lighten up

[jimmyc19]

The mood on here atm is extremely downbeat. Yes, our season hasn't been outstanding by any stretch of the imagination, but it looks like another year in the premier league next season which is never a bad thing. With Dempsey and Dembele leaving so late In the market it was always going to be tougher, but we haven't done too badly. Our last 3 games have been against teams all pushing for a champo league place, so why everyone is so disappointed atm surprises me. A bit of money in the summer and we will be a strong team next year

[TonyGilroy]

I think people are bored with doing OK in this League but the reality is that we will never be better than that. Spending money we don't have to attempt better isn't a sensible policy and, like it or not, our club is too well run to go down that route. 

We need a cup run next season. That is doable.

[Enter the Frei]

I think people are bored with doing OK in this League but the reality is that we will never be better than that. Spending money we don't have to attempt better isn't a sensible policy and, like it or not, our club is too well run to go down that route. 

We need a cup run next season. That is doable.

pretty much my opinion as well, this place can get very depressing when we go through a bad patch of form.

[cebu]

I think people are bored with doing OK in this League but the reality is that we will never be better than that. Spending money we don't have to attempt better isn't a sensible policy and, like it or not, our club is too well run to go down that route. 

We need a cup run next season. That is doable.

pretty much my opinion as well, this place can get very depressing when we go through a bad patch of form.

Yes indeed, MAF+Mac are unwilling to do a QPR or a Portsmouth. That means our club has a chance of continuing its existence for the foreseeable future. Long may it continue. Of course a really good cup run and a visit to the new Wembley would be the icing on the cake!
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[stokesy]

totally agree when you see some of the teams in the championship like leeds middlesborough palace derby nottingham forest to name a few we are doing ok and some people need a reality check look at the likes of newcastle and villa who are bigger than us and spent more money be carefull what you wish for  coventry qpr and portsmouth comes to mind

[JackyFulham90]

totally agree when you see some of the teams in the championship like leeds middlesborough palace derby nottingham forest to name a few we are doing ok and some people need a reality check look at the likes of newcastle and villa who are bigger than us and spent more money be carefull what you wish for  coventry qpr and portsmouth comes to mind

Totally agree

[Peabody]

If only they would lighten up but they won't. They are only happy when they can spend other people's money and then, when it takes a while for a new player to settle in, they can go into overdrive with their moaning.

[Fulham76]

If we could turn our away form around, we would comfortably be top 6-8. Our home form is solid enough & we give pretty much every team a tough game at home. If only we tried a little harder away rather than trying not to get beat. We're that close...

[HatterDon]

I think people are bored with doing OK in this League but the reality is that we will never be better than that. Spending money we don't have to attempt better isn't a sensible policy and, like it or not, our club is too well run to go down that route. 

We need a cup run next season. That is doable.

Yes, Tony, but as long as our SOLE ambition is to finish 17th, the two cups will be sacrificed to rest aging on-loan players.

[HatterDon]

I think people are bored with doing OK in this League but the reality is that we will never be better than that. Spending money we don't have to attempt better isn't a sensible policy and, like it or not, our club is too well run to go down that route. 

We need a cup run next season. That is doable.

pretty much my opinion as well, this place can get very depressing when we go through a bad patch of form.

Yes indeed, MAF+Mac are unwilling to do a QPR or a Portsmouth. That means our club has a chance of continuing its existence for the foreseeable future. Long may it continue. Of course a really good cup run and a visit to the new Wembley would be the icing on the cake!
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So what you're saying is that we would have to commit economic malfeasance in order to do better? That's the ONLY alternative to playing boring defensive football and throwing away our cup opportunities?

Really? Because it wasn't all that long ago that we had a few top 10 finishes and a good cup run or two. Every time somebody on here says that the board needs to buy a few players, for many of you the only response is QPR or Pompey. There are clubs in this league who manage to buy players in an effort to improve or consolidate their higher-than-17th league position without breaking themselves financially -- Everton and Swansea leap to mind. Even Wigan manages to purchase some pretty good players from time to time instead of loaning in over 30 retreads or signing them to one-year contracts.

[Frankie-Peter Taylor]

I would swap our current position with Aston Villa. Okay, they may have been suffering this season but this year would have developed a lot of good quality young players and will be in a good position for next season should they stay up. We've scraped staying up developing just Kacaniklic with the first team and look set for a sticky summer.

I'm not saying "lets just chuck our u21s in" but if we were scraping staying up and developing a good quality of young players, than I can understand. But we have an ageing team with an apparent small amount of finance for the summer.

[RaySmith]

Yes, but would you really like to flirt with relegation like Villa have done this season? and do you think those who run the club would be prepared to take this gamble? It's  hard enough for a team like Fulham in the Prem anyway.

I think all Prem teams have  the same problem re bringing through youngters. They would all obviously love to bring through home grown talent - to save money for a  start, and make money when they inevitably have to seel them on to one of the big boys - but how many youngsters do you see coming through in foreign player dominated  English elite football? Where are the young Bobby Moores and Charltons? Why isn't the England team more successful when the country is home to one of the  best leagues in the world?

Fulham do have an excellent youth set up, and we  have had young players making their Prem debuts under Jol - more so than under Roy, but it is difficult it seems, to find home grown players of capable the  right standard, when every other club buys in talent from abroad.

[TonyGilroy]

Don,

This season's been disappointing but over the last 5 seasons or so we've consistently finished mid way - between 7th and 12th and that realistically is as good as it can be. We've also had one sensationally good cup run.

