When you go over scenarios in your head of how a season can play out, I don't think anyone would have predicted "Play-Off Final win in August" as an outcome. It's fair to say it's been an interesting season, in so many ways. But the end result of this year long season is the one we were all hoping for of promotion back to the Premier League.
Looking back over the season, I suppose the thing you have to say is the ends justified the means. Because we all know it's been a slog at times, and we've had some very bad games along the way. But the aim at the start of the season was promotion and we've got the job done. It makes the 3-0 defeats to Hull and Barnsley a bit more palatable simply put. I do also have to say fair play to Scott Parker, because for those who follow me on Twitter you'll know I've been very vocal about Parker at times this season. But the brief at the start of the season was "Promotion" and he's got the job done in his first full season as Manager. He's definitely made mistakes over the season, but I'd like to think he's learned from those mistakes over the season and tactically he's probably had his best two games as Manager in the Play-Off 1st Leg and Final- so his season's peaked at the right time.
The interesting thing for us now is what we do now we've "got to the dance". When we were promoted against Villa that felt like everything at the time. Whereas because we've only been out of the Premier League for one season this time around the promotion only feels like Part One and staying up is the true aim this time around.
A big part of how we do when we line up in the Premier League is of course the transfers we make, and the general transfer policy we have this window. I would like to think Tony Khan's learned his lesson from our last "Premier League summer" with the signings he'll make, but I suppose time will tell. "Ends justifying the means" is also relevant to our Transfer Policy, because it was a definite policy last summer to sign "proven" Championship players- and we have been promoted so it'd be interesting to see if we have a similar policy this summer with exclusively signing "proven" Premier League players.
While Premier League experience should definitely be a factor, I'm not sure the "going for proven players" policy was actually a roaring success. Our two "marquee" signings in Knockaert and Cavaleiro were benched for Kebano and Kamara in the Final and Harry Arter wasn't in the squad. But you also have to balance that out with Harrison Reed, Onomah and Hector being three of our best players over recent times and Bobby Reid definitely contributing even if he has been frustrating in front of goal. My personal view is that no Premier League experience shouldn't be a breaking point if the right player was available, but especially with such a tight turnaround experience, at least in English Football, is preferable.
I've also made a point to aim for "younger" players with one notable exception, because while this team has got us up- I want to aim for some sort of continuity going forward and having a team where the majority are either late 20s or early 30s isn't ideal. The average age of the signings I'm suggesting today is 24.5, and that's weighted slightly up by one 33 Year Old who's a bit of an obvious one. That's the sort of market we need to be shopping in, because for me we need players with genuine resell value for if we get relegated again, and we should also be looking at players we can buy, improve and sell on at a profit. That's the reality of the level of club we are.
It's also worth saying as always that these aren't the exact players I'm expecting Tony Khan to sign, but they're definitely the profile of players I'd be looking to target. And as always, I'm not expecting to sign all of the names on this list- in most cases it's just one from each position.
Ins
Goalkeeper
I said exactly the same last year, but we don't need to sign a Goalkeeper this summer. Especially with such a tight turnaround continuity within the defence where possible is an absolute must and nobody can say Marek Rodak hasn't earned his chance to start for us in the Premier League next season. The #2 Keeper isn't even particularly relevant because Parker was playing Rodak in the FA Cup as well, but maybe Tony Khan can set up some sort of Royal Rumble with Bettinelli, Jordan Archer, Fabri and the youth Keepers for who gets the honour of sitting on the bench next season and who gets moved on.
Defenders
We basically have to build the defence around Michael Hector this summer. I do think Joe Bryan is starting next season at Left-Back, but we need to move on from Tim Ream at Left Centre-Back, we probably had to even this season just gone and I would think it's a priority given we literally signed Terence Kongolo to presumably replace Ream as Left Centre-Back in January. And the other priority for me is a Right-Back who'll come in and really own that position, because we haven't had a fixed one this season between Christie, Odoi and Steven Sessegnon- and I'm not convinced any of the three would be good enough to actually start for us in the Premier League next season. Any other defensive signings would be a bonus, but Left Centre-Back and Right-Back have to be the priority.
Ethan Pinnock (Brentford)
Would this be rubbing salt in the wound? I'm not really sure. I feel like there's always a lot of talk about Pontus Jansson because he's a "beat your chest" "passion merchant" type Centre-Back, but next door to him in my opinion is just a much better Centre-Back. For me Pinnock is absolutely top drawer, and while all the Brentford auction talk in the coming days and weeks will be about Benrahma, Watkins etc. I think Pinnock would be a bit of an "under the radar" top drawer signing if we were to make it.
