I cannot be any happier than now this time and there are lots to mull over. Scott Parker cut through emotionally, and now more than ever i am on the same train now. It was predictable that we are having the futile conversation on who and who is good enough for Fulham. The truth is, if we are truly on board with Parker's philosophies, we really need to step back from all the back-biting and scrutinizing. If we re-wind back to various stages of our past season, we can pick out players one by one who we think is not good enough for Fulham. Josh Onohah was a player some typically pick on for criticism and i can reel off a long list of players we think should be shipped out. Onohah is now deemed okay, Kamara is deemed also okay but not a 90 minute player. Parker played him a full 90 minutes and he did more than okay in my opinion. People say he is only good for 10-15 minutes? My point is, we should leave the final thinking to Parker. Le Marchand looks like he is going nowhere no matter what some people think! Scotty must have seen improvement in Le Marchand and why not? He is still young. Scott Parker is truly a thinker and a wise one at that. I really think that he will honestly try again with some returning loanees and it would make perfect sense. Anyone who can tame a beast like Kamara and get him to play football is fantastic by me. The playoff game was a masterpiece in tactical and technical ability. We actually concentrated for the full 90 minutes and but for taking the foot off the peddle, we should have wrapped the game up 2-0. I am looking forward to seeing Anguissa and Seri again now. If there is any improvement in any of these guy's, i personally would like to see it. Parkers philosophies mean patience and we will certainly need to bite the bullet next season in the prem. Tim Ream has played fantastically after the break in my opinion. He isn't flashy and Reamy can inject some pace if we need to. Honestly, watch the playoff again and you must agree that Reamy played okay. Maybe Parker will get someone to fill in besides Ream in that position who knows? Ream is coming to the twilight of his career but i still think that Scott will maybe draft a younger guy in and use Ream now and again until we learn the system. It was not pretty or nice to watch Fulham make mistakes all over the place, but remember guy's, Scott Parker is tweaking and perfecting his system, and all this will take time. Scott Parker is a Chairmans dream. He gave minute by minute details about the tactics, and i think that he will recall the loanees. The only thing we need now at Craven Cottage is patience and i mean lots of it....

Due to Covid 19, Karaoke of Sweet Caroline has been banned. There will be no, Touching hands, Reaching out, Touching me, Touching you.

Thank you Scot for for proving me wrong. The team selection and the tactics you employed were 100% right on the night. Having watched the game several times and listening to your comments after the game. I believe given the right backing you will keep improving as all managers have to. The positions that we have to strengthen are obvious especially in the Premiership. WE do not need wholesale changes a little more pace will be needed at the next level. Good Luck and Well Done.

Firstly congratulations to our under 18 side for winning their league title.The 2 joint player of the season awards in this group goes to Jay Stansfield & Cody Dramah. The sad disappointing factor is that it appears Cody has today signed for Leeds at a MASSIVE FEE OF 400k,said it before,and will say again is it worth having a youth squad when we ship them out so cheaply,and constantly read of how we are looking at over 30s has beens,relations.and returnee loans.

With all the abundance of games on the telly recently, so many players both past and present, have been wheeled out to air their views. All I hear repeatedly is how they “fink” about everything. Listen to Ashley Cole , he “ finks” this, and “ finks” that, and can hardly string two coherent sentences together. God knows how much they are paid. ( p.s. not a snob - cab drivers son, comprehensive school, and brought up in a council house)

Can we be better than West Brom, West Ham and Villa? For me, the answer is yes. When I look at their players, ours are better. Unlike Slav, who had big ambitions, Scotty will be trying to grind to 40 points and finish in 15th. It’s hard to go from winning 23 to winning 11, but we are in a better position now than two years ago, when we were overconfident and couldn’t get a clean sheet. One or two Hector-like signings at the back are all we need to stay up.

Official from Shad, various blah blahs until...”we were not at...any match since the pause in March” - Tony is our DOF, with a London residence. Not impressed Tony, sorry.

