Niemi Retires

Sad news from the Club today announcing Antti Niemi's retirement from football. I don't think anyone really expected him to feature in our first team again but I had hoped he'd find another club to play the final years of his career with. I was there the day he injured his neck against Watford and, whilst the injury might not have been quite as bad as it appeared, I don't think Antti ever fully recovered his form. I'll remember him for the good times though, he was a great buy when he first arrived and a very good 'keeper at his peak. I'll also remember that goal he set up (and almost scored himself) against us at Loftus Road in a 2-2 draw with Southampton.

I wish him the very best for the future, whatever it might hold.

Nice touch by the Club to wait until the hub-bub of the transfer window and died down a bit too. There's a farewell interview with Niemi here and a photo special here.

FFC Deadline Day round-up

A little like Mark Hughes, I spent the morning on the golf course. Unlike him, I didn't attempt an audacious bid to snatch Dimitar Berbatov from under the noses of my greatest footballing rival. My department's 6-a-side team could certainly do with a little Berbatov magic, eight games a season and only 15 minutes each way wouldn't be too onerous, but I suspect the lack of any salary and minimal opportunity for European competition (actually none at all) might put him off. Shame, we've probably got a better chance of claiming silverware this season than either Spurs or Man City (though following the late breaking news that City have managed to sign Robinho for a British record £32.5million transfer fee, I might need to reconsider their chances!).

Gabriel Zakuani was first out the door joining Peterborough United on a one month loan. The short time span might be something to do with the complicated rules of loan deals currently in place, so I'm not sure what Gaby's long term opportunities are at the Posh. He could do a lot worse, they're a team on the up and could well challenge for Promotion this year, at least it gives him a chance to re-establish his credentials at a level he has performed well at before.

An overdue mention for Dickson Etuhu who signed from Sunderland for £2million on Friday. He's had a lot of stick on TiFF already but plays defensive midfield which is an area we needed more options. There had been rumours that Leon Andreasen was not happy with his lack of game time, and that Etuhu was viewed as a replacement but it seems he is just here to add depth to the squad which must be a good thing.

Collins John returns to his home land to sign with NEC Nijmegen for a season long loan (or on a free transfer if you believe the BBC - who knows what's going on there, his contract was supposed to have expired in June). We'd all seen CJ's potential early on but for one reason or another he seemed unable to take this on to the next level. I know there's a lot of fans who still felt he had something to offer but I think having failed to set the world alight at either Leicester or Watford it really was time for him to start again somewhere else. Nice that he's gone to a team who we have quite amicable links with, he's still a young player and I hope he's found a team where he can really make an impact.

A bit out of the blue - we've signed Julian Gray on a season long loan from Coventry. The 28 year old was linked with us back in his Palace days, and featured in the Premier League for Birmingham City between 2004 and 2006. He can play left midfield or left back, so will provide cover for Kallio whilst Konchesky is injured and could also be used as back up to Gera.

There'd been rumours that Alexey Smertin was heading to Cardiff but was awaiting work permit clearance. Not sure if that move is still on (turns out its not - he didn't want to go) but Fulham have confirmed Smertin's contract has been cancelled by mutual consent. Easy come, easy go.

A fairly quiet end to the window then. Someone on TiFF suggested Roy was probably tucked up in bed reading P.G.Wodehouse which made me laugh. He was actually at Motspur Park, where the reserves lost 3-1 to Portsmouth. In many ways good to see that Roy felt he'd got the job done already. Rushing around in a panic trying to buy something before the shops shut is rarely a recipe for a successful purchase. He has certainly used the day to clear out any players he didn't want, we're looking decidedly trim. I think we could do with another centre back and maybe an extra striker but that will just have to wait until January now.

Friday link selection

A few little bits and pieces I wanted to mention.

Rob wrote this great post on Following the Fulham the other day. It really struck a chord with me, and quite eloquently explained how I think a lot of Fulham supporters are feeling right now.

Smfifteen has been writing some good stuff on White Lines. In particular his ongoing Language of Football series has managed to raise a chuckle from me when things with Fulham have seemed a bit bleak.

