Monday Fulham Stuff (17/06/13)...

[WhiteJC]

 
The British Problem
by LRCN on JUNE 16, 2013

The papers have today linked Fulham with an £8m bid for Wigan's James McCarthy – a bid considered little more than half his value, according to his current owners, and as such the offer was turned down. And this, right here, is at the root of the problems with British football right now.

There's been quite a bit of comment recently about how Fulham barely played any English players, and in fact three teams last season didn't feature a player eligible for the England U21s in the league at all (see if you can name ours). With regards to bringing through the youth players, we still have a couple of seasons until our recent progress finally bares fruit, but still our first team numbers were shocking, as only Sidwell can lay claim to being a first team regular and English, a position he found himself in only because the first choices (Diarra and Dembele) were absent for one reason or another. To his credit, he did well when he played, but with only Stockdale and Richardson otherwise intermittently threatening a first team place, it was a bad year for home grown talent in SW6.

So why is this, and why does it matter? Well, the why is clear. As I said before, Wigan are asking for £15m for McCarthy (Irish I know, but still British and belonging to a British club). This may be paper talk though, so let's have a look at some other English or British players prices from confirmed transfers and compare them to the continent. Jordan Henderson cost Liverpool ~£20m, Steven Fletcher cost Sunderland £12m (from a relegated Wolves side), Jordan Rhodes cost Blackburn £8m, Andy Johnson cost us £10m, Downing, Young and Milner left Aston Villa for £75m all together, and who can forget the astronomical Torres & Carroll deals where English clubs were dealing with each other. When you consider that Ozil, Sahin and Khedira left Germany for Real for a combined £32m, or that Jesus Navas just cost City £17m, or that we brought in Stekelenberg for less than £5m, you can see the value for money is abroad, not in England. This doesn't mean to say that foreign clubs have never overpaid, of course they have, and similarly you can find bargains closer to home, but there is without a doubt a general trend. And, since English players will be found in England, they are being priced out of the market. It is simple as that. The finance aspect goes to demonstrate the abstract nature of money; it is not a case of English clubs being able to afford to hold off until someone concedes to the Premier League premium, because in general our clubs are not that healthy, but because they are aware that other English clubs have such a huge turnover from TV they can demand it.

Whether it matters depends on where you are supporting Fulham from, I suppose. I'd assume that if you are  US fan, you are not particularly concerned about seeing English players and more concerned with seeing US players, and players brought through the Academy, and it's a simple case of identifying with a subset of the population and from that sympathising and having an affinity with that group of people. Because I am English, and also British, I have a natural affinity with fellow countrymen, and it is not something that makes me xenophobic, just human. So, from that point of view, I do like seeing English or British players play for my club, as I feel I can more strongly relate to them, in a sense. There is also a more specific observation that this is choking the English national team. The fact that we have such a low number of English players in their own league means that there is nowhere for them to go, and although it is an easy criticism (a fair one too) that they don't go abroad enough, foreign teams won't buy players if they don't ever get the chance to demonstrate their skills. The pool of talent is receding, and receding quickly, and if people don't recognise this then the national team will be crippled in the long term.

I am not saying I want a team full of Brits just because they are Brits. They have to be good enough, of course. But the fact remains that for a single McCarthy you can get a Dembele and a Fellaini, or seven Michus, or a Kompany and a Stekelenberg with £4m left over, and Fulham just can't afford to buy a Brit just because they are British. It is a shame, but I can't see that changing soon.

LRCN



http://hammyend.com/index.php/2013/06/the-british-problem/?

[WhiteJC]

 
Fry Jolted Back to Life!
   
Looking to bolster the squad, it appears that our reputed interest in a player has awoken the vociferous Barry Fry from his slumber.

The colourful Fry, talking about his cherished striker Dwight Gayle, has spouted off about our apparent interest in his player that it will take a ridiculous amount of money to sign the 22 year-old!

It remains to be what ridiculous is!


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=321938#ixzz2WRO11koM

[WhiteJC]

 
Enoh In Action

Whites loanee Eyong Enoh was in action as Cameroon held Democratic Republic of Congo to a goalless draw to keep their FIFA World Cup 2014 dreams alive.

Enoh, who Martin Jol brought to Craven Cottage on a temporary spell in January from Ajax Amsterdam, played 90 minutes in a familiar central midfield for the Indomitable Lions at the Stade de Martyrs.

