Public Service Announcement

That most erudite of Fulham message boards has a new home. If you're familiar with FoF it won't look fantastically different but the team have made some nice improvements and, I think, are hoping for improved speed and reliability. So far I like what I see.

http://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php

They've been working quite hard on the rest of the site as well and already have a new Links list and a "Decent Pubs" map available from the front page.

http://www.friendsoffulham.com/home.php

It's been a month since I saw the Whites in action and I'm chomping at the bit to see some live football. January hasn't been kind, though we have at least successfully navigated two rounds of the F.A. Cup. Tricky game at Quiet Hart Lane tomorrow night then my tension can be relieved with the visit of Villa on Saturday.

F.A. Vase journey comes to a close

My mate Andy's trail in following the F.A. Vase from the opening rounds to it's conclusion at Wembley came to an end on Sunday as Whitley Bay beat Andy's home town team Glossop North End 2-0 in the final. Well worth a read if your interest in football isn't solely focused on the media bun fight that is the Premier League.

Chasing The Vase - Game 12 Glossop North End 0 Whitley Bay 2

The Good, The Bad and The Hilarious

I don't normally bother with posting about links I've seen. Dan & Nick at the HammyEnd.com are doing a fabulous job of picking up on most of the news stories of interest already but there were a couple of things that tickled my fancy this week.

First the news that long term club historian Dennis Turner has been made a non-executive director. I've never met Dennis in person but I've read a lot of his books and realise he's a Fulham man through and through. It's lovely to see the club recognise the benefit of having genuine fans involved in the decision making and a wonderful reward for all the efforts Dennis has made in keeping the clubs history alive and recorded.

Meanwhile it's the second SW6 derby of the season this weekend and the club have confirmed that Andy Johnson will be unavailable due to the injury he picked up against Stoke. This should give Eric the Great another chance to show us his stuff which is an opportunity he deserves. Zamora should be able to partner Nevland having recovered well from his "back" problem last week.

Finally Alex Ferguson threw a bit of a hissy fit over the size of our dressing rooms and had a bit of a rant about minimum requirements for Premier League clubs. We weren't the only club the red nosed one was upset with, apparently Everton's are too narrow. You can't help but chuckle. If I was in charge of the club I'd ensure we made the away side a little bit smaller next year, maybe add in a few additional storage cupboards to make it a tighter squeeze. I think United should be made to play a season in a Sunday League and see if they feel the need to complain after that.

Wick to Wembley at The National Football Museum

My friend Andy, who wrote a blog last year about following the F.A. Cup from the earliest preliminary rounds to the final, has just opened a display of his memorabilia at The National Football Museum. Amazing to see Andy's little blog grow to the extent that he's been interviewed by Radio and Television journalists, had a book published and is now featured in the same location as the ball from the 1966 World Cup Final and Maradona's shirt from the "hand of God" game. He's currently following the F.A. Vase which has been an equally entertaining read and has just led him back to the town of his birth.

Last on MOTD - '97 remembered

More good stuff from Mike Whalley at World of Sport. Fulham are building a comfortable lead in the race to be crowned Gubbometer champions. The '97 encounter against Wigan at the Cottage was one of our biggest games that season. I still remember the eruption of delight as Mark Blake slotted home an 82nd minute penalty that levelled the scores and rescued a point. Coincidentally, Wigan's midfield that day featured the talents of Roberto Martinez, an excellent player and key factor in Wigan's success. Martinez is of course now manager of Swansea City who we face in the F.A. Cup next weekend.

We are top of the (London) league!

Brilliant article from Rich at the Times here who also points out that we're the unofficial best team in London. I might start tracking this although it could well be downhill from now on. In similarly trivial fashion we're also still the "Unofficial World Club Champions".

Just like watching Brazil - Shirt Lookalike

I'll be back later in the week with a match report for the City game but in the meantime this caught my eye. An interesting article on the BBC website about the current state of Brazilian league football accompanied by a picture of Sao Paulo's striker Borges in a shirt that suggests our sponsors LG have a penchant for teams that play in White, Black & Red. I think I've just found my Brazilian team!

Memories of '83

This is worth a read. The excellent TwoHundredPercent has an interesting article about Fulham's near miss in the 1982/83 season. Whilst with hindsight I suspect the conclusion is probably true I still carry some righteous anger about what happened at the Baseball Ground. That was a miserable drive home, the faint hope that maybe the FA would step in and give us another chance, the anger at the victory for mob rule and general nastiness directed at us from Derby supporters, and the gut instinct that we'd blown it and might never get the chance to reach those heights again. Makes our current status all the more enjoyable.

Hard to beat - Liverpool 0 Fulham 0

With two home wins under our belt, losing at Anfield would have been neither unexpected nor all that concerning. To go and snatch a point, against a Liverpool side that looks more capable of winning the league title than any they have fielded since the dawn of the Premiership, was really quite remarkable.

Match reports and post game analysis on Craven Cottage Newsround here and here and at HammyEnd.com here and here.

