Introduction

Twenty-five past four on Saturday the fifth of May. Using the outside of his right foot to control the ball, Clint Dempsey charges towards the Liverpool penalty area. His run curves towards and then past Xabi Alonso. Dempsey digs the ball from under his feet and out wide to the overlapping Liam Rosenior.
Rosenior takes half a moment before carefully and perfectly returning the ball to Dempsey, who, without breaking stride, steers the ball into the ground and past Pepe Reina in the Liverpool net. It took five seconds and it saved our season.

It had come to this because Fulham's 2006/07 season had spun out of control. The early signs had been there in a 5-1 shellacking at Old Trafford, but some half-positive results after that had given cause for optimism. Then came the season's defining period: on 23rd December West Ham visited the Cottage. A 0- 0 result was perhaps acceptable on its own - the team was ravaged by injury at the time -
but became symptomatic of the team's biggest weakness: a glaring inability to beat the teams at the wrong end of the league. West Ham were in turmoil and had hardly scored away all season, but Fulham could not break them down. After thrilling draws at Charlton and Chelsea, Fulham welcomed hapless Watford to the Cottage, and proceeded to draw *that* game 0-0 too. During the match Antti Niemi took a terrible fall and would miss most of January as a result, which proved critical in the weeks ahead.

Fulham continued to draw games, content that the unbeaten run represented some kind of achievement, marking the side out as 'hard to beat' and 'full of character'. The naysayers pointed out that the team was in fact failing to beat some very average sides, and for all the drama and late equalisers, few points were being won. Fulham started to slip down the
table. The turning point perhaps came on a cold and lonely night in Sheffield at the end of January. The unbeaten run came shuddering to a halt as Sheffield Utd beat a feeble Fulham side 2-0. Suddenly the glass was half empty. A strange 2-1 victory over an insipid Newcastle side followed, but from then until the Liverpool match Fulham failed to win a single game. Three draws in March were followed by three defeats in April, a run that saw Fulham hurtle towards the drop zone. It also brought about the end of Chris Coleman's tenure as Fulham manager.

While the press scratched their heads, recalled stirring performances against Arsenal and Man Utd and murmered about knee-jerk reactions, Fulham supporters pointed out that the team hadn't won since early February, hadn't won by more than a single goal for over a season, and had notched up a grand total of two away wins in two years. All this while playing a brand of football that was sporadically thrilling but usually very, very unimaginative. Coleman was and is respected for his efforts as a Fulham player and manager, but at this point he had to go.

Lawrie Sanchez, Northern Ireland's surprising saviour, was given 32 days to save the team. He faced a considerable challenge in reversing several weeks of poor form, and inherited a squad that appeared not to realise that they were in a relegation fight. The squad had also been very loyal to the affable Coleman. Sanchez's first game saw the team narrowly lose in Reading, which was followed by a fortunate draw at home to Blackburn and a noble but convincing defeat at Arsenal.

Time was running out, other teams were winning, and Fulham had two games from which to find something. Liverpool arrived at the Cottage having just defeated Chelsea on penalties in a draining European Cup semi-final. They were, for the second time in three years, to play AC Milan in the final. It was a magnificent achievement but one that had taken its toll on the Liverpool squad. Benitez was happy that his club's league position was acceptable no matter what happened in Fulham so fielded a strong but below strength side in order that his big names would be rested for the massive games ahead. In the first half Robbie Fowler, one of the deadlier finishers of his generation, spurned an easychance, and in this moment Fulham's season began to turn. Early in the second half Sanchez threw Clint Dempsey into the fray. The American's contribution will never be forgotten.

This book is a record of the 2006/07 season. Here you'll find match reports and statistics from Fulham's games this year, originally written by me on the Craven Cottage Newsround website. Martin Kane, a Southend supporter who one way or another found himself at several Fulham games this year, has contributed a series of essays to the book. Bruce McGuire of dunordfutbol.com has chimed in with his views on Fulham's American players, and Dave Harris talks about the departures of Boa and Steed.

Enjoy!

Richard Allen
Tooting, London
May 2007

Wednesday November 29th 2006

Fulham 2-1 Arsenal

McBride 06, Radzinski 19, van Persie 36

Magnificent. Every man was magnificent. Fulham won 2-1, but it could have been more. The goals: first, Claus hits a corner, from my seat (just behind him) it looks like he’s underhit it, but McBride gets to the ball first, flicks it back with his head and the ball dances over Lehmann, gently into the net. It’s 1-0!

Boa Morte, possessed by the spirit of Johan Cruyff and the ghost of Boa Morte past, jinks his way through the Arsenal defence and bends a ball into Radzinski’s path. Buried for 2-0! What? This isn’t happening. That reminds me of one of Lineker’s goals against Poland in Mexico ‘86! A free-kick to Arsenal, some way out and in good left-footer territory. Van Persie smashes the ball past Niemi as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Stuart Pearce would’ve been proud of that. 2-1.

