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

[Count Flapula]

There was even a whiff off scapegoating towards Danny Murphy whenever results weren't tip-top. Seem to remember people moaning "his legs have gone - time to get rid" for much of his last 2.5 seasons with us (while he was still absolutely running our midfield)... Not everyone admittedly by a long chalk, but certainly a good few of the more vocal keyboard commandos that have been known to frequent here. Amuses me to this day ;-)

[fulhamben]

There was even a whiff off scapegoating towards Danny Murphy whenever results weren't tip-top. Seem to remember people moaning "his legs have gone - time to get rid" for much of his last 2.5 seasons with us (while he was still absolutely running our midfield)... Not everyone admittedly by a long chalk, but certainly a good few of the more vocal keyboard commandos that have been known to frequent here. Amuses me to this day ;-)

I don't think Murphy was running the midfield in his last season. For most of it he stood in the center circle, and in pretty much every game, he did one blind back pass that went to the opposition. To proclaim his legs hadn't gone, when he couldn't even manage one season in the championship the following year is just crazy imo. He went from box to box to a deep lying midfielder, as most do towards the end of their careers, and was probably with us a year too long

[Count Flapula]

There was even a whiff off scapegoating towards Danny Murphy whenever results weren't tip-top. Seem to remember people moaning "his legs have gone - time to get rid" for much of his last 2.5 seasons with us (while he was still absolutely running our midfield)... Not everyone admittedly by a long chalk, but certainly a good few of the more vocal keyboard commandos that have been known to frequent here. Amuses me to this day ;-)

I don't think Murphy was running the midfield in his last season. For most of it he stood in the center circle, and in pretty much every game, he did one blind back pass that went to the opposition. To proclaim his legs hadn't gone, when he couldn't even manage one season in the championship the following year is just crazy imo. He went from box to box to a deep lying midfielder, as most do towards the end of their careers, and was probably with us a year too long

You mean the season we finished 8th and he "created more chances in the Premier League than any other player" (sources: Wikipedia and ESPN to name a few)?

He was getting old but was STILL good enough for the Prem at that time - just because his hunger diminished after dropping down a division combined with his waning powers what does that prove? The stats from the season before back up my point, but thanks for also perfectly illustrating my point about scapegoating.   :54: :dft011:

[fulhamben]

There was even a whiff off scapegoating towards Danny Murphy whenever results weren't tip-top. Seem to remember people moaning "his legs have gone - time to get rid" for much of his last 2.5 seasons with us (while he was still absolutely running our midfield)... Not everyone admittedly by a long chalk, but certainly a good few of the more vocal keyboard commandos that have been known to frequent here. Amuses me to this day ;-)

I don't think Murphy was running the midfield in his last season. For most of it he stood in the center circle, and in pretty much every game, he did one blind back pass that went to the opposition. To proclaim his legs hadn't gone, when he couldn't even manage one season in the championship the following year is just crazy imo. He went from box to box to a deep lying midfielder, as most do towards the end of their careers, and was probably with us a year too long

You mean the season we finished 8th and he "created more chances in the Premier League than any other player" (sources: Wikipedia and ESPN to name a few)?

He was getting old but was STILL good enough for the Prem at that time - just because his hunger diminished after dropping down a division combined with his waning powers what does that prove? The stats from the season before back up my point, but thanks for also perfectly illustrating my point about scapegoating.   :54: :dft011:

9th, and if you class standing in the center circle pinning long balls and dodgy blind back passes as running a midfield, then yes, you are easily pleased

[SP]

I loved John Lacy, not sure he was a scape goat but he seemed to regularly get the blame. 

[Count Flapula]

There was even a whiff off scapegoating towards Danny Murphy whenever results weren't tip-top. Seem to remember people moaning "his legs have gone - time to get rid" for much of his last 2.5 seasons with us (while he was still absolutely running our midfield)... Not everyone admittedly by a long chalk, but certainly a good few of the more vocal keyboard commandos that have been known to frequent here. Amuses me to this day ;-)

I don't think Murphy was running the midfield in his last season. For most of it he stood in the center circle, and in pretty much every game, he did one blind back pass that went to the opposition. To proclaim his legs hadn't gone, when he couldn't even manage one season in the championship the following year is just crazy imo. He went from box to box to a deep lying midfielder, as most do towards the end of their careers, and was probably with us a year too long

You mean the season we finished 8th and he "created more chances in the Premier League than any other player" (sources: Wikipedia and ESPN to name a few)?

