I took my boys to the Cottage today, where some of the players were doing a signing for fans. Burn and Tankovic were particularly good with my two, and Dejagah and Dempsey were great too. All four signed the club pennants my two bought and posed for photos. For my eldest, who has had Dempsey as his favourite player since 2008, it was particularly exciting. A great day. Let's hope things on the pitch can be just as good in the next few weeks.
I was in Barcelona with my wife over the weekend (anything interesting happen while I was away?) and took my wife to her first professional football game, Barca v. Rayo Vallecano, during which Barca won 6-0 and Messi got two goals - setting another record (like 330 goals in 360 games). I told her that's about as good as football gets.
Just think how excited she will be when she comes to a nil - all draw on a rainy November night at the Cottage! Now that's as good as it gets!!!!
Exactly. What would I rather see? I'd rather see FFC fight it out to a nil nill stalemate against Chelsea, but for a first-timer watching a football spectacle, it's hard to beat Barcelona. My first Fulham game was a 0-2 thumping by Spurs in an FA Cup game at The Cottage, during which the crowd could hardly muster a "Common Ful-ham" chant more than twice.
It's probably as good as it gets now. If only she had had the chance to see Terry Angus in his prime...
Going further off-beat - has anyone noticed the bizarre tag for the thread? Scroll down to the bottom of the page, between thread info and bookmarks.
HAHA! There seems to be a lot of our threads with that tag (if you click on it), along with a fair few Liverpool threads...
Captain, thought you might appreciate this... @FulhamFC: Throwback Thursday | We look back at Simon Morgan's 408th, and final, appearance for Fulham FC. http://t.co/PHH0h5NIi2
Just popped in for a lunchtime beverarge! Totally off my pork scratchings with thoughts of Bidley's hairy bum. You can get 2 for 1 tickets to do the Cottage tour http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/fulham-fc-craven-cottage-stadium-tour Ciao
Ross County v St.Mirren BBC Alba, which is the BBC's Scottish Gaelic language channel, had been scheduled to broadcast the match in its entirety shortly after the final whistle. But it decided to delay the transmission after realising that bad language could clearly be heard on its microphones, which were placed around the ground. If only I'd known I could have learned some new Gaelic swear words to shout at the Refs.
Out if interest, has anyone been on a Fulham coach to an away game? If so, what's it like - are you allowed beers? We were thinking of going to the Cardiff match - but it's £45 on the train. We're all set for Villa...just booked return train tickets from Euston to Birmingham for £13. Absolutely bargain and double bonus given the match tickets are only a tenner.
No beers, one glass of Chateauneuf-de-pape is allowed by it must be accompanied by two salmon blini's. Just kidding - no alcohol allowed- sure you could be creative with spirits in soft drinks bottles, bit harder for beers though. You could try one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/3906...&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95.
What a Nutter!! [video]https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/333419D0B51051596182079586304_18ecdf8feae.4.8.4380 522550434381525.mp4?versionId=btkdlK4tK3W0rrkgu4SR R4jl192IuzdN[/video]
Pardew is a proper nutter! I'm quite happy he did this as I've had a speculative fiver on Moyes being the next Newcastle manager at 250/1. Hopefully Pardew and Moyes will both get the sack at the end of the season - I can't see Moyes joining a small club. I'm quietly confident
And here is another Nutter from today - [video=youtube;35-rYmLZ_BI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35-rYmLZ_BI&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Fair Play - is this what it takes to stay in the Premiership? [Villa's turnover (£83m) I guess is very similar to our own. This post also has some relevance to the "Who's to Blame ?" thread but it seemed best not to deflect from the excellent analysis of Our Club being post there by intoducing comparisons with another.] "The accounts for the year ending May 31, 2013 show that Villa have reduced their operating losses by £9.5 million to £42.6 million. But the loss after tax for the financial year increased by £34.1m to £51.8m because,unlike the year before they did not generate a substantial figure in selling players and because there was a significant waiver of interest in the previous accounts. Turnover for the year was up £3.3 million to £83.7 million, with the club citing their improved Premier League position, higher average league attendance and their progress to the Capital One Cup semi-final last season. There was a £6.2 million reduction of operating expenses before exceptional items, which was achieved by reducing the wagebill of the playing squad and the £3.1 million amortisations of player’s registrations. In an official statement, Villa say they have vastly reduced the club’s debt load and accelerated the process towards long-term stability and financial self-sufficiency. Villa revealed that exceptional charges increased by £2.4million to £8.3 million and included the accelerated amortisation of certain players’ registrations and their employment costs. This refers to the depreciation in players’ values as their contracts tick down. The club say the accounts now more accurately reflect the value of the squad utilised by the manager." Source and more details: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-post-518m-loss-6759930
QPR lost £65.4m last season, the highest in the English League. They spent £73m on wages and the total debt is £177m; all funded by loans from Tony Fernandes and the Mittal family. No comment required.