Mickey Mouse Refs

A very short post to suggest you point your browsers in the direction Mike Whalley's excellent World of Sport blog, to read this article about Joe Kinnear's rant at the Ref following Newcastle's defeat at the Cottage last Sunday and the general state of the "Respect" campaign. It pretty well sums up my own opinions on the topic and saves me the effort of writing one for myself!

Also, while I'm randomly linking, there's another new post from White Lines here.

Never in my sweet short life have I felt like this before

An away trip to Goodison, broadcast live on Sky and with an early kick-off. These are all factors that point to a nil return on the points front. My expectations are low so whatever the result I won't be disappointed.

It's my youngest's birthday today. He's 5. Could be a long day for me one way or another. I suspect he might be up quite early (despite another night of not going to sleep when he's told!). There's a swimming lesson at 9:30 and the frightening prospect that he'll be opening his presents BEFORE he goes. A party for some 18 kids around tea time and the likelihood that if we do manage to get the boys off to sleep at a reasonable hour I'll be asleep on the sofa before Fulham make an appearance on Match of the Day.

In the meantime, if you're looking for something to do with your Saturday morning, SMfifteen provides an eloquent and accurate assessment of how things stand at White Lines. Well worth I read I think.

Words of wisdom

Time, I think, for me to move on from upsetting Liverpool fans and talk about Fulham again. Last week Roy Hodgson was interviewed by Fulhamfc.com to discuss the summer transfer dealings. He made some interesting points about the size and shape of the squad. The key quote I picked up on was this.

When I came in January we really had far too many players and lots of them just trebling or quadrupling up for positions, never getting a game and obviously costing the Club a lot of money, but not playing any football. Whereas now, with a squad of only 23 players, of which three are goalkeepers, it will give the younger players, like Milsom and Brown, a chance to push forward and show what they can do in the First Team squad. It will give the players on the fringes a greater chance of playing, and although the squad is at the limit in terms of size, at least it’s full of the right type of players that we want to be at the Club.

He makes an excellent point regarding the size of the squad and the subsequent opportunities for young players. I've previously expressed a concern that we might be short of players and yet have also been keen to see our development squad start to make the breakthrough. Clearly you can't have it both ways. There won't be any quick fixes under Roy but this does give a positive indication that he'll be looking to bring young players through which can only be a good thing for the long term future of the club.

Moritz Volz has also written another excellent piece for The Times, talking about the uncertainty of the transfer window, how he's settling in at Ipswich and trying to get the local press to spell his name right. It doesn't sound like his debut for Town went all that well but I'll be keeping an eye on Volzy and the other loan players as the season progresses.

The value of the League Cup

I saw this article on Two Hundred Percent about what to do about the League Cup and felt obliged to reply. It raises some interesting suggestions but makes me wonder if anyone outside of the media actually care about the size of attendances at these early season games. My reply is below;

I’m a Fulham season ticket holder and can assure you I do care about the League cup. I didn’t go to our second round game with Leicester City though. Not many people did - in fact only 7,584. We closed one whole stand and from the pictures I’ve seen had another end almost empty. Does that really matter though. In today's credit crunch climate is it really that big a surprise that people cannot afford to go to EVERY game their team plays. I have a wife and two sons and whilst a Fulham season ticket is excellent value compared with most other Premier League sides find it hard to justify going to many additional games not covered by that initial investment. I’m elated that we got through to the next round, however lucky we were to do so, and maybe I will go to the next round (if it’s not too far and an affordable price). I won’t be too upset thought if it’s another low crowd. It wasn’t that long ago a crowd of over 7000 would have been a great turnout for Fulham and who really hurts if there’s not a packed stadium? The club maybe doesn’t make so much money and it’s possibly harder for the team to put in a top class performance but it’s really not the end of the world - is it? I’m happy that the League Cup continues just as it is, because winning it IS important and an attempt to remove the bigger clubs from it would devalue the competition much more than a few low attendances.

Zakuani and Omozusi discuss hopes for season

I wasn't supposed to be posting quite as often but a quick trawl through today's NewsNow headlines found a couple of articles that caught my interest.

Gabriel Zakuani had been on loan at Stoke for the past two seasons and was a part of the team that won promotion to the Premier League. There's not been any indication that Stoke were going to bid for him permanently though and this entry from his own Icons site HERE suggests his future is unclear.

"I am back at Fulham now. I'm in limbo a little and don't quite know what's happening. Last Thursday I played for 90 minutes in the friendly against Ipswich (a 0-0 draw held behind closed doors at Motspur Park). I thought I did well. There were quite a few people in the stands so I put my head down and concentrated on what I have to do at Fulham. I'll see if I'm involved when the season starts. If not it might be best to look elsewhere. I'll ask the Manager whether he's got plans for me and take it from there."

Meanwhile Elliott Omosuzi made his league debut for Norwich at Chris Coleman's Coventry where the Canaries lost 2-0. He spoke about being pleased with his performance and needing to adjust to the faster tempo of the Championship. The report also suggests that he will have to earn the right to play and faces competition for the right back spot from Jon Ostemobor, so it will be interesting to see how he does. The full report is on the Norwich website HERE.

