The phrase ‘punching above their weight’ is commenly used along side Fulham in a sentence. And from my take on things, I assume that Hughes has left us because our club is just ‘too small’ for him. How frustrating. 2 seasons ago we fiinished 7th (a remarkable feat considering the season before) and qualified for Europe, last season we finished 12th in the league but managed to play some outstanding football and reached the Europa League final and we follwed it up this year when we finished 8th also qualifing for Europe, even if it was through the Fair Play League. It seems to me that our club is getting stronger and stronger every year, so is it really a matter of us still punching above our weight? I’m thinking that Fulham is a club that is on the rise and we deserve to be where we are! This is not punching above our weight, this is just our standard at the minute!
The problem is that nobody else seems to realise this! To nearly everybody in the footballing world, we are a small club with no ambition so why would Sparky have wanted to stay with us? If I’m honest, I thought that we was brilliant for us. We had a slow start but considering we went most of the season without Zamora, I thought we had a great season! If he really didn’t leave because of a 3rd party, then why on earth did he leave? I think that he thinks that another club somewhere will jump at the chance to sign him up but he needs to be careful that his behaviour towards Fulham will not cause oher clubs to be cautious about him. There is no doubt about it, he showed Fulham absolutly NO respect. To him we are nothing but a small club. So sorry, Sparky, butI hope you regret leaving us the way you did.
Lydia, you just said everything that has been on my mind. I might be in the States but the lack of respect that our club gets is disgusting. In America clubs like Fulham would be championed by the media. For some reason in England the up and coming clubs don’t get that same love. It is unfortunate because the Fulham story is still evolving.
Our club deserves respect.
Couldn’t agree more. I don’t think that our ownership consider us small either and therefore I think they are not looking for untested managers (in the Lee Clarke mould) who would be most likely to hang around for a bit, but for ‘bigger names’ who are likely to hot-foot it off at the first sign of something they consider to be ‘bigger’.
We’re suffering from a perception mismatch at the moment clearly.
More fool Mark Hughes.
Great piece Lydia. Summed it up perfectly.
Thanks, Dan! Hopefully I’ll be putting a few more up.
Well put that is great
exactly, I was and still am extremely disappointed by Sparky’s decision. Outside of the top 6 we have been the most consistent and highest achieving team of the past three seasons. The fact that we also play in London should mean we’re able to attract high-end managers and players but something still seems to be missing in the perception of us.
Interesting point by Russ, being a big NFL fan as well, I really enjoy the attitude Americans have towards underdog teams and the general parity there is in the division. Maybe the problem extends not just to Fulham but to the whole sport?
There seems to be a system in place where anyone outside the top 4 is a feeder club, clubs like Everton and us (no matter how well we do) will never seriously compete for the title unless there are fundamental financial changes.