Phil McNulty: Thrills, chills and moments to savour

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Thrills, chills and moments to savour

The journey took in 72 matches and almost 22,000 miles, concluding with England's 2-2 draw with Switzerland in a Euro 2012 qualifier at Wembley.

From Blackpool to Basle, it was an unpredictable mixture, throwing up the brilliance of Barcelona's Champions League final victory against Manchester United and the thrills of that final "Survival Sunday" as five clubs fought to stay in the top tier of English football.

As we look back on this season, through what will be a highly eventful close season and ahead to the next campaign, what condition has your club been left in? Here's my review:

Fulham - 8th

The glow of a very satisfactory Premier League placing was quickly replaced by the shock created by the abrupt departure of Mark Hughes as manager, a repeat of last summer when Roy Hodgson left for Liverpool after taking Fulham to the Europa League final.

Martin Jol's swift appointment will help banish some of the disappointment. The Dutchman, still a hugely popular figure with Spurs fans after his time at White Hart Lane, is a fine choice and demonstrates once again that Fulham have a sure touch when it comes to selecting managers.

Jol will bring knowledge of the Premier and Europe to Fulham and is presumably happy at the club's scale of ambition, a factor put forward as one of the reasons Hughes left. The Dutchman also inherits a club and team in a healthy condition. Hughes recovered from a poor start to steer the club into the Europa League via the Fair Play standings.

Losing another manager could have been a destabilising blow for Fulham but this fine old club has shown it has the infrastructure and the squad in place to move on with Jol.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2011/06/end_of_season_review.html