Hi all, Spurs fan in peace. Thought I'd pass on this piece written by a friend of mine:
"Dear Mo,
This is a post to say thank you for every single one of the 16 years you have continued to bankroll Fulham Football Club. You came in when we were still a struggling side, that without Mickey Adam's management and our promotion to the Old Second Division, you may not have been interested in us. Unfortunately your son's tragic death overshadowed everything the papers said about you, and as Chairman of my club they have all been proved wrong.
You said you would get us to the Premier League in 5 years, it happened in 4, you changed our crest, you installed big name managers, and broke a transfer record in your first season (who knows how much today's version of Paul Peschisolido would cost), you didn't upset the boat and we had a great core of players that brought us through to Division One. You invested heavily in Tigana and I remember my first match like it was yesterday, Nottingham Forest vs Fulham, 16th September 2000, a birthday present, we missed the whole of the first half and then we turned on the style in the second half. Much like the rest of the season, we played dazzling football and dominated the league. Louis Saha was top class and Barry Hayles was such a beast. I then bought my first Fulham shirt, it was a classic red and black striped number with 'Pizza Hut' emblazoned on the front. I went to our first Premier League match against the champions Manchester United, we took the lead inside 2 minutes and we went wild! If any United player I wouldn't mind scoring then went and did it, he hit the crossbar too off a pretty unstoppable free kick. Although we lost that match 3-2 we showed we were taking the big time seriously and I found a new goalkeeping hero in EVDS, I still have his autograph on a rubbish cap I took to the Leicester game, (which was also terrible and I realised that signing Steve Marlet might have been a huge mistake). That season we finished 13th, unexpectedly, and for the following season we then had to move to Loftus Road because our stadium was (and still is) made almost completely of wood, and still had standing sections in the Putney and Hammersmith ends. This was banned 13 years before but no-one expected 'little old Fulham' to do anything as momentous as we did.
In '02-'03 the only thing I wanted to do was go and watch European football, I remember the matches the year before when Ipswich went on their crazy run until being knocked out by Inter, Mum was working nights and I watched them get pummeled in the San Siro. I watched us win our only trophy, on a late late night in summer, Inamoto scored a hattrick against Bologna and we paraded a trophy that looked like a bargain bin buy by UEFA around the ground. I was also there for the Zagreb game where we scored 2 in the last 2 minutes, I guess European comebacks are in our blood. I bought the shirt and got 'Malbranque' across the top, I remember we had the Betfair 'mascot' as a man dressed as a blue arrow pointing upwards, awful. I don't think I saw us win once in the league that year, or the next year, in 03'-'04. It was the first season I got my own name personalised across the back of a red 'dabs' shirt. I remember a preseason friendly against Roma, Shearer thumping two headed goals past us at home, and Villa away, who took us apart (my mates really loved rubbing that in). But the season was full of highs, especially beating United 3-1 away and we finished 9th.
I didn't see another match until the very end of the '04-'05 season, when my new favourite player, Brian McBride, helped us absolutely thump Norwich 6-0, they could have saved themselves but we took them apart and it was such a glorious sunny day, a fitting end to another good season, we did well in the FA cup too.
The next big event to happen was the SW6 derby in 2006, 19th March, I still have my ticket. Stevenage Road stand (as it was known back then) Block JL, Row F, Seat 34. We had been hammered for years by the big spending neighbours, but we were really up for this, in the 17th minute Luis Boa Morte got a really lucky deflection from almost the edge of the penalty box when he just stuck his foot in the way of a clearance. The rest of the match was a blur, I know we missed some gilt-edged chances and Drogba had a goal ruled out, but we were hanging on. When the final whistle went we all went nuts, everyone charged onto the pitch like absolute nutters, I remember rushing down to the hoardings but the police had arrived so I couldn't join the fracas on the pitch.
It seemed like for the '06-'07 season you had kind of given up a little, the players we signed mostly fell way short of Premier League standards, although we at least had a playmaker in Jimmy Bullard now. Although Vicenzo Montella was supposed to light up the league, all he did was get sent off all of the time. This was and is the only season supporting Fulham I did not buy a shirt, it was made by 'Airness' who sound more like a mattress manufacturer, in tight, itchy fabric and it looked boring as. The season was just as uninspiring, I went to one game, Liverpool at home and we were dire, I hated Laurie Sanchez too. I thought he was a boring manager with no idea how to play football, we only won that match because Liverpool had the Champions League final next. Although it was Clint's first ever goal for us and what a player he would become.
