Our first View from the Enemy of the day is from Kris Balkin from Cottagers Confidential, who has shed some light on that awful Michael Jackson statue and Mark Hughes’ ridiculous departure.
Scott the Red: Were you happy with your Fulham’s performance last season?
Kris Balkin: More than. As much as he may have riled us come season’s end, with his untimely departure, Mark Hughes did a solid job for us and the promise that all his sides are ‘end of season teams’ certainly became evidential. We finished on a high and there’s no doubt 8th place is an achievement, given the short amount of time Sparky had with us to work with the squad and make acquisitions. It would have been nice to have an extended cup run, especially given our demolition of Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup. The 4-0 win was probably our highlight of the season but to say it was disappointing to be defeated by Bolton in the next round, on home turf too, would be an understatement. Still, an improvement in away form with solid wins at Stoke and Sunderland, for example, made 2010/11 quite a welcoming hangover from our Europa League exploits of the previous campaign.
STR: Who were your most important players?
KB: As always Danny Murphy has been pivotal to the way we play and as always half the home crowd will bemoan his ‘lacklustre legs’ and claim he’s past it. The fact still remains that everything goes through him and, even with his pace diminishing rapidly and his sharp awareness slowly dwindling, his eye for a pass is still ever-present and unrivalled. Brede Hangeland and the unsung Aaron Hughes continue to add a degree of consistency and robustness to our defence, which makes us incredibly tough to break down. Their partnership is borderline one of the best in the league (I’d give the no.1 spot to you guys) and if they aren’t broken up and are used effectively, Premier League safety is almost assured already.
STR: Are you hoping to add to what you’ve got though to push up the table? How have Fulham done in the transfer market this summer?
KB: It’s difficult to say at this early stage because a lot of Jol’s signings have been young talent who may not break into the first team just yet. John Arne Riise is solid, without a doubt. If he can offer us half of what he did with Liverpool, and add that to the experience he gained abroad with Roma, then he will prove to be one of the shrewder Premier League acquisitions this year. Dan Burn of Darlington and Csaba Somogyi will be unlikely to feature throughout the season, but Pajtim Kasami, signed from Palermo, has already made a decent impact in the twenty or so minutes on the pitch he has been given. He looks skilful and at such a tender age could well be big for us. Marcel Gecov has also joined, and has certainly proved to be aspirational with his words, but with our current crop of players he’d do well to get a central midfield role.
STR: What are your aspirations for this season?
KB: A top ten finish would be wonderful, but taking into account the battle we will be fighting on three other fronts, survival will do us just fine. Arguably, Fulham fans are the most down-to-earth and realistic football fans around, and that’s why you’ll see plenty of us writing off and European challenge already. We have a new manager and a new style of play so it’s difficult to assume whether another European adventure will be forthcoming, but anything is possible. No matter how we do abroad though, some kind of silverware would be nice. I think most would be content with either 9th place and some decent cup runs, or a place in a final and 12th or 13th standing in the Premier League.
STR: After Hughes did a good job in the short time he was there, how do you rate Jol’s ability to take the club forward?
KB: I’m always the first to provide some scepticism but it’s quite tough with Martin Jol. He’s a man of much experience and his humble nature is certainly fitting with the way Fulham is ran in general. Taking the club forward, however, would be difficult for most magicians and Jol’s overhaul is perhaps unnecessary. Hodgson and Hughes did wonderful continuity jobs and our standing in the league right now can be greatly owed to the two (far more the former, though), yet Jol appears intent on change. Granted, at some point it will be required, but I’d like to see some things kept the same. The Dutchman has promised ‘total football’, though I’d assume a ‘Total Football Lite’ is what we’ll really see. The signings he has made appear intelligent and forward thinking, but it’s the style of play that worries me most immediately. Will it suit us? We’ll have to wait and see.
STR: Where do you think you will finish this season?
KB If we do well in Europe, 13th place. If we concentrate domestically, we can achieve 9th.
STR: If you are to do well domestically or on the continent, which players do you think will most important in helping you achieve this?
