Fulham FC- The Cottagers

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Club Info-

Name: Fulham Football Club
Nicknames: The Cottagers, The Whites.
Founded: 1879 (as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School)
Chairman: Mohamed Al-Fayed
Manager: Roy Hodgeson

Name: Craven Cottage

Opened: 1896
Capacity: 26,600
Surface: Grass
Highest Attendance: 25,661



Fulham have maintained Premier League status ever since their promotion to the top flight under Frenchman Jean Tigana in 2001. This represented a third promotion in just five seasons for the Cottagers and they have not looked back, establishing themselves in the Premier League.
The 2006/07 season's 16th place finish was the first campaign where the club failed to finish between 9th and 14th position in the Premier League. In the 2005/06 season, Fulham's home form was the best outside the top six as they secured 13 wins from 19 matches.
Manager Chris Coleman was sacked as the 2006/07 season neared its end, with Lawrie Sanchez taking over on a temporary basis. The former Northern Ireland manager steered the Cottagers to safety and was subsequently rewarded with the full-time job.
But after the team struggled in the opening months of the 2007/08 season, Sanchez was also fired. Ray Lewington briefly took over as caretaker manager before Roy Hodgson was appointed and guided the club to safety with a dramatic last day win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park. In 2008/09, Hodgson guided Fulham to seventh and a place in the Europa League.
Fulham are the oldest professional team in London.



The club was formed in 1879 as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School. Fulham were founded by worshippers of the C of E church in Star Road, West Kensington. The church is still in existence today, with a plaque commemorating the team's foundation. The club's name was shortened to its present form in 1888.
Fulham started playing at Craven Cottage in 1896 and gained professional status on 12th December 1898. The club's first recorded all-white kit was worn in 1903 and since then they have played in a white shirt with black shorts.
Fulham's Premier League consolidation is quite an achievement in view of the lowest ebb of the 1990s. The club was relegated to the Third Division in 1994 and two years later finished 17th out of 24 teams.
But the appointment of Micky Adams as manager saw the Cottagers quickly promoted again, and two more subsequent promotions under Kevin Keegan and then Tigana earned Fulham a swift return to the top flight. With just 1,000 season ticket holders and seven full-time staff during the darkest days of the mid-nineties, Fulham's transformation is no mean feat.
Their training ground and Youth Academy can be found near to Motspur Park and was where Chariots of Fire was filmed.






Fulham's main rivalries are withChelsea and West Ham but other teams such as QPR and Gillingham feel that Fulham are their rivals even though they have not played each other for many years.


Home Kit:





Away Kit:

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Roy Hodgson
- Born 9 August 1947 in Croydon, London.
- Hodgson is probably best known for guiding the Swiss national team to the 1994 World Cup and Euro 1996. Which no manager had been able to do since the 1960's. He has also coached many quality club sides, including, Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, FC Copenhagen and Udinese. He was appointed to his current role at Fulham in December 2007 after Lawire Sanchez was sacked. Hodgson then managed to pull off the 'Great Escape' and keep Fulham in the Premier League on the last game of the 07/08 season away at Portsmouth.
- Has managed 16 clubs and nations in his 33 year managerial career.








Mike Kelly
- Born 18 October 1942 in Northampton.
- Is a former English professional footballer and coach who played as a goalkeeper. He made 116 appearances in the Football League playing for Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. He went on to managerial positions before becoming a goalkeeping coach and now assistant manager.







Ray Lewington
- Born September 7, 1956 in Lambeth.
- Is a former footballer and a coach. He currently holds the position of first team coach at Fulham.
- Lewington took charge of Fulham on a temporary basis after Chris Coleman was fired before lawrie Sanchez was brought in.
-His son, Dean, is a professional footballer currently playing for the MK Dons in League 1.



Billy McKinlay- Development Squad Coach.
Steve Nance- Strength/Conditioning.
Jason Palmer- First Team Physio.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Mark Schwarzer






Date of Birth: 06/10/1972
Number: 1
Nationality: Australian
Overall Rating: 77

Pascal Zuberbühler






Date of Birth: 08/01/1971
Number: 19
Nationality: Swiss
Overall Rating: 69

David Stockdale






Date of Birth: 20/09/1985
Number: 12
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 55

*Will be updated as players come in and out.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

John Pantsil








Date of Birth: 15/06/1981
Number: 4
Nationality: Ghana
Overall Rating: 71

Chris Baird

Date of Birth: 25/02/1982
Number: 34
Nationality: Northern Irish
Overall Rating: 71

Chris Smalling








Date of Birth: 22/11/1989
Number: 37
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 60

