Harrison Reed: “Fulham was the perfect match”

There can be few more popular signings in Fulham history than that of Harrison Reed.

The 25-year-old made his long-awaited permanent move to SW6 at the end of August after a season in which his boundless energy, fierce tackling and tidy passing game proved crucial in helping us return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Reed was just as keen as the Fulham faithful to see the negotiations get over the line and his focus is firmly fixed on what will undoubtedly be a challenging season ahead.

“It was something I was looking to do [sign permanently],” he told the matchday programme. “There comes a time where you need to really push your career on. It was important that I found somewhere where I was really comfortable and the ambition of the club matched mine. Fulham came along and it was the perfect match, so I’m really, really happy to become a Fulham player permanently and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds.

“It was made known to me that the club were looking to make it a permanent transfer after the [Play-Off] Final. I went away on holiday and it was left between the clubs to agree everything. As soon as I got the go-ahead, I was straight to the training ground to get it signed.”

The adulation of the fans was clear to see, with a mountain of social media messages begging the midfielder to put pen to paper. Was it tempting to reply?

“Yeah, it is sometimes,” he admitted. “They want answers and obviously don’t know the ins and outs of what goes on behind the scenes. It is tempting to offer a little bit of hope to the fans and ‘like’ this and ‘like’ that and give them an insight about what is going on because they’re obviously left in the dark until everything’s done and then it’s announced, whereas I know what’s going on day by day and how close we are. I managed to hold off and hopefully, for the fans, it was worth the wait.”

His Fulham teammates didn’t need to persuade him to join.

“They didn’t need to drop any hints to be honest. They were fully aware that I wanted to sign permanently and get it done. They were probably more laughing at the fact that I wanted to get it done so soon.”

Reed’s performances secured him third place in the Club’s 2019/20 Player of the Season fans’ vote and supporters have made comparisons with N’Golo Kanté, someone the Southampton academy graduate will hopefully pit his wits against when Frank Lampard’s men travel to Craven Cottage in mid-January.

“Of course, it’s great,” he said of the recognition. “I just try and give my best for the team and help us get the three points. To come away from that and see that the fans are pleased with my performances, it’s a really good feeling.”

Reed’s commitment saw the fans warm to him quickly, but calf problems picked up in home clashes against Queens Park Rangers and Reading meant he was sidelined for nearly all the fixtures over the winter. Our new signing was keen to prove his worth on his return and said that the group’s strong work ethic contributed to the impressive performances in the home stretch.

“I was pretty much fully fit going into lockdown. I was nearly there. It was then down to me to come back after lockdown to show the Club, the fans and the Manager why they should keep me there.  

“The Club were great to be honest [after the season was put on hold]. They asked for all the equipment that we needed and they got that delivered to our doors, so I was able to do everything.

“I was doing my gym work at home, I had running sessions to do every day. We had a little bit of competition between the group on an app as well, which was good. You can see, on the app that we had, the runs everyone was doing and the intensity of the runs and everything like that. It was top drawer.

“The Manager really made sure that we were aware of the end goal of promotion and what it would take to get there and I feel like everyone bought into it.

“It was good after lockdown to have the games come thick and fast because we’d all missed it massively. The outcome of the season couldn’t have been much better for us.”

The nail-biting win over Brentford was the culmination of that effort and, speaking to FFCtv after his transfer was confirmed, Reed reflected on an unforgettable day.

“Unbelievable. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. I was absolutely exhausted at the end of it and I think the celebrations tipped me over the edge actually. The emotion of the day, from waking up [and] seeing Wembley out of the hotel window to going for a coffee; you really felt the pressure building. Then to walk out into Wembley – it was my first time playing there – was an unbelievable experience. When Joe scored the first goal, let alone the second one and then the final whistle…the emotions and the elation was just amazing.”

However, the evening could have been remembered for very different reasons when Reed’s first-half challenge on Christian Nørgaard led to some wondering whether Fulham deserved to go down to 10 men. Was his heart in his mouth before the yellow card was brandished?

“I’ll be honest, it was a little bit,” Reed told the programme. “I obviously overstretched for the ball. There wasn’t any intent to hurt the player, but looking back, I’m watching it with my head in my hands really because it could have been a red card, just because I was overstretching and my studs were up.

