Wednesday Fulham Stuff (01/12/10)...

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/December/FAYouthCupDetails.aspx?

FA Youth Cup Action

Fulham face West Bromwich Albion in the Third Round of The FA Youth Cup sponsored by E.ON at the Cottage on Wednesday evening (Kick-Off 7pm).

Supporters wishing to get behind Fulham's Academy Team can purchase their tickets at the gate prior to kick-off.

Ticket Prices:

Adults £3
Over 65s £1
Under 16s £1
Stadium Store 20% Discount

Supporters heading to the Cottage can also take advantage of 20% off in the Stadium Store between 4pm-7pm on Wednesday. With Christmas just around the corner, don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to save on your Christmas shopping.



Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/December/FAYouthCupDetails.aspx?#ixzz16rKbOgLA

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/December/MemorialDay.aspx

Fulham Memorial Day

Fans are advised that on Sunday 12th December 2010 the Club will be holding its first Memorial Day for friends and family of Supporters who have recently passed away.

Club Chaplain, Rev Gary Piper, will conduct a short memorial service followed by the opportunity for Fans to go into the stands for private reflection.

Tea, coffee and sandwiches will be provided, and a cash bar will also be available.

Arrive before 2:45pm for the service which is scheduled to start at 3pm. All Supporters are asked to register their interest by emailing [email protected].

Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/December/MemorialDay.aspx#ixzz16rzGgdib

[WhiteJC]

http://www.teamtalk.com/tottenham-hotspur/6545736/Cottagers-case-is-put-on-hold?

Cottagers case is put on hold

Fulham's bid to oust Sir David Richards as Premier League chairman looks set to be dealt with by an independent arbitration process.

The High Court has ordered a stay of the club's legal proceedings against him.

The Cottagers have been seeking to have Richards removed - or at the very least banned from involvement with any transfers - after accusing him of scuppering their attempt to sign Peter Crouch from Portsmouth in July 2009.

Fulham launched legal action against both Richards and the Premier League over the matter, but on Wednesday saw the latter pair successfully apply to halt those proceedings while arbitration takes place.

It is not yet known if the club have sought permission to appeal Wednesday's decision.

In granting the Premier League and Richards application of a stay, Mr Justice Vos said in his judgment: "The arbitrators will have adequate powers to deal with Fulham's complaint properly, fairly and satisfactorily, and it would be extremely desirable for all concerned if they were permitted to do so without further delay."

Technically, the arbitration proceedings will have the power to force Richards' removal but Wednesday's decision will nevertheless be seen as a blow to Fulham's hopes on that front.

The decision of the arbitration process is binding, although Fulham may still attempt to take the matter further if the verdict does not go their way.

The club claim Richards interfered with their bid to buy Crouch, who ended up joining Tottenham for £9million, £2million less than they were reportedly willing to pay.

Richards allegedly intervened because Spurs were prepared to offer Portsmouth £9million up front at a time when the south-coast club's very existence was under threat, while Fulham were thought to be planning to pay in instalments.

The Cottagers believe Richards broke both Football Association and Premier League rules and failed to act fairly by promoting the interests of one club over another.

Though he accepts he did speak with Portsmouth's then chief executive Peter Storrie - a personal friend - Richards denies he sought to assist Tottenham.

He was cleared of any wrongdoing by a Premier League inquiry but Fulham felt otherwise and called in the lawyers, an unprecedented step from a shareholder club against an organisation's chairman.

If he is ousted, it would send shockwaves through the English game.

The former Sheffield Wednesday supremo has been Premier League chairman for 11 years and is also vice-chairman of the FA, chairman of Club England and is on the FA's international committee.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/dec/01/fulham-premier-league-richards-arbitration?

Fulham's case against Premier League chairman set for arbitration
• Court orders stay of proceedings against Sir Dave Richards
• Fulham claim Richards stopped them signing Peter Crouch

Fulham's attempt to oust Sir Dave Richards as Premier League chairman is set to be dealt with by an independent arbitration process after the High Court today ordered a stay of the club's legal proceedings against him.

The west London club have been seeking to have Richards removed – or at the very least banned from involvement with any transfers – after accusing him of scuppering their attempt to sign Peter Crouch from Portsmouth in July 2009.

Fulham launched legal action, but today Richards and the Premier League successfully applied to halt the proceedings while arbitration takes place. It is not yet known if the club have sought permission to appeal today's decision.

In granting the Premier League and Richards application of a stay, Mr Justice Vos said in his judgment: "The arbitrators will have adequate powers to deal with Fulham's complaint properly, fairly and satisfactorily, and it would be extremely desirable for all concerned if they were permitted to do so without further delay."

Technically, the arbitration proceedings will have the power to force Richards's removal but today's decision will nevertheless be seen as a blow to Fulham's hopes on that front.

The club claim Richards interfered with their bid to buy Crouch, who ended up joining Tottenham for £9million, £2m less than they were reportedly willing to pay.

