Reasons to be cheerful part 1…..

[colinwhite]

1.Kit has done well since taking over as manager (surely noone can question this ).
2. Our  league position   is good given our horrific start ,and we probably won't get relegated.
3. Our squad isn't great ,but we have lots of promise and talent .
4.If we can continue to progress and achieve a respectable league position (top 10 ) then the future will surely look rosy .
5. Amorbietta and Hoogland will soon be in contention for places ,which will strengthen the side .
6, Tunnicliffe and Kaca (to my surprise ,I was wrong) have slotted straight back into the squad and are effectively 2 new signings .
7. Ruiz has gone (although I would have him in my side ) and he was causing division in the club and it was time he moved on .
8, We have longer contracts on all of our better players .
9. Whatever else has happened the signing of Macormack was  a huge success . Give Felix credit as Bodurov ,Stafalydis .Hoogland  and Hutchinson were all decent too at little cost .
10 . Lvc ,Woodrow  and Bettinelli  will make the grade with great hope for Williams ,Hyndman, Grimmer ,Dembele ,Kavanagh and Roberts . And there are others not too far away behind them as well.
11. Our new director of football starts soon and his job will surely be to bring in the right players in the summer .
12. Mr Khan is learning and has committed himself to developing the riverside stand .
13. The days of simply wallpapering over the cracks seem to have gone ,so lets hope that the club has a long term plan . With approx  4 quality signings on top of what we have our squad will be ready next year .
14. Fulham has started to get its identity back , and i think we have a side that will go places in the not too far future .

Looking at the fixtures ahead ,we are about to play against many of the sides at the top of the table . The results in these matches will  be key for our future , both in terms of spotlighting where we need investment and also for this currant side to (as kit pointed out even regarding tonights game ) prove that they are good enough .

[Lighthouse]

7 - Was Ruiz causing division in the camp?

Anyway despite my many doubts over the future I tend to agree with most of the positives. We will just have to accept that this isn't the club it could have been a few years ago. But things could be as bad as it was at the beginning of the season.

So no trust  the club know what they are doing long term, but there are positives.

[colinwhite]

Ruiz . he split our fans ,don't know about inside the squad , but of course the other players are aware of the fact that he wasn't too popular amongst some fans . When I saw his reaction to the winner at home to Reading then you could see it was time for him to go ( wether you love him or hate him ).

[HatterDon]

Ruiz . he split our fans ,don't know about inside the squad , but of course the other players are aware of the fact that he wasn't too popular amongst some fans . When I saw his reaction to the winner at home to Reading then you could see it was time for him to go ( wether you love him or hate him ).

You mean when he had just gotten injured and had no hope of jumping up and down?

[McBride78]

Great post and spot on.  I like the way this squad is shaping up with a nucleus that is built for the long haul.  Much younger than our team from a few years ago.  For clubs that are not top 4 Prem, I think it makes better sense to build a winning team rather than buying one on the transfer market.  yes, you need to buy at times, but a nucleus of young talent allows a smaller club to sustain success.  I am excited to see the youth, versus a couple of years ago where we had several guys in the starting 11 that were late 20's or over 30. 

Southampton for example.  Yes they spent money, but a good deal of the big money signings never panned out (Osvaldo comes to mind among others).  They build around a solid youth development and got good money if they had to sell, which allowed them to now be competitive in the transfer market.  I think Fulham has a solid youth system and some very exciting prospects.  It is going to be an awesome couple of years watching this team grow and develop.

[colinwhite]

Ruiz . he split our fans ,don't know about inside the squad , but of course the other players are aware of the fact that he wasn't too popular amongst some fans . When I saw his reaction to the winner at home to Reading then you could see it was time for him to go ( wether you love him or hate him ).

Ive always supported Bryan, but when I saw his reaction ,injured or not , I think he showed it was time for him to go and for all of us to move on .

You mean when he had just gotten injured and had no hope of jumping up and down?

[bill taylors apprentice]

I admire your optimism.
Yes, things have improved of late on the pitch, we have a wealthy owner, the clubs in a healthy financial state (so it seems) and there's now a proven path from youth team to 1st team.
But we are now just an average mid table Championship team with no real chance of a play off place, there's not much to be cheerful about considering where we were just a few seasons ago.

[The Rock]

So basically, see you next year and we have better chance in staying up and we are building a bigger stand that is not needed at this time, got it.

