So who have been the scape goats during your time as a supporter

[Andy S]

 fp.gif fp.gif Ever since I started supporting Fulham there is almost always a scape goat who doesn't play any worse than anyone else yet gets more than their fair share of flack Sometimes like Marlet because he cost more than we the supporters thought he was worth Players like Steve Earle, Budgie Burn, more recently Gary Elkins. And Could Barry Lloyd ever make Johnny Haynes shirt fit him?

[RaySmith]

Could Budgie Byrne ever fit into a Fulham shirt?:)
I remember him as a star for Palace in the 4th Division, when I first began watching football with my mum and dad -Palace was  the local team - their team.

And, of course, he went on to have an illustrious career, but by the time he came to Fulham he was  fat and slow, and didn't impress, to say the least.

But it's true that we always seem to have a scapegoat, and this is often unfair on the player concerned.

Barry Lloyd might be a good example - how could he follow Haynes? And what about Frank Large, with the unenviable job of replacing Allan Clarke - and how hard he tried - but it was as if the harder he tried the more unsuccessful he was at the job of scoring goals.

Some other scapegoats of recent times -Baird when he first came and played at full back, Tomas Radzinsky, Zat Knight, Zamora - when he first came and couldn't score -and that's the thing about scapegoats - they can end up as heroes, like Zamora and Bairdzinho.

Is Ream our latest scapegoat? though his part in our recent  good run has lessened that I think. You mainly get scapegoats when results aren't going well.

[fulhamben]

Could Budgie Byrne ever fit into a Fulham shirt?:)
I remember him as a star for Palace in the 4th Division, when I first began watching football with my mum and dad -Palace was  the local team - their team.

And, of course, he went on to have an illustrious career, but by the time he came to Fulham he was  fat and slow, and didn't impress, to say the least.

But it's true that we always seem to have a scapegoat, and this is often unfair on the player concerned.

Barry Lloyd might be a good example - how could he follow Haynes? And what about Frank Large, with the unenviable job of replacing Allan Clarke - and how hard he tried - but it was as if the harder he tried the more unsuccessful he was at the job of scoring goals.

Some other scapegoats of recent times -Baird when he first came and played at full back, Tomas Radzinsky, Zat Knight, Zamora - when he first came and couldn't score -and that's the thing about scapegoats - they can end up as heroes, like Zamora and Bairdzinho.

Is Ream our latest scapegoat? though his part in our recent  good run has lessened that I think. You mainly get scapegoats when results aren't going well.

don't see how baird could be classed as a scape goat. He was absolutely shocking in his first year. Fair play to him  turning it around, but a scape goat he was not.

[Andy S]

Baird was a scapegoat yes he was awful but at a new club and don't forget he was a centre half playing at right back. By the crowd don't forgive

[Arthur]

There have been many, but Frank Large will stand out for many whose support spans the past 50 years.

We handed £50k of the (I think) then record English transfer fee of £160k that Leicester paid for Allan Clarke upon our relegation from the First Division in 1968 straight back to the Foxes for Clarke's replacement, Frank Large. For every other club for which he played (and there were many), Frank's goalscoring rate was 1-in-3 or slightly better. For us, he managed just 3 goals in 24 appearances during a dismal season that saw us relegated again. Supporters, alarmed at a decline that the Club seemed incapable of doing anything to prevent, turned against Frank within a matter of weeks as we slipped into the relegation places following an early six-game goalless run. As has been noted earlier in this thread, it wasn't for lack of effort that his goal return was that poor; it was a combination of bad luck and a seeming loss of confidence that blighted his time here. He moved to Northampton at the end of that season.

[fulhamben]

Baird was a scapegoat yes he was awful but at a new club and don't forget he was a centre half playing at right back. By the crowd don't forgive

how can you be awful and a scape goat?

[Woolly Mammoth]

An escaped goat.

[Snibbo]

My memories of Frank Large are that he was pretty awful. He tried hard, he can be credited with that, and nobody could replace "Sniffer", but poor old Frank was out of his depth. One of the many awful transfer decisions we made in those days, like letting McDonald and Marsh go for peanuts.

