The Ball is Round

Tag: Craven Cottage

  • Will Fulham win the sack race this season?

    Now Slavisa Jokanovic is charge, though it appears the term should be used loosely. He has been venting his frustration at Fulham’s transfer policy, claiming he has no role in buying players since that responsibility rests with the club’s data analyst, Craig Kline, ominously, a friend of the clubs’ owner. He told BBC Radio “The…

  • Championship reputation

    After 10 minutes of this game I turned to Tall Tom and pointed out the Newcastle game plan. “Every time the right back gets the ball he hits it diagonally behind the Fulham left back”. I hadn’t even finished the sentence before another ball was hoofed upfield for Perez to chase. On this occasion he…

  • Italian stallions held by the Super Eagles

    This month, the good people at Fulham have attracted Italy to the Cottage, for a friendly international against Nigeria. While Italy qualified for the World Cup in September (winning their group by six points), Nigeria secured their place at the weekend, becoming the first African team to qualify for Brazil by beating Ethiopia 4-1 on…

  • The nicest club in the Premier League

    To concede five to rampant Arsenal, in full flow can (and has) happened to the best of teams, but with the resources he has available, Allardyce should today be hanging his head in shame at this performance. Sometimes the scoreline doesn’t reflect the game, and in some ways 3-1 to Fulham was being disingenuous to…

  • Swansea make themselves at home at the Cottage

    With Premier League survival no longer an issue, I feel Swansea should already be looking to prepare and build for next season. In doing so, starting contract talks with Gylfi Sigurdsson. Undoubtedly the most inspiring signing of the January transfer window, the Icelandic midfielder has slotted straight into the ‘Swansea way’ providing just what Swansea…

  • Fulham’s Europa adventure comes to a very late end

    There is barely time for Etheridge to pick the ball out of the net before the Israeli whistles for full time. There is stunned silence for a second while everyone tries to work out what has just happened. The phones are out again, but it is bad news from Poland. Thirty seconds before the end,…

  • Fulham enjoy a Crusade of their own

    Crusaders were formed in 1898, but were not elected to the senior Irish League until 1949, when Belfast Celtic withdrew from the competition. According to the club’s history, in the early years players paid for the privilege of playing; if you didn’t have the required two pence, then you didn’t play, and this was strictly…

  • Don’t stop ’til you get enough

    Fulham’s opponents for the first qualifying round are a team that finished third in the Faroe Island league last season, and started off this year’s competition with just one point from their opening four games. However, NSI Runavik recovered and won their next six, to go from bottom of the ten team division to top.…