Damien Duff says that swapping the uncertainty at Newcastle for Premier League Fulham ‘was a no-brainer’.
The Republic of Ireland winger has lifted the lift on the disarray in the last few months of his Magpies career.
It was heartbreaking going down and the players didn’t know what was going on up there. In fairness it’s pulled the lads closer together and you can see that from the results of the first couple of games of the season.
It was definitely the hardest period of my career. It didn’t work out, I wasn’t enjoying my football and I’ve had to move on. I thought it was a great move at the time and a lot of people agreed but it didn’t happen for me. That was the same for a lot of players.
I played for four managers last season. That’s not a good base for any team to work well. But that’s no excuse, we went down and deserved to.
There’s a lot of stability at Fulham, not just with the manager but in the team as well. It’s going to be tough to break into the side but as soon as I heard Fulham were interested it was a no-brainer to come here.
Duff has high praise for the Fulham manager Roy Hodgson, too.
Roy was the first manager I had a full season in the Premiership with so I have very fond memories of him. We got on like a house on fire so I know what he’s all about and I’m looking forward to working with him.
He’s a top-notch coach. I don’t know how close he ever was to becoming England manager but it’s always shocked me he’s never had a mention.
