Monday Fulham Stuff - 13/04/20...

[WhiteJC]

The Southern League Graduates (Part One)
Players who started out in the league and have gone on to enjoy successful professional careers.

This series of articles features players who went on to play professionally having started their careers with Southern League clubs.

There are quite a number of players who re-joined League clubs after a spell in non-League football, but I have not included them.

I have already featured a few players who could have been included in this section in other articles, such as Arsenal and England legend Eddie Hapgood, who started his career with Kettering Town and Alan Smith, whose Arsenal, Leicester City and England time began at Alvechurch.

ANDY TOWNSEND is one of the few Southern League graduates to have gone on to become full internationals.

He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United whilst employed as a computer operator for Greenwich Borough Council in south-east London.

The Wings were then in the Athenian League, but in the close season of 1981, they moved into the Southern League Southern Division.

Townsend helped Welling finish eighth in their inaugural season in the league and at the end of that campaign, the league was expanded into three divisions, and the Wings found themselves in the new Premier Division.

Welling enjoyed an excellent first season at the highest level they had achieved to date and ended in third spot behind champions AP Leamington and runners-up Kidderminster Harriers

But in March 1984, after making 105 appearances for Welling, Townsend was initially loaned to Alliance Premier League strugglers Weymouth, whose manager at the time, former Aston Villa and Wales midfielder Brian Godfrey, had just paid £4,500 for Welling winger TONY AGANA.

At the time, Wings` boss Graham Hobbins was certain that Townsend would be back in their colours at the end of the season, but in the end, after helping the Terras avoid the drop, he also signed a permanent deal in exchange for a £13,500 fee.

After having trials with both Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday, he moved to Southampton in January 1985 for £35,000.

He had made just 40 appearances and scored 16 goals for the Terras and also played for the FA XI against the Combined Services in 1985.

Despite recovering from a broken leg, sustained in a friendly against the Terras, he was sold to Norwich City in August 1988 for £300,000, having scored 5 times in 83 games.

Whilst with the Canaries he made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland after qualifying by right of an Irish grandmother, in February 1989.

He went on to play for Eire in the 1990 World Cup, captained his country in the 1994 tournament and played 70 times in total, scoring 7 goals.

Norwich made a handsome profit when they let Townsend join Chelsea for £1,200,000 in July 1990, after 71 appearances and 8 goals.

He made 138 appearances scoring 12 times for Chelsea before he was allowed to move on three years later to Aston Villa, who paid £2.1 million for his services.

Whilst at Villa Park he was in the side that won the Coca-Cola Cup in 1994 and 1996 and was made captain of the Midlands club in 1994/95.

He was to make 134 League appearances – scoring 8 times – before he was on the move again, this time to Middlesbrough for £500,000 in August 1997, where he was part of the team that won promotion to the Premiership and appeared in another League Cup final, albeit on the losing side against one of his old clubs – Chelsea.

He left in September 1999 to move down a division to West Bromwich Albion for £50,000.

In his one season with Albion, he only made 17 appearances before a recurrent knee injury forced his retirement in July 2000, after a season in which the Baggies narrowly avoided relegation to Division Two.

Townsend was offered a coaching role by the manager – but he decided to retire from the game and commence a new career as a soccer pundit on television, with ITV.

He made a total of 611 appearances in Premiership and Football League matches and scored 49 goals.

AGANA was born in Penge, London and was playing for his local side, Orpington Eagles.

However, the club didn`t possess a senior team, so at the age of 16 the majority of the team, including Agana, signed for Welling United to play in the under-18s.

But at 17, Agana`s ability was quickly spotted by the Wings` management and he made his first-team debut in 1983 in the Southern Premier Division.

His full-time job was with an Insurance company in the City of London and in the end, it was the job that led to him to leaving Welling.

The company was cost-cutting and decided to relocate operations to Poole in Dorset.

Many took redundancy, so in order to keep the continuity of staff they were offering generous relocation packages and for a young man to be given the chance of a 1% mortgage on his own house, it was a no-brainer.

So, Welling invited representatives from Poole Town, Weymouth and other South coast clubs to come and watch Agana to try and set up a deal.

