Making History (Part One)

Historic:

Founded in 1879 Fulham is the oldest professional football club in London. They moved to Craven Cottage in 1896 and have played there ever since. Their opponents that day, Minerva FC no longer exist. A decade later Fulham joined the Football League after good performances in the Southern League, which they won consecutively in their last two seasons in that league.

Their first match in the Football League took place in September 1907 against Hull City. They narrowly missed out on promotion in their first season in 1908. They also missed out on the FA Cup final, losing their semi-final 6-0 to Newcastle United – still a record defeat at that stage in the competition. Still it was an impressive start to their career in the Football League, but it was also their best finish in the Second Division in their first spell. That ended in 1928 with relegation after twenty-one seasons.

Lows and Highs:

After four seasons in the Third Division Fulham was promoted as champions having scored 111 goals, but missed out on back to back promotions by finishing third in the Second Division in 1933. Three years later another FA Cup semi-final ended in defeat. The War interrupted football – the leagues were restored in the season of 1946-47. They were promoted to the top flight for the first time in 1949.

That stay lasted three seasons, but the fifties ended on a high with promotion back to the First Division in 1959, having reached another FA Cup semi-final the previous season. They finished tenth in 1960 – their first season back. That remained their best position in the top flight for almost forty-five years.

1962 witnessed yet another defeat in a semi-final of the FA Cup. Flirtation with relegation became a regular occurrence. In 1966 they achieved their first great escape. After twenty-nine matches, they had just fifteen points – a disastrous record – but Fulham showed exceptional fighting spirit that current manager Roy Hodgson would emulate in his team two years ago.  They lost two of their remaining matches, but also won nine and drew two to escape relegation.

Two years later they were relegated, having won just ten of forty-two matches. This began an exile from the top flight of three and a half decades. An even worse season followed and that meant relegation to the Third Division with just seven wins.

In 1971 they were promoted. Their team included Alan Mullery and Bobby Moore a four years after promotion they broke their semi-final jinx, reaching the final, which they lost to West Ham. Including replays they played twelve matches in the FA Cup run – the highest number of any finalist. It is still a record and one that is unlikely to be matched let alone beaten.

Shortly afterwards Rodney Marsh rejoined the club after playing in the First Division and for England. He was joined by George Best – arguably one of the best players ever – during the 1976-77 season, but they only played sixteen and forty-seven matches respectively.

The Wilderness Years:

Relegation followed in 1980, but they bounced back in 1982 and only missed out on a return to the top flight the next year on the last day. Debt forced the sale of players and relegation back to the Third Division happened in 1986.  1987 nearly saw the demise of the famous club as an attempt to merge with Queen’s Park Rangers failed and they were nearly forced out of business. Their spirit saw them through.

Five years later the establishment of the Premier League resulted in the Third Division being renamed the Second Division. Two years later they were relegated to the lowest League for the first time. The lowest point in their history came with a seventeenth place finish out of twenty-four in 1996. The only way left was up and what a rise followed.

The New Era:

Mohammed al-Fayed became Chairman in 1997. The club had just finished second in the Third Division and been promoted. Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins were appointed as a managerial team – Wilkins left in 1998. Keegan led Fulham to a glorious promotion with 101 points gained in 1999. Keegan left for the England job Veteran player, Paul Bracewell, nearing the end of his career, briefly managed the club.

He was replaced after a poor start to the season by Jean Tigana in 2000. The Frenchman masterminded their return to the top flight of English football in the 2001-02 season. Tigana – not Paul Ince – was the first black manager in the English Premier League and Fulham, not Blackburn Rovers, was the first club to give a black manager a chance in the Premier League.

However, Tigana left in acrimonious circumstances in 2003 with relegation still a possibility. Chris Coleman succeeded Tigana and despite his inexperience avoided relegation. He led the club to ninth place and left in 2007, replaced by Lawrie Sanchez, who left the Northern Ireland to join the Cottagers. A year later, facing relegation, Sanchez was dismissed. Fulham turned to their saviour, Roy Holdgson, who engineered the Great Escape. That was followed with qualification for the inaugural Europa League last year and a chance to make more history in tonight’s final.