Praise for the travelling fans

[NorfolkJim]

Thought our fans did a good job of supporting the team Saturday - good chants on the whole and noise most of the time. Did you notice the players geeing us up to make even more noise?
Surprisingly little reaction on here methinks compared to after a loss but it's coming right little by little. Burns two footed tackle looked like a horror story from our end but ref let it go and no one complained so maybe was not as bad as it looked?
We did well taking a shade under 1000 to St Andrews. Annoyed me on the league show how they dismissed us as a traveling few.
Considering its England's 2nd city there's nothing much good about Brum. I had a very long day using Megabus to get there - 6.30 depart from Norwich and 9.30pm out of Brum getting back at 1am but worth it to see the win and at under £5 return I had to take advantage of it.
Digbeth is such a dump and some of Brums fans have not moved on with the times and remain a throwback to the bad old days. Shame on the thugs who targetted and abused a granddad for being happy at the win. Easy to be a hard man when theres 4-5 of you vs a 70-80 year old. So I just hung out in China Town and showed the "all you can eat buffet" how much nosh a happy Fulham fan can get through in 2 hours.
But this morning I feel utterly wasted and thats on just 1 half pint - they must put something in the rice.
So much better to get a win - I do so love away days however theres nowhere else like Fulham and that's why I enjoy the "you have to live here - we get to go home" chant - so appropriate in that horribly depressing place.

[b+w geezer]

Agree about the atmosphere. Can't disagree either about the environs of St Andrews, but harsh to extend that to the city in general, which contains some good stuff too. (Ever ventured as far as Victoria Square and some of the surrounds? Some nice suburbs too, even if not the one visited yesterday!)

[Supermitch]

Birmingham as a city has improved greatly over the years (ok - from a low benchmark).  There are of course good and not so good areas of every city - that around St Andrews is clearly not on the tourist trail.

[RaySmith]

There seemed a real rapport with the players - they seemed genuinely appreciative -much less distant than Prem 'superstars' can seem.

Hugo especially seems to have a very good relationship with the fans.

I was proud to be a Fulham fan yesterday - we made a great noise, even when we were behind. Hats off to those who follow us away week in and week out.

I also travelled by Megabus - my first time, and I was quite impressed-great service for the price, but that's a long old journey for you Jim, travelling from Norfolk. All respect.

Yes, Brum fans seem a pretty heavy, humourless bunch -you have to be careful, and it takes me back to the past, and Brum's a pretty depressing city.

[terryr]

I have to say I feel real pride when I hear the fans over the stream. I've only been to one away game- Reading this year ( hardly much of a journey nor one that I can swagger about) and that was Depressing, but our lot were in fine voice.
I've always felt the travelling fans are the heart and soul of FFC.
Love you guys.

[Scrumpy]

You beat me to it Jim!

I sat nearer the front in the first half and had a good old whinge with many other fans, beneath the stand at half time. Our group decided to move to the back of the stand for the second half. After the horror show first 45 minutes, the last thing I fancied was a sing-song but those youngsters at the back were so full of optimism and sang so constantly that they had everyone around them bouncing within 5 or 10 minutes. And that was when the score was still 1-0 and we were still looking the more likely to concede.

I like to think that it does help the players, but who knows how much. But to put aside your gripes, grumbles and fears about the team and simply support them unconditionally is what 'support' is all about. So hats off to those young'uns who galvanised the support yesterday.  049:gif.

I'm sorry to hear about the older fella getting grief. But, if anything, I was surprised by how 'mellow' (or just depressed?) the locals were. The Fulham fans sang and chanted all the way back to the station without a peep from any Blues. That would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

[Artful Dodger]

I do so love away days however theres nowhere else like Fulham and that's why I enjoy the "you have to live here - we get to go home" chant - so appropriate in that horribly depressing place.

[/quote]
Took my 12 year old daughter to Derby and she seemed to pick up the gallows humour quite quickly. We were at the back with the 'singers' and thought the 'you have to live here' chant was brilliant!

[Burt]

I'm married to a brummie and most of my inlaws are blues supporters...

Like any major city there are parts that are dumps and perhaps it is fair to say that St Andrews, Villa Park, etc. are not situated in the most scenic of areas...

However the city as a whole has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. I have been there regularly since 1987 and the place is sooo much better now.