KB: Bobby Zamora’s return from injury proved vital last season and the fact he’s here from the start this year should be crucial again. By the end of the 08/09 season, most Fulham fans wanted him out but a move to Hull City broke down and both parties have never looked back. Zamora has hit the big time with international football and Fulham are indebted to his goals. Yet again, his finishing and his aerial ability should provide a bundle of goals, especially given our wider approach to game under Jol. Expect to see Bobby’s head on the end of tonnes of crosses this coming year.
STR: Which two current United players would you most want at your club?
KB: Wayne Rooney could fit astutely into any team on the planet, so I would undoubtedly allow him to lead our front line. The lad has been blessed with abundant talent and yet he fuses it with a love for the game. Such a player is rare to find these days. Alongside him I’d take Nani who, admittedly, is very hot and cold, but when hot is impossible to cool down.
STR: Who will finish in the top 4? Who will go down?
KB: Top Four I’d suggest Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool; probably in that order too. You lot have yet again undergone a revolution and there’s no other way to look at it than with positivity. Ashley Young already looks menacing in a red shirt and you shouldn’t miss Scholes too much. City will improve slightly while Chelsea haven’t been active enough in the transfer market for my liking. Liverpool have been over-hyped by Daglish worshippers and I think their season will be more topsy-turvy than most believe.
STR: Finally, I can’t talk to a Fulham fan without asking them about that Michael Jackson statue. What’s your opinion on it?
KB: To be frank, I was disgusted when it came up but I suppose it’s quite quirky. For what Al Fayed has done for Fulham FC, it may just be worth becoming a temporary laughing stock in exchange for his money and devotion.
STR: Ha, fair point. Cheers and all the best for the season.
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Hughes quit the club because it was RUMORED that Villa were interested in him didn’t he? Lol, idiot.
Hmm…..no mention of Dempsey’s contributions, that seems odd from a Fulham supporter.
The MJ statue is awful, pigeons are even afraid to shit on it!
Funny:
http://redflagflyinghigh.com/2011/08/football-bloody-hell/picture-steven-gerrard-spotted-in-manchester?
Seems like a decent bloke and speaks very highly of our boys. Good lad. Liked his line about they’ll more likely be playing “Total Football Lite”, funny.
This is the best view from an enemy fan yet, I rteally like Fulham football club. It is my favourate away ground, everything about it just reminds me of what a proper football club is. Train down from manc, tube to Putney, drink at the boat house before walking down the thames to the game i love it.
Great to see real expectations and his views, cant argue with Danny Murphy either he has riuned us both times at their place in the last two seasons.
To add Fulham are better off without Hughes he was just using them, the guy has made some hurrendous career decisions but I dont think it was vIlla I think he thought he was in for the Chelsea job. He is always chasing the dream, he could have done really well at Fulham but he see’s himself as a top four club manager. Unfortunately for Sparky he is the only one who does.
As I live in Fulham territory I can confirm they are some of the most down to earth, sorted fans around, including several in my street, helped by the fact that our ‘noisy neighbour’ City fan from next door has moved to Chicago (funny that, I thought all citteh fans lived in Manchester.) Actually I miss my old neighbour because while he was living next door I kept a Cantona statuette in a window which he couldn’t avoid seeing everytime he went to the bathroom.
Anyway, good luck to Fulham, but let’s hope we don’t throw away a lead in the last minute as we did last season at Craven Cottage. It’s irksome having to go through streets of raucous Cottagers celebrating like they’ve won the league. Last year they put out a DVD of Fulham victories against United in the same way as the Megastore would market highlights of that 19th title.
Hello
i just heard bradford city are trying to claim compesation for tom cleverly? you desperate thiefing bastards, why didn’t you try claim any when he wasnt yet well known plus he left at 15
I always dread Playing fulham, on that little craven cottage pitch and volatile fans behind them, they’re incredibly difficult to beat especially for the top teams, i don’t think we’ve won there in the past two or more seasons, hopefully we can improve our away form, we were leading there and threw it away!I always dread Playing fulham, on that little craven cottage pitch and volatile fans behind them, they’re incredibly difficult to beat especially for the top teams, i don’t think we’ve won there in the past two or more seasons, hopefully we can improve our away form, we were leading there and threw it away!
