Hello! Another blog, and not one I've been looking forward to doing in all honesty. Its been a very trying year for the club, 3 Managers, Cheese, Relegation, A Complete Squad overhaul and more. So brace yourselves to relive the last 12 Months and remember, 2015 can only be better (maybe).
January
Results
Fulham 2-1 West Ham
Norwich 1-1 Fulham (FA Cup)
Fulham 1-4 Sunderland
Fulham 3-0 Norwich (FA Cup)
Arsenal 2-0 Fulham
Sheff. Utd 1-1 Fulham (FA Cup)
Swansea 2-0 Fulham
January was an interesting month from a Fulham perspective, we went into the month with very mixed feelings we'd had good performances in December despite some of the scorelines suggesting otherwise and coming into January off the back of a 6-0 loss to Hull it couldn't get much worse. We started the month with a very scrappy 2-1 over a Ten-Man West Ham (who wanted Allardyce's head on a stick at this point) in what was at the time a vital relegation match and things seemed positive. A Draw away in the cup followed but then we put in an absolutely abject performance at home to Sunderland we should have probably been ahead through Berbatov but we ended up capitulating and when Jozy Altidore is looking dangerous against you, you should probably give up. We went on to comfortably beat Norwich in the Cup with a new Centre-Back pairing of Hangeland and Burn showing promise. Stekelenburg put in a good performance to no avail against a good Arsenal team, The Sheff. Utd game was a match against the pitch as much as anything else, but will live long in the memory because of "that" Darren Bent miss despite him being offside. The Swansea game was equally poor, but on that particular night attention was on other areas.
It broke in the build to the Swansea game that Kostas Mitroglou was on a flight to finalise terms with us, in what proved to be an eventful deadline day we ended up signing William Kvist, Kostas Mitroglou, Lewis Holtby, Larnell Cole, Ryan Tunnicliffe and Johnny Heitinga in a bid to avoid
relegation.
Debuts: Clint Dempsey (2nd), Ange-Freddy Plumain, Dan Burn, Lasse Vigen Christensen, Muamer Tankovic, Josh Passley, Chris David
February
Results
Fulham 0-3 Southampton
Fulham 0-1 Sheff. Utd
Man Utd 2-2 Fulham
Fulham 2-3 Liverpool
West Brom 1-1 Fulham
February was a month that pretty much summed up our entire season. We went down with a whimper to Southampton with no real threat, and then we went on to possibly the worst experience of a match I've ever had the misfortune of going to. It was freezing cold, the wind was almost gale force, the rain was belting down and it seemed the Fulham team on the pitch forgot how to play Football. I left before they scored because the tube strike was coming in and I had no desire to hang around for another 30 Minutes of Extra Time rather than going home, so that put an end to our Wembley dream for another season and as Rene Meulensteen put it we hit "Rock Bottom". We then went to Old Trafford with the addition of Juan Mata there was a new found optimism for David Moyes' Man Utd team what we put in on the Super Sunday was one of the most defensive performances I've seen in our history, despite the defensive line-up we still conceded two goals and us sitting on a One-Goal lead for as long as we did was an achievement in and of itself. But, we got the rub of the green that day and despite most of our players hardly being able to walk by the end of it we Bent scored the last minute equaliser that renewed our hopes of staying up. We then went on to play out another exciting tie against Liverpool, and if it weren't for Sascha Riethers clumsiness we would have probably gotten another 2-2 Draw.
However this wasn't enough for Shahid Khan and he implement our second managerial change of the season, and the first of the Calendar Year bringing in the Bundesliga winning manager Felix Magath- and not officially getting rid of Meulensteen, Wilkins and Co. until roughly a week after. Now, after the two performances that had immediately preceded the sacking some people were doubtful over the sacking, however it was pretty clear Rene was out of his depth and for the good performances against Man Utd and Liverpool there were both Sheffield United games to counter those on top of Hull and more, as such I was willing to give the new manager who came in with a vicious reputation a chance to turn things around and with the "new manager" effect I thought at the very least Magath would be our "Di Canio" and use his zany antics to keep the club in the League before quickly being dispatched, and we were on for the perfect start against West Brom. An Ashkan Dejagah goal looked like it was going to secure the points for us, combined with Stekelenburg making a number of good saves- but it wasn't to be and a Vydra goal somehow trickled into the net meaning we dropped more points against a relegation rival.