Pinnock for me is a very "Fulham" signing as well, he definitely fits the profile of Centre-Back we'd usually target and him being left footed means he provides the natural balance in the pairing that Tim Ream has provided for us next to Odoi, Kalas, Hector etc. over the last few years- because it's definitely time for Tim Ream to be moved on from being a consistent starter in this Fulham team.
Chris Mepham (Bournemouth)
From talking about a current Brentford player to a former one who we're passing on the way up. Mepham is someone who I've rated for a few years now, and obviously with Bournemouth going down the auctions for their players are (in theory) starting. Bournemouth have been a car crash defensively for pretty much their whole time in the Premier League, but I do genuinely think the potential is there with Mepham and as long as Bournemouth weren't demanding an extortionate price for him I definitely wouldn't say no were we to sign him.
Matt Clarke (Brighton)
Clarke is probably the more natural alternative to Mepham, simply by virtue of the fact he's left-footed. This isn't based on our transfer policy a few years ago where we seemingly just went out and signed every middling Championship teams Player of the Year, but Clarke did win Derby's Player of the Year on loan from Brighton and he's definitely on an upward trajectory career wise. This is a big statement, but everything I've seen from Clarke bar one really dodgy Own Goal suggests he can actually make it in the Premier League. He's got the technical and physical attributes in spades, and while Pinnock would be my first choice, it would by no means be "settling" if we did sign Clarke instead.
The obvious problem we'd have in trying to sign Clarke, and I'd assume it's similar for Leeds in their efforts to try and sign Ben White. Brighton aren't going to let them go cheap, especially to a team that they'll be competing with to stay up next season. Which is totally fair enough for them, he is their player after all. But if the price was reasonable, I'd definitely be keen on trying to sign him.
Gernot Trauner (LASK)
This suggestion is partially based on my belief that we suit a 3/5 at the back more than a 4. Especially in the Premier League, Joe Bryan in particular can do some damage going forward- but he's not good enough defensively and leaves too much space behind him to be a regular starter in a 4. It's also based on the fact that Parker has favoured switching to a back 5 to protect leads, so the logic would follow that at least in some games next season when we're playing teams like City, Liverpool etc. and we most likely setup for a 0-0 we start in a back 5.
It's with that in mind that I suggest Gernot Trauner who's coming off the back of an absolutely exceptional season with LASK as a middle Centre-Back in a three. Whether it's as a starter with Hector on the right and let's just say hypothetically Pinnock on the left, or off the bench coming on and splitting the two Centre-Backs either side of him I think Trauner would be a very good addition for us. You'd also have to think Trauner would be relatively cheap coming from the Austrian Bundesliga and being 28 years old so he could be signed in addition to one of the names mentioned above without breaking the bank.
Joakim Maehle (Genk)
I was quite tempted to have Ryan Fredericks in this section. Because simply put he's the Right-Back we need in my opinion. Someone who'll provide genuine pace and overlapping runs down the right-hand side. That in my opinion is also what we need to get the best out of Anthony Knockaert, because while I'm by no means saying he's blameless he's been very easy to defend against in my opinion because it's been easy to double up on him knowing Christie or Odoi (or Sessegnon) aren't really providing the option of the overlap down the right. And whatever else you can say about Knockaert, he does have the defensive work-rate to cover the Right-Back if they're caught out of position when they do overlap. So if we do look at trying to get the best out of Knockaert, that's one way we can look to do so next season.
But my first suggestion is Joakim Maehle, who's probably very ambitious- but at the same time it's the sort of ambition we should be looking at this summer in that Maehle would be a young, hungry talent looking to prove himself in the Premier League and if he does succeed secure a move to a bigger club down the line. As opposed to the "ambitious" signings of over the hill players like Schurrle who were just there to secure the wage packet. Maehle simply put is everything I've just described above, quick, has good stamina to run up and down the line and he's just a very decent Right-Back. He wouldn't be cheap, and I doubt we'd be the only Premier League team interested in him- but Tony Khan has shown ambition with his signings in the past, it's now perhaps the time to channel that ambition into players like Joakim Maehle.