“My eyes were completely focused on the ball and the player happened to come across. I think I did get a little touch on it to be honest, but the ref was an experienced ref and I think that helped me out on that occasion. I did look up and when I heard the players, I thought ‘oh no, here we go’.”

Despite the change in divisions, one thing that will remain the same is the absence of fans in attendance. Reed admits the change was strange initially.

“In the first couple of games, it was quite hard to get used to. You obviously have that extra buzz when the fans are there and you always have that extra bit of energy, but I felt, as a team, we managed that situation really well and really performed. It was obviously very, very disappointing not to have the fans alongside us on the journey we went on, especially ending at Wembley and getting the win. It would have been a special, special day for the fans and for us to share that with them.  We couldn’t use [the lack of fans] as an excuse, we didn’t want to use it as an excuse and we had to get on with it and perform, and we did.”

Reed made 17 Premier League appearances for Southampton, the last of which came in April 2017. The prospect of going toe to toe with some of the world’s best players again is one he relishes, but he knows he must keep improving.

“It was a long time ago, I can’t lie,” he laughs. “I want to improve every day. I know that’s a cliché, but I really do. With the Premier League, you see the intensity of it, the physicality of it, the quality of the players. It goes up another level and I think each and every one of us needs to do that to have a successful season.”

The team haven’t had long to prepare for the new Premier League season and our last experience in the top flight was one to forget. How does he see the mood in the camp going into this campaign?

“The mood around the camp’s really positive. It’s one of excitement, that we’re not coming into this league to just survive. We want to take this league head on and see where that takes us.

“I think that’s a really good mentality. It’s the mentality of the Manager and that’s something that rubs off on all of the players as well, so we’re really looking forward to it. We know it’s a big challenge, but that’s what we worked so hard for last season and we’re going to be ready for it.”

Ruben Loftus-Cheek on his recovery from a devastating Achilles injury that saw him go without playing for 13 months, the most influential manager in his time at Chelsea and his important loan spell at Crystal Palace under Roy Hodgson

There are many players who have represented Fulham and Chelsea down the decades. Older fans will recall that Ray Lewington, Gordon Davies and Clive Walker turned out for both the Blues and the Whites, while younger supporters remember watching Wayne Bridge, Damien Duff and Steve Sidwell. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was the latest player to cross the west London divide in October, moving on a season-long loan. After a traumatic spell out injured which saw him go 13 months without playing after rupturing his left Achilles tendon in May 2019, what were the 24-year-old’s priorities?

“I wanted to be somewhere where I thought I could have a chance of playing regularly,” Loftus-Cheek tells the programme. “I wanted to stay in the Premier League where I can get back to the pace and the feeling I had when I was playing at Chelsea, so that was the main focus.”

One of Loftus-Cheek’s 10 goals in a standout 2018/19 season came against Fulham at Stamford Bridge and his history of facing us goes way back, with one of the biggest games of his career in Chelsea’s academy coming in the 2014 FA Youth Cup. The two sides played out a thrilling two-legged final with Fulham winning 3-2 at Craven Cottage, before Chelsea ultimately prevailed as three late goals saw them win 5-3 at Stamford Bridge to secure a 7-6 aggregate triumph.

Loftus-Cheek’s arrival at Motspur Park saw him link up with former Chelsea and England age-group team-mate Ola Aina, as well as Harrison Reed from their time together with the national team at under-19 level.

“When I first arrived [at Fulham], the first training session I had with the group, there was so much quality,” Loftus-Cheek says. “I knew before coming to Fulham how they play; they’re a passing team and that definitely showed in the training sessions. It was a good feeling to know that I’ve come to a club with players who have quality.”

What part did Scott Parker’s presence play in convincing Loftus-Cheek that Fulham was the right move?

“A big part. I needed someone who believed in me, even if maybe I didn’t have a good start, because I’ve been out for so long, so I needed to feel that connection with the manager.”

It seems particularly cruel that Loftus-Cheek suffered such a severe injury setback after the best year of his career to date under Maurizio Sarri two seasons ago, with the midfielder scoring against Eintracht Frankfurt to take Chelsea through to an all-English Europa League final against Arsenal. When asked who has been the most influential manager he has worked under in his senior career, the answer is unequivocal.