What day is it ????? cmon Chris you must have plenty this week about our nearest and dearest

Call me a killjoy but I did not care how we achieved promotion BUT WE DID the time for recriminations would hAve been failure bottom line is we are a prem side now probably 4 players of a surviving one

A Message From Mr Khan Friday 7 August 2020 11:00 Our Chairman Shahid Khan pens an open letter to supporters following Fulham's promotion to the Premier League. To everyone within the Fulham Football Club family, thank you. I had planned all along to share some thoughts with you after Tuesday’s match, and made the decision that whatever course these notes would take based on the outcome versus Brentford, I would start by saying thank you. You may be a player, football staffer, sponsor, supporter, student, anyone. If you’re reading this, you likely love this Club as I do, and you therefore know the journey over the past 16 months that brought us from relegation to promotion. Your resilience, commitment and belief deserve more thanks than I can adequately express. But, that’s just the football journey. The challenges we’ve all had to tackle, and continue to face, with the COVID-19 pandemic are – we hope – once in a long lifetime. I know the difficulties our squad and coaching staff have had to endure with the stoppage, uncertainty and expectations for promotion upon the restart in June, and to see us seize the moment on Tuesday night at Wembley Stadium will be a moment we should treasure forever. I know of the demands and stress all of this has had on the people who serve your club daily at Motspur Park and Craven Cottage, and their spirit and response has been remarkable. What I don’t specifically know is how this global health crisis has affected, personally or professionally, everyone else who stands with this Club for life. I imagine there have been hardships, moments of frustration and maybe even sadness, and for that I empathise. Yet, you’ve continued to make Fulham Football Club an essential part of your life, giving us all you have. I am impressed, humbled and in your debt. So, again – thank you. I am overjoyed to now complete my thoughts as we look forward to the start of a new season in the Premier League! Neither my son Tony Khan, your Vice Chair and Director of Football, nor I were able to attend Tuesday’s match due to travel regulations and restrictions from the U.S. to the UK and back related to COVID-19. Similarly, we were not at either leg of the Cardiff City Play-Offs or any match since the pause in March. It’s made for a surreal experience, to be sure, but we both kept close contact with CEO Alistair Mackintosh and Head Coach Scott Parker throughout and never felt the distance and time difference between London and the United States was a disadvantage. To the contrary, despite the initial results coming out of the break versus Brentford and at Leeds United, the reports we received daily from training combined with our eight-match unbeaten run through the first leg of the Play-Offs gave us confidence of the happy ending we planned for in August. Through injuries, suspensions and various other travails, we first persevered and then gained strength. Credit to Scott and his staff for guiding our players to find good form, and keep it, as we battled for automatic promotion to the very end before seeing off Cardiff City in Play-Offs aggregate to return to Wembley for our second winner-take-all match in three years. Prior to Tuesday’s match, I was in touch with Scott to learn what he and his staff had in mind for approaching Brentford. First, in case anyone wonders, I am very aware of our historical rivalry with Brentford, though many supporters and friends of the Club will nonetheless remind me of the pain that comes with dropping a match to the Bees. Duly noted! Add to that the romance many pundits, somewhat understandably, had with Brentford this season, plus the fact a Bees player said we should be in fear entering Tuesday’s match, and it all made for a lively storyline. But, it’s ultimately all about football, and I was curious to hear from Scott as to how we would prevail. I won’t get into details but will say that Scott, who also spent an hour on Zoom with Tony last weekend to present the plan for Brentford, told me to specifically look for two tactical strategies from your team at Wembley. I left the conversation confident that if our players bought into the game plan Scott outlined, we’d be a Premier League side at the end of the night. With that, I hosted a watch party in Urbana, Illinois, the city where my automotive company is headquartered in the Midwest region of the United States. My guests included lifelong friends from the area who have been my guests in London for various Fulham and Jacksonville Jaguars games, including our promotion match at Wembley Stadium two years ago. Several friends drove down from Chicago, which is about three hours north of Urbana, and I also welcomed several die-hard Fulham supporters from the area. I’m an engineer, so be assured the layout of the room was designed for both optimum viewing and responsible social distancing. Whistle to whistle, we all wore protective face gear for a match that started locally at 1.45pm. It wasn’t the royal box at Wembley in 2018. But I was with family and my closest friends, and that’s royalty to me. You saw the match, so there is no need for me to recount the drama and elation of the evening – or, for me, my afternoon. But, I will reveal that I was calm and confident at half-time because I had seen the positive effects of one of the strategies Scott had mentioned. By the end of our 2-1 victory, I had seen both. It was a master plan, and it was perfectly executed. I am reluctant to name one, two or three players following a season and performance at Wembley where becoming a team and then being a team, in every sense of the word, will be what we remember in our promotion to the Premier League. Everyone is MOTM. But, I do want to commend Tony Khan and Scott Parker, and Scott’s superb staff, for building, guiding and inspiring a once-struggling team to greatness. And make no mistake, when you reach the Top 20, that’s greatness. Finally, a word on the subject of team. Be assured that we will be a team, in its truest sense, moving forward. We will be unafraid to improve and add pieces to our lineup, but not at the expense of the spirit and soul of a squad that bled, battled and sacrificed to return Fulham to the Premier League. Building a squad can be a tricky proposition for a newly promoted club, and that is especially true this year with the start of the season already nearly upon us. Turnover in football is inevitable. But, this Club has Premier League experience and our players, as well as our young and promising Head Coach, love Fulham Football Club. There is a lot to like in this team today, and just as much to like in our future. In the weeks ahead you will be hearing from the Club on the latest news related to our return to the Premier League. What this means for Season Ticket Holders and supporters, it’s honestly difficult to say at this moment. We will obviously be guided by the league and health authorities, and of course we hope to see you soon in person at Craven Cottage when it’s safe and sound. In the meantime, let’s rejoice! An extraordinary chapter in the long and honourable history of our Club has been written and completed, and we were all part of it together. Thank you! Come On, Fulham!

