Thursday Fulham Stuff - 04/06/20...

[WhiteJC]

Cardiff City chairman details why former Bristol City forward's move to the club didn't work out

The Robins youth product moved to the CCS after a stellar season leading the line for Bristol City, but left to join Championship side Fulham just one year later


Cardiff forward Bobby Reid

Cardiff City chairman Mehmet Dalman has detailed why Bobby Decordova-Reid's transfer to the side from Bristol City did not work out.

Decordova-Reid came through the youth system at Bristol City, starting out as a midfield player before Lee Johnson pushed him further up the field as he broke into the City side.

He was the club's top scorer in the 2017/18 season (21 goals) and missed out on the Championship golden boot to Matej Vydra, but after the Robins missed out on the play-off spots the Premier League came calling for the Jamaica international.

He scored five goals in 27 games for Bristol City's Severnside rivals as they were relegated in their first season back in the top division but struggled to fit into the system and moved to Fulham a year later in the summer window.

The move was initially a loan deal, but after impressing Cottagers boss Scott Parker during his short time at the club, the move was made permanent for a fee reported to be around £10 million.

The transfer to Fulham has worked out better than the move to City's rivals did, and now Dalman has suggested that Decordova-Reid didn't fit into then-manager Neil Warnock's system.

Speaking to ACE Podcast Nation about transfers that didn't work out, including Gary Madine and Kenneth Zohore, when asked why the club accepted the offer from Fulham he said: "Because they gave us a very good offer.

"I think at the end of the day, the football Neil Warnock was playing didn't suit Reid, and Reid didn't feel terribly comfortable with the style of football that was being played.

"We tried to adjust to that and we were not getting there.

"When Fulham came with the offer that they did, we took it.

"It was the right thing for us to do because you can't force a player to play in a certain style, but you are not going to change the team."

Decordova-Reid made his first team debut for Bristol City in the 2010/11 before loan spells at Cheltenham Town, Oldham Athletic and Plymouth Argyle.

He was a key part of the side which went to the Carabao Cup semi-finals in 2017/18, scoring against Manchester City in the first-leg at the Etihad Stadium.

The forward has made 23 starts in the Championship for Fulham this year, scoring five goals and setting up three more.



https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/cardiff-city-chairman-details-former-4186084

[WhiteJC]

Fulham have option to sign AFC Bournemouth favourite on permanent deal



Fulham have the option to sign AFC BOURNEMOUTH LOANEE HARRY ARTER ON A PERMANENT BASIS.

The Cottagers signed him on loan last summer with the view to a permanent deal this summer, as detailed on their official club website when he joined last August.

Arter, who is 30 years old, has made 21 appearances in all competitions for Scott Parkers side this season.

They face a decision to make on whether he has a long-term future at Craven Cottage.

The midfielder still has a year left on his contract at Bournemouth but is likely to leave them this summer, even if Fulham opt against signing him. He has fallen down the pecking order with the Cherries and was also loaned out to Cardiff City last season.

Arter's chances of joining Fulham on a permanent basis could depend on what league they are in next term. If he can help them gain promotion to the Premier League when the season resumes then they may decide to exercise their option.

The ex-Charlton Athletic man signed for Bournemouth from Woking in 2010 and has since played 255 games for Eddie Howe's side, helping them get from League One to the top flight during his 10 years there.

However, Arter's lengthy association with the Cherries could come to an end soon if Fulham decide to sign him. They also have the same decision to make with Anthony Knockaert, who is on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion.

Fulham currently sit 3rd in league table, six points behind West Brom in 2nd.



https://the72.co.uk/170250/fulham-have-option-to-sign-afc-bournemouth-favourite-on-permanent-deal/

[WhiteJC]

The Long Read: Paul Parker

"He leaps like a salmon and tackles like a ferret."

That was the famous description of Paul Parker given by England Manager Bobby Robson at the 1990 World Cup – one that those Fulham fans who watched the defender grow up at Craven Cottage would likely agree with.