“Sarri for sure,” Loftus-Cheek replies. “I felt like he was truthful with me. At the start, I wasn’t playing. He told me why and said if I want to play, I have to do this and that gave me something to work towards and eventually I started to do what he asked and I played. That gave me confidence to know that if I keep doing that, I’ll keep playing. Then you start to get more understanding of the game.

“I played in an 8 role, with one deep, so I had the licence to go forward and affect the game in that way. I felt that was a good season and in my head after that season I was like ‘we kick on next season’, but obviously got the bad injury which halted my progression, but now it’s time to build up again.”

The injury in question came in a friendly against New England Revolution as Loftus-Cheek turned to stretch for a loose ball near the centre circle before falling to the turf in agony. He knew something was seriously wrong when one of the Chelsea medical staff asked him to push down with his left leg and he couldn’t. After the ecstasy against Frankfurt one week earlier, the Achilles tendon rupture deprived him of a chance to be on the pitch against the Gunners and lift European silverware.

How tough was the recovery process?

“Of course it takes a toll physically because you need that game stimulus,” explains Loftus-Cheek. “No matter what you do on the training pitch, you can’t quite replicate the game output you do. I felt like my first game back competitively for Chelsea [against Aston Villa in June] was difficult mentally in terms of awareness on the pitch. When you play week in, week out, things come instinctively. I felt that was missing, so it definitely took a toll on me.

“I had the surgery and then you’re in the cast or boot for a while. Then you come out of that and the first point was to start walking. At first you can’t walk properly and then you build up to walking comfortably again and then it’s all about trying to build the strength, which was the hardest part because you have to reconnect with the calf muscle, because the muscle’s nearly gone, so you have to really concentrate on building that up and after that, when you’re strong enough, you start jogging, you start running and then eventually, high-intense sprints.

“But that’s just a brief explanation. I had ups and downs. I started running and then it [the Achilles] didn’t like it and I felt it and had to come inside for a couple of weeks, so it definitely wasn’t a straight line up. It was a big chunk of my rehab where the guys were trying to get me outside and it just wasn’t reacting well to the loads of running. I think that’s why my injury took longer than expected [to heal].

“Not using the calf and the muscles in your foot for months, you had to teach the body to be able to use them to balance and get stronger again because it’s not just the strength of the calf, it’s the elasticity you have in the Achilles and the little muscles in the feet that balance you without you really noticing. You just have to wake them up again and try to get the mind used to all the different ranges of the ankle. So it’s just about moving it, opening up areas and getting the foot used to moving.”

The road to establishing himself at Stamford Bridge was far from smooth. After an encouraging year-and-a-half bedding in to the first team after coming on for Cesc Fabregas in his debut against Sporting Lisbon in December 2014, a drop-off in playing time in 2016-17 under Antonio Conte saw Loftus-Cheek shuffle across London to Crystal Palace the following season, with Roy Hodgson taking the helm at Selhurst Park shortly after Loftus-Cheek joined to guide the Eagles to an 11^th-placed finish.

“I joined the Chelsea first team and I was enjoying training with them, feeling myself getting better, but it got to the point where I felt I was there a season too long or even more,” Loftus-Cheek admits. “I felt I could go to the next level. That’s why I wanted to go.

“I ended up going to Palace. At the start, Frank de Boer was there and we didn’t get off to a good start and Roy came in. I wasn’t sure what to expect – I hadn’t worked for him before – but he was a very disciplined coach, knew what he wanted from his players and that’s why I think we did so well that season. He came in and stamped his authority and we started getting wins how he wanted us to play, so our confidence grew from that.

“I was playing well and made my way into the England team, so it was a big season, even though I still had a few injuries that took me out for a few more games, but all in all it was a good experience of playing in the Premier League [regularly] for the first time.”

Before returning to Chelsea reinvigorated, Loftus-Cheek made it onto the plane to Russia for the 2018 World Cup. He played four times as England reached the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in 28 years before losing to Croatia. Was he aware of the huge national reaction and unity back home?

“We had an idea, but we didn’t know it was that mental,” he laughs. “We were just in this bubble of staying in this hotel and preparing for games coming thick and fast. We didn’t have time to celebrate how well we were doing. We’d win a game and then we’d go ‘right, we’ll prepare for the next one’. That’s what it’s like.

