Our man in SW6!
Dags att välkommna det senaste tillskottet till redaktionen, vår representant på plats i SW6 - Dean. Vår Brittiske vän kommer att med Engelsk oregelbundenhet rapportera sin syn på vad som pågår lokalt gällande Fulham, hur snacket går på pubarna etc. Welcome Dean!!!!!!
HELLO our Swedish friends. Firstly I´d like to thank you for the opportunity to write for this website where I intend to keep you updated with all the happenings at Craven Cottage and the general atmosphere around the club.
Fulham supporters are one of a kind. We are not like supporters of other sides, particularly those in the Premiership. We are original. Most of us have watched the club rise from near extinction to the best football league in the world. In the 14 year period that I have been going I have also seen attendances rise from two or three thousand, to twenty thousand on a regular basis.
These days being a Fulham supporter is great. We currently have around thirteen thousand season ticket holders and I think around 1500away season ticket holders. Our fan base is gradually increasing and hopefully will do so to the extent that we will be able to fill our brand new 30,000 all seater stadium when it is ready for us at the start of 2003/04.
In a day when football violence is threatening to make a comeback, it is not an issue with our supporters. This season the only trouble we have had at our ground has come from away supporters. Examples being when Tottenham fans through a bottle at Luis Boa Morte and Wycombe fans threw a coin at Louis Saha in the FA Cup 3rd round replay.
If this sort of behaviour was to ever come from the Fulham end I would be very surprised, as would the thousands of other Fulhamites who have grown up watching football the way in which we are supposed to.
Anyway, lets look ahead to this Saturday and the visit of our bitter rivals Blackburn Rovers. Despite the hundreds of miles which separate us, last seasons battle for the First division championship has made us look at each other as enemies.
Rovers are a good side and look particularly good going forward with the likes of Matt Jansen, David Dunn and of course their new signing Andy Cole always threatening to score. They will also be looking for revenge after Super Seany Davis scored that sweet last minute goal at Ewood Park last season to more or less wrap up the championship for us and give us a 2-1 victory - despite playing the majority of the game with ten men after Rufus Brevett was sent off.
This weekend I think Rovers will be more than happy to sit back and frustrate us as many other sides have successfully managed this season. They will most likely play on the break and our defenders must ensure that they concentrate 100% as one moments lapse will cost us a goal due to the pace and ability their side has.
From a Fulham point of view we will again be without Lee Clark who is still injured while Boa Morte and Davis could return from injuries. Rufus Brevett returns from a one match ban which could cause a headache for Jean Tigana after his replacement Jon Harley got man of the match last week against Villa.
The biggest headache of all at the moment is scoring goals though and after Hayles warning that someone is in for a hiding soon, Fulham fans are hoping it will come sooner rather than later as we are desperate for three points to push us closer to the European places.
Unfortunately I really can´t see us getting all the points from this game though as Blackburn possibly need the points more than us at the moment and are more likely to make the most of their chances. I hope I´m wrong but I can see a 0-0 or 1-1 coming up again.
I´ll be in the Hammersmith End praying for three points come three o´clock tomorrow and I hope to come back in a few days and tell you all how wrong I was about my prediction!
Keep the faith.