Richards allegedly intervened because Spurs were prepared to offer Portsmouth £9m upfront at a time when the south-coast club's existence was under threat, while Fulham were thought to be planning to pay in instalments.

Fulham believe Richards broke both Football Association and Premier League rules and failed to act fairly by promoting the interests of one club over another.

Though he accepts he did speak with Portsmouth's then chief executive Peter Storrie – a personal friend – Richards denies he sought to assist Tottenham.

He was cleared of any wrongdoing by a Premier League inquiry but Fulham called in the lawyers, an unprecedented step from a shareholder club against an organisation's chairman.

The former Sheffield Wednesday chairman has been Premier League chairman for 11 years and is also vice-chairman of the FA, chairman of Club England and is on the FA's international committee.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/December/JuniorChristmasParty.aspx?

Junior Christmas Party

The Club is pleased to announce a Junior Fans Christmas party at Motspur Park Training Ground on Tuesday 21st December.

This event is only open to Junior Season Ticket Holders and Junior Members and due to space limitations at the Training Ground, only 200 Junior fans will be given access to the event.

We ask parents of Junior Season Ticket Holders or Junior Members to register their child's interest in attending the event, by filling out the form below, and we will randomly select from those fans who register.

The day will consist of a variety of activities for our junior fans including:

Watching the First Team train in the morning.
Participate in a variety of sports activities as hosted by the Fulham Football Club Foundation.
Lunch
Once the First Team has finished up their training they, along with Billy the Badger and Santa, will come and meet all the Junior fans in attendance and sign autographs.
As with our Fulham Football Club Foundation holiday courses, we will ask parents to drop off their children in the morning (exact time will be confirmed shortly) and pick them up at around 2:30pm.

Parents are asked to fill out and submit the form below in order to register their child's interest by Wednesday 15th December 5:00pm. We will then randomly select from those who registered and notify you within two days of closing the online registration form.





Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/December/JuniorChristmasParty.aspx?#ixzz16s0QMoxl

[WhiteJC]

http://www.soccertimes.com/americans/2010/nov30?

Dempsey assumes Fulham lead in goals, provides draw with Birmingham.
By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
SoccerTimes

(Tuesday, November 30, 2010) -- American Clint Dempsey netted his fifth goal of the English Premier League season, heading home the equalizer for Fulham in a 1-1 draw with visiting Birmingham City Saturday at Craven Cottage.

With six goals overall, Dempsey is the Cottagers' leading scorer.

Fulham has been left without much of an attack with injuries to Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora and Mousa Dembele.

Birmingham took the lead on Sebastian Larsson's goal in the 20th minute. In the 53rd minute, a Fulham corner kick across the goal-mouth was headed back toward the near post. Dempsey came roaring in and climbed high over a defender to head home his tying tally.

U.S. striker Eddie Johnson came off the Fulham bench in the 73rd minute and had a great chance to win the game in the late going when he burst through the Birmingham defense only to see his angled shot go into the side-netting.

On November 21, Dempsey went the distance in a 4-1 loss to Manchester City at home. Johnson was not dressed.

Fulham is 0-2-3 during a five-match winless streak. The team is 2-4-9 with 15 points, sitting is 17th place, one point and one position above the relegation zone.

Two places worse and in the drop zone are the Wolverhampton Wanderers and their American goalkeeper, Marcus Hahnemann, has paid the price. He has been benched in favor of Wayne Hennessey, whom he had originally been brought in to mentor after replacing him last season.

On Saturday, with Hennessy playing no better than Hahnemann had, Wolves finally found some offense and defeated Sunderland 3-2.

Wolverhampton Manager Mick McCarthy told England's Guardian newspaper that putting Hahnemann on the bench was one option to try to shake up his drifting club. "Marcus had no problem with it. He was absolutely terrific," McCarthy said. "I'll be sticking with Wayne. I wouldn't have just put him in for one game and if we'd got beaten and he'd made a mistake, changed it. That would have been grossly unfair. He's got to be given another chance. He was our number one, the top jolly, wasn't he? He had a tough time and then Marcus came in. But we'd not kept a clean sheet, we'd not been winning games and it was my decision to change it."

On November 20, Hahnemann had a pair of saves, but Wolverhampton fell 2-1 to Blackpool.

Wolves are tied for 19th and last place at 3-9-3 with 12 points.

U.S. keeper Tim Howard had two saves for Everton in a 4-1 loss Saturday to West Bromwich Albion.

On November 22 at Stadium of Light, Howard gave up a pair of goals to 19-year-old Danny Welbeck, but a late goal by Mikel Arteta allowed visiting Everton to escape with a 2-2 draw with Sunderland.

Welback, on loan from Manchester United, scored in each half, the first time by touching in a hard cross at the far post in the 23rd minute. In the 70th minute, he controlled a cross from Kieran Richardson and looped a header over Howard and into the net

After Everton drew level on Mikel Arteta's tally in the 82nd minute, Welbeck twice came close to a hat trick. Howard had to get down to keep out Welbeck's curling effort and then watched him miss just wide on an effort in stoppage time.