Not sure about Mitro playing in a VAR environment. He gets fouled a lot and refs ignore it but he is a hot head and VAR won’t miss any of his one on one aggressive actions. I can see him being red carded on a few occasions next season. Good luck with that one SP.

Nice read! To the Brentford fans who like to hang around in here - what did and do you now think of Emiliano's comments about Fulham being scared? Even our chairman, 4000 miles away, feel he's day is made shutting him (and therefore, Brentford) up! hope its a lesson learn for your club - don't run ahead of yourselves. In the mean time - we move on with the confidence the squad will not be ripped apart this time. Only strengthened.

here we go again all ifs ands and buts. bit sad.

We have a deep thinker about football tactics learned from listening to various managers a players. He surmised that one system would probably beat most of the Championship sheep teams he brought the players on board and it largely worked. The Premier League is full of teams who use different tactics and I am sure Scott will need to come up with special tactics to beat them as he did against Brentford. For example Man U get the ball forward as quickly as possible usually down the wings. Manchester City are measured but have tremendous skill and pace in the side that can create chances from nothing. Liverpool use a combination of the two Manchester teams but are master of breaking up opposition attacks with devastating counter attacks. I would also advice we need a top dead ball coach as we will have to make the most of those situations. Until Kebano started banging the ball in from free kick we rarely made anything from corners and free kicks. Our throws ins were not great either.

