Tom Cairney says lifting the Championship trophy with Fulham would be a dream come true.
The Cottagers’ captain, who has twice led the Whites to play-off final wins at Wembley, told the Press Association that celebrating promotion at Craven Cottage after the victory over Preston North End on Tuesday night was ‘an amazing experience’.
“It was good to celebrate. I mean if you don’t celebrate those moments that come around once in a blue moon then there’s no point doing this job, so it was great to celebrate together.”
The cultured midfielder, who has played more of a prominent role than expected under Marco Silva after returning quicker than predicted from a serious knee injury, admitted that automatic promotion felt very different.
It does yeah, I think it does feel different. It feels less chaotic, I mean the play-offs is just pure chaos. But now I think the club and the staff and everyone have a long time to plan for next season, now they know where they’re going to be, and that should hold us in good stead.”
The Scottish international has his eye on a potential first league title of his career – something which would become much more likely were Fulham to beat Bournemouth when they go face-to-face with former manager Scott Parker on Saturday.
“To win a league in your career, there’s not many that do it. There’s a lot of footballers in the world and not many that get promoted so it’d be a dream.”
Cairney is confident that Fulham can stay in the Premier League next season – reversing the conventional wisdom that the Whites will be cannon fodder in the top flight after two dismal one-season stays in recent history.
“When I first joined we didn’t have a successful campaign. We’d just survived relegation, but I think on from that we were a very strong Championship team and played great football since then. But then we haven’t managed to stay up since, (only for) one season. But I really do feel like if this club stays up one season then they’ll be up for a long long time. It’s just doing that for one season so hopefully that’s next year.”