Everton is only a point ahead of Fulham in 16th place at 3-5-7 with 16 points.

U.S. keeper Brad Friedel made three saves for Aston Villa, but was let down often by his defense in a 4-2 setback to Arsenal. It was much the same story November 21 when Friedel made two saves in a 2-0 loss to Blackburn Rovers.

In both games, American keeper Brad Guzan and defender Eric Lichaj were on the bench, but did not play for Villa.

U.S. midfielder Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers, wjo drew 2-2 with Blackpool on Saturday. He was recovering from a thigh injury suffered November 20 in Wanderers' 5-1 demolition of Newcastle United. Holden played an important part in Bolton's surging attack.

U.S. defender Jonathan Spector did not dress for West Ham United (2-7-6, 12 points), tied for last despite being a 3-1 winner Saturday over Wigan Athletic.

On November 20, Spector was on the bench for a 3-0 loss to Liverpool.

In the second-division League Championship, American forward Conor Doyle dressed, but remained on the bench for Derby County, which lost 2-1 Saturday to Burnley. This followed a 3-2 win over Scunthorpe United.

American defender Zak Whitbread remains sidelined for Norwich City with an injured calf and missed a 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town Sunday and, prior to that, a 1-1 draw with Leeds United.

In the third-tier League One, American defender Frank Simek played 90 minutes for Carlisle United, which defeated Tamworth (of the fifth-division Nationwide Conference) 3-2 Saturday in the second round of the FA Cup.

Before that, he went the distance in a 2-1 loss to Walsall, receiving a yellow card.

American attacker Mike Grella did not dress for Carlisle. In the loss to Walall, he went the distance, scoring his team's goal.

Prior to not playing this past weekend, American striker Jemal Johnson came on for the final 17 minutes of Milton Keynes Dons' 4-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday.

American midfielder Anton Peterlin did not dress for Plymouth Argyle in its 2-1 loss to Brentford and then did not play last weekend.

[WhiteJC]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1334664/LEOS-LONDON-Fulham-falling-Mark-Hughes-bring-Sparky-back.html?

LEO'S LONDON: Fulham are falling but Mark Hughes remains the man to bring the Sparky back to Craven Cottage

Mark Hughes knew what would be said after Fulham slid towards the relegation zone and a fan or two called for his head.

But anyone who uses last season's Europa League final appearance under Roy Hodgson as a stick to beat him with is making a big mistake.

Hughes may not have shown much progress at Fulham yet but let's not pretend he has put them into reverse either.

Although last term's achievement was fantastic, it was inspired by a player the new manager has lost to injury: Bobby Zamora.

It also came with a lower mid-table Premier League finish, something which is still comfortably achievable this term.

The legacy left to Hughes by Hodgson was not quite as sparkling as some would have us believe either.

Fulham have good players but few of them are in the first flush of youth and it is beginning to show.

The team that started against Birmingham last Saturday had an average age of 30.5 years, with only three players under 30 and Clint Dempsey, a 27-year-old, the youngest.

They should be entering a rebuilding phase but Hughes' main summer signing, Moussa Dembele (a 23-year-old by the way), who had made an encouraging start, is also out injured.

In that context, with two key forwards missing, a proliferation of draws is not entirely surprising – particularly as goals have been hard to come by for some time at Fulham.

They have managed only a total of 39 in each of the last two Premier League seasons so that pattern, with 15 this term in 15 games, continues.

Hughes has proved at Blackburn that he can manage a club of Fulham's size and resources successfully.

He also enjoyed a degree of success there (a UEFA Cup last-32 spot in one of two seasons in the competition), a League Cup semi-final, two FA Cup semi-finals and three top-10 finishes in the Premier League.

It has been a humiliating time recently for Hughes: Fulham were thrashed at home by the club that dumped him, Manchester City; his chairman Mohamed Fayed dressed down his players at the training ground and then a few catcalls from fans after Birmingham.

But he is still the right man for the job and a great deal better than many of the alternative options out there.

With patience and a few quid to spend he will get it right, and anyone who wonders aloud whether Hughes is the right man to lead the club should be careful what they wish for.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1334664/LEOS-LONDON-Fulham-falling-Mark-Hughes-bring-Sparky-back.html#ixzz16s1TT7WX

[White Noise]

http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/transfer-rumours/3241/9/fulham-prepare-%C2%A32m-bid-former-wigan-defender


Fulham prepare £2m bid for former Wigan defender

By Marc Isaacs


Wednesday, December 1



Fulham are poised to make a £2m move for Groningen defender Andreas Granqvist.

Swede Granqvist, 25, is regarded as one of the best defenders in the Dutch league and has managed to regain his best form following a disappointing spell with Wigan back in 2007.

The defender struggled to make any impact at the DW stadium and managed to get his career back on track with a move to Groningen.

Fulham boss Mark Hughes is looking to strengthen his defence during the January transfer window as the club continue to leak goals and are facing a major struggle at the bottom of the Premier League.

Parma have also been showing an interest in Granqvist, but Fulham look the strong favourites to clinch his signature.