We won promotion, not ONLY by winning the play-offs, when we still failed to keep a clean sheet! The games to my mind was won long ago, after Brentford FC took six points of us in the League, they came to Wembley thinking that they only had to beat FFC as they had twice before and they would be in the land of milk and honey. Football does not work that way, especially with 'one off' games. Mr Parker says he is going to stay loyal to the players who won promotion and that is only fair, but if we do not reinforce our squad (which is far too small) for the Premiership, by Christmas FFC could well be struggling. I say bring back Chris Smalling from Man Un for £20 million and Ollie Watkins from Brentford for £23 million (no more, they are asking £50 mill, what a joke) and find at least six other players with Premiership experinece or its back the the Championship! Fact.

Excellent assessment in todays "I " newspaper football page of the three promoted teams is best I have read. Brought me back to earth .Worth reading

There is only so much weeping and wallowing a young man should do, and i feel we can put in a cheeky offer for a tearful and so sad Ollie Watkins. I hear that the Brentford fund-ISA department is slapping the ridiculous fee of 50 million on Watkins. See the trouble you get yourself into when you play with monopoly money and pretend houses Buzz Bee?? A more realistic proper money offer of 18-20 million for the scopey and talented Watkins is more than enough surely? Okay' chuck in a box of 'jammy-dodgers' will send Ollie's mum into raptures of joy, and certainly, sweeten the deal. With free postage and packaging and shave some tax off the vat bill will see happy days for both sides. Why pay extortionate fee's to the money men and greedy agents for sealing a deal like this one, simples i say! Ollie' a happy ending is yours to grasp, say yes to Fulham and build on your growing reputation by signing for Fulham. Legendary status and great riches awaits you 'Sir Ollie Watkins' Just sign for Fulham and join an illustrious, and ambitious team proud to grace the green-fields of Craven Cottage. Oh' Ollie' what say thee lad' 'what say thee'...

Forget Sess - bring Harvey Elliot back on loan??

Apparently We are talking to Spurs about Sess returning on loan and are going to sign Harrison Reed for £8 million, also looking for a central defender to play alongside Hector r

Apparently We are talking to Spurs about Sess returning on loan and are going to sign Harrison Reed for £8 million, also looking for a central defender to play alongside Hector r

It will be interesting to see if Arsenal make any multi million pound purchases now that they have saved money by laying off 55 backroom staff . Meanwhile Ozil takes £350 K a week and can’t be arsed to try , maybe he should resign his wages probably would cover for all 55 staff . Football can be a dirty business

iS NOT HUMAN NATURE FUNNY,WE NOW HAVE BLOKES ON HERE TELLING US HOW THE BLOKES WHO SLAGGED S/P NOW HAVE EGG ON THERE FACES KNOWING THAT THEY ALSO WERE THE SAME BLOKES WHO ALSO SLAGGED S/P OF,WE ALL CHANGE SIDES IN THE NICEST WAY POSSIBLE TO MAKE OURSELVES LOOK SMARTER THAN THE AVERAGE SUPPORTER.hE DID A GREAT JOB ON THE NIGHT,LETS WAIT TILL NEXT MAY THEN WE CAN ALL GET ON THE WAGGON AND PRAISE OR GIVE HIM HIS P45,MY GUESS IS BY JANUARY HALF WILL BE CALLING FOR HIS HEAD.

Congratulations Brentford fc Bottling play offs like we bottle beer !

At the Premier League’s Annual General Meeting today, Shareholders agreed to rules relating to VAR and substitute players for the 2020/21 season.

Shareholders unanimously approved the implementation of VAR, in line with the full FIFA VAR protocol.

Clubs also agreed to revert back to using up to three substitute players per match, with a maximum of seven substitutes on the bench.

So we paid c. £30m for Anguissa and the same sort of money for Seri / MdeM - pretty much what Bees paid for their entire cup final squad. So now what? Well, recent press reports have stated we “wasted £100m en route to relegation” and there were “significant errors in the transfer market.” So what? So Arsenal’s famed global scout, Francis Cagigao and recruitment specialist, Brian McDermott have been released. How much better would they prove to be than Talbot and son? Significantly better? I think so.

...FFC are prioritising contracts for Arter, Reed and Parker as well as Anguissa being on his way home.

