fairly frazzled by the time we got back, things then plummeted to a new low as we discovered the water wasn't working (we've got a combi boiler as well so no header tank for backup). Thankfully it was only a temporary interruption and it was back on within the hour but for a while there I thought the weekend was going to be pretty miserable.

On to football related topics glad to see Chris Coleman has been offered the job at Real Sociedad. It should be an interesting challenge following their relegation to the Spanish second tier but it will certainly give Cookie some good experience. Steve Keane is likely to go with him. Keano played in Portugal for a bit and also supposedly speaks Spanish. Not sure if these facts actually tie up but for now I'm happy to believe it's true. I do think it will be a pretty tough job, managing in a league and country of which they'll have little experience and trying to attract new players to a team in a lower division. I can't see many ex or current Fulham players heading out there but I wish Chris all the best and hope he does well. I'll certainly try and keep an eye out for their results and report back on how they are doing.

Right - I'm off to make the most of the remaining year of being in my thirties!

Nostalgia - World Class Fulham Players

Article written by Gordon Mills.

There was speculation on TFI concerning world class players who have pulled on the Fulham white shirt over the years. Obviously Johnny Haynes stands head and shoulders above most of our players but there have been a number of others who, if they were not actually world class – and how do we measure that anyway – were definitely international class. Haynes was special because he was unique. Perhaps the most accurate long passer of the ball in the history of the game but also before his car crash in 1962 a regular goalscorer. In the promotion season 58 – 59 he was top scorer with 26 and twice scored 4 in a game. In the top division he deliberately played more as a schemer, deep behind the front men, supplying them with precision passes. To many, he was still good enough to be in the England team in 1966 but Ramsey didn't like him.

Another world class player from the same era was Graham Leggatt. He came as a right winger, often played on the left because there was no one else to play there and then was asked to play centre forward and scored a hat trick the first time he played there. He could play anywhere in the front line and was, in many ways, the first modern forward. He had a good shot in both feet, could hold the ball with his back to goal and could head well. He played regularly for Scotland and scored often. He even scored a hat trick the day before he was transferred to make way for Allan Clarke!

Clarke of course is another international forward. He may not have been world class when he played for Fulham but he was a very, very good striker who played to score goals. Although their styles are very different, Collins John and he are similar in their single-mindedness re goalscoring. In years gone by there was always a game between the full England side and the England under 23s on the eve of the cup final. I remember one at Highbury when the under 23 strikers were Clarke, Marsh and Barrett – Rodney had gone to QPR by then - but it was a Fulham trio to all intents and purposes and they led the full team's defence – Bobby Moore and all - a merry dance in a 5 – 0 victory. Marsh and Clarke scored two each and Barrett one. Amazing!!

Moving to midfielders, Alan Mullery was a very good player in both his stints at Fulham and should definitely have played for England before he was transferred to Spurs. He was another modern player, always running, an accurate passer and good in defence. He also had a great shot.

Ray Houghton is another who won international honours after leaving but was a class player for Fulham. In defence we had George Cohen of course, another modern player who was a tremendous overlapper. He was very fast and could close down opposing wingers and never let them get the ball across. For a couple of seasons in the middle 60s no winger could get past him. He was definitely world class in everything except distribution which wasn't bad but was inconsistent.Then there was Jim Langley, perhaps the first wing back in the history of the game. He was an amazing character who would have played more for England if Roger Byrne hadn't been so good. When he eventually won full honours, he was made a scapegoat for a bad four goal defeat to Yugoslavia, I think it was. He had a wicked long throw which could reach the penalty spot and could slide tackle with impunity.

Goalkeepers can only include van der Sar and Macedo and the latter was too inconsistent but on his day absolutely amazing. Van der Sar too seems to have aberrations that call his pedigree into question.
You will note that I haven't included anyone from the modern era. That's because I haven't lived in England for almost thirty years. I have seen Louis Saha on tv but I don't think his first touch is good enough to make him real international class. Malbranque is a fighter and has vision but world class? No.John Collins was I think. A great brain and a real lynch pin.

Anyone who remembers this era is welcome to reminisce with Gordon at gmills@cob.edu.bs