Monday Fulham Stuff (12/01/15)...

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham Hoping To Sign Palace Defender
   
Kit Symons has already intimated that he is looking to bring in some players in the January transfer window and this morning the Sunday tabloids are championing the idea that Fulham are after a defender.

Seemingly, Fulham are in the race, along with Wolverhampton Wanderers to bring the Crystal Palace defender Zeki Fryers to Craven Cottage.

Fryers was signed by Palace from Tottenham Hotspur but has made just one Premier League start since joining last summer.

By letting Fryers go out on loan, the new Crystal Palace boss, Alan Pardew, is hoping that it will kick-start his career.

Hopefully Kit can persuade Zeki that Fulham is the better option, for a start there`d be less travelling!


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=383933#ixzz3OXUy0rvZ

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham Feeling Blue!
   
A defeat at the Cardiff City Stadium has left Fulham Football Club fearing being sucked back into the relegation dog-fight.

After a brief revival when Kit Symons took over, Fulham are now a mere five points above the relegation zone and any thoughts of a push for a play-off place look to be wishful thinking.

Yesterday, due to the high winds battering the stadium and causing damage, there was the suspicion that the game might be postponed.

After seeing Sean Morrison grab the winner for a Cardiff City side who had been struggling recently, Kit might have just wished the game was postponed.

On the eve of the fixture Cardiff had announced that they would be reverting back to their traditional blue shirts, discarding the red shirts their support never really accepted and that change created an atmosphere that was always going to work against Fulham.

After the game and mulling over the defeat, Kit had this to say,

"It was always going to be difficult coming here because the decision over the shirt colours gave everyone at the club a lift.

"I came here two weeks ago and it was a very different atmosphere."

The points are gone and I guess it`s now time to look ahead to the important FA Cup 3rd round replay against Wolves, on Tuesday night, where a win will give the club an enormous lift.


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=383939#ixzz3OXVACUyn

[WhiteJC]

 
Fulham Move for Ritchie Ends
   
Any dreams Fulham may have had about signing the AFC Bournemouth player, Matt Smith, appear to be well and truly over.

It has come to light that 25 year-old, who Fulham had hoped to sign for a fee said to be in the region of £3 million, has signed a new deal with the high-flying Championship side.

Ahead of the Championship leaders home match with Norwich yesterday, Smith signed a new three-and-a-half year deal with the south coast side tying him to the club until, at least, 2018.

It now looks as if it Symons will have to look elsewhere to bolster his squad, although the inference was always there that any kind of deal would be hard to secure with Bournemouth possibly heading for promotion and Fulham languishing nearer the relegation zone than the promotion places.

Best laid plans and all of that................


Read more: http://www.fulham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=383941#ixzz3OXVLr5nQ

[WhiteJC]

 
WILL THE COTTAGERS EVER RESURRECT THEIR PREMIER LEAGUE GLORY DAYS?
IS A TOP-FLIGHT RETURN TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR LUCKLESS FULHAM?

Despite enjoying an impressive 14 consecutive years in the Premier League, as well as an against-all-odds Europa League runners-up place in 2010, Fulham have always been considered a relatively small club that were batting way above their average.

With no widespread fan-base and a historic old stadium that wouldn't look out of place in League 1 football, it comes as no real surprise that the Southwest Londoners find themselves in the Championship after a disastrous relegation campaign in 2013/14.

As several sides have been banished to the second tier on English football with no real prospects of ever returning to the Premier League, can Fulham resurrect their fortunes, or is this the last we've seen of the plucky Cottagers in the top-flight game?

Fulham currently sit a disappointing 17th in the Championship, with 24 games gone and only 8 games won. Kit Symons' side are closer to being relegated to League 1 than they are to returning to the big-time, but as they opened the 2014/15 campaign with five straight losses, it seems the proverbial bounce back to Premier League is a task much easier said than done.

A major issue surrounding Craven Cottage in recent years has been the club's transfer policy and mindless spending, with the ill-fated signing of Kostas Mitroglou proving to be the most relevant case study.

The Greek striker signed for Fulham this time last year for a club record fee of £12million. Mitroglou, who gained fame for his one good performance against Manchester United in the Champions League last season, arrived at Craven Cottage injured, subsequently only made a handful of appearances for his new club, and ended up being loaned back to Olympiakos in the midst of Fulham's relegation.

Such clueless transfer activity is also mirrored in the situation with Bryan Ruiz, who is currently on loan to PSV after costing the Cottagers £10million back in 2011. With Ross McCormack also proving a steep purchase, Fulham's strike-force is worth nearly£30 million, yet Symons' side still sit twiddling their thumbs in the bottom half of the Championship.

The current owner of the struggling London club, Pakistani-American billionaire Shahid Khan, must therefore take a great deal of the blame for his side's woes. He is responsible for the ridiculous spending Fulham have taken on in recent years, and as his mismanagement of the coaching side of football ownership was clearly displayed last season, Mr. Khan really has a lot to answer for.

Martin Jol's frankly awful start to the 2013/14 campaign perhaps justly warranted his early sacking, but the subsequent hiring of Rene Meulensteen and Felix Magath showed that all was not well behind the scenes at Fulham. Both men had little to no experience of managing in the Premier League, so to throw such poorly sourced candidates into a straight-up relegation dog-fight was nothing short of silly.

There are some signs that the glory days aren't completely over for Fulham, though. Danish youngster, Lasse Vigen Christensen, has proved that he can be a threat in front of goal, whilst defender Dan Brown has also been making steady progress in the absence of Brede Hangeland at Craven Cottage.

Whilst some of Fulham's players therefore offer a brighter looking future than their current situation implies, the problems surrounding the club's questionable ownership and distinct lack of league form are simply too big to ignore at the moment. Only a clear change in direction, with a direct emphasis on signing more suitable players, can change their fortunes now, and as such a task just can't happen overnight, perhaps promotion to the Premier League is more of a dream than a reality for Fulham at this stage in the season.


http://www.footballfancast.com/championship/fulham/is-a-top-flight-return-too-much-to-ask-for-luckless-fulham?

[snarks]

Who the Fudge is Dan Brown, have Fulham re written a player profile!

[grandad]

Who the Fudge is Dan Brown, have Fulham re written a player profile!

What sort of moron wrote this piece of c**p. "An old stadium that would not look out of place in League 1". It is Premiership standard & is a proper Ground, not a concrete Stadium.

What does he mean by "Questionable ownership"? The paragraph putting the blame on Khan is an insult.
Ruiz is not on loan to PSV.
Not worth going on any more about this load of garbage.

[colinwhite]

Im with you grandad . Total drivel most os this . Cant even get simple facts correct .

[Andy S]

I Quite agree. If a jouno cant get his facts right there is no point in reading the article. Now Loftus Road or even Bournemouth's ground and that might have something!