Sunday, May 11, 2008
Boo-be
It's half-time in the season finale. Liverpool and Tottenham tied at nil. Naturally, one hopes the Red side get a result. But just as important is a fixture at the other end of the table. (Liverpool are in fourth with no possibility to move up to third or go down to fifth.)
Fulham are fighting for their survival. They win, they stay up. Birmingham or Reading win and they go down.
I have followed Fulham for quite some time, in fact since they were in the old Second Division under Kevin Keegan. The old Second Division is now League 1. Back in the day, Maik Taylor was the goalkeeper and Geoff Horsley and Barry Hayles formed the strike partnership. Even before Chris Coleman's accident and the family-like relationship with him during the rehab. What class! The year they were promoted to the Premier League, they set a record for most points in the Championship (League 1). I bought their strip at Harrod's. If I wasn't a Liverpool fan, I would probably be a Fulham fan.
Which, I might add, has nothing to do with Mohammed al-Fayed.
Today's Fulham is, bless me, full of Americans. The leading scorer is Clint Dempsey. The leading scorer would have been Brian McBride if he hadn't missed a chunk of the season through injury. Kasey Keller has been deputizing in goal since the injury to Niemi. Bocanegra gets a game occasionally. Now they also have Jimmy Bullard and ex-Red Danny Murphy. On the negative side, I was riled a bit when they dismissed Chris Coleman at the end of last season. I was not a big fan of Lawrie Sanchez, this season's first Fulham manager, nor am I a big fan of Roy Hodgson, former Swiss national team boss and present manager.
But for old times' sake, I hope they stay up. That, and I hate everything having to do with Birmingham, England. And Reading -- except Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey. One could only hope that Fulham could overtake Bolton and relegate them, too. But sending four teams down wouldn't work because they only promote three and 19 in the Premier League would play havoc with the schedule.
I'm hoping they stay up (Fulham) and are able to sign some new guys to maybe get mid-table and do well in a domestic cup competition. I'm hoping they'll dump Hodgson and get
someone solid in. Martin Jol would have been good. I wonder who else would have made a good boss at Craven Cottage. If Sven is canned from Man City, they should go after him. Most of the other bosses I would think of already have jobs. McCarthy, Adams... Maybe they should hire Ince. That would be pretty sweet. He's done well at MK Dons recently and at other teams. He is a rising star among managers. I think he is young enough and he has the silverware to be able to motivate the lads to do more and more.
This year's Fulham has had a lot of injuries, which has contributed to the low rank. Ask any team with major injuries for parts of the season. (Houllier and Benitez have both had that problem at Liverpool in the last ten years, though year after year is a problem with the conditioning, training and physio.) Hopefully, they can buy well, perhaps from the lower leagues or intelligently and return to success. Here's hoping.
UPDATE after Matchday 38!
Manchester United won the game, vs Wigan, 2-0 and in so doing, won the Premier League... um... again...
Chelsea managed to DRAW! (ha-ha-ha) with Bolton 1-1 at the last, ensuring they finish 2 points behind United.
Nobody really cares that Arsenal managed to win.
Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham through Voronin and Torres.
And, the news you were waiting for.
Derby 0-4 Reading. As expected, but with more goals.
Birmingham City 4-1 Blackburn. Not as expected. Blackburn is a much better team, but usually that is when McCarthy starts... and he didn't today.
Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham through Danny Murphy (see above).
Fulham survive and Reading, Birmingham and Derby are relgated.
Whew. I can relax now, as it was touch-and-go.
Surprisingly, Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City. City finished ninth and Boro 13th, but you couldn't tell from that scoreline. Remember what I said about Sven above? I take that back. If his squad is humiliated like that on the final day of the season when they should be playing to save his job, he should quit. (It started when he quit playing Rolando Bianchi but that's a story for another blog.)