“We saw a few videos of Boxpark going mental when we scored, but I didn’t know [how big the reaction was] until getting back to England. We brought everyone together. It was nice to know that you made those people feel that way.”

As he continues to find his feet after such a long spell on the sidelines, Loftus-Cheek put in his best display so far in a Fulham shirt against Tottenham last week, using his frame to keep defenders at bay and almost netting his second goal for the club in spectacular style with an impressive acrobatic volley in the first half in north London as Parker’s men secured a priceless point.

The performance indicated that Loftus-Cheek has a pivotal role to play in the second half of the season as Fulham fight for survival. Does he have more to give?

“Oh yeah, definitely. 100%. I feel like I’m still on the edge. I spoke to players who’ve been out a long time and they’ve said they’ve taken a really long time to feel like they did before they were injured. I’m just taking it game by game, week by week and I’m feeling the benefits and feeling the improvement, so I’m just going to keep my head like that and keep moving forward.”

Alphonse Areola on vying with Gianluigi Buffon, saving two penalties to win a World Cup, Fulham’s familar faces and an unusual pre-match ritual honed at Clairefontaine

Many eyebrows were raised when Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Alphonse Areola pitched up at Motspur Park to sign a season-long loan deal in September. This is a goalkeeper who, at just 27, has won three Ligue 1 titles and has two World Cup winners’ medals, one from the Under-20 event in 2013 and the other at senior level five years later. He has rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in the game, playing under Carlo Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel and Zinedine Zidane and alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gareth Bale and David Beckham. Why Fulham?

“[I spoke to] the manager Scott Parker,” Areola says. “He called me and convinced me: ‘you’re going to play this year.’ I had great experiences at PSG and Real Madrid, but I wanted to play a full season. That’s what was missing to me. We spoke for two weeks and after these two weeks, I chose to sign here for one year. I had other opportunities, but the other opportunities were not clear. With the coach, with the conversations we had, everything was clear.”

The transition has been smooth thanks to some familiar faces from the early stages of his professional career like Neeskens Kebano, who was a team-mate at PSG, and Mario Lemina, who Areola played alongside when France clinched the U-20 World Cup.

The moment for Areola when he realised he wanted to play football is easy to pinpoint. It was 1998 and France were hosting the World Cup. As a Parisian, he was in the city where the hosts won the tournament for the first time, as Aimé Jacquet’s men swatted aside Brazil 3-0. Areola recounts the occasion animatedly.

“I was five years old with my first French jersey. I was so proud to watch the game with my family in our little flat in Paris. The images I have are [of] Zinedine Zidane making goals against Brazil, one of the greatest teams in history. I remember after the game everybody in the flat enjoying the victory night.

“We were on the pitch, you know!” he laughs. “Everybody in the road was screaming. From there, I started dreaming to play football.”

However, it took a few years to find out that goalkeeper was Areola’s natural position.

“I started to play at six [years old]. After that, I played as a centre-back and one day in a tournament aged eight, the keeper was not here. I tried out and stayed in goal. It was really good and we had a great tournament.

“At the age of 12, I really started to be like a professional because I went to INF Clairefontaine. It’s the French football school where Thierry Henry passed through. It was a good thing for me. I started to have a schedule like a professional at 12, 13. I signed my first contract [at PSG] at 16 after three years there. It was so quick! Quick and long at the same time.

“I played a lot of basketball, handball and American football. It was easy for me to play with my hands and I had some skills, so it was natural for me to try out as a goalkeeper and stay there because I had a revelation at this stage.”

Clairefontaine was also the place where he developed a rather unusual pre-match warm-up habit.

Video footage has emerged of him kicking the crossbar before his second France cap against the Netherlands in September 2018. Where was this extraordinary exhibition of flexibility first honed?

“I usually do this before the game, every game. This year, I did it two, three times, but I do this when I feel really warm. If I’m not warm, I think I’m going to stretch my hamstring!

“I started to do this at Clairefontaine with Paul Charruau, who’s a goalkeeper at Red Star in Paris. We would have training and he would say ‘can you touch the bar with your foot?’ and then we tried and we reached the bar. From this day, I kept this and I did it every game.”

Ancelotti handed the 20-year-old Areola his senior debut at PSG in 2013 and it was a special occasion for more than one reason.

