Tuesday Fulham Stuff (10/04/10)

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=195795
Fulham - It`s Official Erik is Off!
It`s something that we reported on earlier this year, namely, that Erik Nevland was heading back towards home territory.

Well it would appear that steps have been ongoing, but subsequently failed, to keep the Norwegian at Craven Cottage with the offer of a new one year contract.

After the dour 0-0 draw with Wolves, (Sir) Roy Hodgson confirmed that Erik would be off, remarking,

'He's a marvellous player, a fantastic professional and a very good footballer,'

'He has played a major part in the success we have had in the two and a half years he has been at the club and I must congratulate Viking on the signing. He'll score lots of goals for them.'

I`ll be sad to see the lad go, will you?




Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=195795#ixzz0lcZ9RkYa

[WhiteJC]

http://fulham.theoffside.com/player-news/loaner-report-41910.html
Loaner Report 4/19/10
By: timmyg | April 19th, 2010

Eddie Johnson started and played 61 minutes in Aris Thessaloniki's 2-1 loss against Olympiakos on Sunday.

Diomansy Kamara started and played 90 minutes in Celtic's 2-1 win over Motherwell last Tuesday. He did not dress in Celtic's 3-2 win over Hibernian on Saturday due to injury.

David Stockdale and Plymouth Argyle host Newcastle United this evening.

Toni Kallio did not dress in any of Sheffield United's 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in the Steel City derby. He is recovering from a calf injury.

Matthew Saunders started and played 75 minutes in Lincoln City's 3-1 loss at Notts County last Tuesday. He started and played 90 minutes in the Imps' 1-0 loss at Shrewsbury on Saturday.

Wesley Foderingham started and played 90 minutes in Bromley's 2-1 loss to Bath City on Sunday.

Danny Hoesen made his Veikkausliiga debut this weekend in HJK Helsinki's 5-0 win over Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS).

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulham-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/murphys_wish_520579/index.shtml
Murphy's Wish

Fulham captain Danny Murphy wants a new 12-month contract extension. 

The 33-year-old midfielder wants to finish his career at Fulham. He has one year remaining on his contract at Craven Cottage - and there could be more if he keeps pace in the Premier League next season.

It would be the perfect platform for the Fulham captain to bow out after a successful career, in which he won a unique treble with Liverpool in 2001 of League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup.

Murphy said: "I hope this is my last club. I've got another year after this and I'm feeling all right."

[WhiteJC]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/7608446/Liverpool-and-Fulham-face-24-hour-journeys-to-fulfil-Europa-League-semi-final-matches.html
Liverpool and Fulham face 24-hour journeys to fulfil Europa League semi-final matches
Liverpool and Fulham are facing 24-hour journeys by road and rail to circumvent the chaos caused by the cloud of ash from the Icelandic volcanic eruption after Uefa declared that their Europa League semi-final first legs would go ahead despite the disruption to global air travel.

Rafael Benítez and his team are scheduled to begin their journey at 1pm on Tuesday, travelling by train to Paris and, after a night in the French capital, journeying to Bordeaux early on Wednesday before flying to Madrid, where they are due to face Atlético Madrid on Thursday evening.

Club officials, though, on Monday night confirmed they were considering "a number" of contingency plans should the restrictions on use of air space over parts of the country relax on Tuesday, including taking a flight from London direct to the Spanish capital.

Roy Hodgson's Fulham side, meanwhile, plan to depart London at 4pm by coach, taking a ferry from Dover to Calais and on to Hamburg by road, after spending the night in northern France. It is estimated they will arrive in the German city, where next month's final will be held, around 24 hours after leaving London.

Officials at Fulham confirmed that around 500 fans scheduled to travel on official club trips would find their journeys in jeopardy. A further 1,500 supporters had planned to make their way to Hamburg independently.

Liverpool had sold 1,700 tickets for their fixture and the club on Monday confirmed that any fans who had bought tickets but were unable to travel would be entitled to a refund.

Uefa announced on Monday afternoon that both games would go ahead, although it admitted that it would monitor the situation and did not rule out postponing the fixtures nearer the time.

"We are continuing to closely monitor the travel situation throughout Europe and beyond, in an effort to confirm the staging of a number of matches that are due to take place this week in Uefa competitions," read a statement.

"Regarding the Europa League semi-final first-leg matches scheduled for Thursday 22 April between Club Atlético de Madrid and Liverpool FC, and Hamburg SV and Fulham FC, it is planned that both games will go ahead as normal.

"However, with the majority of airspace over Europe still closed and other forms of transport limited or fully booked, we are in close contact with both English clubs on the travel options available to them."