Tony Kallio








Date of Birth: 09/08/1978
Number: 33
Nationality: Finnish
Overall Rating: 69

Brede Hangeland








Date of Birth: 20/06/1981
Number: 5
Nationality: Norwegian
Overall Rating: 82

Aaron Hughes

Date of Birth: 08/11/1979
Number: 18
Nationality: Northern Irish
Overall Rating: 75

Paul Konchesky




Date of Birth: 15/05/1981
Number: 3
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 74

Glen Johnson




Date of Birth: 24/08/1984
Number: 2
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 78




*Will be updated as players come in and out.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Dlckson Etuhu








Date of Birth: 08/06/1982
Number: 20
Nationality: Nigerian
Overall Rating: 72

Olivier Dacourt

Date of Birth: 25/10/1972
Number: 16
Nationality: French
Overall Rating: 76

Zoltan Gera

Date of Birth: 22/04/1979
Number: 11
Nationality: Hungarian
Overall Rating: 75

Simon Davies







Date of Birth: 23/10/1979
Number: 25
Nationality: Welsh
Overall Rating: 75

Danny Murphy









Date of Birth: 18/03/1977
Number: 13
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 75

Giles Barnes







Date of Birth: 05/08/1988
Number: 7
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 73

Julian Gray







Date of Birth: 21/10/1979
Number: 17
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 65

*Will be updated as players come in and out.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Clint Dempsey





Date of Birth: 09/03/1983
Number: 23
Nationality: American
Overall Rating: 76

Bobby Zamora




Date of Birth: 16/01/1981
Number: 9
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 73

Andrew Johnson





Date of Birth: 10/02/1981
Number: 8
Nationality: English
Overall Rating: 80

Erik Nevland





Date of Birth: 10/11/1977
Number: 10
Nationality: Norwegian
Overall Rating: 73

Diomansy Kamara





Date of Birth: 08/11/1980
Number: 15
Nationality: French
Overall Rating: 72

*Will be updated as players come in and out.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

1. Blackburn P11- GD+12- PTS25
-----------------------------------
2. Chelsea P11- GD+12- PTS24
3. Man United P11- GD+15- PTS23
4. Liverpool P11- GD+7- PTS21
------------------------------------
5. Sunderland P11- GD+5- PTS20
6. Tottenham P11- GD+6- PTS19
-------------------------------------
7. West Ham P11- GD+4- PTS18
8. Portsmouth P11- GD+1- PTS17
9. Aston Villa P11- GD+4- PTS16
10. Arsenal P11- GD+3- PTS16
11. Fulham P11- GD+0- PTS16
12. Stoke City P11- GD-4- PTS16
13. Everton P11- GD+1- PTS15
14. Middlesbrough P11- GD+2- PTS13
15. Man City P11- GD-7- PTS13
16. Wigan P11- GD-6- PTS11
17. Hull City P11- GD-10- PTS6
--------------------------------------
18. Bolton P11- GD-17- PTS6
19. Newcastle P11- GD-11- PTS5
20. West Brom P11- GD-15- PTS5

*Will be updated after every 5 games of the season.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Top 5's

Top Scorers

1. Anelka (Chelsea) 17
2. Rooney (Man United) 11
3. Crouch (Portsmouth) 11
4. McCarthy (Blackburn) 10
5. Adebayor (Arsenal) 9
----------------------------
A.Johnson (Fulham) 6

Clean Sheets
1. Friedel (Aston Villa) 7
2. Gordon (Sunderland) 7
3. Cech (Chelsea) 6
4. Green (West Ham) 6
5. Given (Man City) 5
----------------------------
Schwarzer (Fulham) 4

Yellow Cards
1. Boyce (Wigan) 4
2. Etherington (Stoke) 4
3. Whelan (Stoke) 4
4. Hughes (Fulham) 4
5. Arbeloa (Liverpool) 3

Red Cards
1. McCarthy (Sunderland) 2
2. Denilson (Arsenal) 1
3. Bosingwa (Chelsea) 1
4. De Jong (Man City) 1
5. Vidic (Man United 1
----------------------------
G.Johnson (Fulham) 1

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Players In:

Glen Johnson (Portsmouth)- £1.5m





Players Out:

[MFC_SmogMonster]

All things that have not been filled in will do so tomorrow. Going off now. Will play first game tomorrow. Hope you enjoy.

[GK01]

Mate is that rivalries copied from wiki?

[Steve]

heres what i came up for you ill pm you the rest

[..KieRaN..]

yeah GK, tht is from wiki, just read it, copied word for word

[MFC_LukeCarter]

Why do you copy everything

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Originally Posted by GK01

Mate is that rivalries copied from wiki?

