Fulham FC-The Cunning Cottagers!

Fowler's Diary - Halfway Through

So nineteen games have past in the league and we are sitting nicely in 6th place with a game in hand over the rest of the teams.

We are currently in January...So you know what this means it is the January Transfer Window. I think this will come as a boost to everyone at the club.

It will give me a chance to sort through the players and offload the unsettled/players I don't play very often to gain some income to be spent on bringing players in.

It is also good because I can bring in some good players that can hopefully help us push towards Champions League qualification.

We have nineteen games left to try and make it into the top 4, all we need to do is stop making silly mistakes and conceding stupid goals.

We just need to concentrate a little bit more and grind out more wins and we should be fine and Fulham should make it to the Champions League.

Another positive thing for the club is that Keisuke Honda has joined the club on a free transfer from CSKA Moscow. This is a brilliant signing because he can bring experience to the squad but he has that something special that I hope he brings to Fulham.

The Dreaded Board Meeting

It was that time of the year...The dreaded board meeting,I was not looking forward to this at all (the chairman scares me a little) but I don't like to admit it.

Earlier in the week he rang me to tell me where we would be meeting. He said we are going to The Savoy in London,I was even more nervous because that's a very posh hotel and I am anything but posh.

It was 1:30PM and I was waiting outside the hotel for the chairman, I waited for another thirty minutes he still hadn't arrived. So I decided to get my Nokia 100 phone out and ring him when just then I heard a car coming round the corner...It was the chairman in his Bugatti Veyron nearly knocking me over as he came speeding round."Watch where you are going Robbie you nearly made me crash my baby." This meeting wasn't going well so far.

I walked into the chairman's office having butterflies in my stomach he was staring out the window talking to himself. He turned around and signaled me to sit down, he opened his mouth and started to talk...

CM=Chairman
R=Robbie

CM=So, Robbie nice to see you again

R=Nice to see you again too Mr Khan.

CM=How do you think the season has gone so far?

R=I think it has been a good season so far, we are in the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup 6th in the Premier Divison so I think we are doing OK.

CM=You know what?

R=What Mr Khan?

CM=I actually...

R=Go on

CM=I actually agree with you I think Fulham are having a great season and it's down to you Robbie well done!

R=Thankyou very much Mr Khan that's great to hear I was very nervous.

CM=There is nothing to be nervous about you are doing a fine job. In fact you are doing so well I am going to reward you with a 4 year contract do you accept?

R=Oh my god are you being serious?

CM=I will never be more serious in my entire life

R=Well then that's settled I will sign the contract right here,right now!

CM=Thankyou Robbie I am delighted you accepted the offer. Now I should be going I have a very important meeting I need to go to.

R=OK Mr Khan thankyou!

Well It looks the meeting went better than I thought and there was nothing to fear!

December Update

Game 1

Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa Attendance:25,700
Scorers: No Scorers
Derek Boateng
Well well,well I don't know how we didn't win this game. We had chance after chance but just didn't score. We dominated Aston Villa from start to finish possession wise and shots wise,but I guess it was another point gained and it extended our unbeaten run to eight games in the process so it wasn't all bad.

Game 2

Everton 1-1 Fulham Attendance:40,026
Scorers: Bent (X1)
John Arne Riise
Well, once again we came away with a draw. If I am honest though on the basis of play we probably should have lost this one. Everton passed the ball around our defense like they wasn't even there it's a good job there strikers couldn't score because they could have easily score four or five goals past us. But it was another point gained which we will gladly take after that performance and we will move on to the next game.

Game 3

Fulham 2-2 Newcastle United Attendance:25,700
Scorers: Taarabt (X1) Berbatov (X1)
Adel Taarabt
This was definitely a game of two halves. We outplayed Newcastle in the first-half and managed to get a two goal lead which probably should have been four. But after half-time we looked a completely different team and we let complacency into our game and let Newcastle back in. We made silly mistakes and Newcastle took advantage they injected more pace into the game by bringing on Loic Remy into the game becuase even though he didn't score he assisted both of Newcastle's goals. We should have won this game but we didn't so now we move on the next game!

Game 4

Fulham 2-1 Manchester United Attendance:25,700
Scorers: Bent (X1) Karagounis (X1)
Damien Duff
Well what a fantastic game we made it into the Capital One Cup semi-finals. What a great achievement by team everybody should be so proud of their efforts especially beating teams like Manchester United. I was quite nervous going into the game because I thought we would have lost the game so I decided to go with a counter-attacking style of play. And it paid off as we defended very well and took our chances when we had too, I was very pleased with the win and we have Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals in the cup at home. Really we should be beating them and progressing without any real problems!

Game 5

Hull City 2-0 Fulham Attendance:22,151
Scorers: No scorers
Scott Parker
I don't know if we still thinking about the great result against Manchester United in the past game because we was pretty shocking in this game. We let Hull play their game and they deserved to be going home with the three points. I was disappointed with the team because I thought we could have easily beat Hull but I guess I was wrong so a bit of the loss can be blamed on me but we still should have won the game.

Game 6

Fulham 0-0 Stoke City Attendance:25,700
Scorers: No scorers
Scott Parker
This game was slightly better than the game against Hull City but it was nothing to be pleased about. Most of the action was in the middle of the park and no real chances were being created both teams did have spells where there were shots being taken. But in truth it was just a bore draw there's not much I can say apart from that we should have took our chances when they arrived and we maybe could have won this game.

Game 7

Norwich City 1-1 Fulham Attendance:25,498
Scorers: Kacaniklic (X1)
Alexander Kacaniklic
It was the last game of the month and I hped that we would have got the win but unfortunately we didn't which was disappointing but it was another point gained I suppose. It did push us up into 4th into the table so I guess it wasn't all bad. But now we are in Champions League qualification then I hope we can stay there and maybe aim even higher.

English Premier Division Table

Fowler's View

It was a mixed month really because we had the brilliant win against Manchester United in the Capital One Cup. But then we had the rubbish defeat against Hull City and the rest of the months were just draws so I guess it wasn't a brilliant month. We did move up to 4th in the table so it wasn't all bad and there was some positives. I guess we will just have to see what next month brings COME ON YOU COTTAGERS!!!