“My debut was the last game of David Beckham. I told my wife ‘it’s like a sign for me.’ [I was thinking], ‘I hope I will have more games than this and hope my career won’t stop now.’ I can’t forget this moment.”

The year was to get even better for Areola as he headed to the U-20 World Cup in Turkey during the summer and played all seven matches as France won the tournament with a squad boasting the likes of Kurt Zouma, Samuel Umtiti and Paul Pogba. Having saved a penalty in the group stage, the 6’5’’ stopper kept out two more in the final during the shootout against Uruguay to help Les Bleuets to their first triumph at that level. Was that the best moment of his career to date?

“Yes. I [have] won lots of titles. This one is one of the first I had in my career. There were great players in the squad. I can remember this feeling like it was yesterday, so I really enjoyed it and afterwards it gave me lots of confidence and lots of titles and helped me grow up.”

Despite being on a high, Areola needed to continue his development away from the bright lights of France’s capital for the time being. His two appearances for his boyhood club came at the end of a season when the title had already been wrapped up. Salvatore Sirigu was the established custodian at PSG. Areola wasn’t quite ready to supplant the Italian and play in the crunch league and European games, so he took a step down a level to join Lens in Ligue 2. It was a decision that paid off, as the team got promoted on the final day of the season.

“We made almost the perfect season. It was a really good experience for me at this stage. It was after the U-20 World Cup, so there was continuity. The coach, Antoine Kombouare, gave me this opportunity to play and I did very well. For me, it was a way to prove that I’m a No.1.”

Areola’s efforts were rewarded with another loan move in 2014/15, this time with top-tier Bastia. One of his team-mates was future Fulham forward Floyd Ayité, who was the top scorer for the Corsican outfit that season. What was the Togo international like?

“He’s a really good guy. We had lots of fun, good days at Bastia,” remembers Areola. “He’s a humble guy, calm guy. I remembered he was a guy you could count on. He will do the best to help the team. I had a great year there with him.”

Bastia finished a respectable 12^th and Areola’s performances caught the attention of Villarreal. It was another step up.

“I had a really good season. It was my first move out of France, so it was really different. We reached first place after seven or eight games, something like that, for the first time of the history of the club. I think I still have the [club] record of the minutes without goals conceded [when Areola did not concede for 620 LaLiga minutes]. It was a really good season and I enjoyed it. I learned a new language, I learned a new [style of] football, so it was really great. I came back to Paris with really strong emotions in my head to be No 1.”

The 2016-17 and 2017-18 were the breakthrough years for Areola at PSG, as he won five trophies in two years for the club and played 66 matches. However, the arrival of Gianluigi Buffon in July 2018 changed the dynamic slightly.

It came after a summer in which Areola had been part of France’s World Cup-winning squad. As the team’s third-choice goalkeeper, he didn’t play in Russia, but that has not tinged Areola’s memories.

“This experience was amazing. I didn’t play, but I’m part of this history. I think I earned my place in the group from the season before with PSG. I did a great season. It was long – 55 days out of our country without the families – but we really enjoyed it. Touching the World Cup, the thing that made me start playing football… The French national team won the first one in the history of France [in 1998]. I started from there and 20 years after, I’m on this picture. For me, it was like ‘wow, what an achievement!’ For sure, I didn’t play, but nobody can take off my World Cup medal.”

Back on home soil, Tuchel had a decision to make. Stick with Areola, who had played a key role in the past two campaigns, or bow to experience? In the end, the German opted for rotation (although Areola played six more games than Buffon that season). Was it difficult mentally having to compete with the Italy and Juventus icon for a spot in the team?

“I take it like a chance to be at his side, to train every day with him because when I was young, he was my idol,” Areola explains.

“I never imagined that I would have a relationship with him like this. As a keeper, you just look at him on videos, on pictures, on posters and you just have to realise that, yeah, you are training with him, playing with him,” he laughs incredulously.

“He’s so humble with lots of experience. He was one of the guys who was coming every day with a smile at 40, 41 years old, giving his best at training and giving his experience to the young players and to me. We made 50/50 on the games and it was a season when I didn’t play as much as I wanted, but I earned a lot of experience.”

With PSG signing Keylor Navas last season, Areola again felt his chances of regular football lay elsewhere this term after a frustrating spell at Real Madrid in 2019-20, when he played just nine games.