He was getting old but was STILL good enough for the Prem at that time - just because his hunger diminished after dropping down a division combined with his waning powers what does that prove? The stats from the season before back up my point, but thanks for also perfectly illustrating my point about scapegoating.   :54: :dft011:

9th, and if you class standing in the center circle pinning long balls and dodgy blind back passes as running a midfield, then yes, you are easily pleased

Fulham only finished 9th was it? That's told me then!

Created the most goalscoring chances in the Premier League that season. Lol... give it up mate!

[mouse]

Cliff Jones.I think we signed him just after his 87th birthday.
Can't remember if we had been double relegated to the 3rd division by then.

[Andy S]

Cliff did look 87 I'll Admit but what about Gary Elkins he was awful with us in the third Tia transferred to Wimbledon and held the full back slot in the top league for a few seasons although I never saw him play at Wimbledon

[fulhamben]

There was even a whiff off scapegoating towards Danny Murphy whenever results weren't tip-top. Seem to remember people moaning "his legs have gone - time to get rid" for much of his last 2.5 seasons with us (while he was still absolutely running our midfield)... Not everyone admittedly by a long chalk, but certainly a good few of the more vocal keyboard commandos that have been known to frequent here. Amuses me to this day ;-)

I don't think Murphy was running the midfield in his last season. For most of it he stood in the center circle, and in pretty much every game, he did one blind back pass that went to the opposition. To proclaim his legs hadn't gone, when he couldn't even manage one season in the championship the following year is just crazy imo. He went from box to box to a deep lying midfielder, as most do towards the end of their careers, and was probably with us a year too long

You mean the season we finished 8th and he "created more chances in the Premier League than any other player" (sources: Wikipedia and ESPN to name a few)?

He was getting old but was STILL good enough for the Prem at that time - just because his hunger diminished after dropping down a division combined with his waning powers what does that prove? The stats from the season before back up my point, but thanks for also perfectly illustrating my point about scapegoating.   :54: :dft011:

9th, and if you class standing in the center circle pinning long balls and dodgy blind back passes as running a midfield, then yes, you are easily pleased

Fulham only finished 9th was it? That's told me then!

Created the most goalscoring chances in the Premier League that season. Lol... give it up mate!

again you equate that to running a midfield? Standing in the circle pinning balls is not an especially hard thing to do. And if he was so good that season, then why did he end up at Blackburn. What did you see that the majority of managers and scouts didn't?

[Count Flapula]

again you equate that to running a midfield? Standing in the circle pinning balls is not an especially hard thing to do. And if he was so good that season, then why did he end up at Blackburn. What did you see that the majority of managers and scouts didn't?
[/quote]

Lol what did I see that managers didn't? He was captain and started virtually every game that season so i'd be bold enough to guess that Mark Hughes thought he wasn't "past it" - a team with our resources at the time don't finish 9th in the Prem with dead weight. Your opinions really fly in the face of cold, hard facts.

The other part of your argument is based on what he did the next season - if thats the basis of your point then again you've missed the point as we're talking about what he did at Fulham - even in his last season the stats prove it was good enough for him to warrant his place, hence my point was I found it amusing at the time all those online "experts" who were screaming for him to go every time he misplaced a pass (Sincerely, my comments in the first post were not aimed at you personally by the way if thats what you think?). Yes he did it every game, but thats because he was progressive enough with the ball and brave enough to take responsibility / intelligent risks that sometimes didn't come off - as the stats and our final league position show though, his passes worked more often than they didn't. It took us years to replace that ability in our team and you only notice it when you have numerous iterations of struggling Fulham midfields full of players too scared to take up that mantle. I point out this scapegoating came after every defeat in a season where we finished 9th and he playing a big part in that.

Yes he was slow as a statue but his game was never based on his mobility. I'm not saying he should have stayed beyond when he did, i'm saying he went at exactly the right time given his age / he was on the downward slope.

Again you've either misunderstood the stat or purposefully ignored it to suit your argument - he didn't have the stat for most attempted pointless long balls from the centre spot, he had the stat for creating the most goalscoring chances i.e shots at goal (be that on /off target / blocked). So yes, i'd absolutely class the person who created more goalscoring chances than anyone else in the entire premier league over a season, who was the main link between defence and midfield, and dictating our play as running the midfield. To deny irrefutable statistical facts is just plain stubbornness - pretty much couldn't get a much clearer case of scapegoating!

