Bookies have us at 13/8 to win the division, so it looks like a few people fancy us already.
Before someone comes on and starts having a moan. Yes the chances of it happening are slim. It's a long season etc etc but don't we go to a football match thinking we might win? This is just an extension of that, a flight of fancy in what might be a very brief purple patch (now I'm miserable). There again we might win the league (I've cheered up).
I completely agree with what you say, For me the issue is some of our colleagues have been playing up to the crowd, bragging that we are going to run away with the league. Now, it is possible that we may do just that, and I would love it if we did. However, if by some freak chance, we lose a match or two, we could have a lot of flak from rival fans, laughing at us for thinking we would easily dominate them. I, and others, are merely pointing out that we do not all hold that view. Not yet.
If you recall the 2000-2001 season, we were doing rather well, and we faced Blackburn towards the end of the season. We were top, they were seven points behind, both of us had more or less guaranteed promotion. There was a kerfuffle raised when, rather than accepting the two best teams were clashing in what would probably be a good, competitive match, Blackburn’s manager, Souness, started banging on about how his team were clearly superior to us. His reasoning went along the lines that they had struggled until October, when they were 15th, but had then gone on a fantastic run, while we had wobbled after Cookie Coleman had his car crash.
Suddenly, there was a lot more riding on the game. The desire was to ram Sourpuss’ words back down his throat. We started poorly, went 1-0 down, then Rufus got sent off. I was there and recall a sinking feeling, that even if we won the league, bloody Sourpuss would still claim his lot were superior. Still, we persevered, and just on halftime Steve Finnan floated a hopeful ball into their area, their goalie and a defender got in each others way, and Saha scored.
The second half was torture, 45 minutes of unrelenting pressure, all down the opposite end of their stadium. They fired in shot after shot. Some missed, some were blocked, some were saved. 45 minutes were up, the fourth official held up his board, three minutes added on. I turned to whoever was sitting next to me and demanded to know where the hell they got three extra minutes from, when we suddenly broke upfield, and Sean Davies slammed the ball into the Blackburn net. Cue pandemonium in the away end, and the other three stands more or less emptied instantly. We held on to win 2-1, and afterwards their stadium screen started to broadcast a post match interview with Sourpuss, who still claimed his team were superior, despite losing to our ten men, but the derision directed at him by us persuaded them to cut the feed.
By his bragging, his arrogance, the Blackburn manager turned a victory into a triumph. We have never been an arrogant team. People like us for that. We give credit to the opposition when appropriate. People respect that. Opposition fans have problems laughing at us, because we are usually the ones providing the punchline and laughing at ourselves first.
The problem is, we stopped being that type of club twenty five years ago. Any of our fans under the age of thirty have no memories of Trinder’s Fulham, Clay’s Fulham, Hill’s Fulham. Many of those fans are the current group of keyboard warriors, and to my older eyes, these people do not understand Fulham, my Fulham. I read things like “We belong in the Premiership” and shudder. We do not belong there. We belong wherever we have earned our place. This season we belong in the Championship. I recall when we belonged in Division Three, and did our best to belong in the Conference. I would not wish that experience on our younger fans (if for no more reason that I would have to endure it too, once was enough), but I do wonder if we old farts are not better off for going through it. We appreciate our astonishing good fortune all the more for not regarding it as some sort of birthright.
I like being a Fulham fan. I like us being a friendly club. I like people respecting us. I like people not thinking of us as arrogant, because I certainly am not. I hope this explains why I, and others of my ilk, get concerned when we have fans telling all and sundry that we are going to p*** the league. We will crow as loudly as anyone if we do go on to do it, but that would be because we have done it. Until then, please keep your powder dry.
