Reasons to be cheerful

[Jimpav]

I'm not going to try and polish the proverbial turd- this seasons been bitterly disappointing at worst and at best forgettable.

Is been sulking since Saturday but its dawned on me tonight how lucky we are.

Since Sanchez departed we have reached a European final, have had three big name managers, had a 7th/8th/9th place finish and are about to start work on a brand new stand. Not only this but we have some world class players (Berbatov, Riether, Ruiz, Hangeland, Schwarzer), an excellent youth academy and no debt to show for this (thanks MAF).

I know this doesn't taken away the loss against QPR, getting whipped by Reading and turned over by Chelski/Liverpool/Spurs etc but things could always be worse in the grand scheme.

Two more games to go and then we can put this season to bed, enjoy the summer and then come back with a restored sense of optimism and blind faith.

COYW

[Lighthouse]

Well my Mum always used to say 'Things could be worse'. But then things could always be better.

We had a very good team. We seemed to have lost that and now have a team that is very dull and boring to watch most of the time. I would love to see some attacking, exciting football from Fulham. Roy was really our best manager but was sometimes very defensive. But had results.

I hope we find a spine for the team - from keeper to forward and a back bone for the rest. Whoever is manager I hope they get better backing than they have had this last season.

We are an experienced Prem side now. Let's look up and not down. Lets find the trust in the team we once had.

[Max Headroom]

Next season we will have some new good players to go with some good players we have. I hope one of berba and Ruiz goes..... Personally I think Ruiz is the more creative of th two.....

[Burt]

I always think that a season survived in the premier league is mission accomplished, and a good achievement.

The memories of where we used to be not that long ago are still all too fresh in my mind.

[epsomraver]

Well my Mum always used to say 'Things could be worse'. But then things could always be better.

We had a very good team. We seemed to have lost that and now have a team that is very dull and boring to watch most of the time. I would love to see some attacking, exciting football from Fulham. Roy was really our best manager but was sometimes very defensive. But had results.

I hope we find a spine for the team - from keeper to forward and a back bone for the rest. Whoever is manager I hope they get better backing than they have had this last season.

We are an experienced Prem side now. Let's look up and not down. Lets find the trust in the team we once had.

:plus one: :plus one:

[epsomraver]

I always think that a season survived in the premier league is mission accomplished, and a good achievement.

The memories of where we used to be not that long ago are still all too fresh in my mind.

Yes but we have been now 12 seasons in the top flight and it is time we stopped being " Little old Fulham" grateful to be in the top flight, every season one of the teams the pundits predict to go down, we need to move forward and with Jol at the helm we are in the doldrums

[Burt]

I always think that a season survived in the premier league is mission accomplished, and a good achievement.

The memories of where we used to be not that long ago are still all too fresh in my mind.

Yes but we have been now 12 seasons in the top flight and it is time we stopped being " Little old Fulham" grateful to be in the top flight, every season one of the teams the pundits predict to go down, we need to move forward and with Jol at the helm we are in the doldrums

Well I for one will never stop being grateful...

Regardless of the fact that we have been in the top flight for 12 seasons now we are not the size or have the resources of most of the other clubs in the prem.

Don't get me wrong... I want success as much as the next supporter, and have also been disappointed with how this season has panned out. But I have no expectations for example of being able to churn out top 10 finishes season after season.

Just my opinion. So I may be wrong.

[epsomraver]

Why are Fulham fans so pessimistic all the time?

[filham]

I am grateful for every season in the premiership as anyone who supported Fulham through those awful times in the lower divisions and the Fulham Park Rangers threat surely is. No doubt we have a lot to be thankful for but remember we jealously treasure our premiership status and fear relegation and a return to the bad old days.

Forgetting the Great Escape year (silly, who could possibly forget that) this season must be our worst ever in the premiership. We will all be delighted if we avoid relegation but what can we see ahead other than more of the same for next season.

Based on recent performances a sound starting eleven for next season would be:-

                                         Schwarzer
           
                Reither        ?          Hangeland               ?

                Dejegah      Enoh          ?                       ?

                                        ?              ?      

At this moment we are not sure that Reither and Enoh will be with us. It seems almost as if we have to build a new team from scratch.

[Burt]

I'm not pessimistic at all! Because I have relatively modest expectations, I am more easily pleased than most!

I do however think this season has been a disappointment, and would like to see the following happen so that we can kick on:

Remove the "golden oldies" who have been fantastic servants, but who are no longer on an upward career curve (e.g. Schwarzer) or indeed are showing signs of decline (e.g. Riise).

Linked to the above, show more faith in the "golden generation" coming up through our ranks. Kaca, Briggs, Frei, etc. can only get better with game time.

Sign up the loanees... They look like they could all do a job for us.

Take a long hard look at those who have promised much but have yet to deliver consistently. Step forward Ruiz, Rodders, Petric, etc. How can we maximize their contributions? Or do they really have a future here?