It was then that Weymouth manager Brian Godfrey offered to buy Agana but also wanted Townsend as well!

He joined Weymouth in March 1984 for £4,500 and made his debut at Enfield in March 1984 he went on to make 180 appearances and score 48 times goals in a Terras shirt.

He was player of the year in 1984/85 and 1985/86, and represented England at semi-professional level in 1985/86, scoring in a 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland at Nuneaton.

He wanted to return to London though and signed for Watford in August 1987 for a fee of £20,000 but made just 12 appearances and scored once before moving on to Sheffield United in February 1988.

After 105 appearances in which he scored 32 times a £75,000 fee took him to Notts County in November 1991.

Whilst at County he made 114 appearances and scored 15 times, but also undertook a loan spell with Leeds United.

On his release in 1997, he joined Hereford United and scored 7 goals in his 22 appearances before moving to Irish side Cliftonville in 1998.

He had a spell as manager of Northern Premier League side Leek Town in 1999, another NPL outfit Guiseley as player-manager and finished his career at Alfreton Town.

DEREK HALES was a teenage striker when he made his debut for Dartford in the Southern League Premier Division in 1970.

Not a regular starter at first, he went on to score 15 goals in just 29 games for the Darts under former Bolton and England player Doug Holden.

In 1972 Luton Town paid £2,000 to sign him, but just over a year later after with just 7 appearances and one goal for the Hatters, he was sold for £4,000 to Charlton Athletic.

It was at The Valley that he made a name for himself, scoring 168 goals in 368 games in two spells at the club, making him the Addicks' all-time leading goalscorer and earning the nickname from the fans `Killer` due to his lethal finishing in front of goal.

In 1976, he was transferred to Derby County for £300,000 – the highest ever paid for a Second Division player at the time.

Twenty-three games and 4 goals later, West Ham United obtained Hales` services for a third of the price Derby had paid for him but he found it hard to settle at Upton Park and returned to The Valley the following year after playing 24 games and scoring 10 goals for the Hammers.

He added 191 matches to his Charlton tally and 76 goals and when his second spell ended in 1985, he joined Gillingham, where he rounded off his professional career with 9 goals in 31 games.

It was during his second spell with the Valiants that Hales was sent-off for fighting with his own team-mate Mike Flanagan, who was also dismissed, during an FA Cup match against Maidstone United.

Released by the Gills in 1986, he returned to the village in which he was born and bought the local pub.

In the summer of 1979, just ahead of the first season of the Alliance Premier League, Nuneaton Borough's talented centre-half TREVOR PEAKE, had played his last game for the Manor Park club.

The then-22-year-old, who twice played for the England semi-professional international team as well as the Southern League`s representative side, had attracted interest from West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace, Northampton and Lincoln City.

And it was the Imps who won the race, signing him for an initial £15,000 fee.

Northampton had looked favourites, but Fourth Division Lincoln promised regular first-team football and also agreed to pay Nuneaton 15 per cent of any future transfer fee.

Peake won Nuneaton`s 1976/77 player of the year award after only one full season in Southern League football and was the youngest player to hold the trophy.

He graduated through the youth and reserve sides and made his senior debut in a Birmingham Senior Cup tie in October 1975 against Oldbury United.

And the shy teenager blossomed into a cornerstone of the Boro side. His immaculate play, cool soccer brain and defensive skills made him one of the most exciting centre-halves in non-League football at the time.

Nuneaton did well as they received 15 per cent of the £100,000 that Lincoln received from Coventry City for Peake in July 1983 after he had made 171 appearances for the Imps.

And he went on to have a fine career with the Sky Blues, including an FA Cup Final winners medal in the 3-2 win against Spurs at Wembley in 1987.

After over 330 games for Coventry, Peake was sold to Luton Town for another £100,000 fee in August 1991 and he eventually retired in the summer of 1998 after adding a further 190-plus games to his career tally.

It was ironic that the manager who signed him for Luton was David Pleat – a former Nuneaton player-manager who was in charge of the Spurs side beaten by Coventry in the cup final!

He went on to coach at Luton and then back at Coventry.