The Whites are back up to second place in Mike Whalley's "Last on MOTD" tracker. It seems Derby will comfortably claim the title so we're not even going to win that, but at least it proves we were almost right when we said we're always last on Match of the Day.

Finally a couple of items of news. Micheal Timlin's off to join Swindon Town on loan for the rest of the season and Les Reed may well have left the club. I was never quite sure of his role when Hodgson arrived, having been brought in as an ally for Sanchez he seemed to have found himself a comfy position with a lot of power. It's a bit concerning to see the reference to John Murtough's departure and another sign that all was really not well during the Sanchez reign.

Good Links, Not Recent

A few items of news and interest I wanted to catch up on, a lot of which is probably old news.

Several of our Reserve players have gone out on loan recently. Wayne Brown has joined Robert Milsom at Brentford which I hope will have a good impact on his development. Brown has shown this season that he's on the verge of first team football and a spell playing league football must surely do him good.

Following earlier spells at Darlington and AFC Wimbledon, young goalkeeper Corrin Brooks-Meade has joined Southern League Premier Division side Cheshunt on loan for one month. I've seen Corrin play for the reserves, and whilst he didn't stand out he looked comfortable. Without degenerating the clubs involved, his loans do seem to be dropping down the divisions in an alarming manner but that may be down to the difficulties of getting a game at any level in such a key position.

Jari Litmanen has recovered from his heart flutter and is apparently ready to be considered for the first team. Roy seems confident he could play a significant part when called upon "If we were down to ten players then there's no question he'd play and I have no doubt he'd play the 90 minutes and be running as much at the end as in the beginning".

Alexandra Leggat is the daughter of Fulham legend Graham and has written a lovely piece about Johnny Haynes which was brought to my attention by LBNo.11 on the TIFF messageboard. Alexandra is a published author and was amazed by the response the post received.

Whilst I was randomly searching for the links to Alexandra's blog I stumbled across this site with a couple of Fulham related pieces. A bit about the loss to Arsenal which includes a interview with a Fulham fan about the highs and lows of following the club and an interview with "From St. Andrews to Craven Cottage" author Morgan Philips. Both worth a read if you're interested.

A quick one before I go

Just a quicky to catch up on the deadline day shenanigans. We've added Paul Salteri to our collection of Right Backs. He's signed on loan for the rest of the season. We've also let three players go out on loan. Steven Davis joins Glasgow Rangers (who have an option to buy), Lee Cook will attempt to rehabilitate his knee by going to Charlton Athletic and Tony Warner joins Barnsley for a month. I'm off on a London pub walk this afternoon so, depending on how quick my recovery is, may not be posting again until Sunday. Have a good weekend y'all.

Still Waiting

Crikey it's Wednesday since my last post and in that time pretty much nothing has happened. I was expecting a flurry of transfer confirmations to come through and to be full of positivity ahead of Tuesday night's match at Bolton. It's not looking good. Marlon King has officially joined Wigan. It seems they only paid £3.5Million which is a long way short of the £5M we had apparently agreed. Whatever the truth behind the "failed medical" and our attempt to renegotiate terms the one thing I am really glad about is that we won't be playing Wigan again this season. Daniel Cousins is still waiting on FIFA clearance to allow him to play for three clubs in one season. He claims to be already training with us, but neither FIFA nor the Premier League (who may also have to ratify the decision) are renowned for their speedy responses. NEC Groningen have rejected our "last offer" for Erik Nevland, so unless we decide to renegotiate that deal looks dead as well. All a bit depressing really after the excitement of last week. The trip to the Reebok looks ever more likely to be a point-less one but I've still got my fingers crossed for the beginning of the revival.

New Signings a-go-go

Lots of activity being reported around Fulham today. I will do a proper introduction to each one as they get confirmed, but for now here's the highlights.

Genuine Football legend Jari Litmanen is already training with Fulham. Whilst no mention is made of us actually signing him, Roy Hodgson is quoted as saying he could help with our fight against relegation.

We have completed the signing of 24 year old defensive midfielder Leon Andreasen from Werder Bremen.