Despite his small stature, Parker's athleticism made him a formidable wall for even the burliest of opposition strikers, with Malcolm Macdonald's decision to transition him from right to centre back quickly vindicated.

"I had a big patch where I never saw a full-back position for years and years," Parker told fulhamfc.com. "I had to learn to become a full-back again when I went to Manchester United. At Fulham I did start as a right-back, but then played quite a lot of games as a centre-half with Roger Brown, I played a few with Tony Gale as well. When my time at Fulham finished and I went to QPR I was definitely a centre-half."

Brown was exactly the sort of defender you would imagine when picturing English football in the 1980s; robust, imposing – the yin to Parker's yang.

"Stature, everything was completely different," he says when drawing comparisons to his late teammate. "But our way of defending was quite similar; we saw our primary job as limiting and destroying a team's opportunities against us, making sure they didn't take any liberties. The way we did it was different, though. Roger was always about attacking the ball in the air and being very aggressive in the way he defended. Me, my pace was always going to get me out of trouble. If anybody did get in behind me then I fancied my chances of getting back. That's why I enjoyed playing in the centre of the park because I had such an area to cover."

Parker joined Fulham as an enthusiastic 11-year-old, and went on to do his apprenticeship alongside a number of players who would go to become very popular in SW6.

"There was Jim Stannard, Jeff Hopkins, Dean Coney, John Marshall, Peter Scott, Dale Tempest, Leroy Rosenior, Clifford Carr who I was in the youth team with, and later went on to the First Team," he recalled.

"We were all apprentices together and then about seven or eight of us played together in the First Team. We were all together from a young age and had been through all the trials and tribulations that came with being an apprentice footballer at that time; cleaning boots, painting stands, cleaning the toilets at the ground – everything that the modern day apprentice isn't allowed to do. But it's something that made us all better people.

"I'd leave my house with my mum about 6.30 in the morning and get the bus to Elm Park station which is a few stops from the end of the District Line on the east side, jump on a train and then meet Dean Coney, Jim Stannard and a few others. Once we got to the ground we'd be straight on cleaning boots and making sure all the kit was ready for the pros we were looking after. Then we'd jump in the minibus and head to the Bank of England training ground at Roehampton. Once we had put all the kit out for the pros, only then would we go out and train. We'd finish just before the senior players so that we'd be ready to put all their dirty kits in bags before heading back to put everything in the wash. Then we'd have more cleaning to do around the ground, until we were told we could go home. But they were good times, and we've now got a WhatsApp group with about 20 of us on it from different eras."

Younger Fulham fans will likely know of Parker, but maybe not the significance of his departure.

With the Club in desperate need of funds and the grim possibility of 'Fulham Park Rangers' becoming a reality, Parker was sold to our local rivals in a joint move with Dean Coney, for the much needed sum of £500,000.

"I didn't have a say in it, but I knew it was coming," Parker recalled. "We'd been relegated the season before, and it wasn't as enjoyable as it had been. It just worked out that the people at Fulham, Marler Estates, wanted to take me and Dean to Queens Park Rangers. I've been told on many occasions that if I'd have kicked up a fuss and not wanted to go, then that would have affected the actual sale of Fulham, and maybe Fulham wouldn't have been anymore if I hadn't gone to QPR.

"Marler Estates were buying into QPR and there was all the amalgamation stuff that was being talked about. I got on very well with the chairman David Bulstrode at that time and he made it obvious to me what his intentions were. From a career point of view, maybe I should have left a couple of years earlier, but it never crossed my mind that I would ever leave Fulham.

"It's just a shame really that that happened at that given time because if you talk about favourite clubs, Fulham is always going to be one of those that people talk about. Craven Cottage is maybe the most iconic ground in the country. FFC, Friendly Football Club. That's how it was when I was a kid and it's something that's absolutely never changed. Friends will always get you through when a situation is bad, so Fulham will always have that on their side."