Cameroon's World Cup hopes suffered a blow following a 2-0 defeat in Togo last Sunday so securing a result in Kinshasa was crucial to keep them in touching distance of Group I leaders Libya.

With only one team advancing from Group I, the stalemate means Enoh's team go into their last group match two points behind Libya, with a victory against the leaders in Yaounde in September guaranteeing they top the table.

Finishing first ensures a play-off with one of nine other African group winners, with a win over two-legs clinching a berth in Brazil.



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/june/16/enoh-in-action?

[WhiteJC]

 
End of term report – strikers

25 – Bobby  Zamora D
Bobby Zamora, when fit and interested, makes a big difference to the QPR team – which is why managers flog him to death even when he's neither of those things.
The striker and Martin Jol clearly don't get on, and he's had a difficult relationship with supporters at West Ham, Fulham and now Queens Park Rangers. That, I believe, is because quite often Zamora will play well within himself, and that's frustrating when you've seen him do much better. I've seen Bobby Zamora have some wonderful games and really lead a team from the front, but I've come to the conclusion that he only seems to really put his back into his work when he thinks there's something there for him. It's no surprise, for instance, that he always seems to play well for all his clubs against Arsenal – because since Sol Campbell gave up the ghost Arsene Wenger has stubbornly stuck with slighter, more technical centre backs and Zamora knows he can dominate them. When the going is tougher, Zamora sort of hangs a leg in here and there and not a lot else.

Being left out at the beginning of the season seemed to fire him up and he was very decent in mediocre team performances against Norwich and Man City to begin with. He's got a hold up and lay game that nobody at the club can match since Heidar Helguson left, and given that Zamora subsequently spent the rest of the season either out injured or playing injured that decision to let the Icelandic veteran go to Cardiff on a free was among the worst the club made this term. Had Zamora and Helguson been able to share the workload QPR may have made a better fist of things. Instead, without Zamora, Rangers were at times reduced to picking Jamie Mackie or Adel Taarabt alone up front and the ball just doesn't stick in such situations.

When Zamora did return to action we found that he was unable to play for longer than a half because his hip allegedly seized up at half time. Redknapp sent him out after the break regardless and so we had the utterly farcical situation for several games where Zamora was limping around just trying to get in the way a bit. In the second half at Swansea away you could perhaps see why Redknapp was so keen to get his target man out there, but the headers he won in the second half of the season can be counted on the fingers of one hand. A newspaper article, apparently misquoted, in which he claimed not to really like football did him few favours at a bad time in the season. Considering he managed to get his leg up high enough to boot Jordi Gomez in the face and get sent off in a crucial home match with Wigan I wonder just how injured his bloody hip really was – but I've been told off for a lack of tolerance with injury prone players before so I'll hold my tongue.

I'm worried about Zamora. I take what Harry Redknapp says with lorry loads of salt and I suspect – hope – that his constant reference to not being able to get Zamora into the team often enough as a prime reason for relegation is just another attempt to shift attention away from other decisions he's made. If fully fit and motivated Zamora would have made a big difference to QPR, but he wouldn't have kept them up. If you take Redknapp at his word he seems to be pinning his hopes next season on Zamora leading the front line for a season in which QPR will play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday most weeks and have at least 48 games. There was even a story that said as Zamora's hip surgery would keep him out for a year and he only has 12 months left on his contract they're going to delay it and go through next season as they finished the last, nursing him through to about the hour mark in games and then substituting him.

I'll be watching through my fingers if that's the case. The whole thing looks like a potential disaster or, if you want to be cynical, a ready-made Redknapp excuse if things don't go well.

Stats:

17 starts and seven sub appearances. W2 D7 L15

Out of Ten: 6,7,6,7,8,6,6,5,5,5,-,5,6,-,7,7,6,7,7,6,3,5,5,5=5.90

Interactive Match Rating - 5.31

Four goals (Walsall H, Spurs A, Swansea A, Norwich A), four assists (Fulham A, Villa A, MK Dons H, Walsall H)

Man of the Match Awards – Three (Swansea A, Norwich A, Walsall H)

Cards – One red (Wigan H, serious foul play), one yellow (foul)


Others >>> Andy Johnson was the best Fulham player on the pitch at Loftus Road last season and I wasn't as dead set against his signing as many others back in the summer. Sadly, his recent fitness record is a mile long and after an encouraging performance against Man City his knee fell apart against Chelsea and he hasn't played again since. Potentially superb in the Championship, but relying on him again would be a risky business.




http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/fb_news.php?storyid=32156

[WhiteJC]

 
Sidwell Seeks Settled Squad

Steve Sidwell is hoping that having a settled squad will help Fulham improve upon their consistency ahead of the new season.

