The Premier League’s return on Boxing Day ended up being brilliant news for Fulham fans. Marco Silva’s Whites went to Crystal Palace and conquered an Eagles’ outfit that, for whatever reason, appeared lethargic and pretty predictable. The two dismissals definitely didn’t help Patrick Vieira’s side but the visitors were in control from the outset and had constructed an advantage already after clinically capitalising on a poor pass from Joachim Andersen.

We resurrect the ‘near enough is near good’ column of TOOFIF fame on occasion to honour reporting on Fulham that just doesn’t take enough care or attention when it comes to covering London’s oldest professional football club. This week’s offending items comes from this morning’s Guardian, who sent Ed Aarons to Selhurst Park. It would seem impossible not to include a mention of George Cohen in your match report given that Fulham walked out in warm-up jackets emblazoned in the 1966 World Cup winner’s name and number following his sad passing on Friday. Palace paid a fitting tribute to Alf Ramsey’s reliable right back by flashing his name and photograph on the big screens long before a moving minutes’ applause was beautifully observed by the crowd.

Silva spoke superbly on Cohen’s importance to the club in the build up to the game, then during his pre-match round of broadcast interviews and dedicated the win to the legendary full back in his post-match press conference – as well as returning to the theme in a fine interview conducted by a combination of Jim Rosenthal, Roy Hodgson and Steve Sidwell on the Selhurst Park pitch for Amazon Prime Video following the final whistle. A friend sent me Aarons’ report remarking that it seemed strange that Cohen’s name was missing when he had, rightly, devoted space to Palace’s lovely recognition of the loss of Maxi Jazz, a lifelong Eagles’ fan. I assumed this was an oversight that would be corrected in time for the print edition, but the report run this morning without a mention of Cohen.

That feels like a pointed snub of someone who served his boyhood club – as well as the wider game – so superbly. Cohen, who made his debut for Fulham against Liverpool as a seventeen year old and only had his career cut short by a nasty knee injury against the same opponents thirteen years later, made 459 appearances for the Whites. He managed Fulham’s youth side – and, as our own articles outlined, became a popular matchday host at the Cottage for many years. This all in addition to not only playing every minute during the 1966 finals, but featuring in FIFA’s team of the tournament.

I then made the mistake of scanning Aarons’ Twitter account, where he had posted some real-time reflections on what he had watched from the press box. There were some terrible takes, including the idea that Bobby Madley had blundered in showing a second yellow card to James Tompkins because the defender had not made any contact with Aleksandar Mitrovic in the second half

Even Amazon’s real-time replay showed this not to be the case.

At least that line was as strongly asserted in Aarons’ final copy. He did tweet condemnation of Madley’s decision to stick his guns and allow Tim Ream’s venomous volley to stand despite two fouls by Mitrovic.

The VAR super slow-mo showed both substitute Ward and Mitrovic grappling with each other ahead of Andreas Pereira’s corner reaching the back post and the ball does strike the arms of both players, although almost instantly in Mitrovic’s case after he heads the ball down. After the incident at the Emirates where the VAR allowed Arsenal’s August winner to stand despite both a clear handball and the impediment of Bernd Leno, this too seemed correct by the same interpretation of the Premier League’s directive governing phases of play – even if I don’t agree with such a convoluted handball rule.

All of which makes me wonder just what Aarons was watching. Football is a game of opinions and Fulham fans are, for the most part, both fair minded and erudite. We aren’t precious or precocious enough to make everything about London’s first professional football club. But I have to admit the lack of recognition of Cohen, a gentleman from a simpler era when players played for the love of the game and were often overlooked in retirement like his great friend Bobby Moore, ground my gears. Craven Cottage will remember George against Southampton on New Year’s Eve – and, hopefully, the Guardian will send someone to SW6 who can capture that for their readers.