FRED DELL was a towering six-footer who started his career with Dartford in the Southern League Eastern and Central sections.

He became a big favourite with Darts` fans but in 1935/36 Dartford lost to a star-studded Derby County (then second in Division One) by 3-2 in the F A Cup at the Baseball Ground having at one time led by 2-0.

Dell was transferred to West Ham United for a reported £2,000 immediately after the game.

He made his Second Division debut in September 1936 at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United but made only three more before being transferred to Doncaster Rovers in 1938.

He made 29 appearances for Rovers, scoring 12 times, before, like so many footballers at the time, lost his peek time as a player to the Second World War.

In January 1981, TREVOR MORLEY was signed by Graham Carr for Alliance Premier League strugglers Nuneaton Borough for a then club-record fee of £7,700.

Morley, rejected by Derby County as a youngster, had scored 19 goals for Southern League Midland Division side Corby Town up to his move.

The then-19-year-old had been watched by several League clubs including Cardiff City, Leicester City and Luton Town whilst with the Steelmen.

Although Morley, whose record fee was broken barely a month later when centre-back Richard Dixey joined for £9,500, couldn`t prevent Nuneaton being relegated at the end of the 1980/81 season, he helped them bounce back immediately by winning the Southern League title in 1982

In the summer of 1985, Morley moved with Carr to Northampton Town for £20,000.

After scoring 39 league goals in 139 appearances for the Cobblers, Morley was signed by manager Mel Machin for Manchester City in January 1988 as part of an exchange deal that saw Tony Adcock move to the County Ground. The deal valued Morley at £235,000.

Signed by manager Lou Macari at the end of 1989, Morley joined West Ham United from City in a deal that saw Ian Bishop also move to Upton Park, and Mark Ward travel in the other direction. Morley was valued at £450,000.

He later had a spell scouting for Arsenal in Norway and, in 2000, took on the manager's role at Bergen Sparta of the Norwegian Fifth Division.

There cannot be many Southern League players who have had both English Premiership and German Bundesliga clubs competing for their signature.

In November 1997, Premier Division Cambridge City rejected an offer for the then-20-year-old NEIL HARRIS from former European Cup quarter-finalists Bayer Leverkusen, with whom their hot property had spent less than a week training.

Earlier in the season he also spent some time with FC Cologne - both trials having been set up by the former Cologne, Nottingham Forest and England striker Tony Woodcock.

Harris joined Cambridge City in February 1997 from then-Eastern Counties League outfit Maldon Town.

He proceeded to score 12 goals in 21 games to help save City from relegation from the Southern Premier Division in 96/97 and had already hit 20 goals by the following November.

Harris, who then worked as an insurance salesman in London, joined Maldon as a 16-year-old from Essex Senior League side Great Wakering Rovers in 1994.

In his first season with Maldon, he scored 67 goals as an under-age player in their under-18 team.

Maldon sold him to Cambridge City for £4,000 - but the Jammers would get a third cut if Liverpool, a German side or anyone else decided to pay the £250,000 wanted by City.

And in March 1998, Harris got his move to a professional team, signing for Division Two side Millwall in a deal worth £100,000 – and Maldon received their cut.

In his first full season, he was named player of the year for Millwall and later helped them to a Second Division championship in 2000/01 with a remarkable goalscoring record.

Harris was the `golden boot` winner for being the top English scorer during the 2000/01 season with 27 goals.

He went on to be a Millwall `legend` with 233 appearances and 93 goals in his first spell – even recovering from testicular cancer during that time – before moving to Nottingham Forest in 2004.

It was an unhappy stay with Forest though, scoring just once in 33 games and then spending the 2005/06 season on loan at Gillingham before making a return to his spiritual home, Millwall, in January 2007.

He added 147 games and 32 goals to his Lions total before finishing off his playing days with 40 games and 8 goals at Southend United.

He returned again to Millwall, first as under-21 manager and then from 2015 until 2019, as first-team manager before leaving for Cardiff City.

Merthyr Tydfil-born GORDON DAVIES was signed by Manchester City when he was a 14-year-old schoolboy.