Even now, Parker is still contributing to the Fulham cause, playing a role in young Ben Davis signing for the Club.

"I lived in Singapore for eight years," he explained. "I'd known Ben since he was a kid as I used to work for his Dad, who runs one of the best football schools outside of the UK. Ben came through there and I said the moment I arrived that he was by far the most standout player in Singapore – and that includes their national team players. Ben was far and away above them.

"Since I've known him, he's always been a very, very quiet, unassuming lad. He wasn't phased by anything, because he knew what he wanted to be. He wanted to be a footballer, and everything in his mind geared towards that. I was the same as a kid. Ben's mind was focused on coming to the UK and becoming a professional footballer, and it was great to see him make his First Team debut this season."

Football nostalgia has been a welcome release for fans during lockdown, and this summer marks 30 years since the iconic tournament that was Italia 90. Parker travelled as one of the least experienced members of the England squad, but ended up starting every game bar the opener.

"When I was growing up it was all about playing in a FA Cup Final, playing for the best team, and playing for your country. And, more than anything, playing at a World Cup," Parker said. "To leave Third Division Fulham in 1987 and then three years later I'm playing in a World Cup Semi-Final, it's the kind of thing that wouldn't really happen in today's football.

"I play 15 minutes of competitive football before I go to the World Cup. Prior to that I'd started two or three friendly matches, but 15 minutes against Albania in a 5-0 win was the only competitive football I'd had. And then, second game in, I'm playing. All of a sudden, I've played six out of the seven matches at the World Cup."

With almost 40 caps under his belt, Rangers' Gary Stevens had firmly established himself as England's first choice right-back. But after Robson switched things up tactically for the meeting with the Netherlands in the Group Stage, Parker leapfrogged him in the pecking order.

"After drawing with Ireland, I think Bobby Robson looked at the next game against the Dutch and thought we needed something different," he explained. "Bryan Robson said we needed to flood the midfield to stop them passing the ball, so Bobby decided - with my pace and tendency to dig in – to put me in as right wing-back. I think I was more back than wing, mind you! When it reverted to a back four, Bobby kept me at right-back in front of Gary Stevens, who had been the regular from the moment he got into that England squad. Gary Stevens was England's right-back, but Bobby stuck with me. Never in a million years did I think I could get in front of Gary."

The Semi-Final defeat by West Germany was a busy one for Parker. First he deflected a German free-kick over his goalkeeper Peter Shilton, before providing the assist for Gary Lineker to equalise. In the end, missed penalties in the shootout from Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle condemned the Three Lions to defeat.

When asked what number taker he would have been, Parker replied: "I put myself behind Peter Shilton, even though Shilts struggled to get the ball out of the box at a goal kick! If I had to walk from the halfway line then I would have crumbled, my head would have gone.

"I watched the game back again and only then did I really realise how dominant we were for a major part of it, especially when you compare it to some of the other matches. The Netherlands we were okay, Egypt we got over the line and did what we had to, Belgium we had a little bit of good fortune, Cameroon we had a lot of luck. But Germany was that one game where we were so unfortunate. If we'd have gone through, it would have been deserved because of our performance. Our best performance."

One of the most famous moments from that infamous night in Turin was Paul Gascoigne breaking down when he picked up a booking which would have ruled him out of the Final.

"I think I was in the background of the picture when that happened," Parker said. "You knew what Gazza was like – very, very emotional. He got sent off against me when I was at QPR – I was ushering the ball out for a goal kick and Gazza decided he wanted to kick the back of my legs. I'd stopped and let the ball go out, and he just kept kicking me! But that was Gazza. We saw it again in the FA Cup Final against Nottingham Forest. In that Germany game, he knew that whatever happened, he wasn't going to play in the Final. But I think you have to hand it to him, how he accepted that and controlled himself. After that booking, he got himself sorted out, didn't think about himself and just thought about the team."