You never know, Parkers backroom team have made better players of Kamara, Onamah and Rodak so why not Anguissa and Seri if he comes home too?

Are right. We will be Bournehampton. A mix of a few of the south coast boys!

https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2020/08/05/premier-league-standings-prediction-2020-21/ 1. Manchester City 2. Liverpool 3. Manchester United 4. Chelsea 5. Arsenal 6. Tottenham 7. Leicester City 8. Wolves 9. Everton 10. Southampton 11. West Ham 12. Brighton 13. Burnley 14. Sheffield United 15. Leeds United 16. Aston Villa 17. Newcastle United 18. Crystal Palace 19. Fulham 20. West Brom

Sky Sports: Fulham looking at Ryan Fraser winger from Bournemouth (out of contract), and posting a 12m + bid for Kyle Walker-Peters defender (Spurs on loan at S'ton)

Boy, when some people get it wrong they get it wrong big time...

Well that got you interested.....saw a photo of him today wearing a full facemask so there are some benefits then.....

Firstly congratulations to Scott Parker and he’s staff,against all the doubters on this site asking for he’s head every time we don’t get a result,thing is after the restart we started exactly the same against Brentford and like yesterday didn’t score,difference is we didn’t let them back into the game,these games are dictated to by refs decisions and luck,Reed lucky to stay on the pitch. Statistically Parker has been more successful than Slav having gained promotion at first attempt. No doubt he won’t last the season with a very short break needing several new signings to bed in as we start against the best players and clubs in the world with a much larger budget than us. Hope I’m wrong COYW

While we celebrate the promotion and a jackpot of £140m many millions of people are losing their jobs, including 55 today at Arsenal. I can understand a small business cutting their staff as they would otherwise have to sell their house to pay their salary, but a top premier league club need to cut 55 people from their payroll?? These are probably dinner ladies and cleaners earning probably less than 30k a year, and maybe much less. I am not against capitalism but at times like that, all Arsenal would need to do is To swap a experienced player they’d like to buy with a young and upcoming professional to more than balance the book. 55 people - maybe £2m salary a year. So instead of buying a player on 8m salary get someone on 6m. Rich clubs need to do more at times like this. I bet the next news we hear from Arsenal is they are buying a £55m player!! Best of luck to the 55 dinner ladies, ticket office people and cleaners, etc being released of their job today!

I hope we piss off as many as those knobs as possible by taking 3 points off them!

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11927589/premier-league-2020-21-season-start-date-finish-date-new-kits

etc.

Been trying to think of a post to write. One that will appease those who want me to scoff humble pie, but also one that is still true to my opinion about the club. First of all, what a game that was, Parker showed that he can have a plan B and has been impressive since the Covid break - Fully deserved result, well done to all involved. Players like Kebano, bryan and onomah have proven me wrong over the last month. I was their biggest critic, but my god did Joe Bryan make up for some of his errors earlier in the season, and Kebano bailed us out time and time again. I’d like to apologise to all 3 players, they really pulled out all the stops when it mattered and they are the type of players you want on your team. I will get onboard with Parker now, even if I am still not his biggest fan - not because of his achievements, but because of his style of play which is slow and boring, but is beginning to work! Our defence looks solid and that is something we have needed for a long time. Christie has impressed but I do still feel we need an other right back. Going forward, let’s hope we bring in one or two quality additions but keep the bulk of the promotion team together. I do hope Tony Khan has learnt from last time. One thing I would like to see improve, is for SP to get the most out of our 'best' players. He has done it with the fringe players, but if he could get our key ones firing on all cylinders, we could really push on from here. We obviously needed time for the constant rotating door of players to gel, and it’s a shame the summer break is so short because we will miss out on the opportunity to get business done early this year, which is why it is even more key to keep the bulk of the promotion squad together. Anyway.. what a game! what a night! what a performance and what an unlikely hero! Come on Fulham!