So I am HAPPY! Fulham stay up, Reina of Liverpool gets his 17th clean sheet of the season and Torres his 33rd goal, I believe. Plus Voronin scored, which is always a good thing. Maybe a good summer is ahead, without Gareth Barry for Liverpool.
Fulham are fighting for their survival. They win, they stay up. Birmingham or Reading win and they go down.
I have followed Fulham for quite some time, in fact since they were in the old Second Division under Kevin Keegan. The old Second Division is now League 1. Back in the day, Maik Taylor was the goalkeeper and Geoff Horsley and Barry Hayles formed the strike partnership. Even before Chris Coleman's accident and the family-like relationship with him during the rehab. What class! The year they were promoted to the Premier League, they set a record for most points in the Championship (League 1). I bought their strip at Harrod's. If I wasn't a Liverpool fan, I would probably be a Fulham fan.
Which, I might add, has nothing to do with Mohammed al-Fayed.
Today's Fulham is, bless me, full of Americans. The leading scorer is Clint Dempsey. The leading scorer would have been Brian McBride if he hadn't missed a chunk of the season through injury. Kasey Keller has been deputizing in goal since the injury to Niemi. Bocanegra gets a game occasionally. Now they also have Jimmy Bullard and ex-Red Danny Murphy. On the negative side, I was riled a bit when they dismissed Chris Coleman at the end of last season. I was not a big fan of Lawrie Sanchez, this season's first Fulham manager, nor am I a big fan of Roy Hodgson, former Swiss national team boss and present manager.
But for old times' sake, I hope they stay up. That, and I hate everything having to do with Birmingham, England. And Reading -- except Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey. One could only hope that Fulham could overtake Bolton and relegate them, too. But sending four teams down wouldn't work because they only promote three and 19 in the Premier League would play havoc with the schedule.
I'm hoping they stay up (Fulham) and are able to sign some new guys to maybe get mid-table and do well in a domestic cup competition. I'm hoping they'll dump Hodgson and get
someone solid in. Martin Jol would have been good. I wonder who else would have made a good boss at Craven Cottage. If Sven is canned from Man City, they should go after him. Most of the other bosses I would think of already have jobs. McCarthy, Adams... Maybe they should hire Ince. That would be pretty sweet. He's done well at MK Dons recently and at other teams. He is a rising star among managers. I think he is young enough and he has the silverware to be able to motivate the lads to do more and more.
This year's Fulham has had a lot of injuries, which has contributed to the low rank. Ask any team with major injuries for parts of the season. (Houllier and Benitez have both had that problem at Liverpool in the last ten years, though year after year is a problem with the conditioning, training and physio.) Hopefully, they can buy well, perhaps from the lower leagues or intelligently and return to success. Here's hoping.
UPDATE after Matchday 38!
Manchester United won the game, vs Wigan, 2-0 and in so doing, won the Premier League... um... again...
Chelsea managed to DRAW! (ha-ha-ha) with Bolton 1-1 at the last, ensuring they finish 2 points behind United.
Nobody really cares that Arsenal managed to win.
Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham through Voronin and Torres.
And, the news you were waiting for.
Derby 0-4 Reading. As expected, but with more goals.
Birmingham City 4-1 Blackburn. Not as expected. Blackburn is a much better team, but usually that is when McCarthy starts... and he didn't today.
Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham through Danny Murphy (see above).
Fulham survive and Reading, Birmingham and Derby are relgated.
Whew. I can relax now, as it was touch-and-go.
Surprisingly, Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City. City finished ninth and Boro 13th, but you couldn't tell from that scoreline. Remember what I said about Sven above? I take that back. If his squad is humiliated like that on the final day of the season when they should be playing to save his job, he should quit. (It started when he quit playing Rolando Bianchi but that's a story for another blog.)
So I am HAPPY! Fulham stay up, Reina of Liverpool gets his 17th clean sheet of the season and Torres his 33rd goal, I believe. Plus Voronin scored, which is always a good thing. Maybe a good summer is ahead, without Gareth Barry for Liverpool.