Debuts: William Kvist, Lewis Holtby, Johnny Heitinga, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Larnell Cole, Kostas Mitroglou
March
Results
Fulham 1-3 Chelsea
Cardiff 3-1 Fulham
Fulham 1-0 Newcastle
Man City 5-0 Fulham
Fulham 1-3 Everton
In a month with 1 win, and a humiliating loss to a Relegation Rival it wasn't much for us as fans to sink our teeth into. We were done by an Andre Schurrle Hat-Trick and Chelseas general quality, which was fair game in my book we shouldn't have been prioritising Chelsea as a game to pick up points for Survival. The game following the Chelsea game however, the Cardiff game was the first time we saw Felix Magath's special brand of genius. His brainchild of playing Riise in front of Richardson down the Left, and giving Kostas Mitroglou- who clearly wasn't fit his first start was bad enough, giving Cauley Woodrow a Striker who had been at Southend not so long ago his debut in a vital relegation match was almost suicide, and we paid the price. A win against a Pardew-less Newcastle team via an Ashkan Dejagah winner, a recurring theme once again renewed hopes of a somewhat revival, and it was at this stage you were starting to wonder if Great Escape Part 2 was on. A thrashing away to Man City was almost expected, as with the Chelsea game it wasn't where we were going to pick up points. A good performance to close out the month against Everton didn't produce any points but definitely provided enough of a performance to maintain some hope of staying up.
Debuts: Cauley Woodrow, Patrick Roberts
April
Results
Aston Villa 1-2 Fulham
Fulham 1-0 Norwich
Spurs 3-1 Fulham
Fulham 2-2 Hull
With 2 Wins, 1 Draw and 1 Defeat to a Top 4 Chasing team this was a month where if it had come a month earlier it would have been much more welcome, the manner in which the Draw came about is another reason why this month will leave a sour taste in our mouths. We started the month away to Aston Villa backed by a sublime away support, and with Richardson and Holt trading goals in the second half and a ridiculously close goal-line technology decision denying Holtby in came Hugo Rodallega, this is a while ago so forgive my memory if I'm wrong- but in his first appearance since being subbed off crying against Sheff. Utd he rose highest to head home the winner and spark new life into our survival campaign. He followed suit the next week against Norwich to give us a 1-0 win and our first back to back wins of the Calendar Year and it now looked a real possibility that we could stay up. A 3-1 loss to Spurs wasn't ideal, but once again we put in enough of a performance to keep hopes high and between a missed penalty and two or three top draw Lloris saves it wasn't our day.
Now onto another Felix Magath brainchild, following the Spurs game we were 2 Points behind Norwich so a win would was required in our penultimate home game to Hull who's minds were fixed on Wembley. We started with 2 (at a push 3) offensive players for a must win game, subs were the only way to rectify it, and when we did go two goals up through Dejagah and Amorebieta- we then couldn't make a defensive sub to see the game through and between defensive howlers and general bad decisions it wasn't to be and our last real chance of getting into the driving seat with regard to survival was lost.
Debuts: Mahamadou Diarra (2nd),
May
Results
Stoke 4-1 Fulham
Fulham 2-2 Crystal Palace
Magath's genius was then confirmed the next week, subbing off Holtby after roughly 30 minutes and starting Dan Burn at Right-Back in possibly the stupidest tactical selection I've ever seen, and that was that and we were down. A 2-2 Draw with two of our youth products Chris David and Cauley Woodrow boded well for the "New Dawn" of Fulham with a core of youth players but it was too late for the Premier League and we bid farewell after our long stay in the Top Division.
Following relegation we proceeded to release a lot of our players that were surplus to requirements with the full list of players being:
Neil Etheridge, Matthew Briggs, Johnny Heitinga, John Arne Riise, Damien Duff, Steve Sidwell, Giorgos Karagounis, Mahamadou Diarra, Derek Boateng and quite a few youth players. Out of the whole list the only ones I would have been keen to hang onto were Heitinga, Sidwell and Karagounis but in the case of Heitinga and Sidwell they were too good for the Championship and Karagounis had his eyes on retirement.
June
We started the month by releasing Brede Hangeland, and in turn the last member of our Europa League Final team was gone. With Tankovic going to AZ Alkmaar on a free and Riether going to Freiburg as our only outgoings of the month with the World Cup going on it wasn't a very eventful month.
With the signings slowly filtering in as well with Shaun Hutchinson, and then Adam Taggart coming in off the back of playing in the World Cup against Spain and Tim Hoogland coming in a day later the signings were slowly starting to filter in and it looked as though our new team was starting to take shape.
