Fulham - SAFC Blog

Fulham-SAFC Who are You?: ‘a little in love with Lily Allen’

August 2, 2012May 3, 2012 by Colin Randall

who are you copy2 — Jake resorts to old tech to touch base with our Fulham technocrat

We all know that but for the necessary evil of publicists, Lily Allen would be a regular on these pages, offering her bons mots each time Sunderland played Fulham. Next best thing given the obstacles placed in our path? Step forward Matty Deller, radio presenter, Fulham nut and star of the Ballsy Banter podcast. He
loves Lily; he also has a lot of time for Martin Jol, Clint Dempsey and Lee Clark and rather more than we have for one Asamoah Gyan. Here, then, is the first of our two Fulham ‘Who are You?s’ …

Running for glory on Fulham matchday

April 26, 2012April 25, 2012 by Colin Randall

The bad news, if you find yourself in the Sunderland end at Craven Cottage for our final away game of the season on May 6, is that the man next to you will have just run a half-marathon. The good? Nic Wiseman, esteemed former editor of the fanzine It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand fanzine, promises to have a shower first …

Salut!’s week: Bali, Brucey, Bolshie – and words to warm hearts

November 26, 2011 by Colin Randall

M Salut flew back to Heathrow from Bali yesterday, having been well fuelled by Air Malaysia throughout the 7,810-mile slog. Blame that (the fuelling) or the jetlag for any aberrations in this latest backward glance, for the busy or technology-defeated reader of Salut! Sunderland, at our recent coverage of …

What has been going on around these parts with M Salut’s back turned?

Sixer’s Soapbox: two points dropped against Fulham and the ‘R’ word looms

November 21, 2011 by Colin Randall

Another poor show at The SoL, as we stumble to a draw against opposition we should beat. We have now won 2 out of the last 15 home games. Pete Sixsmith had high hopes of a wonderful weekend but the first of the three events he attended was the only disappointment

You occasionally get weekends which are full of things to do, things that you are looking forward to, things that you really, really want to enjoy.

I knew that two out of the three things I had planned this weekend would be fine. The one I was worried about was the Fulham game. My worries were not unfounded.

Let’s deal briefly with the two successes. Après le match, Martin Simpson was his usual excellent self at the Davy Lamp Folk Club in Washington, while Sunday evening was enlivened by the wonderful Lumière Festival in Durham City.

But I suspect that those who are able to read this couldn’t give the proverbial monkey’s about either. The sole thing that interests them is the loss of two more points to a club who are in a similar position to us – viz. beginning to contemplate a serious relegation battle.

Bruce’s Banter: ‘my Fulham might have beens’

November 20, 2011 by Colin Randall

Not sure what Steve Bruce‘s matchday experience was. Mine involved sitting in front of a screen in a Bali hotel watching safc.com’s slow-changing, allegedly minute-by-minute text coverage. The BBC’s was hardly any better; much worse, it seems, would have been finding a bar actually showing the grim truth of a 0-0 draw. Steve? His e-mail reached me in Indonesia and boils down to: “if only we’d managed to raise the bar” …

Dear Colin,

The save their goalkeeper made at the end summed up our luck in the game.

It was a great save and to be fair Mark Schwarzer has done that for years.

Fulham ‘Who are You?’: Sweden to Craven Cottage via Pompey

November 17, 2011 by Colin Randall

Football’s back; we play Fulham on Saturday and urgently need a win. They need one, too. And where would you go to find the co-founder of the fan site that claims to be Fulham’s biggest? You guessed it: an island in the Baltic Sea. Nick Bylund* helped to create www.hammyend.com. He is also chairman of the Swedish branch of the Fulham supporters’ association. And he turns out to have deep knowledge of his adopted club, qualified admiration for al Fayed, tainted affection for Steeeeeeeeed and, well, lots more to say for himself … he predicts another draw

Salut! Sunderland: Fulham and Sunderland find themselves at the wrong end of the table. Is it too early for either club to worry or is this an indication of a tough second half of the season to come?

I personally think it is way too early to worry, at least for Fulham. My insight and knowledge about the Mackems this season is too limited to really pass any judgment. As for Fulham we have a quite small, but very vocal group that I like to refer to as the “anti-Jol-brigade”, but most of us see improvements under Jol and are willing to give him quite a lot of time still.

We’ve played well in many games, were we have deserved a lot more than we got from them. The second half’s versus Everton, Man C and Spurs were all fantastic and we played them off the pitch. Still, we only got one point from those three games so it is quite worrying that we can play so well, create so many chances but still fail to score.

In conclusion, I think we’ll turn this around sooner rather than later.

The Fulham Soapbox: crushed by the Cottagers

May 2, 2011 by Colin Randall

M Salut’s prediction that Marseille, having gone top, would stay there lasted all of a few days. Interesting, but no one here really cares about that. What we do care about is what has happened to Sunderland. Pete Sixsmith puts up with a lot in the name of supporting SAFC and reporting so compellingly for Salut! Sunderland. Much more of this, though, and he may well take up matchday trainspotting …

A week on from the win over Wigan that looked as if it had given us a base to build on for the fag end of the season, we are back to where we were after Manchester City, West Brom etc.

Make no mistake (as the manager is fond of saying), this was a shocker. The second half brought to mind the likes of Breen, Lawrence and Davies as we crumbled against a neat and tidy, but hardly world beating Fulham side.

Dear Steve Bruce: this is how it feels …

May 2, 2011 by Colin Randall

Bob Stokoe's hand Mrs Logic seeks a helping hand

Apologies to supporters in Crook, Norway and elsewhere who had to wait to see their comments appear – M Salut was away all day yesterday – and also to those who cannot bear to read another word about Sunderland 0 Fulham 3. Sorry, but there’s an awful lot to say. Salut! Sunderland readers include Steve Bruce champions, even in these straitened times but Mick Goulding is not among them, His depressing but incisive and heartfelt thoughts were first expressed at the Blackcats list, but could serve to perfection – with a couple of change, making Bruce read “you” – as a response to the manager’s post-match e-mail …

Dear Steve,

Steve Bruce: awful … ‘but nothing we can do’

April 30, 2011 by Colin Randall

Steve Bruce’s customary post-match e-mail should, for some beleaguered supporters who have already expressed their thoughts, have included the words “I resign”. Such a gesture would, of course, do us no good of any kind with just three games to play this season. But while Bruce has had to grapple with appalling injury problems, this was a dire display …

Dear Colin,

Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 0 Fulham 3. A soft thrashing

April 30, 2011 by Colin Randall

Starting with a dreary return to general incompetence at home to Fulham – OK, we have no fit strikers, but does that stop us defending too? – these are the most recent of Pete Sixsmith‘s incisive seven-word verdicts capturing the essence of just about every game. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him.

All horrendously flat today; some good first-half approach work brought no reward, Fulham took an undeserved lead before reaching a scoreline that suggested a romp but really just reflected our own capitulation. There will be no immediate post-match report tonight, though Pete’s full analysis will appear within the next couple of days.

The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …

April 30 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (1) 3 No forwards, creaky defence, hurry up summer