Glasgow Rangers have accepted our bid of £3Million for striker Daniel Cousin, and the player is travelling down to Motspur Park for a medical tomorrow.

Marlon King's future seems to be in doubt following the news that his medical revealed a problem with his knees that may be inoperable. Thanks to Rich at CCN for this link. It sounds like Watford are playing hardball regarding his price and the fact that we have already moved to sign other strikers suggest Marlon could find himself in limbo which is very sad.

There's a number of other rumours flying around but FulhamWeb suggest we are close to bringing in South Korean striker Cho Jae-jin.

All good stuff. It's kicked off down at the Mem, currently still 0-0. Jimmy Bullard's started, so has young reserves star Wayne Brown, and Aaron Hughes might be playing as a defensive midfielder.

Lewington stakes a claim for the hot seat

It seems Ray actually fancies another crack at the Fulham job. The BBC are now carrying an article with all the quotes from the Radio 5 interview I mentioned earlier. Lewington has apparently been told by Mohamed Al Fayed that he will retain a position on the coaching staff whoever succeeds Sanchez and also expects to be in charge for the Boxing Day trip to Spurs.

"I am realistic enough to know they will probably look outside, and I am OK with that. If that is the case I will just get on with my job."

Lewington believes that with the addition of one or two players in January - he identified a lack of ball-winners as one problem - Fulham have the makings of a "decent little side".

"It is a difficult task but I am absolutely confident we will survive. I have got no doubt about that, whoever the manager is."

Fairplay. I always liked Lewington as a player and a manager. He did reasonably well in his full spell as manager, and possibly only fell short due to the financial limitations of the time. He also served us well in two previous periods as Caretaker Manager. I'm not convinced he's the right man to take us forward, but I'm pleased to see him retain a role at the club.

The Dempsey quotes are really interesting. Clint has been one of the few players to have performed so far this season and yet it seems he was never that comfortable trying to play the style of Football Sanchez was after.

"I am happy with the manager we have right now," Dempsey told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I like Ray and Billy; they give us more freedom to express ourselves as players; I enjoy that.

"I think we showed a better style of play and I think you could hear the response from the fans, even if they were frustrated we didn't get the win, as the players were.

"I like the style of keeping possession more, not playing so direct, and trying to create chances instead of trying to jump the ball in.

"That is just what I think personally, I can't speak for the team, but I think the fans showed they agreed by the way they got behind us."

I'm looking forward to seeing how Dempsey performs under the new manager. The Tigana/Collins/Clarke triad is still the hot rumour, but we've also been linked in today's papers with Glenn Hoddle, Martin Jol and Slaven Billic.

Sanchez Sacked!

Despite my post earlier this morning I'm still a bit stunned by this. Ray Lewington and Billy McKinlay take charge of the team for the weekend.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/7155545.stm

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2007/December/SanchezLeaves%20.aspx

http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/and-there-it-is/

Lazy midweek hyperlink based roundup

I'm writing this on Tuesday evening, and to be honest could do with an early night. "Flight of the Conchords" is on BBC4 in about ten minutes and I really want to see that as I missed it last week. These are my excuses for what is generally just a bunch of links you may well have seen or read already. I'm sorry. I'll try and write something more dynamic tomorrow. Possibly.

Moritz Volz continues to set himself up for a decent career in journalism when he eventually retires from football. In his weekly column in the Times he discusses the issues surrounding the May Day for Nurses appeal. The Times also dug up another interesting statistic suggesting that if the scores at half time had been taken as the results Fulham would be third in the league. I'm really not sure what that says about us.

Martin Jol has been tenuously linked with Fulham this week. The reports were based on this article in the Guardian which says that Jol "has attracted interest from PSV Eindhoven, but would prefer to remain in the Premier League, with Fulham one potential new employer. Lawrie Sanchez is under pressure at Craven Cottage, having won two of 16 League games since replacing Chris Coleman. The surprise choice of managing director David McNally last April, Sanchez was recently called into Harrods to explain Fulham's under-performance to owner Mohamed Fayed". Now that could just be journalistic supposition or possibly someone friendly with Jol throwing his hat into the ring. Either way it's nothing to get excited about yet.