Well, well, what a fantastic result. However, we can only pray that we don't experience a repeat from last year! We'll need to make some signings, obviously, as not the whole squad is capable to perform in the Premier League. My priorities, and maybe even realistic targets from relegated teams, and Championship clubs! What do you think?: 1. Harrison Reed - what a fantastic performance from him this season. Deserves to play in the Premier League, hopefully we can snatch him up before Hojbjerg moves to Spurs. 2. RB - Odoi and Christie aren't going to be up to it. Max Aarons is probably unrealistic, but Sam Byram (also Norwich) has decent Premier League experience. Janmaat is a much more experienced option from Watford. 3. Attacking depth - Knockaert, Cavaleiro, Kamara - probably not quite good enough at the top level. Sarr and Success from Watford could do a job, but any of the front three from Brentford, B.M.W. will surely get snapped up soon!

He has got us up and we blunted the feared BMW combo. Nothing for it then but to bring back the Mad German or Alan Dicks!

I have had to eat it a few times on here ......To all the anti Parker brigade a simple sorry will do. Give the man some credit......

Their guy looking like a wild eyed coke head nutter who's been sleeping rough, compared to our Scotty in his dapper suit, shirt and tie complete with tie pin. We won on style alone......

I have the official Club Calendar which has a different player for each month, well the player for the month of August is...Joe Bryan.

Never been so happy for a Manager nice to see a good guy win, has had unfair stick . There will be hard times ahead but we have a great bunch of players all working together lovely club from top to bottom let’s be right behind them COYW

Internet gone down in smallbrentford.

these are strange times and an even shorter close season means the hard work starts now. Yes the players might get a couple of weeks without football but that's all. The club's work for the new season begins today. We do not want all this work to get back to the PL to go wrong like last time. We do need to strengthen our squad considerably with at least four core players being added to the squad/team. Of course there are doubts about Parker's capability as a manager in the PL perhaps he will do another Joka and we will be looking for a new manager (Eddie Howe) by Christmas. Enjoy the close season Fulham fans last night was a truly memorable match and all the credit goes to the players and coaching team for that. They have earned respect for this achievement.

Both these players were sent on loan when we were relegated. Seri to Galataseri in Turkey and Angguissa to Villareal in Spain. According to reports , both have done well, and the clubs they are at want to sign them. I assume everyone was waiting to see whether Fulham would be promoted before a decision is made on their future. I expect now we know, we may be hearing soon whether they will return or be sold.

....that after our glorious win last night that all posters on this board now see fit to bury their various hatchets. The Prem campaign is sure going to be a rocky road for all of us so let's remember last night's celebrations and let's be nice to each other. If you don't, and in the immortal words of the Imp, you truly will be - idiots!!! COYW'S!!

REALLY NOT GOOD FULHAM FANS - I'M ASHAMED OF YOU:0(((((

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/fulham-fans-premier-league-promotion-craven-cottage-a4516856.html

Our defensive coach has been proved right,why the hell did we cast him aside after Slav?

I really like the recent pitch side interviews with Parker. The interviews were less formal, compare to behind a desk, and provided more insight into the game and the managers thinking. As such, it has really shone a light on Parker. He’s calm (sometimes maybe too calm for some of us), well spoken and most important of all, know the game so well. He masterminded the free kick last night. He told the team to play triangles on either side of the pitch to contain Brentford attack. Previously he gave technical insight on how to play Cardiff at their ground. He knows he’s football and very analytical. I can see how he out thought Brentford last night and Bielsa away earlier in the season. He’s a technical genius. Those wanting him out really need to think again. He’s done better than Lampard Or Gerrard in his first season and I would not be surprised if Spurs at some point soon knocking into the door for him!

Congratulations Fulham Fc from a life-long Man U supporter (wef October, 1956). Just make sure you stay with the so-called big boys and the Mancester United kings of the 'back-passing' rubbish game.