turn back the clock

[cmg]

I've flown this kite before and didn't get struck down by a thunderbolt for heresy (or perhaps people just thought I was mad(der than usual).

Turn back the clock to the end of the 1961 season. Then (whisper this bit) sell Johnny Haynes for a record fee to Milan. He joins Jimmy Greaves there and they break records. Johnny is nowhere near Blackpool in the immediate future and thus retains his pre-injury form long enough to captain England to WC triumph.

The record fee paid by Milan is sufficient to finance the cover over the Hammersmith End and a set of floodlights with enough left to buy some decent young talent. Alan Mullery remains and, therefore, so does Bedford Jezzard who agrees to stay on and oversee the development of Bobby Robson as player-coach.
With no Buckingham and no Haynes we keep hold of Marsh and Macdonald. With Clarke they make the most potent attacking force in English football and triumphs in Europe make sure that nobody has ever heard of manchester United and Liverpool.
Haynes returns to his spiritual home after the 66 World Cup and Robson eventually takes over as manager to continue the progression of success which lasts to the present day.

[TonyGilroy]

Or we get relegated in 1962.

Even if not I wouldn't expect Trinder to have used the windfall wisely. Trinder we know sold to crooks but the root of our downfall was the well meaning Trinder's complete inability to run the club competently.

[valdeingruo]

In recent years, loosing Dembele and I would have stopped Mitroglu, for the money to be spent elsewhere.

[filham]

I've flown this kite before and didn't get struck down by a thunderbolt for heresy (or perhaps people just thought I was mad(der than usual).

Turn back the clock to the end of the 1961 season. Then (whisper this bit) sell Johnny Haynes for a record fee to Milan. He joins Jimmy Greaves there and they break records. Johnny is nowhere near Blackpool in the immediate future and thus retains his pre-injury form long enough to captain England to WC triumph.

The record fee paid by Milan is sufficient to finance the cover over the Hammersmith End and a set of floodlights with enough left to buy some decent young talent. Alan Mullery remains and, therefore, so does Bedford Jezzard who agrees to stay on and oversee the development of Bobby Robson as player-coach.
With no Buckingham and no Haynes we keep hold of Marsh and Macdonald. With Clarke they make the most potent attacking force in English football and triumphs in Europe make sure that nobody has ever heard of manchester United and Liverpool.
Haynes returns to his spiritual home after the 66 World Cup and Robson eventually takes over as manager to continue the progression of success which lasts to the present day.

Just a pipe dream and it falls apart because we never seem to use wisely the money we obtain for our really good players and they  leave a void in the team that takes years and years to fill.

Fulham rarely buy good( Just think of Marlet, AJ and Mitroglou),  for us the best method has to be to hold on to what we have. Losing Haynes would have been an absolute calamity.

[One Martin Thomas]

I was gutted when Julian Hails left for Southend.  He was my favourite Fulham player as a lad.  The others as above: Saha and Dembele were different class.  I always thought too that we did not get best out of Fabrice Fernandes before he left.  Gutted to lose him.

I hated Terry Hurlock at Fulham.

[One Martin Thomas]

I've flown this kite before and didn't get struck down by a thunderbolt for heresy (or perhaps people just thought I was mad(der than usual).

Turn back the clock to the end of the 1961 season. Then (whisper this bit) sell Johnny Haynes for a record fee to Milan. He joins Jimmy Greaves there and they break records. Johnny is nowhere near Blackpool in the immediate future and thus retains his pre-injury form long enough to captain England to WC triumph.

The record fee paid by Milan is sufficient to finance the cover over the Hammersmith End and a set of floodlights with enough left to buy some decent young talent. Alan Mullery remains and, therefore, so does Bedford Jezzard who agrees to stay on and oversee the development of Bobby Robson as player-coach.
With no Buckingham and no Haynes we keep hold of Marsh and Macdonald. With Clarke they make the most potent attacking force in English football and triumphs in Europe make sure that nobody has ever heard of manchester United and Liverpool.
Haynes returns to his spiritual home after the 66 World Cup and Robson eventually takes over as manager to continue the progression of success which lasts to the present day.

Just a pipe dream and it falls apart because we never seem to use wisely the money we obtain for our really good players and they  leave a void in the team that takes years and years to fill.

Fulham rarely buy good( Just think of Marlet, AJ and Mitroglou),  for us the best method has to be to hold on to what we have. Losing Haynes would have been an absolute calamity.

Marlet had pedigree you know.  Love or hate him, he was in the French national squad around the time they were all conquering.  Given time, more could have come from him !!!!!!!

[bobbo]

Nobody has mentioned paul Parker he and of course george cohen the two that stood out from all the others at that position. But at least we never sold .
PP was at his best when he went to MU

[bobbo]

Should read at least we never sold george

[Jims Dentist]

For me Malcolm McDonald.
Most of the others mentioned more or less went due to relegation or an offer from a big club that the player fancied, or was too good  for the club to refuse.
Supermack was a local lad, born Finley Street, who had showed fantastic potential in his debut season, and we let him go to Luton, who I believe were not much better off than us at the time.

[Twig]

I was gutted to lose Steve Finnan. Have we had as good a fullback since?

Good call but for me it would be another Fulham defender; Paul Parker. 

[colinwhite]

Supermac was like a rocket with a really good left foot and big muscles .Anyone could see he was going to be great player .Im still gutted over that and it was nearly 50 years ago !
It has to be said that we have made some appalling purchases in our day ,but frank large has to be the worst , he really did have two left feet !
Im sure we made a double signing of wilf tranter and Stan Horne ,to try to stave off relegation in 1967/8 and  what a double whammy  catastrophe that was !
Simon davis also proved to be a good signing as did , Dempsey , Macbride and boba diop , all down to Cookie .
Perhaps our best signing ever though would have to Schwarzer , who  was fantastic in the air and dominated his box like no other keeper before him .

[Scrumpy]

So many good players were lost in the mid 80s (thanks to a crook of a chairman), but losing Ray Houghton to the mighty Oxford United really hurt. Of course, he went on to play for Liverpool at the very highest level.

That was some team that we had then. Paul Parker and Dean Coney buggered off to QPR, Tony Gale and Leroy (later) to West Ham. There was only one way we were heading after that  fp.gif.

[Travers Barney]

Supermac was like a rocket with a really good left foot and big muscles .Anyone could see he was going to be great player .Im still gutted over that and it was nearly 50 years ago !
It has to be said that we have made some appalling purchases in our day ,but frank large has to be the worst , he really did have two left feet !
Im sure we made a double signing of wilf tranter and Stan Horne ,to try to stave off relegation in 1967/8 and  what a double whammy  catastrophe that was !
Simon davis also proved to be a good signing as did , Dempsey , Macbride and boba diop , all down to Cookie .
Perhaps our best signing ever though would have to Schwarzer , who  wa
s fantastic in the air and dominated his box like no other keeper before him .

Our Australian custodian was a wonderful signing...that ability to dominate the box was ever so reassuring particularly when defending set pieces whilst clinging on to hard earned points in the closing minutes of games...fantastic pro....irritated when Money was flogged for a load of 3's....Saha spelt the end of a dream...Mullery for my elders.

coyw

[Burt]

You could argue that a lot of the names mentioned were at their prime here and never quite reached the same heights when they left, which is why I would hesitate to have the likes of Boa, Murphy, etc. there.

Finan would be top of the list for me.