Jack and Loz at the Cottage - Blog 106

Date: 12th May 2019

Opposition: Newcastle

Score: 0-4

Weather: sunny, but cold in the shadows

Atmosphere: glad it's over

MOTM (football): obviously no one wins this in such a dire match but a special mention to Harvey Elliot who in his brief time on the pitch played better than everyone else put together: creative, energetic, constantly hungry for the ball and looking to shoot. Having seen him play for the first time we understand what the fuss is about and agree that, even at 16, he fully deserves his place in the side. If Harvey is the future of Fulham it could be very exciting indeed and he is just what we need right now - a new spark of brilliance, a new beacon of hope to replace....

MOTM (non-football):.....Ryan Sessegnon. There is nothing we haven't already said about Ryan and his skill on this pitch, his professionalism, his attitude and, most of all, his passion for the club we all love. We all knew that the time to say goodbye would come and that when it came it would be hard. Sunday's game was by no means one of this best due partly to his trying too hard to score one last goal for us and, perhaps, to his vision being less than clear as his played out his last minutes in Fulham's black and white. Even if we now have to follow his career from afar, we are privileged that he will always be One Of Our Own

Cutest Baby of the Match (non-football): this was a very close run category with several incredibly cute contenders including all the young Reams, gorgeous baby Kebano all in pink and tiny baby Cairney who slept through the whole thing. However, mini Mitro just edges it for cheekiness, smilieness and a familiar turn of speed around the pitch

Mitromometer: fizzling out

Pub: farewell for the summer, OSP

And so it's over. Thank God. On Sunday Fulham's dismal season came to an appropriately dispiriting end as we capitulated, yet again, to an average team. The 90 minutes against Newcastle was a summary of almost every game which preceded it: monstrous individual errors, the defence leaking like the Titanic, endless but futile possession, chaos in both boxes, shooting which was both wasteful and hesitant, and a lack of urgency from anyone other than TC and Elliot.

We are pleased that Scott Parker has been appointed as permanent head coach and particularly that it was done before the end of the season thus avoiding ongoing uncertainty, at least in that direction, but he really has his work cut out. The Championship, as we all know, and he knows himself, is a very hard league. We struggled in it for two seasons the last time we went down by trying to play with a bizarre mix of largely unsuitable players and no discernible style or identity.

The Club needs, rapidly, to assemble next season's squad. Tom's renewed commitment is very welcome, Stefjo may return and the core of the old Championship side will surely stay but new blood is needed to supplement them, particularly in defence even though we expect Joe Bryan and MLM to come into their own in a lower league. We hope Frank will stay and improve and really make his mark on the club and the Championship. Mitro has a difficult decision - stay, play, be the main man at a club he knows and likes, potentially be the top scorer in the league or go to a Premier side and risk sitting on the bench or worse. Needless to say, we hope he chooses valour over discretion.

To the goodbyes we said on Sunday we include Ryan Babel and Calum Chambers. Babel is the employee everyone on a short term contract should aspire to be: hard working, diligent, commited, respectful. He kept his brilliant head down and got on with the job. The second half of the season would have been even more dire without his goals, assists and all round attacking intent. Chambers has been an exemplary loanee and easily one of our most consistent players. We doubt we will ever see him play for Arsenal but he returns there with our best wishes.

We also waved farewell to what will soon become known as the Old Riverside stand. Demolition will start very soon in accordance with the Construction Management Plan forming part of the planning consent for the new stand. We are looking forward to watching the project progress but not to sitting in the Hammy End next winter as the cold wind blows straight in off the river....

Of course just as uncertain as the make up of next year's squad is the status and pricing of next year's season tickets. Apparently, it will be at least another 2 weeks before we hear anything which is extremely poor when next season starts in less than 3 months. Is it really that hard to organise moving the occupants of one fairly small stand into other segments of the ground which aren't currently occupied by other season ticket holders? It will be a compromise for the Riversiders of course but no doubt prices will be set accordingly and they will have first dibs on the improved seats in the new stand.

Random Musings:-

- what colour were the Newcastle shorts meant to be? They looked like they had been washed with the shirts and socks too many times

- There was (almost) no gamesmanship from the Newcastle players and they were one of the few sides to actually go and celebrate their goals with their own fans. None of the players could get into a top 6 side, however, due to their apparent inability to fall over dramatically and at will

- briefly back to Harvey Elliot - if he carries on like that next season we won't just stop criticising the boy bun, we might start copying it!

- we were slightly disappointed with Scott's subs. It seems this was almost certainly our last chance to see the Sess twins play together and in such a meaningless game this would have been easy to arrange. Also, whilst it was a nice gesture to sub Ryan off so he could be given the ovation he deserves, it was such an obvious signal that he is leaving that the applause was muted by emotion

So the season ends with a mixture of disappointment and relief. A new manager, a new look side, a new look ground await. But the Club has not covered itself in glory in any way at all this season and, more than ever, the summer will be a time to regroup, reposition and reassess. And just as this season needs to be quickly forgotten, new plans need to quickly take shape. If the transition is well managed next season could be one of our most exciting (if chilliest) yet. Let's put this season behind us and get on with the next one. Better times lie ahead but the best thing of all will never change: we are fans of Fulham Football Club.