July
Results
East Fife 0-3 Fulham
Rangers 4-2 Fulham
Motherwell 0-2 Fulham
Crawley 0-2 Fulham
D.C. United 0-3 Fulham
We came into July with a Pre-Season tour of Scotland opening everything, opening with a comfortable win over East Fife with the Montenegrin Messi Elsad Zverotic scoring. We went on to lose to Rangers in a Behind-closed-Doors friendly where the team we fielded wasn't the best and went on to beat Motherwell 2-0 to close the tour with Ross McCormack captaining the team in that game. We then returned to England where goals for Stafylidis and Rodallega saw off Crawley relatively comfortably and we then headed to Jacksonville where among the unveiling of giant scoreboards and a Carrie Underwood concert there was in fact a football game where a Moussa Dembele Hat-Trick was the difference against a weakened D.C team.
On the transfers front we saw 4 players leave who would have been key to the team if I'd have had my way; Pajtim Kasami, Kieran Richardson, David Stockdale and Ashkan Dejagah. We got a decent fee for Kasami and with the money Dejagah was offered those two were fair game- with Richardsons injury problems it was perhaps best we got his Premier League wages off our books but when we sold Stockdale to at the time a Promotion Rival for a minimal amount it was suicide.
On the incomings front we had a busy month as well, with Kay Voser coming in from Basel before the biggest signing of ours- and the whole of the Championships summer went through roughly a week later, Ross McCormack. We then went on to sign Kostas Stafylidis on Loan before signing Thomas Eisfeld from Arsenal and Adil Chihi from Cologne on the same day later in the month.
August
Results
Caykur Rizespor 0-1 Fulham (Pre-Season)
Ipswich 2-1 Fulham
Fulham 0-1 Millwall
Fulham 0-1 Wolves
Derby 5-1 Fulham
Brentford 0-1 Fulham (Carling Cup)
Fulham 1-1 Cardiff
We began the month with our last Pre-Season friendly in Austria with Felix Magath in a Jaguars shirt it wasn't the best game with Jesse Joronen saving a Penalty before Cauley Woodrow scored a late goal to secure the win.
We kicked off our return to the Championship in the Late Kick-Off on TV in Ipswich, and it was a largely disappointing performance. Shaun Hutchinson was at fault for both goals in my opinion and despite a late surge sparked by the introduction of Woodrow and Roberts the late Tim Hoogland goal wasn't enough to get anything on our first game back. We then returned to the Cottage to face Millwall in another frustrating game where we did everything except score and our defensive frailties left Martyn Woolford free in the box to score an early winner. We then had another of Felix Magath's genius moments against Wolves where we started with Pat Roberts and Mark Fotheringham among others and we were completely bullied out of the game and didn't deserve anything. We then went to Derby where it became clear Magath's days were numbered, we were completely destroyed and the manner in which we simply gave up for their 5th goal spoke volumes for where the team were at. We did however pick up a point at Home to Cardiff with a first-half Tim Hoogland header not being enough for our first win, and this is also where it should have become apparent to Cardiff fans that Solskjaer was leading them down the garden path as well, this combined with us picking up our first win of the season away to Brentford in the Cup had given us some hope of somewhat of a comeback after the bad start.
On the transfers front it was a very mixed month with Stekelenburg and Mitroglou leaving on Loan to Monaco and Olympiakos respectively as our only outgoings during the month of August we then added a number of players to our ranks with Nikolay Bodurov, Mark Fotheringham, Dino Fazlic, Tiago Casasola and Gabor Kiraly all coming in for us.
Debuts: Jesse Joronen, Tim Hoogland, Kostas Stafylidis, Cameron Burgess, Nikolay Bodurov, Shaun Hutchinson, Ross McCormack, Emerson Hyndman, Thomas Eisfeld, George Williams, Sean Kavanagh, Mark Fotheringham, Ryan Williams, Kay Voser, Marcus Bettinelli, Adil Chihi
September
Results
Reading 3-0 Fulham
Nott. Forest 5-3 Fulham
Fulham 0-1 Blackburn
Fulham 2-1 Doncaster (Carling Cup)
Birmingham 1-2 Fulham
We started the month of September in an International Break with Deadline Day around the corner, and we had a busy (at least in comparison to the prior one) Summer Deadline Day for once. We were linked with a number of people- namely Mark Hudson, Jermaine Beckford and our only signing of the Day Matt Smith eventually being confirmed. With Alex Kacaniklic and Ryan Tunnicliffe going out on Loan as our only movement on the outgoings front.