They released him after two seasons, making it clear he wasn't good enough and he gladly signed for his home-town club.

Years later, in 1985, Manchester City had to pay £100,000 to sign Davies from Chelsea!

Davies spent six years with Merthyr in the Southern League, mostly in Division One North in the early 1970s.

But his goalscoring capabilities soon attracted the attention of bigger clubs.

During his first season, Davies scored 30 goals from the right-wing. Then the following season he was pushed up front through the middle and scored 35 goals by February.

Fulham wanted to sign him but Merthyr were in the FA Trophy quarter-finals and he had to make the decision to stay and help them try and make the final at Wembley Stadium or move to Craven Cottage. In the end, the move to Fulham was too good an opportunity to turn down.

He made 247 appearances for the Cottagers and scored 114 goals also earned 16 full international caps for Wales.

In November 1984, Chelsea made an of £90,000, plus a further £35,000 after 35 first-team appearances, which was accepted.

But Davies only made 13 appearances and scored 6 goals but was then omitted from the team.

The following year, in October 1985, Manchester City had a bid for him accepted and so, he returned to the club that had released in over ten years previously.

It was an inspired return as in his second game against Leeds United, he scored a hat-trick and went on to score 9 goals in 31 appearances for City, with one of his goals being nominated for Match of the Day`s `Goal of the Season`, which was eventually won by Bryan Robson.

Davies' second spell at Fulham lasted five years, another 147 games and 45 goals when he returned in November 1986 for a fee of £50,000.

By the end of his second run, he had become their record goalscorer, surpassing the legendary Johnny Haynes total of 157 goals, with an impressive 159 goals from 394 appearances.

He was given a testimonial game against a Wales XI at the conclusion of his career with Fulham in 1991.

He went on to play for Wrexham for a season, making 22 appearances and scoring 4 goals for the North Wales club and, after a short stint in Norway with Tornado FK, spent a season in the Conference with Northwich Victoria before bringing his career to an end in 1993.

In May 1991, JOHN GAYLE (pictured) scored two spectacular goals as his boyhood team Birmingham City beat Tranmere Rovers to lift the Leyland DAF Cup.

A battering ram of a centre-forward who had been mocked for his lack of elegance as a Sunday League footballer, Gayle was 24 by the time he entered the professional game.

Seemingly unstoppable at his best, the thunderous drive and acrobatic overhead kick that helped Blues to a 3-2 win at Wembley thrust him into the spotlight.

There were offers from First Division clubs and a call up to the England B team before injuries curtailed his ambitions.

A price of £900,000 was agreed with Birmingham`s arch-rivals Aston Villa and Sheffield United lodged a similar bid and Gayle had agreed to join the Blades but he injured his Achilles whilst on holiday and he ended up missing almost 18 months of football.

However, Gayle`s story is an example to all aspiring non-League footballers who may think their chance of becoming a professional has gone.

As a 15-year-old, making an impression on Southern League Midland Division Alvechurch's first team, he turned down an offer from Northampton Town in order to stay home and look after his sisters while his mum was ill. It was hard to make ends meet.

During the 1980s, Gayle journeyed around the Midlands non-League scene, taking in spells with Midland Combination sides Highgate United, Stratford Town and Solihull Borough, then-West Midlands (Regional) Leaguers Tamworth and Southern League outfits Sutton Coldfield Town, Mile Oak Rovers, Bromsgrove Rovers and then Burton Albion.

It was whilst with the Brewers, where he had re-joined his former Bromsgrove manager Bobby Hope, that Gayle joined Wimbledon in March 1989 for a fee of £30,000 in a deal that also saw Steve Cotterill moving Plough Lane.

Sadly, for Gayle, he was already cup-tied so was unable to take any part in Wimbledon`s famous 1-0 FA Cup Final win over Liverpool a couple of months later.

He made 20 appearances for the Dons under Bobby Gould, scoring just 2 goals, but never settled in London and moved back `home` to Birmingham City in November 1990 for a £175,000 fee and spent three years at St Andrews, making 44 appearances and scoring 10 goals, including those priceless two at Wembley.