Aurelio Buta (Royal Antwerp)
As with Pinnock and the Centre-Backs, Maehle is my main target for Right-Back- but it's definitely worth looking at alternatives as well. There's not much to say about Buta that isn't also relevant to Maehle, in my opinion Maehle is just a better player and that's why I'd favour him. It does have to be said that Buta would probably be a lot cheaper than Maehle, and in these COVID times we do have to be smart with how we spend our money this summer and budget accordingly compared to our last big summer window in the Premier League.
Jorge (Monaco)
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you'll know at various points of the season I was an advocate for Parker's sacking and for him to be replaced with Jorge Sampaoli who at the time had rehabilitated his reputation after Argentina's disaster World Cup and just left Santos after a successful spell there. A big part of his success at Santos was thanks to the loan signing of Jorge from Monaco, and if I couldn't get Sampaoli- I'd at least like to get Jorge.
I've had half an eye on the majority of these names over the last month and I actually had two separate transfer lists depending on what division we were in after the season had concluded- and it's with that half an eye I know that Jorge's Agent has said he wants to leave Monaco- and given he's also coming into the last year of his contract to me that suggests he's available for a very reasonable fee.
I should say I'm not suggesting Jorge comes in and immediately replaces Joe Bryan, but Left-Back was basically the one area this season where we had zero competition for places and I would've liked to see that addressed this summer regardless of what division we were in. Being in the Premier League just means we can aim a bit higher and attract better candidates to fulfil that need for competition for places.
Antonee Robinson (Wigan)
As with Pinnock and Brentford, this is perhaps rubbing salt in the wound given we played a part in Wigan's relegation on the final day of the normal season. I feel like the majority of fans are keenly aware of Robinson now after his high profile move to Milan collapsed in January- but if reports are to be believed and thanks to Wigan's sketchy relegation Robinson has a very cheap release clause that can be activated it's an absolute no brainer for us to try for him this summer.
There's not much more that needs to be said, he'd provide genuine competition for Bryan and he's a very good prospect- the problem we have is a cheap release clause and being a very good prospect means we wouldn't be the only team in for him. In fact if the release clause is what I've seen reported I would imagine Robinson's Agent will be very busy in the days and weeks to come now that Wigan's relegation has been officially confirmed.
Midfielders
There are two things that need to be sorted out before we get a true picture of what our Midfield will look like next season. The first is Harrison Reed, we do supposedly have an option to buy on him- and I don't see a scenario that's played out that would mean it wouldn't be triggered considering he's played a lot of Football for us, and we've been promoted. But we just have to wait and see with that one. The other is the future of a certain Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa which I'll look at in more detail later on.
In my ideal world we'd be lining up at the start of next season with a Midfield three of Reed, Anguissa, Onomah which in my opinion is the most balanced Midfield we could look to use- but the signing suggestions I've made are made with all possible scenarios of those two particular players in mind.
Nathaniel Chalobah (Watford)
I've always liked Chalobah, the long-term injury he had a while ago has definitely stalled his development but he's still only 25 and I 100% believe there's a player in there who is capable of playing in the Premier League. The advantage we'd have in a potential pursuit of Chalobah is of course Watford's relegation, although that could easily be reversed to say with Doucoure and Capoue most likely off Watford would be more keen to actually keep him for next season because if he stays fit he'd be top drawer in the Championship for them next season.
As I've already talked about, with the tight turnaround for next season Premier League experience could be a big factor going head first into next season and obviously Chalobah has a lot of it. I'd personally look to sign Chalobah regardless of where Zambo and Harrison Reed end up because he'd be a good option to have- but he'd become more of a priority if Zambo did leave.
Isaac Hayden (Newcastle)
From my main priority if Zambo leaves, to my main priority if we can't sign Harrison Reed. Isaac Hayden's had an up and down career with Newcastle it's probably fair to say. But I think over the last 18 months or so he has shown he's Premier League quality. The big factor in a potential signing of Isaac Hayden for us is he's been very vocal about his desire to move down south/back to London for family reasons over the last couple of years- so if we put in a good enough offer to appeal to Newcastle I would think/hope he'd jump at the opportunity to stay in the Premier League and move back to London.
The problem we'd have, as I talked about with Matt Clarke is thanks to Newcastle's failed takeover they'll be one of the teams we're competing with to stay up next season and Newcastle won't want to strengthen a rival without us paying over the odds.