Uefa's timing drew criticism from the Football Supporters' Federation.

"Most fans realise this is an unprecedented event over which Uefa has no control," said a spokesman. "But the main thing that rankles is that we waited until Monday for official confirmation that the matches would go ahead. An earlier announcement would have at least allowed fans and clubs plenty of time to make arrangements."

Lyon, who face Bayern Munich in Germany on Wednesday, and Barcelona, who travel to Inter Milan on Tuesday evening, were forced to travel by land to enable their Champions League semi-finals to go ahead.

[WhiteJC]

http://cottagers.blogspot.com/2010/04/fulham-0-0-wolverhampton-wanderers.html
Fulham 0 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

A number of firsts at this weekend's game. 1) I'd never seen Wolves play before. 2) I sacrificed the start of the game so I could watch all the Manchester derby (thank heavens). 3) Ish was well up for the game. 4) There were no planes flying over Craven Cottage!
When games are particularly boring, spectators can usually amuse themselves by playing the which airline game as planes slowly drift across Putney airspace towards Heathrow. Not this weekend though, which is a shame as there wasn't much happening on the pitch. Fortunately there was the tonic of bright sunshine instead.
Wolves had just three players that I was aware of Doyle, Hahnemann and Craddock, although I didn't recognise the defender at first because of his head bandage. However despite this lack of superstars (or perhaps because of it) Wolves were a surprisingly tidy team, but without much of a cutting edge. Pretty similar to Fulham at the moment, really.
Ahead of this Thursday's trek to Hamburg, it was a surprise to see such a strong Fulham side, with just Smalling replacing Hangeland in the starting XI. The young lad had a more promising game than he has in recent appearances, but the steady hand of Aaron Hughes once again stood out. The Irish defender has had an outstanding, unsung season and is a big reason for the team's success. Just remember the games where Smalling and Hangeland were the central pairing.
Fulham had two outstanding chances during the game. One where Duff was put through, but chose the wrong option and tried to unsuccessfully come inside the last defender, much to the crowd's disgust, which I thought was a bit harsh. The other chance was a glorious Zamora strike from nothing, 25 yards from goal, which bounced off the post.
And that was it. Neither team looked particularly dangerous, Fulham with one eye on Europe and Wolves with one eye on a valuable point for securing Premier League status. It was a shame that we didn't see some of the Fulham bench warmers - It would have been good to see Johnny P and Okaka - but Woy knows best.
At the end of the game Ish and I went exploring and clambered over to the Johnny Haynes Stand to check out the sightlines of where we might potentially be moving to next season. A year in the truly historic stand feels right for plastic tourists such as us, but it will be a hard wrench to leave the Hammy End. We'll be seeing what comes available.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1267312/Paul-Scharner-vowed-quit-Wigan-claims-Everton-Fulham-Sunderland-Aston-Villa-want-season.html?ITO=1490
Paul Scharner has vowed to quit Wigan and claims Everton, Fulham, Sunderland and Aston Villa all want him for next season

Paul Scharner says he will quit Wigan at the end of the season.
The versatile midfielder went straight up the tunnel when he was substituted last week and was on the bench for the win over Arsenal.

The Austria international said: `Fulham, Everton, Aston Villa and Sunderland are interested in signing me, which would even guarantee me a spot in Europe. So there is no reason to stay here.'

Scharner joined Wigan five years ago but has put off fresh contract talks with manager Roberto Martinez.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1267312/Paul-Scharner-vowed-quit-Wigan-claims-Everton-Fulham-Sunderland-Aston-Villa-want-season.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0lcbCgXpX

[WhiteJC]

http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/touch-wood/
Touch wood
Filed under: General — weltmeisterclaude @ 9:10 pm

and all that, but I've just noticed... we haven't conceded a goal for 326 minutes....

That's pretty good.

Also, and I may have mentioned this before, but next season we'll almost certainly be the Southernmost team in the Premier League.   Isn't that something?

Needless to say, this week is all about volcanoes.   Sad that nobody knows if they'll be coming or going over the next day or so; let's hope that, somehow, everything ends up okay and that our committed travellers are rewarded in the end and find a way to Hamburg (and back).   What a pickle.