Anyway, this thread is in danger of being hijacked and turned into a 2-man Danny Murphy thread so i'm bailing on this unless you or someone else comes up with some new points rather than rehashing the same baseless opinion with no evidence to support it.

[Funky Fulham Dave]

One player who got an undeserved amount of stick was Stevie Earle. And the reason that the vocal minority gave him abuse was because he wouldn't or couldn't get "stuck-in". Strange isn't it that such a good player like Steve Earle never won the hearts of Fulham fans despite his goal-scoring record.

Stevie Earle was a really intelligent footballer who had a great first touch, had pace, could play as an out and out forward or in a withdrawn link-up role and most importantly could score goals. If he was around today he could quite easily fit into the present day Premier League football, no problem and he wouldn't be asked to get "stuck-in".

049:gif

[Woolly Mammoth]

The Earle of Fulham was a much underrated player as his stats reveal, scored a lot of goals, against all comers, not just the so called weaker teams, yes he may not have been a get stuck in kind of bloke, and he always looked as though he had just come out the dry cleaners, always looking well groomed even in the 90th minute. He was a cool customer, never seemed to sweat, I am sure he did, but opposing defenders knew they had their work cut .But he had good pace, and he worked hard off the ball, creating space for his team mates and himself. He Barrett and Conway upfront were a handful, all with tremendous pace. I wish all three of them were around today. Steve Earle's goal record speaks for itself, and Leicester City paid £100,000 for him, so they saw his potential, and that was a lot of money in those days.

[Andy S]

Totally agree about Steve Earle

[MJG]

Gary Brazil was 50/50 with fans. Either very skillful for the level we were at or a lazy powder puff player in fans eyes.

[fulhamben]

again you equate that to running a midfield? Standing in the circle pinning balls is not an especially hard thing to do. And if he was so good that season, then why did he end up at Blackburn. What did you see that the majority of managers and scouts didn't?

Lol what did I see that managers didn't? He was captain and started virtually every game that season so i'd be bold enough to guess that Mark Hughes thought he wasn't "past it" - a team with our resources at the time don't finish 9th in the Prem with dead weight. Your opinions really fly in the face of cold, hard facts.

The other part of your argument is based on what he did the next season - if thats the basis of your point then again you've missed the point as we're talking about what he did at Fulham - even in his last season the stats prove it was good enough for him to warrant his place, hence my point was I found it amusing at the time all those online "experts" who were screaming for him to go every time he misplaced a pass (Sincerely, my comments in the first post were not aimed at you personally by the way if thats what you think?). Yes he did it every game, but thats because he was progressive enough with the ball and brave enough to take responsibility / intelligent risks that sometimes didn't come off - as the stats and our final league position show though, his passes worked more often than they didn't. It took us years to replace that ability in our team and you only notice it when you have numerous iterations of struggling Fulham midfields full of players too scared to take up that mantle. I point out this scapegoating came after every defeat in a season where we finished 9th and he playing a big part in that.

Yes he was slow as a statue but his game was never based on his mobility. I'm not saying he should have stayed beyond when he did, i'm saying he went at exactly the right time given his age / he was on the downward slope.

Again you've either misunderstood the stat or purposefully ignored it to suit your argument - he didn't have the stat for most attempted pointless long balls from the centre spot, he had the stat for creating the most goalscoring chances i.e shots at goal (be that on /off target / blocked). So yes, i'd absolutely class the person who created more goalscoring chances than anyone else in the entire premier league over a season, who was the main link between defence and midfield, and dictating our play as running the midfield. To deny irrefutable statistical facts is just plain stubbornness - pretty much couldn't get a much clearer case of scapegoating!

Anyway, this thread is in danger of being hijacked and turned into a 2-man Danny Murphy thread so i'm bailing on this unless you or someone else comes up with some new points rather than rehashing the same baseless opinion with no evidence to support it.
[/quote]but again. If you stand there all game pinning balls, there's a good chance that a few will fall to a player that can have a go. And if it's all about stats, will you concede that Collins John was a better striker than mcbride as he managed to score more in a season than mcbride ever did. More to football than just stats, and my opinion you could easily see that Murphy time was up in his last year.