Impact Of A Trophy Win

[White Noise]

At such time as we win The FA Cup and/or Europa League what do you think will be the short and long term impact on the club in terms of things like public and media perception, attendances and the attitude of the board?

Would things change radically at the club as a result?

Does just getting to a final provide the benefit or is there a greater dividend to winning?

[FatFreddysCat]

Admistration in two years time ::).

[KCat]

On the up side,  we might get another cracking ditty to match :

WE WON IT ONE TIME  ...we won it one timmmmmme 
the Intertoto.....we won it
We win one time 


We would get a great day out,  a few bob in the bank but other than that very little would change.

Our season tickets will probably get increased which will negate ( is that a word ?) any increase in attendance. The press have never been in a rush to write about us........in the Metro there are full page articles (badly written ) about Villa and Everton and Ure .............and then a four liner about Fulham ..THAT WAS THE DAY AFTER WE REACHED THE LAST 16 !!!!

[VicHalomsLovechild]

so to paraphrase Fred and the Cat, " A new song and administration" very Fulhamish.  :)

[Hazey]

But what a damn fine song it would be!  Not so keen on the administration bit though.

so to paraphrase Fred and the Cat, " A new song and administration" very Fulhamish.  :)

[Rupert]

Short term- none of us would have any friends left after a week of being unsufferably smug. A price worth paying, I believe. ;D

Long term- It would kill the "you've never won anything" nonsense I get from time to time from those who claim to support one of the big teams, yet who have seen their heroes play live fewer times than I have.
The aclaim for Sir Roy would rise to deafening levels and, after England get dumped out of the World Cup, the press will start a 'Hogson for England' campaign. The actual knighthood might well follow. We would not be underestimated by anyone in the Europa Cup next time round, unfortunately. As soon as we got knocked out of all cup competitions in the following season and were clearly heading for a mid-table finish, the other Fulham messageboards would be full of experts demanding more funding, more ambition from the board, time for a new buyer to take us to the next level, then two years later Fred will be proven to be a prophet. :(

Hopefully that last paragraph is a load of nonsense.

[finnster01]

I do not think there were ever a fat prophet

[Lighthouse]

The club would feel a pressure to keep up the standard but Roy would be able to say we over achieved again and our number one priority is to stay in this league. But when Roy goes for a player who has a choice the player will have a harder time turning us down.

The point is we have already over achieved, I don't think that winning something will push the club into doing anything more than lowering expectations.

[finnster01]

I hope they don't sit it next to the massive Inter Toto Cup in the Trophy Room.

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

I do not think there were ever a fat prophet

Buddha? ;)

[finnster01]

I do not think there were ever a fat prophet

Buddha? ;)

Doesn't he qualify as a God?

He could do with some slimming though according to the statues :-)

[FFCOutpostCommander]

One of the most desirable aspects of The Fulham Football Club is that they have made a plan and they work their plan. If you separate your expectations from reality you could actually predict what will come. They will keep following the same plan that calls for gradual, self funded growth in both the organization and the squad of players. They will accept that some years will be better than others and that as long as, on average, they are ascending the national and international  football ladder they will stay the course. I believe that is what attracted Roy to our humble little club in the beginning. I couldn't see him making any wild or flamboyant moves regardless of his current success. Very level headed manager who is able to make the most out of what he has. Not many like him left in the game.

[HatterDon]

the difficult thing for us over here in Gawd's Country is that we'd have all this excitement and nobody to understand the import of it.

When we beat United last season, I was about ready to explode. Even my friends who were well aware of my football addiction just nodded and smiled at my inarticulate burbling. HatterMom got it and danced around the living room with me more than once, but it's really like being the only ham radio operator in a village of deaf mutes. You guys, on the other hand, can see each other in the park or in Tescos or whatever 6 months after the final, flash a thumbs up and the whole ride comes back to you.

I just want our first big final victory to be "on my watch." So, it'd better happen in the next 5 or 6 years before dementia finally takes complete control of my mind.

[finnster01]

Well, I know one thing

If we beat Spurs on Saturday and get to Wembley, Harlem New York City will witness an old white guy in a Hangeland  Fulham shirt go absolutely nuts and scare the entire neighbourhood . I'll probably end up on TV for all the wrong reasons.

By the way my girlfriend has already taught me that yelling "Come on You Whites" at the top of your voice in a bar in Harlem is not a great idea...

[WhiteJC]

By the way my girlfriend has already taught me that yelling "Come on You Whites" at the top of your voice in a bar in Harlem is not a great idea...

;D

[TonyGilroy]

Well, I know one thing

If we beat Spurs on Saturday and get to Wembley, Harlem New York City will witness an old white guy in a Hangeland  Fulham shirt go absolutely nuts and scare the entire neighbourhood . I'll probably end up on TV for all the wrong reasons.

By the way my girlfriend has already taught me that yelling "Come on You Whites" at the top of your voice in a bar in Harlem is not a great idea...

No problem.

Make it "come on you black and whites" and you'll be everybody's friend.

You may have to explain of course that you didn't actually mean Afro Americans and whites so it could be a long night.

[FFCOutpostCommander]

Thanks Finnster for starting my day with a laugh! You better skip the libations if your watching the match in public so you can keep your self under control and safe. Would be dangerous if you slipped in a moment of passion now wouldn't it. On a serious note I share the same football loneliness as HatterDan here in the States. One of my biggest dreams is to get to the Cottage for a match and have 25,000 plus fellow fans to revel with. I'm noticing that the metro NY area has a few members here on FoF, maybe we could arrange to meet for a match before the end of the season for a Stateside FFC party. A thread a week or so ago was naming a place in the City that regularly offers live coverage. What do you think? I'll buy the first round!

[jarv]

The impact will be a nice day out. Fulham will then get back to normal and start preparing for next season. Perhaps a win will allow RH to buy another quality player or two but if he has to break the bank for the wages required the long term implications could be dire.

I said it before in a post, the backbone of our team consists of about 5 players who were literally not getting playing time elsewhere until RH rescued them. I doubt they are on huge wages (ok, relative to premier league but not the rest of us).
Those players...Hughes, Davies, Murphy, Zamora, Konchesky,Etuhu....

[White Noise]

Alan Pardew said that after Palace got to the FA Cup Final against Man Utd their average gate the next season was up 4,000.

4,000 extra punters, particularly if they are new season ticket holders, is not a massive cash injection for the club compared to its other revenue streams but its the sort of thing that may well push prices up higher and encourage further expansion of the ground.

One of the most interesting threads on the old Offal was that from Ivor's Tache (where is he now????) entitled - 'Putney End to be knocked down and turned into a two tier Home End!!'

Also, it has surely got to make it easier to attract higher quality players, sponsors and TV deals. If the Europa League has already earnt us £3 million then a good FA Cup run must have been reasonably beneficial and maybe that takes us into a place where MAF feels larger transfer expenditure is merited?