Fulham in Premier League 2009-10

Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they celebrated their 125th anniversary in 2004, and are in the top tier of English football, the Premier League. Fulham are the oldest professional football team in London, usually considered to have been founded in 1879 (though the semi-professional Cray Wanderers F.C. are the oldest team in London still in existence).

The club spent much time in the old First Division through the 1960s but never gained any major honours. In 1975, as a Second Division team, they contested the FA Cup final for the only time in their history, losing 2–0 to West Ham United, the Fulham side that day containing former Hammers great Bobby Moore. Fulham qualified for the UEFA Cup in 2002 by winning the Intertoto Cup, beating Bologna 5–3 in the final over two legs. In the UEFA Cup, they won through two rounds before being defeated by Hertha Berlin. In the mid-1990s they had a brief spell in the former Fourth Division, but within less than a decade, they advanced into the top flight. No doubt their new millionaire chairman, Mohamed Al-Fayed played a crucial role. In 2009, Fulham had their highest-ever finish in the top-flight, coming 7th to qualify for Europe once again.

The club has produced many British greats including Johnny Haynes, George Cohen, Bobby Robson, Rodney Marsh and Alan Mullery. They play at the historic Craven Cottage, their home since 1896, a riverside ground on the banks of the River Thames in Fulham, having spent two years at Loftus Road while Craven Cottage was undergoing renovations to bring it up to Premier League standards. The club’s training ground is located near Motspur Park (and was where Chariots of Fire among others was filmed), where Fulham’s Academy is also situated, including a mini-stadium where the reserves play. Fulham currently have a partnership agreement with the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

After Fulham’s relegation escape, Hodgson spoke of the need to ensure Fulham never found themselves in such a precarious position again. He struck early during the summer transfer window to claim the signing of experienced, Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer on a free from Middlesbrough on 22 May 2008. On 28 May 2008, the club announced that captain and club legend Brian McBride would not renew his contract and would be returning to USA to play for the Chicago Fire. On 12 June Fulham added the signing of Andranik Teymourian to its summer acquisitions. The 25-year-old Armenian-Iranian defensive midfielder has played most recently for Bolton and the Iran national football team. Zoltan Gera was also added to the squad earlier in the same month, after turning down a new contract with newly promoted West Bromwich Albion. In early July, Toni Kallio, whom Hodgson had signed on loan in January, signed a full contract with the club. On 15 July, Fulham announced the joint signing of Bobby Zamora and John Pantsil from London rivals West Ham. Next followed the saga of Andrew Johnson in which it was reported in the press on 29 June that Johnson (from Premier League rivals Everton) would be joining immediately for up to 12 million pounds. The transfer eventually happened more than a week later and at fees rising to almost 13 million, he is the second most expensive signing in Fulham’s history, (after Steve Marlet), and was looking to make an impact along with the other 9 player Roy Hodgson signed in the 2008–09 season. The current captain is Danny Murphy.

Fulham’s start to the season was not fantastic: a 2-1 defeat away to Hull City. However, two home games in quick succession saw them record a surprise 1-0 victory over Arsenal, as well as a 2-1 win against Bolton Wanderers. They also beat Leicester City in the Carling Cup, but it was a nervy affair for Fulham, who won 3-2 after being 2-1 down with 7 minutes to go: Danny Murphy scored the winner in stoppage time. Four successive defeats, three of which were in the League to Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion saw Fulham slide down the table: the other defeat, away to Burnley, saw them go out of the Carling Cup. Two draws against Sunderland and Portsmouth helped to stop the rot, and a 2-0 home win against Wigan Athletic was crucial. Fulham then somehow contrived to lose away to Everton, but they rectified this by defeating both Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage. The win against Spurs was particularly noteworthy, as Roy Hodgson’s side became the first to beat Tottenham under their new manager Harry Redknapp. Two 0-0 draws away to Liverpool and Aston Villa saw them rise to 10th in the table, and they have already picked up over half their points tally of last season. Their 1-1 draw at home with Manchester City, followed by their 0-0 draw away at Stoke City mean that they are now unbeaten in six matches. Following the Stoke match, Fulham had a very comfortable 3-0 win against Boro. Despite not winning either of their next two fixtures, the Christmas period was a satisfactory one for Fulham: on Boxing Day they drew 0-0 away to Tottenham (the year before they had lost 5-1 in the same fixture on the same day), and two days later they snatched a dramatic draw at home to their local rivals Chelsea, with both goals coming from American Clint Dempsey. This saw them cement their place in mid-table, where they still remain at 9th position in the third week of March 2009, a month in which they have had mixed results, losing 1-2 to lowly ranked Blackburn Rovers and 0-1 to Hull City, but sensationally prevailing 2-0 on 21 March 2009 at Craven Cottage against Premier League defending champions and 2008-09 leaders Manchester United, who had two players, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney sent off. The goals for Fulham were scored by Danny Murphy and Zoltan Gera. Earlier in the season, the team reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup, eventually losing at home to Manchester United. Fulham finished the season in seventh place allowing them to enter the recently re-named Europa League for only the second time in their history.

The Fulham FC club official mascot is Billy the Badger who was the winning design sent in by Kyle Jackson after an online competition by the club. Billy the Badger wears the number 79 Fulham shirt, in reference to the club’s year of founding (1879). Controversy first surrounded Billy when he tried to cheer up Chelsea manager Avram Grant during a home match in front of the television cameras. Secondly, Billy was seen on television being sent off during the home game against Aston Villa on Sunday 3 February 2008, for breakdancing in the corner of the pitch after the referee had commenced the game. Billy blamed his badger hearing and eyesight for the incident, and apologised to referee Chris Foy. On Wednesday 11 March 2009 Billy walked across the goal during a match although it was not spotted by the referee. The former mascot for Fulham was Sir Craven of Cottage, the Knight. The cheerleaders were known as the Cravenettes, formerly the SW6ers.

Fulham fans consider their main rivals to be Chelsea. Despite this fixture not being played that often in the years preceding Fulham’s ascent to the top division, this is a clear local derby as Chelsea’s ground, Stamford Bridge, is in Fulham. However, it is only recently that the two teams have been competing in the same league. Chelsea supporters don’t consider Fulham to be their main rivals, sharing more intense rivalries with Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, West Ham United, Leeds, Millwall and more recently Liverpool. The reason for this is not certain but most likely owes to the fact the two clubs have spent many years in different divisions and Chelsea’s considerably larger fan base.

Fulham consider their secondary rivalries to be with QPR and Brentford. Fulham last played QPR in the 2000-01 season and Brentford in the 1997-98 season. They also have small rivalries with other London clubs, including West Ham and Crystal Palace.

Outside of London, Gillingham are still considered rivals to Fulham despite the two clubs having played in different divisions for the past eight years. Fulham and Gillingham have been involved in several high-tempered matches in the lower leagues. The death of a Fulham fan outside Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium in 1998 has only served to intensify the bad relationship between the clubs’ fans.

Fulham have a large fan base and have millions of fans all over the world and people love to watch their matches live into the play ground. Fulham fans love to enjoy and experience the thrill during the Fulham match live in the ground. Getting football tickets for Fulham Matches is really a hard task for the Fulham fans. Ticket4football.com solves this problem by offering the Fulham football tickets, easy to get and relatively at cheaper price. So Fulham Tickets are just at the distance of one click from the fans.

About the Author

Roy brown
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Wapping tunnel In Liverpool

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