Peter Etebo (Stoke)
In the event of us signing Harrison Reed and keeping Zambo, I still think we need to add one more Centre-Mid to the ranks to be completely secure. Especially if the reports I've seen since the Play-Off Final are true and Harry Arter hasn't played enough games to trigger his buy option, on top of the fact that Stefan Johansen and Kevin McDonald could barely get a game in the Championship let alone the Premier League. Which leaves us with Cairney, Onomah, Reed and Zambo as the four current options. As such, I do think we'd need to add one more, basically to replace Arter's "squad player" role in the team who'll start 8-12 games depending on fitness and injuries and be an option off the bench.
This was nearly another Stoke player in Badou Ndiaye, but as I've said right from the outset- I want to aim younger this summer so we can put some proper building blocks in place. I'd see this move as similar to the one we had with Kongolo where we take a chance on someone who clearly doesn't want to be at (Huddersfield) Stoke- but there is the potential of a good player in there waiting to be unlocked. I've liked the look of Etebo when I've seen him, he presumably wouldn't be an extortionate price to sign permanently- or we could even be cheeky and try and sign him on loan.
Petr Sevcik (Slavia Prague)
I've had half an eye on Slavia Prague over the last 18 months or so since we were linked with Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui in the January window of our Premier League season which spawned the famous "wall of meat" description. In fact, had we stayed up, last years version of this blog would've featured one of West Ham's relegation heroes as a result in Tomas Soucek.
Sevcik is more box-to-box than Soucek is, but to me he'd basically be an upgrade in the Arter/Johansen role we've had this season. Sevcik is exactly the sort of player we should be targeting this summer in that he wouldn't be very expensive, he wouldn't necessarily come in and expect to start straight away/start every game, and he wouldn't be someone who is "too big for us" like a Seri- but he definitely has the ability to make an impact for us next season.
Enock Mwepu (RB Salzburg)
What would one of these Blogs be without talking about a Salzburg player? I feel like Erling Haaland's emergence over the last year has sort of sped up the general consciousness into thinking what I've thought for a while that Salzburg is an absolute factory when it comes to talent and talent development. Haaland isn't even a very good example of it considering he was only there for 6 months, but I've been keen on players like Stefan Lainer and Valon Berisha over the last few years who were definitely "Salzburg products".
For want of a better way to describe Mwepu, he's Zambo from two years ago. He'd need time to bed in over the course of the season- but signing him to supplement the Midfield rather than coming in and expecting him to carry it should hopefully mean we can bed him in properly and get some good performances out of him over the course of the season like we had with Zambo at the back end of the Premier League season.
Eberechi Eze (QPR)
I was debating which section to actually put Eze in for this, because to me given we're going up to the Premier League he'd fulfil the sort of role Matheus Pereira's played with West Brom this season where he'd be played out wide some games and centrally in others.
I settled on Midfielders because that's where he's played predominantly for QPR, and a general point has to be made about the lack of goals that's come from our Midfield this season. That definitely needs to be addressed going into the Premier League, because Mitrovic won't be scoring 26 goals next season and we need just more creativity and invention in the Midfield. I remember a stat brought up in the build up of one of the Play-Off games of Cairney having 3 Assists and them all coming last August- which just isn't good enough.
I do think Onomah could fill those boots based on how he's played over the last month, but it's unfair to come up and put all of that weight on him- so signing someone like Eze who's versatile and can play off the left so he wouldn't be stepping on Onomah's toes but can hopefully step into those "creative" shoes in the Midfield and produce the moments of magic to win a game that would otherwise finish 0-0 would be a big priority for me this summer.
Forwards
In my "Championship list" I had two scenarios really, one where we keep Mitrovic and one where we don't. That has obviously become a non-issue as a result of promotion- so for me it's just about adding depth and adding goals so the burden isn't completely on Mitrovic to score the goals to keep us up next season. The ideal scenario for me would be adding one Winger and a genuine back-up Striker if Mitrovic did get injured again, because while the False Nine worked in the 1st Leg against Cardiff and the Final- we'll be under pressure and getting battered in a lot of games next season and need an out-ball that Bobby Reid doesn't give us and that definitely showed in the Cardiff 2nd Leg.
Ryan Babel (Galatasaray)
I feel like Babel is the very, very obvious one. He's been begging it on Instagram enough over the last few months- and now we are in the Premier League there's no concern over the visibility of the league impeding on Babel's Euro 2021 hopes like there would have been had we stayed in the Championship. Especially with such a tight turnaround, I feel like Babel would be ideal because he has the Premier League experience in spades, but more crucially he's played under Parker and he knows probably 95% of the players in the dressing room from his time with us in the Premier League.