Parker is a regular on the punditry circuit these days, but he can also be spotted at the racetrack, having developed an interest in horses.

"A Fulham fan called Darren Dix is the main shareholder in one of the horses I'm involved in, called Marbles Are Blue – say that quickly and you'll get it! It's all part of a sports business network called Cross Channel Racing, who I'm the ambassador for. The horse racing aspect is just a small part of it. Everyone who knows me would wonder why I'm involved in horses, because I don't even gamble. Going down to horse racing stables and seeing how they train them is just so interesting. It's very similar to how they train the modern day footballer – it isn't about quantity, it's about quality. You give them their run, then take the pressure off and relax, water them down and stretch off. All that which goes on in the background is what intrigues me."

Paul does in fact own a horse himself, too. The name? Tackles Like A Ferret. Naturally.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2020/june/03/the-long-read-paul-parker

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2020/june/03/the-long-read-paul-parker

Elite football in England has been suspended since 13 March

A meeting of English Football League clubs to rubber-stamp proposals on how to end a season early because of coronavirus has been moved to Tuesday.

Clubs had been due to meet on Monday to vote on a framework approved by the EFL board, which includes keeping promotion, relegation and play-offs.

Alternative ideas have also been submitted by some EFL sides.

Teams in League Two have already indicated they wish to end the season, but League One sides remain undecided.

The Championship has set a provisional restart date of 20 June.

It is understood the meeting has been pushed back 24 hours because clubs were given voting papers on Wednesday and five days are required before an EGM can take place.

"The EFL Board met today and considered a number of proposals submitted by EFL clubs in respect of proposed amendments to EFL regulations in order to determine what will happen in the event the 2019-20 season is curtailed in any EFL division," an EFL statement said.

"This now brings an end to a comprehensive consultation phase and clubs have today received formal notice of the meeting which will now take place on Tuesday, 9 June.

"At that meeting clubs will consider a number of different proposals from both clubs and the board of the EFL."



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52914059

[WhiteJC]

Former Ghana star Paintsil explains why he scored own goals at Fulham

The erstwhile full-back opens up on his time at Craven Cottage

Former Ghana international John Paintsil has made a stark revelation about his time with English Premier League side Fulham.

The defender joined the Cottagers in 2008 after a two-year stay with West Ham United.

His last season at the club, though, would linger long in the minds of many after he scored a succession of own goals.

"When I joined Fulham in 2008 I was supposed to seal a four-year permanent deal with them but unfortunately for me, Roy Hodgson who brought me to the club left immediately after the 2010 World Cup," "Paintsil told Kasapa FM.

"I had to lift up my game to catch the eye and attention of the new manager Mark Hughes.

"I remember my first day at training after the World Cup, I confronted Mark Hughes about my contract and to find out whether he had plans for me.

"He told me to give him two weeks to make a decision. Many days and months passed but he was still procrastinating and this was causing me a severe despondency and dejection.

"In fact I lost my mental strength and I began to score own goals. In one those moments, I scored four own goals in a month and this is unusual of me and this even got me thinking about retiring from the game.

"I believe I retired prematurely from football because of what I experienced at Fulham under Mark Hughes."

Paintsil ultimately scored four own goals in 94 Premier League appearances, averaging an own goal in every 24 matches.

The record, at the time, put him fourth on the list of all-time own goal scorers per 24 games.

Paintsil left Fulham at the end of the famous season to join Leicester City, from where transferred to Israeli outfit Hapoel Tel Aviv.

In 2013, the former Liberty Professionals man made a return to Africa, joining South African side Santos.

A year later, he crossed carpets to Maritzburg United where he called time on his playing career.

A member of Ghana's silver-winning side at the 2001 Fifa U20 World Cup in Argentina, Paintsil helped the West African nation qualify for the senior World Cup for the first time in 2006.