Despite the increasing pressure on Sanchez there are plenty of stories suggesting that we are already preparing for further signings in January. Lafferty, Zamora and Kisnorbo have all been mentioned recently but the one story that did give me a chuckle was that Terry Gibson had been sent to check out a number of Slavia Prague players in their Champions League match against Arsenal but having witnessed Slavia's 7-0 humbling it was unlikely we'd be following any of them any further.

Right, I'm off to renew my subscription to Novelty Music Scene magazine.

Darth Vader awakes, Reserves draw and Collins John goes out on loan.

I'm very tired today. I was awoken at 4:30 this morning by Son number one complaining of a noise in his room. I stumbled down the landing to see what was wrong to hear what appeared to be a small frog croaking away. Now, I'm not a morning person at the best of times and 4:30 a.m. is not the best of times. My brain struggled to cope with what I was hearing. It couldn't be a frog. The sound was too repetitive.

... croak ... croak ... croak,
...... maybe it's the clock?
......... croak ... croak ... croak,
............no, hang on it's coming from the back of the door.

I closed the bedroom door and the noise stopped. I opened the bedroom door and the noise started again. A ha! The source was discovered. Ben's Darth Vader costume was hanging on the back of his door and the Vader breathing noise had somehow been set off and instead of what would have been the sound of Darth Vader waking Ben up in terror the battery had run down and sounded more like a frog but equally scary to a previously sound asleep seven year old.

To try and pull this all round to something related to Fulham, it all goes to prove that sometimes things are not all that they seem. Richard over at Craven Cottage Newsround has written an interesting piece about the comfort that can be taken from looking at the Goal Difference column. Last season, as I was looking for ways to make our situation seem less bad, I wondered if the league could actually be based on goal difference instead of points. Then, instead of people being so fixated on results the games would just be about scoring goals. In the end I convinced myself it was a silly idea, but I agree with Rich that it is a good indicator of how good a team really is. Still I'm not sure that’s going to help us in the next few weeks but I'm grateful for anything that can give me a bit more optimism!

Some news of interest to regular reader Shufty. The Whites reserves played West Ham United at Motspur Park last night and pulled off another draw. The Offal reports that the game was fiercely contested but Fulham showed a great deal of endeavour going forward. Under 18s 'keeper Neil Etheridge made his second start for the reserves in the absence of the loaned Brookes-Meade. Shefki Kuqi played just over an hour up front, but it was strike partner Bradley Hudson-Odoi who gave the Whites the lead in first half stoppage time. The West Ham website reports that Kyel Reid was their outstanding player, in a side that featured Nigel Quashie, Jonathon Spector and John Pantsil, and it was Reid's strike that levelled the scores in the second half. Both sites praised Fulham's Wayne Brown for another all action performance.

A very short statement on the Offal also confirms that Collins John has joined Leicester City on loan for three months. An interesting move in light of the suggestion that current Leicester boss Gary Megson could well be on the move to Bolton Wanderers. I'm not sure where we stand on getting a fee for CJ who is out of contract in the summer. He's still only 22 so we may be entitled to something, but I imagine our main concern will be to offload him from our wage bill in January.

Further to the Bolton Wanderer's vacancy, FulhamWeb are reporting that Chris Coleman has now met with officials from the club. I would be stunned if Cookie got the job but it would be very interesting to see how he got on if he did.

Thinking positive

I had a nice day yesterday. It's half term so I was at home with my eldest, and we took one of his school friends over to Sandown to play Golf. It was a chilly day but sunny, the type of typically British autumn mornings I really love. Ben, without me nagging in his ear about keeping his eye on the ball, played the best golf I've seen him play. He hit one drive so well he sheared the plastic tee in two. The shot was dead straight and right down the middle of the fairway. Meanwhile his pal, who hadn't played as often, had to suffer me attempting to "help" him out and subsequently spent a lot more time in the rough ... lesson learnt there I think! Back at our house they had a quick lunch and then went upstairs to play. They were so well behaved I had to go up and check on them a couple of times just to feel I was making the effort.