Sunday Morning

Well actually it's quite late on Saturday night. I really should be off to bed but I find myself still sitting at the computer tapping away having realised it's over a week since I posted. Having just spent the week with my Dad in not-quite-as-sunny-as-we-expected Bexhill we've spent the day catching up on household jobs in between trips to various swimming pools.

Since I was last here Andy Johnson finally signed having successfully navigated the Fulham medical ploy that previously caught out John Carew and Marlon King. Lee Cook, T.J. Moncur and Hameur Bouazza have all gone out on loan and Roy is rapidly closing in on his chosen squad.

Yesterday afternoon Fulham contrived to draw 2-2 with Torino in our final pre-season friendly. There's a really good report by Jamie R at CCN HERE.

Rob's done one of his excellent previews with an opposition fan ahead of our opening fixture at Hull City. Read that and admire Rob's smart redesign at Following The Fulham HERE.

Finally, my friend Andy has had his blog, a record of his travels following the road to the F.A. Cup final, turned into a book. A real, honest-to-goodness, proper, published book. Respect is most definitely due. Further details at Wick to Wembley?.

By the time you read this it will indeed be Sunday morning, so this seems appropriate ...

Fulham Top of the League!

Nice to see something we all know confirmed by statistics. Fulham fans came top of the latest Premier League Behaviour of Fans Fair Play Table and just to make it even better Ch*ls** came bottom.

Table HERE

Inches

Check out this video from the Offal and breath a big sigh of relief.

If you watch carefully you can see Brede Hangeland's "intervention" that prevented Franck Q from being quite as close to McBride as he would have liked. You can also see exactly how close Jaidi came to making contact with the ball before Nevland directed it goal bound.

Great stuff.

Bring it on!

Come on! Today's the day and I'm excited already. Really want to just get out and go but family responsibilities mean it'll be a few hours before I can and then I'm probably gonna be waiting on friends to get ready (Hello Mr G!). Anyway CCN have already posted almost exactly the same facts but a couple of links that may brighten your day.

Clint Dempsey has signed a contract extension to take him through to 2010 - here - That's a very positive statement from the Deuce, who is a player I'd really miss if he left.

White Lines points out that today could be Brian McBride's last at the Cottage - here - Brian's been a model professional since he signed and a top bloke, need to give him an extra shout today whatever the result.

Bit of pre-match music too to get us in the mood. Come on you Whites!!!!

Conclusive proof the Internet is just there to waste your life ...

Couldn't resist this. Had a quick peak at the NewsNow headlines to see the (marvelously unreliable) Vital Fulham headline that Jari Litmanen may feature on Saturday. Couldn't resist clicking on that link but before I'd even had time to read it the Evening Echo was up with a counter headline that our Finish mega-star would definitely miss the game due to match fitness. I should know better really. Obviously we're never going to see Litmanen play in a Fulham shirt, but the timing gave me a chuckle. If nothing else Jari could go down in Fulham history as the player with the most bewildering array of excuses for not being fit. I believe his latest set back was related to an ear injury ...

(Actually, feel a little bit harsh on the Vital team there. They have at least kept enthusiastic throughout a very tough season and if nothing else know how to write a good headline!)

Conclusive proof I don't know what I'm talking about

Richard's CCN post on Franck Queudrue earlier this week had me checking my old posts on this blog to see what I thought about our erstwhile swashbuckling defender back in the day. In doing so I discovered this rather damning indictment of my own ability to judge our fortunes. Following Franck's sale to Birmingham in the summer I had this to say about his departure and the prospects for this Saturday's match;

"Franck Queudrue has left the club to join Birmingham City
for around £2.5m. I've had mixed feelings about Franck, having been
quite excited when we signed him, but subsequently disappointed
when I saw him play. Still feel he could probably have found
a better club but it might make the final home game of the season
more interesting. Actually thinking about it let's hope Franck's return
(and maybe the outside chance of qualifying for Europe) is the only
reason the final home game of the season is interesting!"

Yep, that does say "qualifying for Europe" - Ha! if only. As it turns out Saturday could be our 2nd most important game of the season. If we manage a win and results go our way we could go in to the last game of the season at Pompey with a fighting chance. One step at a time though. Whatever happens on Saturday we need to get behing the team 100%. We need to cheer every second and give the boy's our undivided support. It's been mentioned a couple of times that had we gone 2-0 down to Man City at home we'd have stood no chance of coming back to win the game. We need to make sure we don't let our emotions demotivate the players and keep the positive atmosphere going for the full 90 minutes. It's going to be a tense afternoon but I can't wait.

A couple of links from the week just gone that are worth a read. First a nod to Ken Coton and Martin Plumb for their Johnny Haynes book in this Independent article about The Maestro from a poster on TiFF. Then this article about Jimmy Bullard and his debt to Fulham picked out by CCN from the Times.

Enjoy the match as best as you can, sing until your throat is sore and if all goes well I'll be back with a rousing report on Sunday.

Come on you Whites - Keep the faith!