I've seen some talk about Babel being a Free Agent, but I'm not sure where that's come from given to my knowledge he is still a contracted Galatasaray player. But with that said, given they loaned him out he's clearly surplus to requirements at Galatasaray and I wonder if we could work out a deal where we get Babel and some cash for Seri given I doubt they could fully afford to buy Seri outright unless it was in a million instalments given they won't have Champions League money to work with next season.
Karlan Grant (Huddersfield)
I think Karlan Grant would be close to my ideal signing this summer. He's got room to develop given he's still only 22, but he's coming off the back of a very good goalscoring season with Huddersfield. The added bonus on top of the obvious with Grant is that he's actually been playing off the left a lot for Huddersfield in the season just gone, so it wouldn't be a case of having to start Mitrovic or Grant, and we could easily start both with Knockaert, Cavaleiro, Kamara etc. on the right.
Given he is young and English, Grant wouldn't be cheap. But in general I don't think I've proposed any proper "break the bank" signings over the course of this blog and I'd "only" be looking to make one or two proper "big fee" signings of which Grant would be one.
Jean-Pierre Nsame (Young Boys)
I feel like given the tight turnaround for next season, form from the season just gone should be very relevant in any potential signings. It's with that in mind that I suggest Jean-Pierre Nsame who is literally averaging a goal a game for Young Boys in the Swiss League. 32 Goals in 32 Games isn't a record to ignore, even if it is "just" the Swiss League and he has the physical characteristics to fill Mitrovic's shoes as the "hold-up" Striker to give us the out ball I was talking about earlier.
Ivan Toney (Peterborough)
If the reports are to be believed and Brentford have ear-marked Toney as Ollie Watkins replacement if/when he gets sold this summer, I think we should just cut out the middle man and go straight in for Toney before he becomes the latest in the line of Strikers Brentford have signed and quadrupled in value after Maupay, Watkins, Andre Gray etc.
Signings from League 1 and 2 are on the table now Opta are tracking the stats in the divisions as per Tony Khan's interview last year, and Toney was the absolute "top of my list" player from League 1 regardless of what division we were in after the Play-Off Final. Toney has everything really, and while it might be a case of him needing to "conquer" the Championship before he gets a move to the Premier League, I genuinely believe he could make the jump straight away and provide goals to supplement Mitrovic as our main Striker.
Outs
This section, and the tone of it would be very different had we lost to Brentford. But thankfully that's not the case, and as such we don't have to get angsty over the futures of players like Mitrovic this summer. I've already made reference to it earlier, there's one big "out" in this section that needs to be sorted out- but beyond that the "Outs" for us this summer should be mainly "trimming the fat" type player sales.
In-terms of contracts, I think we will offer Neeskens Kebano and Denis Odoi new contracts, especially in Kebano's case you can definitely say he's earned it. How much they actually play next season is another thing entirely.
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa
This is the "out" that needs to be sorted sooner rather than later, because as I've already talked about Zambo could be a key player for us next season and provide a real balance in the Midfield along with Reed and Onomah.
But him staying is far from a guarantee, especially with some of the teams he's been linked with like Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. It ultimately comes down to whether Villarreal have the financial means to trigger their option to buy on him in these COVID times and whether Zambo would want to play for us, and I'd like to think he would. He's spoken quite highly of Parker for putting his faith into him at the back end of the season and I'd be very surprised if Parker wouldn't have him back. Ultimately it's a "wait and see" scenario, but we don't have much time to actually "wait and see" given the players probably only have two weeks off before they report back to start preparing for next season.
Jean-Michael Seri
I've already spoken about my "ideal" scenario with Seri in the Ryan Babel section, so I won't repeat it here. Seri never really got the "Parker stamp of approval" like Zambo did game-time wise at the back end of the Premier League season, so I'd be surprised if Seri was in favour if he were to stay at the Cottage next season. It's most likely just a case of trying to get the best deal possible to move Seri on permanently, because we'd now be in a better financial position with the Premier League money to eat a bit of a loss on his transfer fee.
Marcus Bettinelli
I think Bettinelli's at a bit of a cross-roads with his Fulham career, and just career in general this summer. As I've already mentioned, there's a very real chance our #2 Keeper wouldn't even be playing Cup games next season- so if Bettinelli did stay at Fulham barring injury it would just be to warm the bench.