Fulham are some how a club that are difficult to hate really. A bit of a fairy tale about them, where they were a few years ago and holding their own in the PL year after year having had a couple of close calls. Not forgetting their Euro adventures a couple of seasons ago…. Most of all though I will always thank them for Smalling
And maidstone cedars, maidstone lol.
Spurs-Everton off
Means when we play Spurs, it’ll be their first competitive game. Will they be fresh? Or rusty?
I swear if our game gets cancelled, I’ll go apeshit.
I still cant get my head around the reason Sparky left them…
Why DID sparky leave? What reason did he give?
Mike
Nothing official came out but rumors going round were that he thought the Villa job was a done deal
We got Saha from fulham!…..they we’re really good when Steed Malbranque is around back then.
Agree with him about Danny Murphy, he’s the engine for the team….
This was a great View from the Enemy. One of the best certainly.
Like Bad Wolf, I am also really surprised at the lack of mention for Dempsey. I would rate him as the next most important after Murphy and Hangeland. He is one of those clever players who will be useful to any team really.
Funny thing about Hangeland is that almost every summer he seems to be linked with a move to a big club (most especially Arsenal) and despite that he seems to play great for Fulham season after season. Weren’t Arsenal in for him this summer as well????
I think Hughes thinks too highly of himself. I am really surprised that he didn’t do more with Fulham. That is the kind of challenge any young manager should be interested in. As someone who is looking to gain experience, he should be interested in leading a mid-table team to Europa glory and making a name for himself. Instead, he looked for greener pastures and acted like a total dick as a result. Didn’t Sir Alex tell him his famous “cow” quote: “Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it’s a better cow than the one you’ve got in the field. It’s a fact, right, and it never really works out that way.”
Cedars
Cheers fella. In that case he’s a grade A tool!!
Mike
He is indeed, pity really as a player I used to bloody love him at United, scored some cracking goals, in fact I think all his goals were bloody crackers….. One that stands out was for Wales against Spain..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBWa6pUvrUg
Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham on 2 June 2011 having spent less than 11 months at the club. Following his departure he said “As a young, ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences”.
Young?! You’re 47 mate! Chelsea’s new manager has 13 years on you!
Have never liked Hughes since he went to Chelsea, made even worse when he managed the bitters. Always came across as a bit of a nobber.
Another excellent edition of ‘View from the Enemy’, thanks Scott the Red and Kris Balkin.
Jol should be an excellent manager for Fulham, and I hope to see them winning all their London Derbies. Good luck!
why the fuck would anyone put up a statue and pay tribute to a pedophile?don’t understand that at all
I like fulham, noble club and good owner that fully supports the manager. They have great a stadium and the fans are down to earth realists that don’t demand the impossible from their limited club and I loved watching them in Europa with Roy Hodgson,unforgettably epic matches they had.
Clint Dempsey is loved by fulham fans, this obviously doesn’t appreciate him as much.
Good luck fulham and don’t beat us again.
I think it’s amazing how quickly people forget what Sparky did for our club. Some of the comments on here make me ashamed to be a United fan.
Who cares if he managed City or played for Chelsea? Law relegated us when playing for City. Should we hate Schmeichel too? I’ve always wished Hughes well and have looked out for his club’s results, as I have done for Robbo and Brucie. I’ve also admired the way he doesn’t feel the need to be sycophantic to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Those slagging him off are probably the same idiots who mindlessly chant for Rooney each game. Hughes is a family man and a United man at heart. I wish we had more like him in our current squad.
Fulham will finish top half no problem. Jol is a good manager. He got a raw deal at Spurs. That cunt Levy done the dirt on him.
Senor Marron – Law did not relegate us. Jesus.
OMG
Fulham are always bringing in good to excellent players.