This gave me some time to myself I wasn't expecting and I had time to read some other people's perspectives of the Fulham situation. There's a lot of doom and gloom about, understandably, but what really took my notice where those people who were being more positive about where we're at. I don't think any one is happy right now, but there are a few who rightly point out that it is still early days, and however bad we are there are at least seven other teams in exactly the same boat. Sanchez is no fool and he will realise exactly what he needs to achieve to keep his job. We have to take each game as it comes and the next match at Sunderland is going to be a tough one. I'm not anticipating a magic turn around in fortune, but a point up there would be a small step along the road to recovery.

Kasey Keller won't be back for sometime having collected a freak training ground injury that may require surgery. He's likely to be unavailable for some three to four months, which makes Anti Niemi's man of the match performance on Saturday all the more significant. Unfortunately it does leave us back at square one regarding our back up 'keeper, but hopefully Niemi can continue to play the way he did against Derby.

Tonight the reserves take on West Ham at Motspur Park. Kick off is 7:00 if you fancy heading along. I don't think I'll make it now but will report back on the result sometime tomorrow.

News Selection Box

The International break has rather helpfully coincided with me being fairly well occupied at work and at home. There's been little Fulham related news to discuss so I've happily not felt the need to scratch around for something to write about. One or two things have popped up this week though that I wanted to discuss.

Firstly England have made the Rugby World Cup Final! I'm stunned. I know it's not Fulham or even Football related but I'm too excited about this to let it pass. We seemed to have recovered a little during the six nations and I was hopeful we could at least put on a decent display, but then early group results suggested we were as bad as everyone said we were. I watched the destruction by South Africa with a sense of growing realisation that we would be lucky to even qualify for the next round. Even following our stoic victory over the Aussies I could not see us performing that well again, and having been mightily impressed with France's equally stubborn defeat of the AB's was expecting the home nation to take their place in the final. Having already exceeded my expectations I won't be upset if we lose to the South Africans in the Final, but there's also the chance the boys can prove me wrong yet again and claim an historic second World Cup in a row. If you're going to the Derby game you can even stay and watch the final at Craven Cottage.

Tom Willie has written an interesting piece on ESPN soccernet. Tom highlights the need for Fulham to start picking up points and that Sanchez must ensure he guards against complacency. I think he's spot on, Sanchez has removed a lot of the old squad for precisely those reasons and, whilst he obviously needs to keep confidence high, he must ensure the new squad don't fall into the same trap.

Papa Bouba Diop will be booed even louder on his next appearance at the Cottage following the news that he has decided to skip the recent Senegal Internationals because of a slight concern over his hamstring. Right, thanks a lot for that Bouba, and why exactly did you not take this approach when you played for us? Maybe Harry's found a way to make it "worth your while" to stay? *Cough* ... Allegedly!

Following his sterling efforts collecting for Sparks in the Hammy End, Volzy has updated his diary. It doesn't look like he'll be fit enough to replace Mr Baird for a while yet so fingers crossed Chris can show us he really does have what it takes. Volzy has also been having a go at Sepp Blatter's suggestion about limiting foreign players. It's the view I had also held until recently but now I'm not so sure. Either way having a go at Blatter is always to be encouraged so bravo Moritz.

Who Ate All The Pies have been on a bit of a Fulham role of late. A Bullard double with this video of Jimmy cracking up during an interview and this shit lookalike. They also picked up on Volzy's Blatter dig and found a rare picture of our teutonic hero in the current home kit. We get a mention in their Top 50 Footy Chants for our Al Fayed song and finally Chris Baird gets some further punishment by being selected for their team of Premiership Flops. Incidentally Clint Dempsey made their team of Premiership Hits but it's too far back for me to find the link!

The Offal's got some good articles as well. Seol Ki-Hyeon joins the blogging fraternity with his own fortnightly blog. There's a nice "Where Are They Now?" piece about Les Barrett and an equally interesting read about the FFC Academy. One last link of note the Reserves match against Spurs has been moved to Craven Cottage. Jimmy B's return perhaps?