Several sprawling stops from the likes of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne at the Etihad earlier this month were the latest examples of Areola’s cat-like reflexes at the time of this piece going to print and he is relishing the challenge of keeping Fulham in the top flight, an altogether different type of challenge to those which he has been used to. He also has his interests off the pitch – he is one of the French ambassadors for Call of Duty – and like in the game, his on-pitch objective is survival.

“It’s a different challenge, different pressure. It’s going to be tough, but I think we have our chances to take. We have lots of new players and we have to improve every day. When we watched our games [back], we played well, but it’s just about details. But it’s not like ‘ah, they were really, really better than us’ or something like that. We have to give our best as we have done and hope that we stay in the Premier League. It’s what we’re working for and hoping for.”

Joachim Andersen on the Fulham players who have most impressed him, the drink that transformed his career and the point when he realised his football dreams might come true

With the clock ticking down, the announcement of Joachim Andersen’s arrival at 10.30pm from Lyon on transfer deadline day was greeted with both joy and relief by Fulham fans.

The 24-year-old arrived on October 5 along with fellow centre-back Tosin Adarabioyo and the pair have made impressive starts to their careers in black and white.

However, Andersen’s time at the Club has already been unexpectedly eventful, with the Dane sustaining ankle ligament damage the week after joining on loan after being on the wrong end of a challenge in training.

After a rapid recovery, he has more than made up for lost time, putting in an assured display alongside his new defensive colleagues as West Bromwich Albion were defeated 2-0 at the Cottage before the Fulham rearguard held their own against West Ham United and, were it not for a Hammers’ winner with more than a hint of offside, would have kept a second successive clean sheet.

What has Andersen made of his start to life in new surroundings?

“I think I’ve settled in really well,” he says. “Obviously, I was a little bit upset that I got my injury after one week of training, so that was really, really frustrating because I wanted to show myself and everybody which level I can be on, but the medical staff and all the guys have been really, really good to take care of me. All the guys are really good guys and it is one of the best groups I’ve been in on a high level.”

As well as fitting in seamlessly with the squad, the Dane, who has also played senior football for Jong Twente, Twente and Sampdoria, has managed to quickly acclimatise to life in London and find a place to call home. Who did he speak to before swapping France for England?

“What is really important for me and my girlfriend is that we don’t like to be at the hotel, so we wanted to find something really quick. After one-and-a-half weeks, we already moved in.

“I spoke to a couple of players, but also I know the Premier League. I watched the Premier League since I was a child and I watched it every weekend. I spoke to Kenny Tete about the Club because I played with him at Lyon, so he told me good things about the Coach and the guys at the Club. Obviously, I spoke to some guys who knew the gaffer.

“That’s the most important [thing], that the gaffer and me have the same way of thinking about football and now I’ve been here, I can see that he has some really, really great ideas.

“I spoke also to Dennis Praet from Leicester, my really good friend from Sampdoria and some Danish players: Andreas Christensen from Chelsea and these kinds of guys.

“I know tons of players who played here and are still playing here, but it’s not so important what the guys are telling me because I have to see it myself.”

A relegation battle is unfamiliar territory for Andersen, as he has always played for teams looking up at the European places rather than aiming to consolidate their position in their respective top flights. What was it about the challenge waiting at Craven Cottage that enticed him?

“I had a couple of other offers, but Fulham was a really nice step and a good challenge for me,” he explained.

“I was not that happy at Lyon, so I wanted to come to a place where I could play a lot of football and a philosophy that I can see myself in with a ball-playing team.

“Fulham was a really good match in that way and obviously being promoted last year, so it’s a nice challenge to try to keep them up because it’s a traditional, English club.

“For me, Fulham has to be in the Premier League and I’m sure I can help them stay in the Premier League.

“When I knew Fulham was interested, I could see that they didn’t have a great start, but I was convinced that I could help them.”

Andersen, who played for Sampdoria against Fulham in a friendly in 2018, has already built up an excellent understanding with Adarabioyo despite the brief amount of time they’ve had to train together.

“Tosin has been doing really well in the first couple of games. It’s exciting to play with him and I feel like the two games we played together we had a good partnership. 