I used Wiki as a source and changed parts to make it look different now. I was in a hurry and just wanted to get something down, but I have changed it. Sorry if this hurt you but I was just trying to get something on paper and all other work will not be copied. I have since changed the 'copied' pieces but as I said I was in a hurry and wanted something down. All changed now, won't happen again

[MFC_LukeCarter]

Originally Posted by Harpooner

I used Wiki as a source and changed parts to make it look different now. I was in a hurry and just wanted to get something down, but I have changed it. Sorry if this hurt you but I was just trying to get something on paper and all other work will not be copied. I have since changed the 'copied' pieces but as I said I was in a hurry and wanted something down. All changed now, won't happen again

Bum suck.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Originally Posted by MFC_LukeCarter

Bum suck.

Will do the defenders, midfielder and forwards Now. May take awhile.

[MFC_LukeCarter]

Originally Posted by Harpooner

Will do the defenders, midfielder and forwards Now. May take awhile.

Keep it going try and emulate my MM

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Have just done the player profiles which was a bit of a ball ache.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Al-Fayed gets his Man!

Today, Fulham FC owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed announced that he captured the man he was chasing all Summer long for the vacant managers' post at the West London club.

Al-Fayed says that Harper will bring glory to Fulham.

Harper who had been approached earlier in the year declined the first contracted offered to him but the businessman sweetened the deal and Harper eventually crumbled and signed late last night.

It is expected that Harper will be given in the region on £7million to launch a bid to push for the top half after a close shave last season, Fayed expects alot more from his side this campaign, "We are a very proud club and the worst that could happen to us would be to drop down a division," Fayed continued, "I think Ben Harper is the right man to continue the work that has been done over they years and I fully expect that we will have a very successful season." The bookies have been quick to make Harper the first to be sacked in the new season but with the names being linked to Craven Cottage it is expected by the people at Fulham Football Club that Harper will come through what has been a difficult few years in West London.

Harper's first game in charge is a tough match at home against title chasers Arsenal but Fulham's home record has been exquisite over recent seasons and has been what has kept them up and hopefully the same can happen this year as well.

Nick Collins,
Sky Sports.

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Resilient Fulham beaten by Arsenal.

Fulham 0-1 Arsenal

Nasri 8'

Arsenal continued their opening day success story as they beat a tough Fulham side 1-0 at Craven Cottage with the only goal of the game coming in the 8th minute from a Samir Nasri header.

Starting Line Ups:

------------Schwarzer------------
Pantsil-Hughes-Hangeland-Konchesky
---Gera-Dacourt--Murphy--Davies---
-------Dempsey----A.Johnson-------
-----------------------------------
-------------Adebayor-------------
--------Nasri----------Diaby--------
----Rosicky---Fabregas---Eboue----
--Clichy--Gallas------Toure--Sagna--
--------------Almunia--------------

First Half
The Gooners started brightly and created alot in the opening minutes and they got their reward as Rosicky whipped in a ball from the right and Nasri rose above Pantsil to head home in the top right hand corner and there was nothing Mark Schwarzer could do to stop it.

Fulham grew into the game and Dempsey spurned a shot from 20 yards just wide on about 20 minutes before the American was played through again only for Almunia to deny him with a superb save down to his right. Dempsey had his 3rd chance of the half and his best. Johnson slide a nice through ball in and the USA international broke clear of a lazy Arsenal defence only to spray his shot wide of Almunia's left hand post.

Second Half
Fulham started the second half as they finished the first and this time it was Johnson to come close as Almunia saved again. As the game grew in age it was becoming more and more nerve racking for the Fulham supporters who were due a goal but you always sensed that it wasn't to be the Cottagers day.

Dempsey had another chance but yet again failed to capitalise and a poor Arsenal defence can count themselves lucky that it wasn't Nicolas Anelka upfront for Fulham today.

Schwarzer wasn't challenged once in the 2nd half and only had to pick the ball out of his net in the first to signal how good the Fulham defence were today apart from the Arsenal goal and if new boss Ben Harper can keep his young squad playing well defensively such as today all he needs to worry about is where the goals are going to come from.

Clive Tyldesley,
ITV Sport.

Match Facts
6 Shots 2
3 On Target 1
47% Possession 53%

Man of the Match
Aaron Hughes



Dominated at the back today and kept Adebayor quiet for much of the game.

Next Game: Man City (a)

[KGWHUFC]

Bad luck, not a bad loss though.

Nice report

[MFC_LukeCarter]

Im sure Dempsey will come good for you.

[Steve]

the banners look nice

[MFC_SmogMonster]

Originally Posted by NottsCounty

the banners look nice

I know. Cheers mate.

Originally Posted by MFC_LukeCarter

Im sure Dempsey will come good for you.

He played well but couldn't take his chances

Originally Posted by KGWHUFC

Bad luck, not a bad loss though.

Nice report

I know not too bad at this stage, hopefully Man C game will be better and Thanks