Crikey! That was a bit longer than I intended. Maybe I'll stick to daily posting in future!

A quick one while I'm away

A couple of snippets that have been widely reported across various Fulham sites over the last two days but I wanted to include so that I have a bookmark for them!

First another humourous interview with Moritz Volz, in the Times, about the problems over who controls the stereo in the dressing room before games. Further proof that he is indeed the new Simon Morgan. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/fulham/article2563193.ece?EMC-Bltn

Then an excellent interview with Lawrie Sanchez, originally from the Independant. http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2007/October/SanchezIndependent.aspx

Reserve team goalkeeper Corrin Brookes-Meade has gone on a one month emergency loan deal to Darlington. Corrin has been pretty much an ever present for the reserves over the last couple of seasons, so this is a great opportunity for him to test his skills out in a competative league.

Also a reminder that the Reserves play Ch*ls** tonight at Motspur Park. Kick-off is 7:00. I was planning on going but now hope to make it down to Camberly for their F.A. Cup 2nd Qualifying Round replay against Dartford, for reasons that will hopefully be more fully explained tomorrow.

Let's all laugh at Chelsea!

It's hard to resist having a little chuckle at the misfortune that has befallen the other team in the borough. First they lose at Villa, thanks in part to our erstwhile defensive scapegoat Zat Knight, then they can only manage a draw at home to Norwegian "minnows" Rosenborg (a game that saw some 17,000 empty seats at the Dog Track!) and now "The Special One" has left them high and dry. All that just before they play Manchester United too.

How will it effect us though? They've already announced Avram Grant as new manager, a close friend of the Russian and someone already employed by the club as Director of Football. Whether his appointment was just an interim position so that he was ready to step in to the breech when Mourinho inevitably moved on is unknown. Grant doesn't have the most impressive of CV's. He coached both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa (among several other Isreali sides) before taking over as national team coach of Israel in May 2002. Israel finished third in 2006 World Cup qualifying Group 4 and thus missed out on qualification for the finals. Grant has a reputation for playing a conservative style of football based more on defensive solidness than attacking flare. With the depth of squad the Blue Poo have though, even Brian Robson could achieve a fairly decent Premiership finish, so maybe the upheaval won't make too much difference. I do think we'll be playing them at a good time though, and would expect Sanchez to ensure our team is really up for the sort of game the Chavs won't relish.

In case you needed another reason to dislike them here's a picture my Arsenal pal DT sent me of nasty John Terry picking on poor put upon Ashley Cole.

Squad details update

Earlier in the week Fulham officially announced the details of all the players that had joined or departed the club. A couple of interesting additons to the information we already knew. Mark Pembridge has taken up a role as a Fulham Academy Coach. Pembo was a decent player for us before his last injury, and a key player in the defeats of Man United at Old Trafford in 2003 and the blue poo at the Cottage in 2006, he played 46 (+8) times for the club and scored two goals.

Also Ahmed Elrich and Chris James have both been released by the club. I don't think many people will even notice that Elrich has gone, his appearances were rarer than the Loch Ness Monster's and he showed less impressive ball control than Nessy (who I belive once played centre forward for Inverness Caledonian!). Chris James was a really promising young midfielder, who has left due to the lack of first team opportunities at Fulham. He has been on trial with a number of clubs since leaving us (currently Leyton Orient) but has yet to be picked up. I'm sure he'll find somewhere soon though and wish him well for the future.

I've updated my spreadsheet which you can view here or from the side menu bar under "Hammy End Features".

Deadline day rumour round-up

Final post of my deadline day catch up and a number of articles that were reported during the last few days.

Gabriel Zakuani has joined Stoke City on another season long loan.

Daniel Ljuboja, who was reported as being on trial with us, apparently failed to agree terms with Fulham and Derby County before Friday night's transfer deadline. He is now back in Germany with VFB Stuttgart.

