Wednesday Fulham Stuff (06/09/17)...

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Cardiff Mascot Competition

Our Official Energy Drink Partner, GameTime Hydration, are offering young Whites fans the chance to be a mascot for the Cardiff fixture on Saturday 9th September at Craven Cottage.

Parents can enter their children into the prize draw. One winner will be selected at random to be mascot for the big game at the Cottage after the international break!

In addition, four runners-up will then take part in GameTime's half-time activation with the chance to win great prizes.

The competition will run from now until midday on Thursday 7th September, so get your applications in now!

Follow this link > https://umbel.co/Re3FF to enter.

Good luck!

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/september/05/mascot-competition

[WhiteJC]

 
Which clubs own England's future? The make-up of Three Lions youth squads revealed

Who's harbouring the nation's finest youngsters right now? Our pals at the brilliant YouthHawk have crunched the numbers behind 155 call-ups

Chelsea once again edge ahead with the most Young Lions across England's six development squads, with 20 call-ups already this season. That's despite the Blues losing Nathaniel Chalobah and Dominic Solanke permanently to Watford and Liverpool respectively this summer (and Chalobah has since earned a place in Gareth Southgate's senior squad anyway).

They're followed closely by Manchester City with 18 and Arsenal with 16, while Tottenham are the only other club in double figures (11).

Liverpool boast just five call-ups, with three of those earned by players poached from other academies (Solanke, Joe Gomez, Rhian Brewster) – but that still beats Manchester United, who continue a disappointing trend from last campaign with just three.

Stuck together

The distribution across age groups offers a revealing insight into where the future of English football is currently being nurtured.

Everton continue to receive praise for their accessible pathway from academy to first team but are top heavy here, with six of their seven call-ups coming in the U21 age group (Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Tom Davies, Kieran Dowell, Jonjoe Kenny, Mason Holgate, Ademola Lookman). Still, that's the aim here – and it's all excellent news for manager Ronald Koeman.

The Toffees could soon face the same fate as Southampton, whose five U21 call-ups from last season have now graduated beyond the age parameters of international development football, leaving them with just one representative (U18 Jake Voskins) in the latest round of selections.

At the opposite end of the scale, Reading have eight call-ups between the U16 and U17 groups, a tally only beaten by Manchester City (9). In fact, those two are part of a group of four clubs who make up over half the U16 contingent, with Chelsea and Arsenal the other big-hitters in the youngest competitive age group.

First-team football

The Championship is represented strongly by Fulham, who match the Royals with eight call-ups, closely followed by Nottingham Forest (6) and Ipswich (5). It's also in the second tier where most of these youngsters are finding first-team football; 19 of the 155 2017/18 Young Lions have played for Championship sides already this term, either at their parent club or on loan.

Only nine of the England youth contingent have picked up minutes in the Premier League, but the concentration of that playing time is Merseyside-focused; Liverpool and Everton account for 813 of the 1,092 Premier League playing minutes afforded to these players in the opening three rounds of fixtures (Calvert-Lewin, Davies, Holgate – Everton; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Solanke, Gomez – Liverpool; Demarai Gray – Leicester; Kyle Walker-Peters – Tottenham; Sam Field – West Brom).

Notable mentions also go to Southend (U17), Fleetwood (U18) and Luton (U20) representing the lower leagues, with one call-up each.

But it's the Premier League big boys who continue to dominate the numbers, accounting for two-thirds of the call-ups.




Read more at https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/which-clubs-own-englands-future-make-three-lions-youth-squads-revealed#6FKuHbbOpmv0Vw1e.99

[WhiteJC]

 
Club president reveals reasons behind failed Fulham transfer, player regretting it?

Bringing in Rafa Soares to act as cover for Ryan Sessegnon and Tayo Edun, Fulham were after a left-back all summer following Scott Malone's exit to newly promoted Huddersfield.

We covered as much of the rumours as possible, which included an interest in a Bordeaux defender: Maxime Poundjé.

It's worth pointing out that the left-back wasn't the only player from the Ligue 1 side Slavisa Jokanovic was interested in, as Diego Rolan, who ended up at Malaga on loan, rejected the opportunity to move to Craven Cottage.

As for Poundjé, the offer was accepted by Bordeaux, but the club's president, Stéphane Martin, revealed on Gold FM, relayed by Girondins33, why the 25-year-old also turned down the chance to play in the Championship.

He said: "We logically renewed his deal in autumn 2016 after a good start to the season, but since he didn't play as well afterwards, an exit was planned, and he wasn't exactly against it, interested, even.

"However, in the end, he preferred to stay. He had offers (Fulham's), but he preferred to stay at the club. He's very attached to Bordeaux. He was developed here".

Yet to make an appearance for his new side this season, perhaps turning down the chance to play semi-regular football with in London wasn't the best idea.

Time will tell, of course, but for now, playing a bit is better than being left out of the squad altogether.



http://sportwitness.co.uk/club-president-reveals-reasons-behind-failed-fulham-transfer-player-regretting/

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Fulham to reignite chase for Newcastle United forward Dwight Gayle in January
Fulham made a late move for Gayle but failed to prise him away from St James' Park.

Fulham will reignite their interest in Newcastle United forward Dwight Gayle in time for the January transfer window after failing to prise the 26-year-old away from the Magpies in the summer transfer market.