Spells of varying lengths followed with Coventry City, Burnley, Stoke City, Northampton, Scunthorpe United, Shrewsbury Town and Torquay United, where his professional days came to an end in 2001.

He returned to the Midlands and to the Southern League Premier Division with Moor Green in the summer of 2001, making 39 appearances and scoring 6 goals in 2001/02, before going back to Devon and managing South West Peninsula League sides Totnes & Dartington and Newton Abbot.

Former goalkeeper JACK WHEELER is a legendary name at Notts County and there are not that many footballers who are deemed worthy of a statue, but he was honoured with one sitting alongside County`s long-serving manager Jimmy Sirrell.

Born in Evesham in 1919, he started his career with then-Southern League club Cheltenham Town in 1935.

In 1938, he signed for First Division Birmingham – they didn`t add `City` to their title until 1945.

But he had to compete with England international duo Harry Hibbs and Gil Merrick in a decade at St Andrews interrupted by the Second World War.

If he hoped his £6,000 transfer to Huddersfield Town in August 1948 would provide a passport to regular first-team football, he was mistaken.

Wheeler had to compete with Harry Mills for the number one jersey, and it wasn't until the 1952/53 campaign that he became automatic first choice.

Town had been relegated from the top-flight the season before but booked an immediate return under Andy Beattie.

Wheeler, full-backs Ron Staniforth and Laurie Kelly, centre-half Don McEvoy and wing-halves Bill McGarry and Len Quested all played in each of the 42 games - creating a new Football League record.

Wheeler was an ever-present again in 1954/55 and in all, made 182 appearances in all competitions for the club before being signed by the legendary Tommy Lawton for Southern League Kettering Town in August 1956.

He was already 37 when he joined the Poppies, turning down the chance to stay in the Football League with Swindon Town to have the opportunity to play in the same team as the ex-Everton, Chelsea and England centre-forward.

And he played a major role as the Poppies stormed to the Southern League title.

After a brief stint with home-town club Evesham United in the Birmingham League, he re-joined Lawton at Notts County, with whom he totted up more than 1,200 matches and 25 years as a trainer, scout and two spells as caretaker manager before retiring.

DAI WARD was a former Welsh international who, during his career in the Football League, averaged a goal every other game, scoring 160 goals in 316 matches between 1954 and 1965.

He began his career at his hometown side Barry Town in the Southern League and his prolific goalscoring exploits led a number of teams to take an interest in him.

He eventually signed for Bristol Rovers, but it was a number of years before he managed to hold down a regular place in the side due to the presence of one of the club`s all-time greats in Geoff Bradford.

He was eventually handed a regular chance in the side and responded by scoring 9 goals in his first 8 games.

His most prolific season for the club was in 1958/59 when he finished the season with 27 goals in 38 matches and it was this form that resulted in him earning his first cap for Wales in a 2–2 draw with England in November 1958 in the 1959 British Home Championship.

Ward's spell at the club turned sour when he fell out with manager Bert Tann and began a bitter battle to leave the club, even at one time threatening to quit football entirely unless he was allowed to leave.

He did leave in February 1961 to return to his home country to sign for Cardiff City.

In his first full season at the club, he finished as the top scorer with 17 goals and was handed his second Wales cap in a 1–1 draw with England in October 1961.

However, his efforts could not stop the club being relegated from the First Division and the following season he fell out of favour and was allowed to join Watford, where he spent one year before finishing his professional career at Brentford.

He went on to play in the Southern League Premier Division for Worcester City in 1965/66, Bath City in 66/67, Cambridge United under Bill Leivers in 67/68 and then Cambridge City, who he signed for in 1968 and stayed until 1973.

He also was assistant manager at then-Eastern Counties League club Histon in 1983 where his son David was a member of the squad.

It`s probably fair to say that ROGER DAVIES wasn`t the most elegant of centre-forwards!

He was certainly an imposing figure, standing 6`4". However, he possessed an ungainly style that sometimes baffled his team-mates as much as the opposition!

He actually began his career in the Midland Combination with Bridgnorth Town at the age of 18.

In 1970 he stepped up to the Southern League Premier Division with Worcester City and his brief time at St George`s Lane saw the legendary managerial team of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor bring the rough diamond to Derby County in September 1971.