The conversation then moves to moving Bettinelli on, and if he wants to play Football he'll have to move back to the Championship. But if he is happy sitting on the bench/in the stand he could also take the move a lot of "home grown" Keepers have in the latter stages of their career and become a 3rd Choice Keeper at a club like Chelsea or Man City. Ultimately it's down to Bettinelli, and while I was critical of him before he was dropped for Rodak he's definitely earned the right over his full tenure at Fulham to choose what he wants to do next and for us to support that.
Fabri
As I've already mentioned, there's a spot on the bench for someone next season. And that could very well be Fabri. He's barely played a game of Football for two seasons now, but in-terms of a pecking order if Bettinelli was moved on I'd definitely be more confident with Fabri on the bench than Jordan Archer.
If/when Fabri is moved on I would imagine it'd be similar to the deal we struck for Rui Fonte where we just let him go for free to get his wages off the books and be thankful for it. But there is a chance he stays as our #2, it just hinges on Bettinelli's future.
Alfie Mawson
How much are train tickets to Norwich these days? If the rumours are to be believed and Norwich are keen on Mawson, I would have bitten their hand off regardless of what division we were in come the conclusion of the Play-Off Final. It probably isn't all Mawson's fault that he's been an objective failure with us, because he's had some terrible luck with injuries. But it's with those injuries in mind that mean if we can get any sort of transfer fee for him we have to take it and run.
Maxime Le Marchand
Le Marchand's definitely higher on the pecking order than Mawson is, by virtue of the fact that he's actually played Football since the restart. So it probably isn't impossible that he does stay with us next season. But as I've talked about in the "Ins" section, Tim Ream for me would essentially be dropping down into the Le Marchand squad role for next season and that would leave Le Marchand as the odd man out. As a result, we could probably get a nominal transfer fee for him to move back to France, and we take it and move on.
Kevin McDonald
I'm in two minds about this one. On the one hand, if McDonald actually wants to play Football next season he doesn't have a chance with us bar the odd Cup game. So in that sense he should be looking elsewhere. However, I think a big thing that we'll target this time around, especially with such a tight turnaround is to keep the dressing room as positive as possible for as long as possible- and we all know that McDonald is arguably the biggest character, and definitely the biggest leader in the whole dressing room.
As I've already talked about with Bettinelli, McDonald has earned the right to decide what he wants to do next, and if he's happy in essence being a Player/Coach and "Dressing Room General" for Parker next season I definitely wouldn't say no.
Stefan Johansen
I know Johansen signed a new contract not that long ago, but he's fallen out of favour with Parker as the season has gone on, and if the reports are to be believed and we don't want to use the buy clause on Harry Arter who was definitely more in favour than Johansen, logic would dictate that Johansen would also be surplus to requirements for us this summer.
We should be able to get a decent enough fee for Johansen from either a Championship club or say a Turkish club as an example. The one thing I wouldn't want to do is loan Johansen out, unless it was with an Obligation to Buy next year to cover the club signing him because of COVID. Either keep or sell essentially.
I'm not sure we all quite appreciated how hard the Premier League would actually be when we got promoted two years ago, but we're definitely going into next season under no illusion of the challenge that's being put in front of us. We'll be definite underdogs going into next season, and having such a tight turnaround and a small window to sign and bed in players before next season starts will exacerbate that.
However, despite my criticisms of Parker, we're definitely going up as a more streetwise, cynical team that should be better equipped to give a good account of ourselves in the Premier League. I think the way we adapted to blunt Brentford in the Final is the perfect example of that. So provided we don't go overboard with the signings like we did last time and keep that mentality about us when we do go on a bad run next season- we should at the very least be able to give a better account of ourselves than we did last time around. Relegation is of course a real possibility for us, but if we get relegated with a team that look like they're playing for each other and playing for the badge I'll accept that any day of the week because that's all you can really ask for as a Fulham fan. And if we do stay up, even better.
Thanks for reading as always, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting to be doing my Summer Window Preview in August when my last Blog went out. But hopefully you still enjoy reading them, because I still enjoy "scouting" and writing them. As I've already mentioned, we know next season will be a slog at times- but such are the times we're living in at the moment we have to enjoy moments and nights like Tuesday when we can and take a breath before we go again next season in the Premier League. Thanks again for reading and predominantly I hope you're all staying safe in these uncertain times, and that you can all bask in Tuesday's win for a little bit before we go again in September.