He played at the final tournament in Germany and made a second appearance at the 2010 edition in South Africa.



https://www.goal.com/en/news/former-ghana-star-paintsil-explains-why-he-scored-own-goals/1xzbd9o7cwzak1gj8qlptshy7x

[WhiteJC]

Championship Covid-19 testing: Nine people test positive

Two people at Preston have tested positive for Covid-19 out of 24 in the Championship

Nine people at six Championship clubs have tested positive for Covid-19 in the latest round of testing.

Preston and Sheffield Wednesday have confirmed they each have one person who returned a positive test.

It comes after 10 positive tests in England's second tier and seven in League Two on Saturday.

In the Championship, 1,094 people were tested over the past four days and those who are positive will self-isolate in line with EFL guidelines.

In League Two, a total of 126 players and staff were tested but all came back negative.

More than 4,000 tests on players and staff have been carried out in the Championship since 21 May, with 24 individuals testing positive.

The Championship has set a provisional restart date of 20 June and players have been back in training for more than a week. Only those who have returned negative tests are allowed to enter training grounds.

So far, Preston, Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Fulham and Hull City are the only clubs to have confirmed their players or staff have tested positive for coronavirus.

Preston, whose striker Jayden Stockley is self-isolating after testing positive at the weekend, said they had now carried out 186 tests.

"The person had received negative results in all his previous tests, but undertook his latest swab on Monday of this week, which has now provided a positive result," a club statement added.

Sheffield Wednesday, whose manager Garry Monk had earlier said he believed the Championship should restart a week after the Premier League, said the staff member who tested positive had no symptoms but was self-isolating.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52914066

[WhiteJC]

Garry Monk: Sheffield Wednesday boss keen for Championship restart a week later

Garry Monk's Sheffield Wednesday were 15th in the Championship when the season was suspended in March

Sheffield Wednesday boss Garry Monk believes plans to restart the Championship season on the same weekend as the Premier League are "unfair".

Second-tier sides have been allowed in full contact training this week, several days behind top-flight teams.

The EFL has said their proposed restart date of 20 June is "provisional" and based on safety requirements being met.

It added there is "significant support within the Championship to get back playing as soon as possible".

Asked if the EFL should consider moving the restart date back by a week, Monk told BBC Look North: "In my opinion, from a welfare point of view and from what we've believed all the way through in what we were doing - we've always believed we were working a week behind the Premier League - so I think that should happen.

"Whether we have a say in that remains to be seen. You'd like to think it would happen.

"All I can do is control what I can control and, now that it's been announced, we have to try to prepare the players as best we can to start on 20 June.

"I understand the reasons why the EFL want to start on that day, but I think it is unfair on us, in terms of the Premier League are starting on that day.

"They've had longer in contact training, a longer period in training than we have. Of course we would like the same and that's always been the consensus. Hopefully common sense prevails."

The Premier League is scheduled to restart on 17 June with two midweek matches before the whole league returns to action the weekend of 20-21 June.

There has been a mixed response among Championship clubs to the potential restart date.

Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate, Bristol City chief executive Mark Ashton and Luton defender Sonny Bradley were among those to welcome the plan to resume the campaign on that date, but QPR chief executive Lee Hoos said he was "appalled" that players would be expected to play games less than three weeks after resuming full-contact training.

Reacting to Hoos' comments, an EFL spokesperson said: "The overall situation remains complex with a number of moving parts to work through in order to get matches in the Championship up and running again, so collectively we need to be flexible in our approach at this time.

"Importantly, we will continue to have regular dialogue and consult with our clubs in the coming days and weeks on all the operational challenges ahead of games restarting - subject, of course, to all safety requirements and government guidance being met."

There have been no games played in the Championship since 8 March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

There are 108 matches remaining in the second tier's regular season to be played behind closed doors, plus the play-off semi-finals and final, provisionally scheduled for the end of July.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52907396

[filham]

Interesting to remember how many of Paul Parker's fellow apprentices made it into the first team with him.

Wish our present academy could do something similar right now.