He went on to become a key member of Dave Mackay's Derby side which won the league title in 1974/75, missing only two games and memorably scoring five times in a game against Luton Town.

In July 1976, he moved to Club Brugge, managed by Austrian Ernst Happel, who over his managerial career, won the European Cup twice and took the Netherlands to the 1978 World Cup Final.

Over the course of Davies` first season in Belgium, Brugge won the league and cup `double`, and he was also voted Belgium's player of the year.

He started the next season in Bruges before his surprise move, for personal reasons, to relegation-bound Leicester City in December 1977.

In the 14 games he played for Leicester until the end of the season, he was only in a winning side once and was the joint top scorer with just 4 goals.

The following year, under new manager Jock Wallace, Davies left for Tulsa Roughnecks.

Apart from a brief return to Derby, he spent five years in the USA, also playing for Seattle Sounders and Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Returning to England in 1983, he finished his professional career at Darlington before being signed by then-West Midlands (Regional) League side Gresley Rovers by his former Derby team-mate David Nish.

When Nish left The Moat Ground, Davies took over from him as player-manager in June 1984.

However, a twist of fate saw him bring in Frank Northwood to join him as a joint management team in January 1995 and at the end of that season, Northwood was installed as manager with Davies taking the title of assistant.

But in November 1995, Northwood told Davies he could leave and he joined Midland Alliance outfit Stapenhill.

PAUL HARDYMAN began his career at Southern League Waterlooville, immediately becoming a first-team regular for the whole of the 1982/83 season, playing as a winger.

During that season he also appeared several times for Portsmouth reserves in the Midweek League.

Waterlooville were relegated from the Southern League Premier Division at the end of the season and Harydman joined Portsmouth permanently that summer, shortly after Pompey`s promotion to the Second Division and was converted to a left-back.

A series of injuries set him back at first. However, his form was good enough for him to earn an England under-21 cap against the Republic of Ireland in March 1985.

He played 33 games as Pompey were promoted from the Second Division in 86/87.

After 117 appearances and 3 goals, Hardyman left Portsmouth for Sunderland for a fee of around £250,000.

He made just over 100 appearances for the Black Cats, with 5 goals, and played in the 1992 FA Cup Final, coming on as a substitute in the defeat to Liverpool.

He moved to Bristol Rovers in 1992 and added 67 games and 5 goals to his tally and finished off with short spells with Wycombe Wanderers and Barnet.

He returned to Portsmouth in 2000 as assistant youth development officer, managed Sydenhams Football League (Wessex) side New Milton Town in 2010/11 and has since been back at Pompey as youth coach, at Watford, coaching their under-12 and under-14 teams, before becoming the under-18 coach in summer 2017 and in July 2018 joined Southampton after being appointed to the position of lead under-16s coach in the Saints academy.

Centre forward PETER GORING was a key figure in Arsenal's 1950 FA Cup Final triumph.

He had been playing for local side Smiths Industries when he joined Southern League Cheltenham Town in 1945, scoring 25 goals in his first season.

Undoubtedly one of the finest footballers to hail from Gloucestershire, he moved to Arsenal for £1,500 midway through the 1947/48 campaign, scoring on his league debut in the Gunners` 2-1 win at Chelsea in August 1949.

Leading marksman that season, he also helped the Gunners reach the FA Cup Final in 1952 and win the league title in 1952/53.

He switched to wing half and had a spell as captain, scoring 51 goals in 220 First Division games prior to joining Southern League Premier Division side Boston United in October 1960 in a swap deal that saw Alan Ashberry join the Gunners.

He returned to Gloucestershire after an unhappy season with the Pilgrims which saw them finish bottom of the table.

He became a greengrocer in Cheltenham but seven years after last being involved in the game, offered to help out the newly formed Forest Green Rovers club, who had become founder members of the Gloucestershire County League in 1968.