Finally, Fulham Review market research:  what would be good this year?   A table of contents is one thing I hear time and again (well, maybe two people have said it, but I agree).   What else?    I've got plenty of content and you're going to like that (seriously, it's going to be the biggest and best book yet, I'm sure of it), but if there are any other considerations please either leave in the comments or email me.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.cottagersconfidential.com/2010/4/19/1431194/fulham-reserves-beat-stoke-city-3-1
Fulham Reserves beat Stoke City 3 - 1

Fulham's Reserves won their match today 3 - 1 at Stoke City.  According to the Stokecityfc.com article, "Stoke City 1 Fulham 3", Fulham dominated the opening minutes of the match. Keanu Marsh Brown scored in the 4th minute of the match. His goal came from just inside the box.

Fulham's second goal of the match came in the 30th minute. Again, according to the Stokecityfc.com article, "Stoke City 1 Fulham 3" , Fulham's second goal was scored by Micahel Uwezu. It came from a pass from Keanu Marsh Brown. Also, stated in the Stokecityfc.com article, was a late first half goal by Stoke. It was was scored by Louis Moult in the 40th minute.

The second half saw the final goal by Fulham. Again, according to theStokecityfc.com article,"Stoke City 1 Fulham 3", Christopher Buchtmann scored in the 57th minute. His free kick, 25 yards out is deflected two times and into the net. That ended the scoring for the match. The match ended with Fulham's Reserves winning 3 - 1.

Fulham's Reserves final match of the season will be a week from Tuesday at West Ham.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulham-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/stoke_reserves_1_fulham_reserves_3_520622/index.shtml
Stoke Reserves 1 Fulham Reserves 3

Fulham's Reserves recorded a comfortable victory over Stoke City on Monday evening. 

Goals from Keanu Marsh Brown, Michael Uwezu and Chris Buchtmann were enough to hand Billy McKinlay's side all three points.

The Whites started the game in fine fashion and took the lead in the fourth minute through Marsh Brown, who rounded off a good Fulham move with a crisp finish.

Fulham doubled their advantage after 30 minutes when a nice attacking move down the right flank allowed Marsh Brown to feed the ball into the path of Uwezu who finished well from close range.

As the game approached half-time, the home side managed to pull a goal back when Louis Moult reacted quickest in the box and fired past Neal Etheridge.

Fulham continued their search for a third goal following the half-time interval and they deservedly re-established a two-goal cushion on 57 minutes when Chris Buchtmann's free-kick was diverted past Stoke goalkeeper Dave Parton.

The goal was enough to guarantee all three points for the Whites, indeed they could have added to their tally but for the goalkeeping heroics of Parton.

David Elm also showed no ill effects following his recent virus and produced a hard-working performance up front. The Swedish striker led the line well along with Michael Uzewu.

Speaking after the match, Fulham's Reserve Team manager Billy McKinlay gave his reaction to the victory:

"We were deserved winners on the night after a really good performance," he said. "It was a difficult night to play football due to the pitch but we wanted to get out of the traps early. We played some really good football in the early part of the game and getting the goal settled us in.

"The fact that we were playing some good football and causing them problems on a very difficult surface pleased me. Stoke were putting us under a lot of pressure, they were working really hard.

"The goal before half-time got them back into the game and gave them a lift. It was slightly disappointing from our point of view to concede a set-piece. But, once again, we worked really hard to earn the right to play and after Chris' goal we created numerous chances and probably should have won by a greater margin."

Fulham Reserves: Etheridge, Marquez-Sanchez, Briggs, Pierre, Toure, Pritchard, Marsh Brown, Buchtmann, Uwezu (Trotta 75), Elm (Payne 87), Smith (Harris 84). Subs (Unused): Bettin

[WhiteJC]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1267351/Its-trains-planes-automobiles-Liverpool-Fulhams-Europa-League-games.html?ITO=1490
It's trains, planes and automobiles for Liverpool and Fulham's Europa League games

Liverpool and Fulham will find out on Tuesday morning whether they face gruelling journeys to their Europa League semi-final first-leg ties in Spain and Germany.

With UEFA insisting the games on Thursday must go ahead despite the ban on flights across Europe, Liverpool could end up making a two-day trip by rail, coach and air for their game against Atletico Madrid. Fulham face similar problems getting to Hamburg for their match.

With flight plans still unclear last night, Anfield officials were forced to draw up an alternative journey that would begin at Runcorn just after 1pm today and finish in Madrid more than 24 hours later.

Manager Rafa Benitez and his players are hoping to revert to travelling by charter jet tomorrow afternoon but if that cannot be guaranteed they face a marathon journey.
It would start at Runcorn at 1.04pm, with a coach waiting to transfer them from Euston to St Pancras for the 4.32 Eurostar, arriving in Paris at 7.47.

Enlarge    After an overnight stay in the French capital, they would catch the 7.10am train to Bordeaux, where, after another coach transfer, a flight at 12.15pm would take them to Madrid, 75 minutes away.