For the '07-'08 campaign you made a terrible terrible error in giving Sanchez loads of money to buy players, all he seemed to do was buy half the Northen Ireland squad. They were lightweight players and all I wished you'd done was sack him sooner. Hodgson was a breath of fresh air, but he didn't click immediately and we were still in perilous danger. Then came that day in Manchester, we were 2-0 down inside an hour and we looked finished, relegated after all these years of flirtation. Somehow Dio popped up and latched onto a lose ball that wasn't cleared, turned inside, turned outside and finished it inbetween Joe Hart's legs. From there we looked a different side, a side that was staying up, Murphy and Bullard started to pull the strings and after Murphy equalised off a saved penalty, it was on. When Kamara went clear off a through ball and gunned it into the roof of the net I ran around the house and headbutted the lampshade hanging from the hallway ceiling, glass went everywhere. We beat Birmingham at home and then Murphy scored THAT goal against Portsmouth. We were staying up.
You richly rewarded Hodgson after he had cleared out all the deadwood and some of the players that had been bought over the past year were starting to come good, Dempsey and Hangeland especially. I lived in Australia for the whole of the '08-'09 season so didn't see a single game, but I made a special trip with a mate to see us in action against Melbourne Victory, it could have been a great match, but we had no idea! All the goals went in at the other end, we had a great time though on the beers, sitting in front of the 'hardcore' Victory fans signing "We won it one time, we won it one time, the Intertoto, we won it one time".
The '09-'10 season was my first season as a season ticket holder, coming down to London to study made coming to games a whole lot easier, and it was incredible. Hammersmith end, Block H4, Row JJ, Seat 72, and that has been where I've been ever since.
That year I saw every home game, the drubbing of United 3-0, beating Liverpool, but most importantly the Europa League. I travelled across Europe to see Fulham play. I remember going out on a Wednesday night, getting obliterated, then coming home to find my friends had all put alarm clocks outside my door to wake me up. That tactic failed miserably and I had to book new tickets and I went to Rome, to an almost empty Stadio Olympico to watch flares be lit up and to be kettled by police for an hour after the game because their Ultras wanted a bit of action. I stayed in a very nice hotel though and midnight walks to the Trevi fountain are all the rage when in Rome. I went to Basel in Switzerland and it was bloody freezing, Bobby Zamora showed he was an international striker with some great touches, but they came back, and I had seen us become a side that bottles it so I thought we'd snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, but no, more Europe awaited. It came to Shakhtar Donetsk and they were the best team I've ever seen, they zipped it around all over the place, Willan dismantled us and how we got away with a 2-1 win was daylight robbery. Zamora smashed one in off the bar and Gera slid one in from close range. The away game in Ukraine was even more tense, the home crowd was huge and so loud, we were cooped up in the corner as usual and were quiet as mice because we were so nervous. Hangeland scored a really big header and then they equalised and all I remember was covering my eyes every time they danced towards the goal, they cut us to ribbons but just couldn't score.
"Dear Mo,
This is a post to say thank you for every single one of the 16 years you have continued to bankroll Fulham Football Club. You came in when we were still a struggling side, that without Mickey Adam's management and our promotion to the Old Second Division, you may not have been interested in us. Unfortunately your son's tragic death overshadowed everything the papers said about you, and as Chairman of my club they have all been proved wrong.
You said you would get us to the Premier League in 5 years, it happened in 4, you changed our crest, you installed big name managers, and broke a transfer record in your first season (who knows how much today's version of Paul Peschisolido would cost), you didn't upset the boat and we had a great core of players that brought us through to Division One. You invested heavily in Tigana and I remember my first match like it was yesterday, Nottingham Forest vs Fulham, 16th September 2000, a birthday present, we missed the whole of the first half and then we turned on the style in the second half. Much like the rest of the season, we played dazzling football and dominated the league. Louis Saha was top class and Barry Hayles was such a beast. I then bought my first Fulham shirt, it was a classic red and black striped number with 'Pizza Hut' emblazoned on the front. I went to our first Premier League match against the champions Manchester United, we took the lead inside 2 minutes and we went wild! If any United player I wouldn't mind scoring then went and did it, he hit the crossbar too off a pretty unstoppable free kick. Although we lost that match 3-2 we showed we were taking the big time seriously and I found a new goalkeeping hero in EVDS, I still have his autograph on a rubbish cap I took to the Leicester game, (which was also terrible and I realised that signing Steve Marlet might have been a huge mistake). That season we finished 13th, unexpectedly, and for the following season we then had to move to Loftus Road because our stadium was (and still is) made almost completely of wood, and still had standing sections in the Putney and Hammersmith ends. This was banned 13 years before but no-one expected 'little old Fulham' to do anything as momentous as we did.
In '02-'03 the only thing I wanted to do was go and watch European football, I remember the matches the year before when Ipswich went on their crazy run until being knocked out by Inter, Mum was working nights and I watched them get pummeled in the San Siro. I watched us win our only trophy, on a late late night in summer, Inamoto scored a hattrick against Bologna and we paraded a trophy that looked like a bargain bin buy by UEFA around the ground. I was also there for the Zagreb game where we scored 2 in the last 2 minutes, I guess European comebacks are in our blood. I bought the shirt and got 'Malbranque' across the top, I remember we had the Betfair 'mascot' as a man dressed as a blue arrow pointing upwards, awful. I don't think I saw us win once in the league that year, or the next year, in 03'-'04. It was the first season I got my own name personalised across the back of a red 'dabs' shirt. I remember a preseason friendly against Roma, Shearer thumping two headed goals past us at home, and Villa away, who took us apart (my mates really loved rubbing that in). But the season was full of highs, especially beating United 3-1 away and we finished 9th.
