Explaining the current position to non-FFC supporting people......

[sumofallparts]

Is it just me, or do you cringe when a non football, or non supporter of FFC asks you, "so how are Fulham doing these days"?

It often leads to some awkward further questions.... such as.

1. Have you ever been in the Premier League? Oh the shortness of memory. Why do a lot of folk see us as this lower division team? Hello? Europa League final? 13 yrs in EPL? Top 10 side for several years....

Pointing this out, then leads to ... Managers.

2. Wasn't Roy Hodgson the manager. Er yes. Then Mark Hughes - but he left due to a lack of ambition. We all dissed this remark, but it appears Sparky might have been on the money. Then squirm over the Rene, Crab, Felix, Kit appointments.

3. Does MAF still own the club? Er, no. It was bought by a different billionaire. And since then, it all went tits up. Oh that seems odd. Indeed....

4. Players. Don't you have that Dembele lad? (Well we do have one of them, but not that one) and Dempsey, usually followed by a long list of other names. Er, no. We sold them. But we did get Dutch World cup goalkeeper - but sent him out on loan. And WC star Bryan Ruiz, who we are trying to send out on loan. And Greek hotshot Kostas Mitroglu, who we also sent out on loan.

But in fairness, we did get Darren Bent, who was rubbish - until he went to Derby and now scores goals. Oh and Matt Smith, who we sent to Bristol, where he now scores goals for them. Oh yeah and as well as sending that Dutch WC goalkeeper out on loan, we flogged David Stockdale, didn't renew Mark Schwartzer....


You see my point? WTF? From a solid top 10 EPL side, with quality players, ambition, a series of events have led us now to flirting with relegation to Division 1 with an inexperienced manager, young team and IMHO a lack of direction, ambition and absolute desire. It is shocking how quickly we have gone from hero to zero.

So the next person who asks me about Fulham............ beware!

[Berserker]

I'm often asked and I just say a bit rubbish at the moment.

[Sgt Fulham]

I usually just nod and laugh as we share the same look of pity.

[Lighthouse]

In the old days we all joined in the joke. We saw that we were just an old set of crockery with a few bits of glue keeping us together. Nowadays I feel a bit bitter. We had the nice set of plates but then threw them out with the table and the chairs. Brought in a few poorly designed modern chairs that cannot take the weight of a full sitting.

So when people ask I try not to let it show - 


http://youtu.be/eCFqLPwEDU4

[nose]

people ask me

what went wrong?

And the bad luck for them is I tell them!

[Hurby]

When people ask, they almost always add: "We are not doing that well at the moment either". My impression is that Fulham is still a very much liked club by the non-FFC supporters.

[filham]

You could say we are in the middle of a difficult rebuilding programme and we have a lot of talented youngsters in the final stages of development. If all goes to plan and we supplement the youngsters with a couple of shrewd buys in the summer then next season we could take the championship by storm.

[sumofallparts]

Yes Filham, good points.
And it's all true, but this sidesteps the carnage leading up to this point as I detailed.
The problem is this "plan" you mention, not going so well is it !

[filham]

Yes Filham, good points.
And it's all true, but this sidesteps the carnage leading up to this point as I detailed.
The problem is this "plan" you mention, not going so well is it !

No.you are right, the plan didn't envisage the young developing players being drawn into a grim relegation battle and unless we win a couple of our next two or three games that is what will happen.

[HV71]

Is it just me, or do you cringe when a non football, or non supporter of FFC asks you, "so how are Fulham doing these days"?

It often leads to some awkward further questions.... such as.

1. Have you ever been in the Premier League? Oh the shortness of memory. Why do a lot of folk see us as this lower division team? Hello? Europa League final? 13 yrs in EPL? Top 10 side for several years....

Pointing this out, then leads to ... Managers.

2. Wasn't Roy Hodgson the manager. Er yes. Then Mark Hughes - but he left due to a lack of ambition. We all dissed this remark, but it appears Sparky might have been on the money. Then squirm over the Rene, Crab, Felix, Kit appointments.

3. Does MAF still own the club? Er, no. It was bought by a different billionaire. And since then, it all went tits up. Oh that seems odd. Indeed....

4. Players. Don't you have that Dembele lad? (Well we do have one of them, but not that one) and Dempsey, usually followed by a long list of other names. Er, no. We sold them. But we did get Dutch World cup goalkeeper - but sent him out on loan. And WC star Bryan Ruiz, who we are trying to send out on loan. And Greek hotshot Kostas Mitroglu, who we also sent out on loan.

But in fairness, we did get Darren Bent, who was rubbish - until he went to Derby and now scores goals. Oh and Matt Smith, who we sent to Bristol, where he now scores goals for them. Oh yeah and as well as sending that Dutch WC goalkeeper out on loan, we flogged David Stockdale, didn't renew Mark Schwartzer....


You see my point? WTF? From a solid top 10 EPL side, with quality players, ambition, a series of events have led us now to flirting with relegation to Division 1 with an inexperienced manager, young team and IMHO a lack of direction, ambition and absolute desire. It is shocking how quickly we have gone from hero to zero.

So the next person who asks me about Fulham............ beware!

Sounds almost fictional and unbelievable ........
However.......
So true , so funny but sadly so real

[domprague]

We are back where we've spent most of our history - in the middle of the second tier. We had a Golden Age but it was based on the generosity of a billionaire and, when he tightened things up to sell the club, we fell back from whence we came.

[Berserker]

We are back where we've spent most of our history - in the middle of the second tier. We had a Golden Age but it was based on the generosity of a billionaire and, when he tightened things up to sell the club, we fell back from whence we came.

Yes a bit like my life

[copthornemike]

We are back where we've spent most of our history - in the middle of the second tier. We had a Golden Age but it was based on the generosity of a billionaire and, when he tightened things up to sell the club, we fell back from whence we came.

Yes a bit like my life

The difference is that I have not had a billionaire's generosity being involved in any part of my life :-(

[Two Ton Ted]

We've had 13 years at the top, football is cyclical, we'll be back.

Hardly as grim as when I used to tell people "no we haven't gone bust yet" i nthe 80's and 90's...