[Berserker]

Well my reason to be cheerful is that I'm glad we are out of the FA cup

[Berserker]

Oh yes second reason to be cheerful is that I didn't go tonight

[Mince n Tatties]

Well my reason to be cheerful is that I'm glad we are out of the FA cup

Really...Why?

[Berserker]

Well even before the transfer window I didn't think we had a deep enough squad for cup and league matches, now after the transfer window I think even more that is the case

[stokesy]

and the fulham v ipswich game hasnt moved

[ScalleysDad]

Oh yes second reason to be cheerful is that I didn't go tonight

Lots of road works on the A303, snow across Salisbury Plain and the thought of a walloping deterred me within about ten miles out. I am not feeling smug at all, even though I'll be tucked up by 11 and not 2am, I am though really disappointed in yet another rollover. As I said on the match day thread we have plenty of tough games coming up in which centre backs will have Hugo in their pockets and our lack of invention will be glaring. At the risk of being a whinging winnie we needed options and didn't get any. Plenty to talk about on Saturday, if people turn up.

[fulhamben]

Well even before the transfer window I didn't think we had a deep enough squad for cup and league matches, now after the transfer window I think even more that is the case

that surprises me as everyone always tell me our squad is too big

[Berserker]

Oh yes second reason to be cheerful is that I didn't go tonight

Lots of road works on the A303, snow across Salisbury Plain and the thought of a walloping deterred me within about ten miles out. I am not feeling smug at all, even though I'll be tucked up by 11 and not 2am, I am though really disappointed in yet another rollover. As I said on the match day thread we have plenty of tough games coming up in which centre backs will have Hugo in their pockets and our lack of invention will be glaring. At the risk of being a whinging winnie we needed options and didn't get any. Plenty to talk about on Saturday, if people turn up.

I expect you west country types will be snowed in come Saturday

[ScalleysDad]

Well even before the transfer window I didn't think we had a deep enough squad for cup and league matches, now after the transfer window I think even more that is the case

that surprises me as everyone always tell me our squad is too big

We talked about this in The Enclave a while back. We have the numbers but not the depth although the science will tell you that with experience and game time that depth will come as experience tots up but for example. Ruiz had two heir apparents in Hyndman and David. Many would have preferred either or to start. Best bet is that Hyndman is done until late March and the other two are gone. Hugo only just hit the barn door tonight and was then wrapped up for the rest of the game. Woodrow was already on and Dembele has shown he is not there yet. As a gamble you never know of course but the bench did not allow for the No.44 and Woodrow to go up top in a 4.4.2. Parker was out and although he gets a lot of flak for sideways passing we needed an engine, albeit for an hour, but we did not have one starting and there wasn't one on the bench. Fofana is not that engine and Tunnicliffe is a different type of midfielder altogether. Yes we have numbers, although depleted recently but we still needed one or two older heads brought in ....... or just an option to make the opposition back four look just a little uncomfortable. Too frequently the opposition back four are taking a time out on the halfway line.
I have backed the youth movement since orange was the new black but we need points before the horrendous array of fixtures in April that end with Boro going for automatic promotion and Norwich away as a finale in May where we are always pants. I feel we should have invested in getting those points as the bottom third of the table looks like quicksand and we are far from being out of it. Come Saturday at 5pm we will know a bit more.

[ScalleysDad]

Oh yes second reason to be cheerful is that I didn't go tonight

Lots of road works on the A303, snow across Salisbury Plain and the thought of a walloping deterred me within about ten miles out. I am not feeling smug at all, even though I'll be tucked up by 11 and not 2am, I am though really disappointed in yet another rollover. As I said on the match day thread we have plenty of tough games coming up in which centre backs will have Hugo in their pockets and our lack of invention will be glaring. At the risk of being a whinging winnie we needed options and didn't get any. Plenty to talk about on Saturday, if people turn up.

I expect you west country types will be snowed in come Saturday

Train on saturday. Clear skies, quite nice today actually and a cracking full moon. If Exeter gets snow the world ends but the hills and Dartmoor had a sprinkling.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Well even before the transfer window I didn't think we had a deep enough squad for cup and league matches, now after the transfer window I think even more that is the case

that surprises me as everyone always tell me our squad is too big

I am annoyed and disappointed we are out of the FA Cup, as are the players I can assure you, as well as the supporters who were sitting around me in the freezing cold, a good cup run would have been just the ticket and the lift everybody involved with the club.

[St Eve]

The cup gave us a little distraction from our terrible season