Gayle scored 23 goals last season as Rafa Benitez's side managed to achieve promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. But despite his wondrous goalscoring form in the Championship, Newcastle were prepared to part with the former Crystal Palace star, who has never proven himself to be a consistent performer in England's top-flight.

Fulham missed out on a number of forward targets during the summer transfer window, namely Diego Rolan and Steve Mounie, who joined Huddersfield Town for £12m, but they did manage to sign strikers Rui Fonte and Aboubakar Kamara from Braga and Amiens respectively.

The west London outfit also signed forwards Sheyi Ojo, Jordan Graham and Lucas Piazon on season-long loan deals but were intent on bolstering their strikeforce with further additions and explored deals for both Gayle and Jota, who left Brentford for Birmingham City for around £6m.

Their club-record offer for Gayle was accepted, according to the Mirror, relayed by the Chronicle, but Newcastle eventually kept hold of the forward after failing to find an adequate replacement for the former Dagenham and Redbridge hitman with such little time of the window remaining.

Fulham are hoping for better luck in the winter transfer window and Newcastle will have plenty of time to find Gayle's successor if they do wish to part with the forward in January.

The north east outfit may use Fulham's interest in Gayle to try and finally prise midfielder Tom Cairney away from Craven Cottage, but Slavisa Jokanovic's men have no interest in losing their influential midfielder, who has been struggling with a niggling knee problem in recent months.

Newcastle have long been admirers of Cairney and reportedly had a £20m bid rejected for the Scotland international, who recently signed a new long-term contract in west London and was appointed club captain after his predecessor Scott Parker retired at the end of last season.


Fulham's pursuit of Gayle is not over just yet.
Getty Images



http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/fulham-reignite-chase-newcastle-united-forward-dwight-gayle-january-1638112

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Away Games On Sale

Tickets for Fulham's away matches at Nottingham Forest and Queens Park Rangers go on sale at 10am on Wednesday 6th September.

The Whites are away from home twice in four days, and tickets for our trip to the City Ground on Tuesday 26th September will be on sale to all Season Ticket Holders and Members.

These are priced at just £20 for adults, £14 for over-65s, £12 for under-18s and £6 for under-12s, and will be available to purchase on General Sale from Friday 8th September.

ickets for our meeting with local rivals QPR on the Friday will initially go on sale to Season Ticket Holders and Members with 600 or more loyalty points (maximum two per person). Head over to the match centre for the full selling structure.

These tickets start from £29 for adults, £14 for under-18s, £20 for young adults (18-21 years) and over-60s, while under-8s go free when accompanied by a guardian.



http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/september/05/away-games-on-sale

[WhiteJC]

 
England U21 3-0 Latvia U21

Demarai Gray (centre) opened the scoring with a powerful strike

England Under-21s secured a first win of their 2019 European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign as they dominated Latvia at Bournemouth.

Leicester City's Demarai Gray opened the scoring with a powerful finish from the corner of the area, capping a flowing move by Aidy Boothroyd's side.

Swansea loanee Tammy Abraham pounced on a heavy touch in the visitors' midfield to convert a second from 18 yards.

Kasey Palmer made it 3-0 after keeper Vladislavs Kurakins fumbled a cross.

Palmer, who like Abraham has been loaned out by Chelsea for the season - in his case to Huddersfield - only needed a simple finish for his first goal at this level.

'World Cup win underpins success'
Boothroyd handed full debuts to another Chelsea player - Fikayo Tomori, who is on loan at Hull - as well as Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sheyi Ojo, Tottenham's Kyle Walker-Peters and Everton's Tom Davies.

His side had been held to a draw by the Netherlands in their opening Group 4 fixture on Friday but back on home soil, they rarely looked threatened and dominated with 71% of possession at Vitality Stadium, which was hosting its first Under-21 international.

Afterwards, the former Watford boss said his side's unbeaten start to the campaign owed a little to England's win at the summer's Under-20 World Cup, with some of those players having now stepped up to Under-21 level.

"When you're winning things, your peers, whether they are younger or older, it puts pressure on and makes it better for all of us," said Boothroyd.

"Once one's done it, confidence breeds more, providing you don't get complacent. It's a really good thing.

"You can see it in the way they perform. They're not bothered playing in front of crowds and a bit of that is because some of them are playing in the Premier League for first teams.

"They've got a lot of belief in themselves, and they also know they have a long way to go so we can be as good as a team as we want to be."

Gray leads by example
Both Gray and Abraham were substitutes for the draw with the Netherlands but their strikes put England two up by half-time.

While Abraham and Palmer's finishes owed plenty to goalkeeping error, winger Gray's angled shot was of superb quality and took him to five goals in 13 appearances at Under-21 level.

"At one point I thought he was going to play every single position, he was running around that much," added Boothroyd. "He has enormous amounts of ability."

England now sit second behind Ukraine, who beat Andorra 6-0 earlier on Tuesday. Only the nine group winners will qualify automatically, with the four best-placed runners-up playing off for the final two places.

Those 11 teams will join co-hosts Italy, who are staging the 2019 tournament along with San Marino.

England next face Scotland - who beat the Netherlands 2-0 on Tuesday - on 5 October.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41168886