The young Ghanaian midfielder Daniel Owusu was unable to continue with his scholarship at the club due to work permit problems. He has now penned a three-year contract with Germinal Beerschot where he will continue his development with Fulham's Belgian partnership club. This deal with Beerschot has been mentioned before although I've not seen anything official to confirm that it exists. It's a good name though!

Released Fulham striker Tomasz Radzinski has signed for Greek club Xanthi on a two-year contract.

Reading boss Steve Coppell admits he was disappointed to lose Seol Ki-Hyeon on Friday to Fulham. Coppell said: "It has been obvious for some time that he wanted to move on. I would have loved him to stay but only if he was fully committed to us and I don't think he would have been. I had to make a decision and a decision has been made". On the signing of Liam, Coppell adds "Rosenior was at a dead end there and was part of an exchange offer put to us. He's an under-21 defender and can add to what we have. He was a player who wanted to come here. That was important. We need players who are here by choice rather than here by force". The mention of Rosenior being at a dead end maybe adds some truth to the rumour that Liam's departure was not entirely related to football matters.

Farewell Zat & Papa

Two big departures to discuss, Zat Knight moving to Aston Villa for £3.5m rising to £4m and Papa Bouba Diop moving to Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around £2.5m.

Papa had been immense for us in that first season, and certainly did himself no harm with those pile driver goals he scored against Ch*ls** and Man United. However, following the 2006 African Nation's Cup he was injured and never quite regained his potency. To add insult to injury having recovered from that initial ANC injury he played one game for us before flying out for a friendly and getting injured again. Had Coleman stayed I'm sure he would have been looking to offload "The Wardrobe" as well, although the performances he put in under Sanchez at the end of last season suggested maybe he had re-found his form. Something happened over the summer though, and it was clear during the friendlies that Papa was out-of-favour again. Smertin was back and playing well and the big man was reduced to the odd substitute appearance. With the ANC due again in 2008 I think it was a good time to move him on, he is capable of being a commanding midfielder but I fear those games come too few and far between.

Zat was only about 18 months away from completing 10 years with the club and that in itself is something worth noting in today's transfer market. Having been signed by Keegan for 30 tracksuits, he eventually reached the first team under Jean Tigana. Coleman made him a first choice regular, and it seemed early on that even Sanchez could see something worth keeping. Zat's made more than his fair share of bad decisions, both on and off the football pitch, but I still think he was a useful defender who just needed an experienced head alongside him to point him in the right direction and ensure he kept his mind focused on the job at hand. He was the first Fulham player to make a full England appearance since George Cohen (Sean Davis made the squad but never played) and made 167 (+14) appearances in which he scored 4 times. I really wish him all the best at Aston Villa and in scoring the first goal and keeping a clean sheet, as Villa beat Ch*ls** 2-0 at the weekend, I think Zat has found the perfect way to say thank you and so long to all Fulham fans.

Daydream Deadline

Hello, I'm back. I was out last night and missed most of the deadline day excitement, so here's a quick summary of all the ins and outs since my last post.

OUTS
Zat Knight to Aston Villa for £3.5m
Liam Rosenior to Reading as part of swap deal for Seol Ki-Hyeon
Papa Bouba Diop to Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee
Gabriel Zakuani loaned to Stoke City

INS
Dejan Stefanovic from Portsmouth on a 2 year deal for £1m
Seol Ki-Hyeon from Reading in exchange for Liam
Danny Murphy from Tottenham on a 3 year deal for an undisclosed fee
Shefki Kuqi on loan from Crystal Palace until 1st Jan 2008
Nathan Ashton unattached but previously with Charlton on a 2 year deal.

That's a busy couple of days and it's going to take a while to get my head around what's good and what's bad. I'm pleased with the signing of Stefanovic and think he can do a good job for us, Ki-Hyeon could be useful but not so sure about Murphy or Kuqi (Ashton is one for the future). Stunned by Zat's sudden departure, how appropriate that his last touch of the ball for Fulham was in scoring an own goal. Very sad to see Liam finally move on and will write more about this next week, not surprised about Diop.