The Club have made three new signings already this summer, with Derek Boateng and Fernando Amorebieta arriving before goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg put pen to paper earlier this month – in addition to Sascha Riether's permanent switch.

And Sidwell believes that the 2013/14 Barclays Premier League season will be a lot easier to negotiate with the majority of the squad playing together for a whole pre-season.

"It was a bit of a transitional year for us, one where there were a few new faces," he told the official website. "Obviously there will be more players arriving over the summer, but the main body of the squad will have had that experience of playing together.

"It's important to get those new players in early and get the squad nice and settled ahead of the new campaign. I'm looking forward to seeing who else comes in, as last summer we saw the arrival of some very good players."

Fulham finished in 12th position after a disappointing end to the campaign which saw the tough tackling midfielder miss seven of our last eight matches through suspension. But if we can maintain consistency, Sidwell believes the Whites can aim high.

"The season started well, but then we went through a bit of a sticky patch," he said. "We picked things back up at the start of the year, but then, as we know, we didn't finish the season too well.

"People would probably describe our season as a rollercoaster. We had some ups and downs, and okay, we didn't finish as high as we would have liked but there were still positives to be taken.

"On our day we are a very good side, perhaps we just struggled for a bit of consistency at times. We played well in patches and, at the same time, know that we could have played better in other parts of the season."

Some of the best moments for Sid in 2012/13 were when the side won games they were under pressure to perform in, and that is something he is very proud of.

"There were a few games that we entered where we really needed to win," he added. "Newcastle United at home was one of those. West Ham United and Stoke City were other important games for us at Craven Cottage.

"Those were games that we were put under pressure to win – and we did. The boys really delivered, and those were the games that stood out for me. Of course, you'd also throw the win at White Hart Lane in there too, with Dimitar [Berbatov] on target in a 1-0 win."



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/june/17/sidwell-seeks-settled-squad?

[WhiteJC]

 
Premier League: Steve Sidwell confident Fulham squad can maintain consistency


Steve Sidwell: Confident Fulham's settled squad can be successful next season

Steve Sidwell is confident that Fulham can enjoy a successful 2013/14 campaign with most of the squad having had the experience of playing together in pre-season.

Fulham finished in 12th in the Premier League after a disappointing end to last season, with Sidwell missing eight games through suspension.

But the 30-year-old believes if Martin Jol's men can maintain their consistency, they will see an improvement next term.

"The season started well, but then we went through a bit of a sticky patch," Sidwell told the club's official website.

"We picked things back up at the start of the year, but then, as we know, we didn't finish the season too well.

"People would probably describe our season as a rollercoaster. We had some ups and downs and we didn't finish as high as we would have liked but there were still positives to be taken.

"On our day we are a very good side, perhaps we just struggled for a bit of consistency at times. We played well in patches and, at the same time, know that we could have played better in other parts of the season."

Fulham have made three new summer signings with Derek Boateng, Fernando Amorebieta and Maarten Stekelenburg agreeing deals.

"It's important to get those new players in early and get the squad nice and settled ahead of the new campaign," added Sidwell.

"I'm looking forward to seeing who else comes in, as last summer we saw the arrival of some very good players."



http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11681/8780370?

[WhiteJC]

 
A Stepping Stone?
   
Glimpsing through the majority of the guff that falls our way, relating to transfer speculation, it appears that we`ve missed out on one possible acquisition.

Son Heung-Min has recently completed an £8.5 million move from Hamburg to Bayer Leverkusen, a move that has prompted his agent to remark in the German newspaper Bild,

"Liverpool, Tottenham, Fulham, Southampton and Cardiff were all interested in concrete terms. At the beginning and Manchester City. Chelsea and Manchester United have observed Son."

"I think, at clubs like Liverpool and Tottenham he would also be able to play. But I think Leverkusen for the next two or three years is the right step to develop."

Damn cheek, using clubs a stepping stones. I`m kind of glad we, supposedly, missed out on him!


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=322011#ixzz2WTz2KKBw