The job now is to freshen the squad without taking financial risks. We all know what's gone wrong this season and we differ in our views as to Jol's abilities but splashing the cash is rarely the answer as too often the money is spent badly and the consequences can be catastrophic.

The accounts show that our wage bill is what you would expect - average for the league - so we're not trying to do things on the cheap. Clearly we don't pay big fees and look for Bosmans, loans and good kids we can hope to develop. That seems right to me.

Those that want us to forever be pushing for "the next level" are following the wrong club. Those that would like us to play more exciting football, like me, have been disappointed this season but Jol likes to play that way.

Thing is that unless you're defensively tight you'll suffer and Jol hasn't really had the midfield options to attack from a sound basis. Berbatov is both a blessing and a curse because you have to play with him as the centre of attention yet his skills and abilities are sublime. Better than a club like us can expect but could we be a better team without him? Dunno.

There's a lot of work to do this summer and none of us know the budget but I do know that announcing that we have money to spend would simply put up prices. I hope the club are being shrewd. We'll see.

[domprague]

Everton have a massive debt and Wigan never hang on to their players. Swansea are, however, an excellent example of what we could and should be.

I think people are bored with doing OK in this League but the reality is that we will never be better than that. Spending money we don't have to attempt better isn't a sensible policy and, like it or not, our club is too well run to go down that route. 

We need a cup run next season. That is doable.

pretty much my opinion as well, this place can get very depressing when we go through a bad patch of form.

Yes indeed, MAF+Mac are unwilling to do a QPR or a Portsmouth. That means our club has a chance of continuing its existence for the foreseeable future. Long may it continue. Of course a really good cup run and a visit to the new Wembley would be the icing on the cake!
049:gif

So what you're saying is that we would have to commit economic malfeasance in order to do better? That's the ONLY alternative to playing boring defensive football and throwing away our cup opportunities?

Really? Because it wasn't all that long ago that we had a few top 10 finishes and a good cup run or two. Every time somebody on here says that the board needs to buy a few players, for many of you the only response is QPR or Pompey. There are clubs in this league who manage to buy players in an effort to improve or consolidate their higher-than-17th league position without breaking themselves financially -- Everton and Swansea leap to mind. Even Wigan manages to purchase some pretty good players from time to time instead of loaning in over 30 retreads or signing them to one-year contracts.

[JBH]

I think people are bored with doing OK in this League but the reality is that we will never be better than that. Spending money we don't have to attempt better isn't a sensible policy and, like it or not, our club is too well run to go down that route. 

We need a cup run next season. That is doable.

I agree and if they are bored then they should take a reality check, look at what happened to Charlton Atheletic take a step back and get real  065.gif

And yes we do need another decent cup run because we were lower in the league than we are now during the trip to Hamburg and no one said a word.

COYW

[Burt]

We don't have the infrastructure and resources to be anything more than a mid-table team that occasionally pushes in to the top 10, or has a relegation scrap.

I thank my lucky stars that we are a prudently ran club.

In terms of this season, if we finish 10th or 11th then that is par for the course, a good achievement. The disappointment has been the lack of any decent cup run (again), and the poor run of form we had after losing at QPR which was characterised by some quite appalling football.

[Lighthouse]

My goodness this the most depressing thread I have ever read on here. According to this we are at best average and will never be any better so why complain. I may be a negative sort of chap but even I hope my club can be more than this.

So some us are bored when we have a season where we don't actually show many positive traits and yet we should just accept this and lighten up. We may not have any money to buy players but hey we are a small club and should feel luckey to have enjoyed so much time with clubs better than us with  bigger fan bases.

Well I think I prefer to moan and hold my nose and the stinky bits of our game than wallow in them. We an established Prem club now but there are those who seem to think we are playing above our rightful place. Stay happy and struggle.

[TonyGilroy]

My goodness this the most depressing thread I have ever read on here. According to this we are at best average and will never be any better so why complain.

Average in the top league though.

You do remember where we were for 33 years.

[MJG]

We have had a good run of positions over the last few years, and with the cup final its been an interesting time, and before that almost relegated.

2006-7  Coleman sacked, Sanchez in 16th
2007-8  Great Escape Year 17th
2008-9  7th and qualify for Europe
2009-10 Final and 12th
2010-11 Hughes, flirting with danger and then 8th
2011-12 Jol joins and we finish 9th. A real sense that we could do well with Jol.
2012-13 Not a lot happening.

This is the first season in 6/7 years where basically nothing has happened.
We have never really been in danger or threatened for a top 8 place. The football has been stale and uninspiring and after Jol's promises of bring the team teams age down we have seen it rise at times.

The first boring season in years and I think its frustration that after the final we just seem to have gone backwards a bit. People think we could and should have pushed on. What we would have pushed on to I'm not sure. I do think 7th is the position we can target every season, but I'm still of the mindset that this lge is all about small margins, and getting that 40 pts as early as possible is key.
Even when people bang on about how Hughes got us 8th, it was with the second lowest number of pts a team has ever finished that high with.

[ToodlesMcToot]

We won't know anything about our intentions for next season until the last days of the summer window. No point getting too worked up about it now.

Personally, I'm happy I can continue to watch my team play on television rather than internet streams. I'm sure that I'm in the same boat with everyone that wants to be associated with this club in that I want better performances and better finishes. Sometimes finances, injuries, luck, transfers, etc are difficult hurdles to clear.

IMO, this was an underwhelming season and we still achieved 40 pts with games to spare. We are fine. We'll be better.