We need a new club captain. Hangeland is a great player, but not a natural leader. There have been plenty of times when the team have switched off during matches, and Hangeland has not got the on-pitch presence to impose himself quickly and aggressively to sort things out.

Sharpen up the tactics. We are predictable, slow and ponderous. We need more energy, have to push up more, close down quicker, and be more prepared to run at defences Dejagah-style in addition to using the possession game we tend to favour.


That will do for now...

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

I always think that a season survived in the premier league is mission accomplished, and a good achievement.

The memories of where we used to be not that long ago are still all too fresh in my mind.

Yes but we have been now 12 seasons in the top flight and it is time we stopped being " Little old Fulham" grateful to be in the top flight, every season one of the teams the pundits predict to go down, we need to move forward and with Jol at the helm we are in the doldrums

Well I for one will never stop being grateful...

Regardless of the fact that we have been in the top flight for 12 seasons now we are not the size or have the resources of most of the other clubs in the prem.

Don't get me wrong... I want success as much as the next supporter, and have also been disappointed with how this season has panned out. But I have no expectations for example of being able to churn out top 10 finishes season after season.

Just my opinion. So I may be wrong.

You are not wrong.

Everyone is disappointed with the season but currently we are just 3 points of a top half finish.

We are where we ought to be given our financial resources. The league positions typically are strongly based on spending power, both fees and wages, with each year a few exceptions such as us when we made 7th and Swansea and QPR this year.

If it wasn't for some indiscipline (Sidwell 2 red cards and Hangeland), some below par performances from individuals and some key injuries (Diarra and Kacaniklic) we would probably have the 6-10 extra points that would have made this season look like progress.

It is such a fine line between `success' and `failure' in the PL, particularly this year. That's what makes it interesting.

[nose]

I absolutely agree with Burt that a season survived is definitely something to be grateful for. That is 100% without question. When I think of what happened last time I went to swansea and we were relegated (I've never been back but do have tickets for next week) when I think back to those years with all ofl the difficulties fulham faced, the threat of closure, the slide into lower leagues, bulstrode, our unique difficulties in being a central london team but with a provincial income. It was really a bad situation when I feaed for the clubbs very survival and I am grateful for the relative luxury of the last few years, since the arrival of Mr Fayed.

However what I don't like is when we underachieve or rather when we do not fulfil our potential. The last two seasons have been backwards, that is obvious not transitional, not re-building, just backwards. We should have and could have been doing so much better, that is my particular problem at the moment. If Mr Jol would have inherited a poor team with no work ethic, like lawrie sanchez did, then I would probably be less uneasy.  Sanchez literally had to rebuild the team and we could argue the toss about some of his signings that mr hodgson subsequently, with a few tweaks, turned into a very fine team. But Jol inherited a very stable team, well disciplined, committed, good work ethic and with a really great team spirit. That's now all evaporated and if this continues into next season we will be worse off than this season. I love fulham being in the premiership, I want that to remain the case.

[alfie]

I think it's great we have so many top class managers, coaches, motivators on this site and yet strangely none of them are in football.

[FOOlhamfighters]

I always think that a season survived in the premier league is mission accomplished, and a good achievement.

The memories of where we used to be not that long ago are still all too fresh in my mind.

Yes but we have been now 12 seasons in the top flight and it is time we stopped being " Little old Fulham" grateful to be in the top flight, every season one of the teams the pundits predict to go down, we need to move forward and with Jol at the helm we are in the doldrums

Well I for one will never stop being grateful...

Regardless of the fact that we have been in the top flight for 12 seasons now we are not the size or have the resources of most of the other clubs in the prem.

Don't get me wrong... I want success as much as the next supporter, and have also been disappointed with how this season has panned out. But I have no expectations for example of being able to churn out top 10 finishes season after season.

Just my opinion. So I may be wrong.

You are not wrong.

Everyone is disappointed with the season but currently we are just 3 points of a top half finish.

We are where we ought to be given our financial resources. The league positions typically are strongly based on spending power, both fees and wages, with each year a few exceptions such as us when we made 7th and Swansea and QPR this year.

If it wasn't for some indiscipline (Sidwell 2 red cards and Hangeland), some below par performances from individuals and some key injuries (Diarra and Kacaniklic) we would probably have the 6-10 extra points that would have made this season look like progress.

It is such a fine line between `success' and `failure' in the PL, particularly this year. That's what makes it interesting.

I agree, we have had a below par run in, but if we had picked up a couple more points here and there, we would have been mid table looking up, rather than 12 and fearing relegation (which seems very unlikely now, fingers crossed, as Wigan and villa would have to beat arsenal and Chelsea respectively this weekend which I can't see happening when they are both pushing for Europe).
What I'm trying to say is that we should be so defeatist, we can draw a line under this season in a few days, and with a few younger, more exiting signings in the summer, we could once again be lookin up :)

[jarv]

reasons to be cheerful....wasn't that an Ian Drury song?  Only lines I can remember...slap and tickle, cheddar cheese and pickle, reasons to be cheerful are three.

His life story film, sex and drugs and rock and roll is well worth a watch. 092.gif