By Nathan Jackson
September 20 2005

After a brief absence, the A-Z is back and this time, we review Fulham who are only in the Premiership because of 1 man. 10 years ago, Fulham were getting small crowds at the wrong end of Division 3. One Egyptian millionaire later and they're a Premiership side. Coincedence? Not really.

A Arsenal, one of the many Premiership sides that Fulham now face because of Al Fayed’s wallet. In 9 Premiership attempts, Fulham have still failed to beat the Gunners.

 

B Brian McBride. Along with players such as Tim Howard and Cobi Jones, Brian is one of the few American’s ever to play Premiership football. The player, who has also played for Preston and Everton and is a popular figure amongst the Fulham fans. He also made an impressive debut for the club, scoring the winner in a 2-1 win over Spurs just 8 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

 

C Chris Coleman, the current manager at Craven Cottage and a manager who is tipped for big things. He was originally appointed as caretaker manager when Jean Tigana left the club and he impressed so much, that he got the job full time and given time, could have Fulham challenging for places in Europe.

 

D Diop, Papa Bouba. A Senegalese midfielder who is impressing many fans in the Premiership. He also has the honour of scoring the first goal of the 2002 World Cup, when his 30^th minute goal proved enough to beat holder France, not bad considering he was on the floor at the time.

 

E Edwin Van Der Sar. The transfer of the legendary Dutch keeper to Fulham is still viewed by many English fans, as one of the biggest transfer coups in history. The talented (and very tall) goalkeeper saved Fulham a lot of points with his highly impressive saves throughout his time at Fulham. He left Fulham during the summer to move to Manchester United, who, more than likely will turn out to be the last club of his career.

 

F Fulham, funnily enough, this is where Fulham FC is based (I couldn’t be bothered to think of a proper F)

 

G Glory supporters. 10 years ago, Fulham achieved a crowd of under 2000 for a game against Scarborough, 10 years on and 3 divisions higher, they played West Ham at the weekend and the crowd is 21,907. Coincedence? I think not.

 

H Hero to Judas. During the early months of 2004, Popular and talented Fulham striker, Louis Saha was strongly linked with a move to Manchester United. The French striker told the Fulham fans that he loved the club and didn’t want to leave, with 5 days he had gone. Within a few weeks, he returned with Manchester United to 17,000 people booing him, the same people who were chanting his name a few weeks early. It’s safe to say that he hasn’t had the same effect at Man Utd that he had at Fulham.

 

I Impressive. A word used to describe new Fulham keeper, Tony Warner. The former Liverpool trainee has received national acclaim for his performances so far this season and although he hasn’t been able to keep Fulham in some games, he has been tipped by many as a potential future England number 1.

 

J Jean Tigana. The previous manager at Craven Cottage before leaving a few years ago. Despite winning promotion, a lot of Fulham fans criticised the Frenchman for not being ambitious enough.

 

K Kevin Keegan, many Fulham fans are still wondering, would Keegan still be in charge if Glenn Hoddle had never written that book. Keegan guided the club up to the first division and said he was loving his time at “the cottage” but then, Glenn Hoddle wrote his rather controversial book and was sacked as England boss. After a bit of a farce, Keegan did eventually take over the role of England manager.

 

L Loftus Road. The ground of local rivals, Queens Park Rangers had to be used by Fulham between 2002 and 2004 due to the enforced redevelopment of Craven Cottage. Ironically the 2^nd of the two seasons at Loftus Road, produced Fulham’s highest ever league finish, after finishing 9^th. It is to date their only ever top 10 finish in the top division.

 

M Mohammed Al Fayed, the single person responsible for Fulham’s rise up the football league. Without him, they would have had absolutely no chance of playing Premiership football. Any Fulham fans who think they would have made the Premiership without him bankrolling them, is having a laugh. If you go here, http://www.fulham-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadlghs.asp, you see what an immediate effect Al Fayed’s millions had on Fulham’s fortunes. He took over during the summer between 95/6 and 96/7, no strange coincidence about the sudden improvement really is there. It’s fairly safe to t

 

N Not going particully well. Fulham will be disappointed with their start to the season which has seen just 1 win from their opening 6 games. That win came at home to Everton. Their other results include a 0-0 draw with Birmingham, 1-1 at Newcastle, two 2-1 defeats to Blackburn and West Ham and a 4-1 hammering at Arsenal

 

O Odd. Something seems very odd at Craven Cottage, not specifically to do with Fulham as the football club but Australia and Jamaica are going to be playing an international at Craven Cottage soon, seems a bit random that the two teams are travelling a total of around 13,000 miles just for a friendly.

 

P Panionios. The only team that Fulham beat in pre-season. They also had 3 draws (Celtic, St Andrae, Swansea) but also lost 3 (Schalke, Columbus Crew and MLS all stars)

 

Q Queen, a band who never performed in Craven Cottage.

 

R Resenior (Liam), Son of Lincoln’s old “friend”, Leroy (Torquay manager). The highly rated youngster was signed from Bristol Rovers and is on the fringes of the first team and is another player who had a big future in the game.

 

S Steed Malbranque, a Belgian defensive midfielder who signed for the club in the summer just before the 2001/2 season and made his debut against Manchester United. One of the most underrated players in the Premiership, who has always impressed me when I’ve seen him play.

 

T Tomasz Radzinski. A Canadian striker brought from Everton. The striker was prolific at Anderlecht but has struggled to make an impact in British football and only scored 25 goals in nearly 100 games for Everton before making the move to Craven Cottage. It’s safe to say his form has continued into his time with the Cottagers.

 

U Undecided, I have yet to decide what to put here.

 

V Volz. A German defender signed from Arsenal after a rather unconvincing Highbury career. The player, nicknamed “Volzy” (I bet they were thinking of that one all day), signed a 3 year deal with the Cottagers in the summer of 2003 and is confident of getting a renewal.

 

W Won any cup competitions? Nope.

 

X X-Men. No Fulham players have said this is their favourite film.

 

Y is defiantly the question, but what’s the answer?

 

Z Zat Knight, the first Z I’ve found a serious answer for this season. The young defender has been in the Fulham first team for just over 5 years now and he has represented the England Under 21s.