A very tough game today, Spurs are as desperate for the points as us. I think they may have a bit too much for us to cope with in our current state of affairs, but still hope the Whites can pull off a performance to surprise me. We'll probably see Steed in their starting line up, hope we don't boo him today but also hope he doesn't play very well. If your going, enjoy the game, I'll try and post a report sometime tomorrow. Come on you Whites!

Shrews, Claus, Transfer Rumours and Cookie

So, after a wonderfully sunny Bank Holiday weekend, spent at my Dad’s in the perennially sunny Little Common, there seems to be a lot to catch up on.

We travel to Shrewsbury tonight for the second round of the Carling Cup. I imagine we’ll have to field a fairly strong side due to our injury situation, and this could prove to be a good thing with a number of those players benefiting from an extra game. Keller will certainly appreciate another 90 minutes in goal ahead of Saturday’s crucial Premiership fixture against Spurs. With Baird suspended after his red card at Villa it might also give Moritz Volz a chance to fine tune his ability to maintain a high line. Zat might also be missing (see news story below). The Shrews, managed by ex-Fulham favourite Gary Peter’s, got off to a good start to the season winning their first two matches but lost 3-0 to Franchise F.C. at the weekend. They also have a brand new stadium so this will be our first match at the appropriately named New Meadow. Disappointingly there is no need for a man in a coracle any more. My only visit to previous ground Gay Meadow was for an F.A. Cup third round replay in 1996. Interestingly before that game we visited a small pub just round the corner from the ground that was the first (and then only) non-smoking pub in the town, how things change! We went with high hopes and took a first half lead through Rory Hamill (who I think got himself sent off later in the game) but then saw Shrewsbury fight back to win 2-1. I think we were a division below them back then, so a result would have been seen as a good scalp, let’s hope we avoid that happening to us tonight.

Claus Jensen has announced his retirement from Football. There's more on TOOFIF and
Sky Sports. I’m quite sad to hear this. Claus was undoubtedly a very talented player but his problems with injuries since joining Fulham prevented him from making the impact I’d hoped he would. Even at his best I always though he was a luxury player as you really needed two decent defensive midfielders behind him but good memories include his home debut a 2-0 win against Bolton, his extra time appearance, scoring the final goal and orchestrating a win against Derby in the forth round of the 2005 F.A. Cup, and, the last time I saw him, playing for the reserves against Arsenal in April.

The BBC report that Aston Villa are ready to seal a £4m deal for Zat Knight. Can’t say I’d be happy in losing one of our few fit CB’s but guess this means we have someone else lined up. Villa are also still interested in Liam Rosenior who The Sun say is available for around £2m.

This week is bound to be busy with the transfer window closing on Friday and we have apparently got Stuttgart striker Daniel Luboja on trial. Amongst other similar “needing a big front man” stories it’s The People that plump for the obvious and claim that Fulham are lining up a bid for Monaco's 6’ 7½” Czech striker Jan Koller. Despite stories that midfielder Thomas Gravesen is set to snub an attempt to take him on loan from Celtic, both Sky and the BBC report that we have confirmed our interest.

We have also been linked with a bid for young Port Vale ‘keeper Joe Anyon, with an initial bid of £250,000 rejected by the club. We’ve upset the Vale manager Martin Foyle in doing so though. The Vale boss is incensed with the way Sanchez has behaved claiming “Managers deal with managers and I am disappointed with Lawrie Sanchez. I will be phoning him. They made an offer and then have pulled out straight away. Then they have signed Kasey Keller and straight afterwards it was 'Oh we'll be back for Joe Anyon'”. It doesn’t sound like the way we’d normally do business so we’ll see. It does sound like it wouldn’t take much more to sign Anyon who may be seen as a better prospect for a backup keeper in the long term.

Finally in a mini Cookie watch. Real Sociedad lost their first game of the season 0-2 at home to CD Castellon. In his post match interview Chris Coleman spoke of how nervous his players were after conceding in the first half, and that the second goal scored early in the second half forced them to chase the game. There’s also the third Postcard from San Sebastian in the Daily Mail. It’s definitely going to be a long hard season for Chris, I hope he gets the time he’ll need to turn things around.