[Berserker]

I went to my Auntie's funeral last month and I was surprised how nice her part of Sutton Coldfield was.
Never been there before as she always came down to visit my Dad.
Saying that she was actually born in a back to back house in Birmingham 87 yrs ago. Birmingham's got better and Swindon's got worse

[res]

Thought our fans did a good job of supporting the team Saturday - good chants on the whole and noise most of the time. Did you notice the players geeing us up to make even more noise?
Surprisingly little reaction on here methinks compared to after a loss but it's coming right little by little. Burns two footed tackle looked like a horror story from our end but ref let it go and no one complained so maybe was not as bad as it looked?
We did well taking a shade under 1000 to St Andrews. Annoyed me on the league show how they dismissed us as a traveling few.
Considering its England's 2nd city there's nothing much good about Brum. I had a very long day using Megabus to get there - 6.30 depart from Norwich and 9.30pm out of Brum getting back at 1am but worth it to see the win and at under £5 return I had to take advantage of it.
Digbeth is such a dump and some of Brums fans have not moved on with the times and remain a throwback to the bad old days. Shame on the thugs who targetted and abused a granddad for being happy at the win. Easy to be a hard man when theres 4-5 of you vs a 70-80 year old. So I just hung out in China Town and showed the "all you can eat buffet" how much nosh a happy Fulham fan can get through in 2 hours.
But this morning I feel utterly wasted and thats on just 1 half pint - they must put something in the rice.
So much better to get a win - I do so love away days however theres nowhere else like Fulham and that's why I enjoy the "you have to live here - we get to go home" chant - so appropriate in that horribly depressing place.

Always interested in reading your away traveling experiences, Norfolk Jim. The FFC programme used to include a full page written by the "Fulham Traveller"--you could replicate that.
19 hours of travelling---FFC hero!!

[nose]

i always have maximum admiration for those that go to away games. whether they are occasional travellers or regular travelers... the commitment is unbelievable!

when i was at university in the north i used to go to all the away midweek games near manachester and was amazed to see people that had taken time from work to travel.

100% respect to all of you.

[HatterDon]

What was the story with the pitch invader? Jim was dismayed that he was definitely a Fulham supporter. Is he a FofFer?

[NorfolkJim]

What was the story with the pitch invader? Jim was dismayed that he was definitely a Fulham supporter. Is he a FofFer?

Are we sure he was anything to do with us? I didn't see him come onto the pitch but it seemed to be from the old stand or the home end away to our left. Maybe he had been on the beer or perhaps he had just had enough of being a Blues fan and fancied a life ban.
I had a chat with the stewards after the match and they said quite a lot of troublemakers had been banned from the ground but were still turning up so maybe he was one of those

Like a patch of land polluted with asbestos - no one wants to take ownership of him.

[NorfolkJim]

Always interested in reading your away traveling experiences, Norfolk Jim. The FFC programme used to include a full page written by the "Fulham Traveller"--you could replicate that.
19 hours of travelling---FFC hero!!

Alex the traveler was/is a Fulham icon that I doubt anyone will compare to. I can't get to all the away games because of work and finance (I'm still paying back from 2010's travels) but if I can get there I do. Often wishing I had enough funds to take the sensible travel choices but its a case of taking the cheapest possible route. If Megabus or some railway company are offering a silly price just so long as you use the first and last services of the day then so be it. I once went from Harrogate to Chester for a game using my 50cc Honda Express moped and as you cant go down the motorway on one of those it took something like 7 hours each way. I  don't dare drive to these games any more because my medication makes me drousey and I came off the road a couple of time and also make ill considered choices -
Fulham have a lot of dedicated fans who do travel from their exiles and have to put in more than me. Even so I always walk with envy up the riverside path to Hammersmith after home games - I wish I could live in one of those flats. Not even winning the lottery would bring that about - so Norwich it is. Norwich is a pretty nice city overall and well worth a day on the away calendars

[mullers]

I love Norwich as a city, I always feel it's size makes it walkable. As well as being a brilliant away trip we go there for gigs as well.

As for the supporters, there's something about this season that reminds me of the 'great escape' year. Perhaps adversity brings out the best in Whites fans. I always saw Hamburg as a reward for that support, perhaps we'll get a trip to Wembley out of this at some point.

[Julius Geezer]

The constant singing of "Kit Symons black white army" in the second half was a factor in the turn around I'm sure!

About ten minutes it went on for and it was great - kind of like how the Palace fans do and just chant over and over again regardless of what opposition fans are singing!