Boa could’ve made it 3-1 when put through, Radzinski miscontrolled a good chance, and Claus missed with a free-kick that looked like it wasn’t far off. Lehmann didn’t move. He didn’t move for Boa’s free-kick in the second half either, this one dropping down off the crossbar like an apple from a tree. Various half-chances came and went, butmiraculously
the scoreboard stayed at 2-1 for the rest of the game.

It was amazing. The ground was absolutely rocking tonight, and the players seemed to have had their pre-match meal laced with amphetamines. Let’s go through them: Niemi - did his bit, including a valuable flick onto the post when the game was in the balance. Volz - magnificent, superb, awesome. He didn’t give an inch all game, getting physical when needed, attacking when he could. Perfect Rosenior - ditto. Liam built on his recent good form and put in a display for the ages, particularly impressive given that he was on the wrong flank. We destroyed them down our left in the first half, and Liam did his bit to make that happen Christanval - pillar. He was faultless all night. Quick when he had to be, good in the air, good on the deck, reading the game well, I couldn’t have been more impressed Knight - sometimes seemed to be hanging on by the skin of his teeth, his tackle when Gilberto sped through in the second half was as perfectly timed as it was important Radzinski - seemed to have new batteries tonight. Injured while scoring, but certainly did his bit Brown - picked up an early yellow, which worried me, but he harried the Arsenal midfield to distraction, throwing himself around, jockeying possession and forcing Arsenal’s attacks to change their shape. Superb Bouba Diop - see Brown. Got about and did well, a welcome return to some kind of form Jensen - free role, and how! He was all over the pitch, pulling strings as you’d want a player in his position to. Masterful tonight, he beat his man countless times and was at the heart of everything good we did Boa - hurray! Welcome back, sir. You were superb McBride - effort galore, got the valuable early goal, and led the line with skill and guts Substitute - Routledge (on for Radz h/t) didn’t get into the game at first, but grew with the second half. One moment when he won the ball on the edge of our box then scooted up the other end and drew a foul 70 yards later in a dangerous position. Could’ve scored from half-way in the last minute with Lehmann up the pitch So there we have it. Magnificent, it really was. It really doesn’t get much better does it?

A day later…
On Saturday I was in the best of moods. I wandered over to Fulham in plenty of time for the start, listening to excellent music on a fine winter’s day. The atmosphere during the approach seemed about right, and I was almost certain of a win. I wanted a win badly too, after the disappointment of Man City. But it all unravelled. Reading played well, we lost Pearce, and as a spectator I didn’t feel right. I don’t know what it was, but I didn’t get involved, I shifted around on my seat, and when it was all over I felt terrible. Such high hopes, completely dashed. Yesterday I missed my train home from work, then got on the wrong one to meet my girlfriend who was kindly picking me up. I got home at a reasonable time, but the bus from Tooting took an eternity to arrive, was crowded, and struggled with the traffic. I got off before my stop and walked, in a foul mood, tense, negative and irritable. And in front of me were a load of Arsenal fans, which reminded me that we were in for a right stuffing too. Great. And then the world turned and Brian McBride scored and when all was said and done about five of the players deserved a 10/10. The crowd was rocking, there were
good people around me in the stands, and the whole experience was exhilarating. Afterwards I ran all the way to Putney Bridge where said girlfriend (she’s a saint) was waiting for me again, completely ecstatic. It just doesn’t get any better.

This is something I don’t think a Chelsea fan can feel. To go from the pre-Reading sense of giddy-expectation to the post-Reading low of super-doom, then to the angry frustration of pre-Arsenal dread and back up to the post-Arsenal euphoria… I mean, how can you feel that if you expect to win every single game? How can you rejoice in the soap opera that is Luis Boa Morte, 2006 vintage? How can you be astounded by the mysterious Philippe Christanval, who returned from a long layoff to play (as Tony Gilroy put it) like the reincarnation of Bobby Moore? And the heroics of ageless Brian McBride, always working, rarely rewarded. Or Moritz Volz, played out of position all year, then thrown into the deep end against his former club. Then he played just about perfectly. It was all a bit special.

Fulham:
Antti Niemi, Philippe Christanval, Zat Knight,
Liam Rosenior, Moritz Volz, Michael Brown,
Papa Bouba Diop, Claus Jensen,
Luis Boa Morte, Brian McBride
(Heidar Helguson), Tomasz Radzinski
(Wayne Routledge)
Arsenal:
Jens Lehmann, Justin Hoyte,
Philippe Senderos, Kolo Toure,
Mathieu Flamini, Alex Hleb (Johan Djourou),
Tomas Rosicky (Theo Walcott), Gilberto Silva,
Alexandre Song Bilong (Cesc Fabregas),
Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie
Referee: Howard Webb
Attendance: 24510