Fulham will also set off this afternoon if the authorities cannot guarantee by 11am today that their chartered flight from Gatwick to Hamburg tomorrow morning will be allowed to take off.
Fulham's contingency plan involves a Eurostar train to Brussels and an onward coach to Hamburg, with a stopover near Dortmund in Germany on Tuesday night. This route would take them more than 24 hours. But club officials are also concerned about getting home from Germany.

Fulham are due to play Everton away on Sunday and would not get back to the UK until Saturday if forced to travel overland.

Arrangements for fans are also unclear. It was expected that 1,500 would fly to Hamburg but there may be as few as 500 in the stadium. The club's £99 official coach travel offer has sold out, with three coaches leaving Craven Cottage at 8.30pm tomorrow and returning at 9.30am on Friday.
Fulham say fans concerned about travel should phone their supporter relations department on 0870 4421222.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1267351/Its-trains-planes-automobiles-Liverpool-Fulhams-Europa-League-games.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0lcdtctvv

[WhiteJC]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/fulham-prepare-for-450mile-coach-trip-to-hamburg-1948887.html
Fulham furious over 450-mile coach trip to Hamburg

Fulham will today embark on a 24-hour road trip to Hamburg for the biggest game in the club's history after Uefa ruled that their Europa League semi-final tie must go ahead despite the cloud of volcanic dust that has caused travel chaos.


Fulham manager Roy Hodgson had asked for the match to be postponed but Uefa decided yesterday morning that the London side would have to travel.

Fulham are to make the 450-mile trip to Hamburg on a coach via the Channel tunnel, and will include an overnight stop on the Continent before driving on to Germany to arrive in the city at lunchtime tomorrow. The journey will include frequent rest stops for the players to prevent them getting stiff and picking up injuries. If the flight ban continues, the players will face a long return drive back on Friday before travelling up to play Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon. They had planned to fly on a private jet to Germany on Wednesday morning.

The club are also hoping to compensate in full their 2,000 supporters in the event that they are unable to fly to Hamburg for the game. Fulham have laid on several flights, both on Wednesday and Thursday, for supporters who will have to wait to hear if aviation authorities lift the flight ban in time. The plans are up in the air, even if the team is not.

A club statement said: "At this stage the club still cannot confirm whether the planes scheduled to depart on Wednesday and Thursday to transport fans and media will be able to travel, and is in regular dialogue with the aviation authorities to enable it to inform all parties at the earliest opportunity when a decision is made."

Fulham are not taking any chances with the team, however, and even if the ban is lifted today they will go ahead with their plan to drive to Germany, in case flights are subsequently suspended again. It was also confirmed yesterday that Sunday's game at Everton will go ahead, as there are no alternative dates available to reschedule the game before the end of the season.

Fulham were yesterday tipped to win the inaugural Europa League, despite their travel nightmare, by the man who led Shakhtar Donetsk to the Uefa Cup, Mircea Lucescu.

The Romanian, whose side lost to the Londoners in the first knock-out stage, said: "Fulham can do it because they have improved their game from one match to the next. They are much more powerful than at the beginning. They are a good, very organised team and have a very good coach. They can easily change the way they are playing. In the first leg against them, they played one kind of game, then in the second leg they played very well in defence. They were so well organised that it was impossible to score."

[WhiteJC]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1267429/Fulham-squad-travel-road-Hamburg-Europa-League-semi-final-clash.html?ITO=1490
Fulham squad to travel by road to Hamburg for their Europa League semi-final clash

Fulham have confirmed they will travel by road to Germany for the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against Hamburg.

Flights out of Britain continue to be disrupted by the volcanic ash cloud produced by the erupting Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull.

After being closed since Thursday, British airspace reopened on Tuesday morning, but it could close again later in the day after air traffic control company Nats warned the volcano could erupt again.

The Cottagers, who are chasing their first European final in history, had hoped to fly by private jet to Hamburg on Wednesday but they have now admitted defeat and will revert to plan B.

The team will now board a luxurious coach to Folkestone, where they will catch the Eurotunnel to Calais before driving to Hamburg on the same coach. It is anticipated that the approximate 600-mile journey will take between 10 and 12 hours to complete.

A club spokesman said: 'I can confirm that we will be travelling to Germany some time today in line with our contingency plans.'
With airports set to close again on Tuesday afternoon, it is unlikely the Fulham supporters who have bought airline tickets to Germany will be able to fly to Hamburg.

Around 2,500 of them have tickets to the game and many have already started making plans to travel by land.