I always look to them and Everton for good no nonsense signings that should be watched. Not necessarily United calibre, but but lads who have enough to keep a team like Fulham in it.
We are also indebted to the them for Saha, Van der Saar, and most recently Smalling. Can’t believe we got Van der Saar from them. They really did a great job in saving him after his fall from grace on the continent.
If a team gets relegated, its pretty much their own fault for being shite all season. Law just put the final nail in the coffin
@Senor Marron – Hughes is a United man at heart? Not true. He is an admitted Chelsea fan.
I’m grateful for Hughes’ contributions to United, but I still think he’s a twat.
He also managed our rivals. As Keano said at the time, you don’t do that, if you’ve played for United. Not once, but bloody twice!
Fucking hell, Scott. Are you for real? Fine, Law scored a goal that put the icing on the cake of our relegation. The importance of the goal isn’t the issue at all here.
It was an iconic goal and is generally perceived as the goal that relegated United. It’s significance in the overall relegation doesn’t really matter. Law would walk into most United fans all time greatest teams and isn’t abused for signing for a rival team or for scoring that goal. He is reverred for what he did for our club and rightly so.
By referencing the Law goal, I was just making the point that Hughes hasn’t had an ‘iconic’ moment against United. Sure, a few goals against us for Chelsea that didn’t affect us and a few wins for Blackburn as manager, but it’s hardly treachery. He is, however, is treated like a leper by some on these kind of forums because he dared to have a career after United.
What is Hughes supposed to do? Manage teams like Blackburn and Fulham for the duration of his managerial career so he doesn’t upset some blinkered United fans with a child-like mentality? He said when he took the City job that he couldn’t hang around waiting for Sir Alex to retire. City was a great opportunity that didn’t work out.
True, Hughes said he was a Chelsea fan as a boy when he was being diplomatic before the United and Chelsea Cup Final. I think I’m right in saying Ole supported Liverpool as a boy and I bet you all cheered Michael Owen’s winning goal against City didn’t you?
Some fans still sing Andy Cole’s name despite him applauding the City fans when they sung ‘You’re not Munich anymore’.
It doesn’t matter if he was a Chelsea fan as a lad. Read Hughes’ auto-biographies and his comments when asked about United made over the past few years and I’d argue that Hughes has huge love for United.
He played for an average Chelsea side in the 90′s and briefly managed City. So what? Chelsea aren’t Liverpool. City are emerging as a true force but even during Hughes’ tenure there, they weren’t taken seriously by any of us.
I’ll remember Hughes for the way he and Robson dragged us out of the mire in the late 80′s, that goal at Milwall that stopped us going into the bottom 3, the important goals he scored in big games against big teams. The way he was fearless when leading the line, the partnership he had with Cantona and for doing it all without the motivation of £170 grand a week.
If Hughes is a twat for walking out on Fulham and for playing for Chelsea and managing City, what does that make Rio and ‘Wazza’ and any other morally bankrupt player who wear the red of United?
Take what you from all that. The bottom line is I think Mark Hughes deserves more respect than he gets from some ‘United fans’ and it makes us all look silly. Everybody is entitled to their opinion of him but don’t slag Hughes off and then chant for Rooney. You’ll look and sound ridiculous.
I’m very interested in Senor Marron’s views, and sincerely hope that Scott the Red and Fred reply to his response at 9:48.
Top top post Senor Marron! Also, have read that he left for Chelsea on friendly terms, if I am not mistaken…
I think Hughes left because he felt his first team opportunities would be limited following Andy Cole’s signing and the then restrictive Euro foreigner rule. He agreed a two year contract extension but didn’t actually sign it and saw Chelsea as a good opportunity to carry on playing at the highest level.
Given that the foreigner rule changed shortly after and Cole’s woeful form and injuries in the 95/96 season, I personally think Hughes jumped ship too early.
Ken Bates said United actually tried to re-sign Hughes from Chelsea but he didn’t want to do business. Overall, the move worked out well for him and United in the long run.