Steve Earle copped a lot of abuse for not being physical enough. I remember having an argument with a bloke on the old Thames Bank who gave Steve dogs abuse. I pointed out that we'd be looking pretty sick without the 13 goals that he'd scored so far that season, to which the bloke replied "but five of those were in one game", as if scoring 5 in a game was a bad thing and Earle should have been sensible enough to spread them out.

[colinwhite]

Regarding frank large. I would say he was one of the poorest players we have ever signed. Couldn't hit a barn door etc. most fans felt sorry for him and he was too awful to give stick,it was just embarrassing.

[colinwhite]

i never rated Barry Lloyd either , how he ever played so many games for us I will never know. Average at best.
Saw supremac  make his home debut for us and he was dynamite for all to see . That was a truly terrible decision to let him go.

[Snibbo]

i never rated Barry Lloyd either , how he ever played so many games for us I will never know. Average at best.
Saw supremac  make his home debut for us and he was dynamite for all to see . That was a truly terrible decision to let him go.

Funny,  I always liked Lloyd.  Low centre of gravity,  skilful,  worked hard, bit fiery.  That's my (maybe unreliable) memory of him anyway.

[J.Perkins]

Well Amorebieta and Ruiz got far too much stick, both were clearly good enough.

[hopper]

Well Amorebieta and Ruiz got far too much stick, both were clearly good enough.

Didn't think so about Amore at times. He seemed willfully flippant and a liability.

We've had many in recent times. Kiraly.

[colinwhite]

i never rated Barry Lloyd either , how he ever played so many games for us I will never know. Average at best.
Saw supremac  make his home debut for us and he was dynamite for all to see . That was a truly terrible decision to let him go.

Funny,  I always liked Lloyd.  Low centre of gravity,  skilful,  worked hard, bit fiery.  That's my (maybe unreliable) memory of him anyway.

g

To be fair he wasn't all that bad just got compared to better players.

[Snibbo]

i never rated Barry Lloyd either , how he ever played so many games for us I will never know. Average at best.
Saw supremac  make his home debut for us and he was dynamite for all to see . That was a truly terrible decision to let him go.

Funny,  I always liked Lloyd.  Low centre of gravity,  skilful,  worked hard, bit fiery.  That's my (maybe unreliable) memory of him anyway.

g

To be fair he wasn't all that bad just got compared to better players.

They were dark days

[SG]

Barry Lloyd huffed and puffed - didn't rate him. Couldn't stand Gary Brazil - no bottle. Later put Thomas Radzicski in same category. I think it's fair to say that they divided opinion.

[toshes mate]

Sticking with the original meaning of a scapegoat as a complete innocent who is exiled or hung out to dry, it is hard to identify who has been really badly treated by Fulham.  The nearest I would get, but even then it doesn't truly fit the word, is during the Haynes-Marsh era when the former seemed, to my young eyes at least, to act, at times, as if the latter was a threatening upstart who needed to be kept down, and, given time and the appropriate excuse for doing so, ultimately given his marching orders.   I have absolutely no evidence what the real truth of the matter was, but that is the closest I have got to watching, thinking and feeling a really, really useful player was being badly treated by his employer in deferrence to another really, really useful player.   Other than that I always think people will pick on someone to blame for everything that goes wrong and that is much, much easier to do when you are a paying customer watching other people work, or not, as the case may be.   I have always believed strikers get away lightly with life because it only takes a few seconds for them to justify being picked for the team, where others cannot be so sure even if they are way above average performance for the whole ninety minutes but in a few seconds help give away a silly goal.  They know they will be blamed if the striker doesn't do his job.

[colinwhite]

To put another slant on it there were a few players who were very overrated. I would put maybank in that category. Not much skill and a bit of a cart horse with an eye for goal. Brighton payed us 200000 for him !
I know a lot of people liked Mellor but I always thought he was an accident waiting to happen despite his save making ability....

[toshes mate]

To put another slant on it there were a few players who were very overrated. I would put maybank in that category. Not much skill and a bit of a cart horse with an eye for goal. Brighton payed us 200000 for him !
I know a lot of people liked Mellor but I always thought he was an accident waiting to happen despite his save making ability....

Mellor couldn't have chosen a worse moment to be on the receiving end of a nutmeg, but I still fondly remember his better moments. 

[Andy S]

I don't think Mellor copped it right through a game every game although he did cop it. I think Ian Seymour was reduced to tears on one occasion I remember