Are we Premier League Overachievers or Underachievers?

[DiegoFulham]

I was thinking quite a bit about Martin Jol and Mark Hughes seasons at the football club...

Are we premier league overachievers or underachievers?

Overachievers due to the size of our club at this current moment, as a second generation Fulham fan i was brought up throughout the dark days of League 1 and 2 football and my dad tells me we should currently take everything we have in the premier league era for granted which is a very fair statement due to our past experiences, I mean under Sir Woy Hodgson we finished 7th in his first full season, then the season after that we beat massive European teams along the way which 10 to 20 years ago we never thought possible,and my dad told me stories as me and him were heading up to Hamburg via coach that 20 to 30 years ago if he said that to any of his mates that Fulham would have played in a MAJOR European final they would have all laughed at him, also now previously under Mark Hughes him bringing a  top class player like Dembele in which like 20 years ago we never thought was possible, and now currently under the Martin Jol era we are starting to become a force that Chelscum and QPHA have to deal with even with their money, Berbatov and Petric joining Fulham, a new 30,000 seater stadium after the riverside stand is done up, we're a growing football club.

Underachievers i really don't see ourselves given enough credit for what we have done in recent seasons, under Mark Hughes and Martin Jol we have like a very big and respectable club like Everton have always started the season very slowly, under Mark we had just lost 3-1 at home to West Ham United who were bottom of Christmas that time, we looked like we were heading down to the championship, after that result we won our first away game in over a year and a half of football in the premier league when we beat the stoke inbred's 0-2  via two super strikes from Bairdinho, after that result we went on a run to take us out of the relegation zone and up to 8th in the table at the end of the season, the same with Martin Jol because of the early season europa games we started the season very slowly but unlike the Mark Hughes season we didn't find ourselves in the relegation zone, at the end of last season we finished a respectable 9th place and to be honest we should have finished above Liverpool, the reason i say we are underachievers is the fact i was watching sky sports news one day and they were talking about the first and second half of the reason mainly due to United and City finishing on the same points, they were talking about if you didn't include the second half of the season who would have won the title and visa versa if you didn't include the first half, i found it very interesting to see in the second half of last season if you took away the first half of last season that ourselves and Everton finished 3rd(Fulham) and 4th(Everton) behind the obvious of City and United, which begs my question if we(both clubs) can do that 2nd half of the season then why can't we do it first half? which begs my question if we can do that over first and second half of the seasons then both ourselves and Everton could quite possibly chase Europe(Europa League - Most likely) and (Champions League - For Everton more likely then ourselves)

So are we underachieving because of us always starting slowly or are we Overachieving due to the size of our club?
Listen i'll understand if this question sounds stupid in the morning but at the moment, it has really got me thinking WHAT IF?

[General]

i think if you can get a team to perform and tempt the right type of players to the club through whatever means - paying them a wage that they're happy with etc etc, then I think you're doing what is doable and right by your club at that given time. For this reason I think we're not overachieving or under achieving. We are just being run properly and have enough in the foundations of the club to prove that to the highest calibre player.

How else is a club supposed to develop and grow. I think any pundit that tries classifying a club as working outside or within their means is just lacking sufficient thought to create an interesting point worth noting.

[RaySmith]

Well, we are high achievers - the club has acheived so much. Just staying in the Prem is an achievement, let alone  top ten finishes.

It is true, though, that we don't get the credit we deserve. Just yesterday on 5 Live, it might hav beem 6.06, there was a discussion of clubs without the riches of the top few, that have managed to become established Prem sides - and West Brom, Wigan, Stoke were mentioned - but not Fulham!

[MJG]

I think the fact that we have had one of the lowest capacities in the lge over the last 12 years shows we have overachieved from a fan base size. We usually are in the bottom 4/5 of ground size each season.
This is one reason why we need to have the new stand built, otherwise with FFP it will all catch up with us at some stage.
Our level now is 7th-13th, but every season it's still the 40pts mark I want to see us get to and then I relax.

[premFlem]

When Al-Fayed goes the return to our natural mid-table championship position will be pretty hasty I think , so we must enjoy our extended spell in the top league while we can.

[The Enclosurite]

I'm not so sure.  I think we'll be quite an attractive prospect for new money.  Providing the new stand is in place and the rest of the behind-the-scences infrastructure continues to grow then why not?

When Al-Fayed goes the return to our natural mid-table championship position will be pretty hasty I think , so we must enjoy our extended spell in the top league while we can.

[A Humble Man]

As I understand it in terms of our income and expenditure and the value of our players we perform close to or just above expectation.

[Burt]

To be honest, every year we stay up is an achievement given the relatively small size of our fanbase/ground, and the fact that we are a "selling" club.

Top half finishes are really quite phenomenal.

And to have got to the Europa League final... Once in a lifetime stuff.

So for one who has experienced more "lows" than "highs" over the years, I think we very much punch above our weight. The only disappointment is that we haven't really applied this to the FA Cup...

[General]

Well, we are high achievers - the club has acheived so much. Just staying in the Prem is an achievement, let alone  top ten finishes.

Like that train of thought

[/quote]

It is true, though, that we don't get the credit we deserve. Just yesterday on 5 Live, it might hav beem 6.06, there was a discussion of clubs without the riches of the top few, that have managed to become established Prem sides - and West Brom, Wigan, Stoke were mentioned - but not Fulham!

Yeah, something that really irks me - does anyone know why? It's not because we're a bad side - is there more of a vendetta against MAF then we think?

[/quote]

[Scrumpy]

Nice to see some realism on this thread. I agree that we're definitely over-achieving at the moment. This is not to be confused with a lack of ambition, which could certainly have been aimed at previous owners in previous eras.

By almost every measure, be it average attendance, wages paid, historical position, we are punching well above our weight. Long may it continue  :scarf:.

[F(f)CUK]

I think that our return to a position equivalent to our attendance will be delayed by the fact that we are London-based.

In the old days this was a disadvantage as people did not like the house prices, but now people are attracted to London over provincial cities.

Overall we are over-achieving and long may it continue.

[DiegoFulham]

When Al-Fayed goes the return to our natural mid-table championship position will be pretty hasty I think , so we must enjoy our extended spell in the top league while we can.

as the QPR fans say, AMBITION

[Yellow Jacket]

I think Fulham is neither. Stable really is the perfect term. They never really punched above their weight but they beat who they are supposed to beat.