Manchester United have agreed terms with Fulham to sign England Under-21 central defender Chris Smalling, with the 20-year-old set to join Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad during the summer.
“Chris has agreed personal terms with the club and will join for the beginning of the 2010/2011 campaign,” United said in a statement. “He will remain at Fulham until the end of the current season.”
It is amazing that Smallng was playing non-league football for Maidstone just over 18 months ago and this summer he will be heading to Old Trafford. Read more... (126 words, 2 images, estimated 30 secs reading time)
photo credit: wonker
Chelsea and ManU have had issues with lesser clubs this season and including Chelsea’s draw of West Ham we also have to include their recent draw to Birmingham. Manchester United has had their own issues (like losing 3-0 to Fulham) but this brings up the great paradox in pro sports: Why do good teams have a hard time with bad teams? Read more... (444 words, 4 images, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)
photo credit: wonker
With Chelsea “accepting” a draw with Fulham and ManU getting blasted by West Ham I have 3 questions to ask (and yes, this goes back to the “picking the wrong team to crumble thing”.)
1. What does it say about the 2 best teams in the Premier League that they took a draw to a team that is pretty close to being relegated and losing (badly) to a team that will most likely be relegated? Read more... (387 words, 4 images, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)
photo credit: wonker
There’s something about a 3-0 win for Fulham over Manchester United that just rubs me the wrong way. Long ago I predicted that Real Madrid would be the “Super Club” to fall apart at the seams (and though I’m still waiting for that prediction to come true) I’m starting to wonder if I chose the wrong club. ManU is right there with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table and they just gave away points to a team that really shouldn’t even be on the same field as them. Fulham is only 10 points away from being relegated and now they beat the defending Champions 3-0? Read more... (389 words, 4 images, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)
Bobby Zamora, yes Bobby Zamora, scored two goals right before half-time as Fulham upset Basel 3-2 in Switzerland to book a place in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League.
photo credit: nicksarebi
Basel were heavy favorites here to progress to the knockout stages after having won all five of their previous European home games, while Fulham had yet to get an away win.
Zamora is in a rich vein of form at the moment and he scored twice on the stroke of half-time. First he met Bjorn Helge Riise’s inswinging cross with a first-time shot at the far post. In a near replica effort three minutes later, Riise found Zamora in the same position and the in-form forward this time headed past the Basel goalkeeper. Read more... (217 words, 4 images, estimated 52 secs reading time)
So how bad was the Juande Ramos and Damien Comolli regime at Spurs? Well it took almost £150m on new players in the 16 months to undo the damage down by Ramos and Comolli.
Spurs spent £119.3m in the year ending June 2009, with another £29.4m invested since on the likes of Peter Crouch, Sebastien Bassong and Niko Kranjcar. The almost £150m spent on new players is more than Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal spent in the same period. The only Premier League team that spent more than Spurs in this transfer period was Manchester City. Read more... (303 words, 3 images, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)
Fulham’s 2008/2009 season was not only a tremendous improvement from the previous year’s outcome, it would conclude as the best finish by the Cottagers in Premier League history. The club finished the year in seventh place and earned fourteen victories over the course of the season (six more then 2008’s record). The result was good enough for the Cottagers to contend for the UEFA Cup next season. Read more... (284 words, 3 images, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)
Fulham FC has reported a £7.5 million loss for the 2007-2008 season, following £15.2m losses the year before. For the 2007-08 season, Fulham FC reported a revenue of £52 million, a 35% increase from just one year prior.
The importance of avoiding relegation in the last game of the season last year was illustrated by the fact that Fulham received an extra £10 million in Premier League “central awards”, including hefty broadcasting funds shelled out by Sky. Read more... (287 words, 3 images, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)
Blackburn Rovers moved out of the Premier League bottom three after they came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage.
Clint Dempsey put the hosts ahead in the first minute but second-half goals from El-Hadji Diouf and Jason Roberts gave Rovers a vital win and continued Fulham’s late-season slump that has seen them lose three consecutive home games since their creditable draw at Arsenal. Read more... (616 words, 3 images, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)
Fulham will be aiming to take a massive stride towards safety as they host Blackburn Rovers in a re-arranged Barclays Premier League match. The fixture, orginally postponed in January because of a frozen pitch, could have a major impact on the campaign for both teams.
The Cottagers currently hold a seven-point advantage over Rovers who are currently third from bottom. Victory would almost certainly put Roy Hodgson’s men out of reach of their northern rivals who in turn will be aiming to cut the gap to just four points. Read more... (262 words, 2 images, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)