Our first game of the month was also one of our worst, we were swept aside by a Reading team who aren't an amazing prospect this season, that combined with a good performance away to Forest but a ridiculously leaky defence proved to be the end of Felix Magath and Kit Symons was put in temporary charge.
Kit's first game ended in defeat at home to Blackburn, however the performance was completely different and being down to 10 Men for the length the team were and still looking like the better team for large parts of the game against a very good Blackburn team was a good sign. We then confirmed our place in the next round of the Carling Cup where we (eventually) saw the game off with the help of a Marcus Bettinelli Penalty Save- then finally picked up our first league win of the season away to Birmingham where goals from Hoogland and Rodallega finally gave us our first win at the end of September.
Debuts: Gabor Kiraly, Matt Smith
October
Results
Fulham 4-0 Bolton
Middlesborough 2-0 Fulham
Fulham 1-0 Norwich
Rotherham 3-3 Fulham
Fulham 3-0 Charlton
Fulham 2-5 Derby (Carling Cup)
We started the month of October with a near perfect win against an albeit very poor Bolton side meaning we'd won two in a row (in the league) for the first time of the season and just before another International Break we travelled to a very difficult Middlesborough where we could have picked up a point on a different day- everything was boding well for the future. Coming from the back of the International Break we hosted top of the table Norwich, and in what would prove to be our best defensive display in a long time a Sean Kavanagh goal won us the game. We then went to Rotherham where we came back from behind three different times, the last being a Dan Burn header late on. We then hosted Charlton in our first Friday night game of the season and two early goals, combined with a Rodallega goal late on meant we beat a Charlton side who were just outside the Playoff places at the time to climb out of the Relegation Zone for the first time after we'd dropped into it, however we ended the month being on the end of a humbling defeat at home to Derby ending our Capital One Cup hopes for another season. We did however close out the month on a positive with the announcement of Kit Symons as Permanent Manager.
Debuts: Stephen Arthurworrey
November
Results
Wigan 3-3 Fulham
Fulham 2-2 Blackpool
Fulham 3-1 Huddersfield
Brentford 2-1 Fulham
Brighton 1-2 Fulham
We kicked off the month under Kits full time leadership with a trip to Wigan and two Bryan Ruiz goals meant that a Ross McCormack Red Card didn't really matter and we took another point away from home. We then returned to the Cottage for what everyone assumed would be a straight-forward win against Blackpool which turned out to be anything but, and we ended up scraping a point from the game- and if it weren't for the Tony McMahon Red we probably wouldn't have got that, however just before we broke for the next International Break we had enough time to eventually dispatch a trick Huddersfield team aided by great performances from Ross McCormack and Lasse Vigen Christensen. Coming out of the International Break we headed to Griffin Park for our second derby of the season, and despite Marcus Bettinellis best efforts a last minute deflected goal from Jota meant we lost. To close out the month we went to the Amex and despite a Darren Bent opener goals from Rodallega and Christensen meant we ended the month on a high.
Debuts: Seko Fofana
December
Results
Fulham 0-5 Watford
Leeds 0-1 Fulham
Fulham 4-0 Sheff. Wednesday
Bournemouth 2-0 Fulham
Fulham 0-2 Brighton
We began the month in the worst way imaginable, between the thrashing we'd also had Bettinelli sent off meaning we had to have Gabor Kiraly in goal for the tough trip away to Leeds. However, contrary to what almost every Fulham fan imagined we actually kept a Clean Sheet in that game and won the game via a Hugo Rodallega winner (with Lasse Vigen Christensen helping out along the way)- we then returned to the Cottage and comfortably (eventually) beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 with the pick of the goals being a Ross McCormack Free-Kick and a great Counter-Attack launched and finished by Lasse Vigen Christensen which led us into Christmas on a high. However, the other side of Christmas brought us a hard trip away to top of the league Bournemouth and we were (eventually) dispatched 2-0 leading us to our last home game of the calendar year playing Relegation Threatened Brighton, but it wasn't to be and we put in an awful display to end the year and we were comfortably beaten 2-0 without ever properly threatening David Stockdale on a consistent basis.
Thanks for reading this longer blog, It might have been me expunging most of the bad memories from my brain- but while I was writing this I couldn't help but remember just how bad we were at various points of the year. Anyway, thanks again for reading and lets pray for a better 2015.
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