Don't take this personally about Smalling...

[Admin]

But you are going to start seeing a lot more of this unfortunately. A couple of seasons back, the Club said that they will be heavily investing in the youth policy & will be scouting for young players to bring up, sell & then use that money to invest in the 1st team etc.

Smalling is just a start & you will possibly see this done with Brown (if good enough) & that new striker we signed (Payne) from Sutton Utd.

I heard a while ago, that the money which was readily available for the ground improvements etc was thrown into our youth academy & scouting system with a big proportion of that money used for that guy (can't remeber his name) that found Wallcott, Jones, Bale etc.

The only way for Fulham Football Club to survive is by doing this & not being funny, what a great bit of bussiness 8 million was for a player that cost pence from Maidstone Utd. with this 8 million, Roy can now bring in at least two qulaity players either now or in the summer transfer window.

It's not even certain that Smalling will make it yet. Look what happened to Duncan Jupp when he was tipped to be the next best left-back when we sold him to Wimbledone for £750,000k.

The club are going in the right direction & don't worry, the next Smalling will be along quicker than you can imagen.

[JBH]

I have to agree 100% with this post, no point in worrying about the sale of a player when it brings in a decent profit.

Remember how Saha turned out for Man Utd. The grass as they say isn't alweays greener!

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

could have put it better myself-it's all about the club,thats what matters

[mattiesafer]

Yes,  it is always hard to see players go.  But this will be a very good thing for the club.  Glad it seems to have been done with a minimum of fuss.  The Saha transfer was my first "breakup."  I remember really admiring what Coleman had to say (all that "over my dead body" stuff) but in the end it was the right move to sell him, I think the club really benefitted.  And he was our star player at the time... Smalling doesn't even start!

[Tktd]

Yeah but Smalling could've improved the first team himself and could've been sold on for a lot more if he continued his rapid development at Fulham whilst helping our reputation improve amongst other things. I bet all the money from his transfer goes towards loan signing players wages and they'll end up doing crap for us. Can't believe this. The point of bringing in good youth players is to improve the squad and team in the long run - Arsenal style... you don't see them pick up gems like fabregas and adebayor and just sell them on as soon as they get an alright offer - they hold out and get around £20 odd million for most of their players - god knows how much more Fabregas will go for when he does finally go. Smalling was touted to being the next Rio Ferdinand - he cost them £30 million - £30 million.... 3-0 million. Utd may be in poo but at least they are trying to get themselves out of it... we're just going to end up going backwards I can guarentee - I thought Roy was only going to stay if we invested in the squad... he turned down Campbell cos he wanted to oversee Smalling and give him his chance. I can see Roy leaving us now and where would that leave us - with a bunch of injury prone players who are good enough to be wanted by other clubs and leave us if the going gets tough. ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH I hate Fulham FC at times like these!

[clintclintdeuce]

This guy was barely part of our team! How can you be sad??? Im happier than hell we made this deal, great bit of business. Go and buy 6 dempseys or hangelands or hughes' with the money, maybe 2 will pan out, now our team is 3 fold better.

[JBH]

ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH I hate Fulham FC at times like these!

If you hate Fulham for this then I sugest you **** off and support a club that never sells its players!

Oh you can't cos there isn't one is there!!

Wake up and smell the Coffee, this is real football, not Championship Manager!

[finnster01]

Relax,

since when did Fulham get 8 million quid for a player that has played 8 games for the first team?

How many times has he played for England U-21's? Not many.

Who scored an own goal against the dark side? Who gave away a ridiculous penalty? Who came on in a friendly and according to Roy singlehandedly made a 3-0 lead against Posh end up being a 3-3 tie.

The lad is young and unproven. Don't compare him to Ferdinand yet. That is just way over the top.

In Roy I trust.

And you know what else pisses me off, all this Hangeland hatred all of a sudden.  He has had his fair share of bad form, but a player who has proven himself at the highest levels, won championships, has played very well in the Champions League, is a captain for his national team, made Hughes settle in and become a top player, best defensive header of the ball in the league by far, and helped Fulham to it's best season in history last year, and is still only 28 years old. All of a sudden, he is completely useless and should be replaced by an unproven ex-Maidstone youngster who didn't even stick with any academy in the country ever? Please, wake up and smell the coffee. I hope Hangeland doesn't read these pages because it is a complete disgrace

[Admin]

Yeah but Smalling could've improved the first team himself and could've been sold on for a lot more if he continued his rapid development at Fulham whilst helping our reputation improve amongst other things. I bet all the money from his transfer goes towards loan signing players wages and they'll end up doing crap for us. Can't believe this. The point of bringing in good youth players is to improve the squad and team in the long run - Arsenal style... you don't see them pick up gems like fabregas and adebayor and just sell them on as soon as they get an alright offer - they hold out and get around £20 odd million for most of their players - god knows how much more Fabregas will go for when he does finally go. Smalling was touted to being the next Rio Ferdinand - he cost them £30 million - £30 million.... 3-0 million. Utd may be in s*** but at least they are trying to get themselves out of it... we're just going to end up going backwards I can guarentee - I thought Roy was only going to stay if we invested in the squad... he turned down Campbell cos he wanted to oversee Smalling and give him his chance. I can see Roy leaving us now and where would that leave us - with a bunch of injury prone players who are good enough to be wanted by other clubs and leave us if the going gets tough. ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH I hate Fulham FC at times like these!

Tktd - I feel your pain but we are not Arsenal, we don't have their money & in my life time, will never be as big as them & won't ever sell a player for around the 30 million mark.

How ever you look at it, we sold Smalling at 20 years of age, for 8 million & a guy who hardly gets into our 1st team with no garantees that he'll ever make it in the big time either. Yes he looked good but so did Knight, Leacock, Omo & Rehman in their early days when pushing for the 1st team spot only to be released or end up at lower clubs.

I'm too long in the tooth for all this & have seen so many potential players at Fulham be branded as the next best thing & then fail. Smalling's in Man Utd hands now & if he does well, he does well. If not, thank you very much for the 8 million quid for a player that cost pence from Maidstone Utd.

Put the shoe on the other foot for a minute. We turn down the 8 million quid, keep Smalling for another 4 years, doesn't come good at 24, he's released or sold on a free to Dagenham 7 Redbrige. What would you rather?

[Admin]

ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH I hate Fulham FC at times like these!

If you hate Fulham for this then I sugest you fcuk off and support a club that never sells its players!

Oh you can't cos there isn't one is there!!

Wake up and smell the Coffee, this is real football, not Championship Manager!

JBH, language please.

[lamby]

100% agree.

The 2 best centre backs in the comp at the moment?   
  Vermaelen - £10mil at the start of the year
  Vidic - £8mil 2 years ago

To get £8mil-£10mil for a guy had started 1 game and cost less than £100k is just great football business and will only help us in the long term.

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

and by god do we need imporvements on the pitch :o

[FFCSteve]

Can we have all of our first team back.........PLEASE!

I know we could use some cover for injuries, but there's no substitute for a team that play together regularly.

[The Rock]

This is the best post I've seen on this site. The new one, but still - spot on.

[fulhamguy]

Smalling is going to be a class player, but we have to accept our stature within English football. If we don't want to become a Leeds / Southampton / Leicester / whoever and go downhill, or West Ham and go bust, we can't oversell ourselves. MAF has it spot on in trying to make us self sufficient and we have to take opportunities like this for decent money.

And also, something not mentioned yet, but Smalling was partly at fault for yesterdays goal...... Schwarzer messed up by not getting rid, Riise messed up by not getting rid, and Smalling let Crouch drift in behind him so he was free.