Goring left Forest Green eleven years later in 1979, having helped establish them into the Hellenic League and many of his players were still with the club when they won the FA Vase at Wembley three years later.



https://www.betvictorsouthern.co.uk/news/124165/The-Southern-League-Graduates-Part-One

[WhiteJC]

Fulham 'Til I Die

With enough time on my hands lately, I've had the opportunity to sit down and watch both the Sunderland 'Til I Die episodes, and, must admit, that even if you aren't a Sunderland fan, it's a very good watch!

Not only does the series give a good insight into how poor ownership can kill a football club, it also gives a good insight as to how it affects a whole community, who rely heavily on their football.

One thing that did spring to mind, is that Sunderland fans are one of the most passionate in the country, and it was sad to watch their demise from the Premier League, to the Championship, and then to League One in consecutive seasons.

Don't get me wrong, Sunderland as a Club are as much to blame for this, simply because of the business model they put in place, it wasn't sustainable, and, when the owner lost interest, they were only heading one way.

The new ownership now see the value in Sunderland, they recognise the core values of the club, they understand they need to be self-sufficient, but, for me, I feel the long term damage will make this task a lot harder for them.

Being a Fulham fan, I've experienced the high's and lows of the Club, from the dark days of nearly becoming Fulham Park Rangers, to a wonderful Europa League Final in Hamburg, to the most recent Playoff Final at Wembley.

One thing that does always stick in my mind though, is that Fulham could quite easily end up like Sunderland, not saying that we would, but the potential is there if our current owners lose interest.

Shad Khan is a very wealthy man, he's worth in region of 9.6B USD, but, he never seems to be at the fore-front of Fulham, with other ventures being more important to him, such as the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Granted, his son Tony Khan has been more hands-on with Fulham over the seasons, has made the odd mistake here and there, but even he has taken a step back lately, to concentrate on his All Elite Wrestling franchise.

The good news thought, is that Riverside Development has now pushed ahead, showing a level of long-term commitment from the Khans, at the cost of 100M+, which has been a relief to a lot of FFC fans.

Not only does this increase the capacity at Craven Cottage, it also increases the in / out of matchday revenues, and certainly adds to the future price of Fulham Football Club.

Having run at a significant loss since our recent relegation from the Premier League, my main concern, is how long Fulham can be sustain this, and how long will Kahn's continue to invest?

Granted, they are doing a wonderful job right now, but, if circumstances change, then what? What is the long-term strategy of the Kahn's, and what do they put in place to ensure we don't end up like Sunderland.

I'd like to think these current owners are here for the life-time of the Club, but, with the likes of Chelsea just down the road, and other big London Clubs like Arsenal, Spurs just around the corner, at what levels are the Kahn's willing to go with Fulham?


Make sure you check some other interesting articles over at the Friends of Fulham Forum:

https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0




https://www.friendsoffulham.com/wordpress/?p=1137

[WhiteJC]

2 issues Scott Parker needs to address at Fulham before season resumes

Fulham will be eager to get their season going once more in the Sky Bet Championship as they look to reel in both West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United.

The men from Craven Cottage are certainly capable of doing so, with every game they play between now and the end of the campaign – whenever that proves to be – ones they'll think that they can get three points out of.

For Scott Parker, it's an ideal time to make plans for any areas where the side could improve and we've found a couple of stats that he might think about giving attention to.

Let's take a look at them now:

Away form dragging them down

At home, Fulham are the best in the league and it's clear that their possession-based style at Craven Cottage leaves few sides with much of a chance – though there has been a couple of silly hiccups along the way.

On the road, they're by no means terrible but just six wins from 18 matches means they've missed out on some important points – especially when West Brom and Leeds are top of the away form table.

Recent slow starts

In recent games, Fulham have had plenty of the ball and created chances but they've not got the goals to settle things as quickly as possible.

There's been no first-half goal for the Lilywhites since February 12th and matches like the one against Swansea could have been a draw had they not taken chances earlier before eventually nicking it.

For the sake of fans' blood pressure at least, a few early goals in the coming games would be ideal.



https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/2-issues-scott-parker-needs-to-address-at-fulham-before-season-resumes/

[OldBrownShoe]

 049:gif not forgetting our own "Noisy" O'Driscoll, or further back, former England Amateur International Centre Forward Bobby Brown, Reg Stratton amongst others.