I didn't see another match until the very end of the '04-'05 season, when my new favourite player, Brian McBride, helped us absolutely thump Norwich 6-0, they could have saved themselves but we took them apart and it was such a glorious sunny day, a fitting end to another good season, we did well in the FA cup too.
The next big event to happen was the SW6 derby in 2006, 19th March, I still have my ticket. Stevenage Road stand (as it was known back then) Block JL, Row F, Seat 34. We had been hammered for years by the big spending neighbours, but we were really up for this, in the 17th minute Luis Boa Morte got a really lucky deflection from almost the edge of the penalty box when he just stuck his foot in the way of a clearance. The rest of the match was a blur, I know we missed some gilt-edged chances and Drogba had a goal ruled out, but we were hanging on. When the final whistle went we all went nuts, everyone charged onto the pitch like absolute nutters, I remember rushing down to the hoardings but the police had arrived so I couldn't join the fracas on the pitch.
It seemed like for the '06-'07 season you had kind of given up a little, the players we signed mostly fell way short of Premier League standards, although we at least had a playmaker in Jimmy Bullard now. Although Vicenzo Montella was supposed to light up the league, all he did was get sent off all of the time. This was and is the only season supporting Fulham I did not buy a shirt, it was made by 'Airness' who sound more like a mattress manufacturer, in tight, itchy fabric and it looked boring as. The season was just as uninspiring, I went to one game, Liverpool at home and we were dire, I hated Laurie Sanchez too. I thought he was a boring manager with no idea how to play football, we only won that match because Liverpool had the Champions League final next. Although it was Clint's first ever goal for us and what a player he would become.
For the '07-'08 campaign you made a terrible terrible error in giving Sanchez loads of money to buy players, all he seemed to do was buy half the Northen Ireland squad. They were lightweight players and all I wished you'd done was sack him sooner. Hodgson was a breath of fresh air, but he didn't click immediately and we were still in perilous danger. Then came that day in Manchester, we were 2-0 down inside an hour and we looked finished, relegated after all these years of flirtation. Somehow Dio popped up and latched onto a lose ball that wasn't cleared, turned inside, turned outside and finished it inbetween Joe Hart's legs. From there we looked a different side, a side that was staying up, Murphy and Bullard started to pull the strings and after Murphy equalised off a saved penalty, it was on. When Kamara went clear off a through ball and gunned it into the roof of the net I ran around the house and headbutted the lampshade hanging from the hallway ceiling, glass went everywhere. We beat Birmingham at home and then Murphy scored THAT goal against Portsmouth. We were staying up.
You richly rewarded Hodgson after he had cleared out all the deadwood and some of the players that had been bought over the past year were starting to come good, Dempsey and Hangeland especially. I lived in Australia for the whole of the '08-'09 season so didn't see a single game, but I made a special trip with a mate to see us in action against Melbourne Victory, it could have been a great match, but we had no idea! All the goals went in at the other end, we had a great time though on the beers, sitting in front of the 'hardcore' Victory fans signing "We won it one time, we won it one time, the Intertoto, we won it one time".
The '09-'10 season was my first season as a season ticket holder, coming down to London to study made coming to games a whole lot easier, and it was incredible. Hammersmith end, Block H4, Row JJ, Seat 72, and that has been where I've been ever since.
That year I saw every home game, the drubbing of United 3-0, beating Liverpool, but most importantly the Europa League. I travelled across Europe to see Fulham play. I remember going out on a Wednesday night, getting obliterated, then coming home to find my friends had all put alarm clocks outside my door to wake me up. That tactic failed miserably and I had to book new tickets and I went to Rome, to an almost empty Stadio Olympico to watch flares be lit up and to be kettled by police for an hour after the game because their Ultras wanted a bit of action. I stayed in a very nice hotel though and midnight walks to the Trevi fountain are all the rage when in Rome. I went to Basel in Switzerland and it was bloody freezing, Bobby Zamora showed he was an international striker with some great touches, but they came back, and I had seen us become a side that bottles it so I thought we'd snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, but no, more Europe awaited. It came to Shakhtar Donetsk and they were the best team I've ever seen, they zipped it around all over the place, Willan dismantled us and how we got away with a 2-1 win was daylight robbery. Zamora smashed one in off the bar and Gera slid one in from close range. The away game in Ukraine was even more tense, the home crowd was huge and so loud, we were cooped up in the corner as usual and were quiet as mice because we were so nervous. Hangeland scored a really big header and then they equalised and all I remember was covering my eyes every time they danced towards the goal, they cut us to ribbons but just couldn't score.