“Normally, we have two clean sheets, but we were a little bit unlucky in the last game [when West Ham scored a questionable winner]. I hope we can continue like this and help the team grow and then I’m sure we’re going to get a lot of points in this league.”

Two other players have also made an especially big impression on him.

“TC has been really good in these two games I’ve played and in training, he’s a really good player. I feel I have a good relationship already with him and also Frank.

“He’s a top player. He’s a machine in the midfield. He’s winning so many balls and driving forwards with the ball. I really like that. We have a good squad. We have many good players with different qualities, but these two players really stood out for me.”

Andersen has already enjoyed a well-travelled career, having now plied his trade in four countries since leaving Denmark at the age of 17, but when was it that he realised that his dream of becoming a professional footballer could become a reality?

“I think maybe when I was 15, 16. I get selected for the academy at FC Midtjylland, where I get my first youth contract. I could feel that ‘OK, it’s serious now’.

“It was a good place to be for young guys at that time. It was the best academy in Denmark and to be selected there is a huge thing.

“At that time, in my two-year period there, I learnt a lot. I grew as a person, I grew as a football player.

“It was the first time I’d moved away from home, three hours from Copenhagen, where I’m from. It was a big thing to be away from the family when you’re 15 years old.

“It’s a really family club, all the players take care of each other and you can really feel that.

“When I was young, the big players in the team, they were not arrogant, they take care of you and speak with you all the time. I still have contact to a lot of these players, so that’s really nice.”

Andersen’s early teenage years were blighted by muscle injuries due to a significant growth spurt. The most effective product he has used to alleviate these issues is Vegan Power Meal, a supplement which he drinks every day as part of his morning routine. For Andersen, the benefits cannot be overstated.

“I’m using these supplements because I was frustrated that I got small injuries all the time.

“One guy I knew is my good friend now, Bengt Valentino. He’s doing something called Body SDS treatments [which combine massage, joint mobilisation and breathing techniques among other treatments to treat muscular issues].

“It’s really popular in Denmark now. I’ve been using him since I was 13 years old for treatments and he made this product [Vegan Power Meal] actually.

“This product is absolutely amazing and since I’ve been using it, I’ve not had so many muscle injuries, so I’m sure this product is helping me train and perform at the highest level.

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“In one [drink], there is everything you need for a meal. You have vitamins, minerals and some protein.

“It’s like a supplement for practice. Now it’s just something I need to do, otherwise my day won’t work!”

Denmark will take part in the rescheduled Euro 2020 finals to be held across the continent next summer. Andersen knows the importance of playing consistently and consistently well if he is to impress head coach Kasper Hjulmand.

“I’m sure that if I’m doing great here and playing football here, then I’m also part of the Danish national team normally, so that’s also part of my move. I just want to play football and do what I love, so being on the national team is a bonus and obviously being part of the national team at the Euros is a huge thing and something that every player is looking up to when you are a child.”

Today’s game sees Ademola Lookman go up against his former club. The RB Leipzig loanee has injected life into the team since his arrival and the winger’s brilliant strike against Sheffield United showed how devastating he can be, but there’s no doubt that the penalty miss against West Ham cut deep. Andersen has no doubt that the 23-year-old will come back stronger though.

“He was really, really upset after what happened and of course I understand that. I also had some downs in my career.

“I’m sure that I will have a few downs still – everybody will – but what’s important is that you are not afraid of making mistakes because you will make mistakes in your career.

“Ade has been fantastic for us in his first couple of games and he’s such a nice guy. He’s not afraid of taking a penalty in the 97th minute. It shows the guy he is and he has a great character.

“Of course, it’s not nice not to win the game, but that’s what happens in football and I’m sure he will learn from this and next time he will score.”

Bolt from the blue: The photo that shook the world – and how it almost didn’t happen

Having worked for more than 30 years as a photographer, Olivier Morin has taken his fair share of eye-catching shots.

After cutting his teeth at Bordeaux newspaper Sud Ouest in the late 1980s, he was able to continue working in the port city when he joined Agence France-Presse.

Still with AFP, Olivier has an enviable CV, having covered rugby union and football World Cups, highly charged Milan derbies and every Summer and Winter Olympics from 1996 in Atlanta until the 2016 games in Rio.

He is now the head of the photo department for the agency in France and will be in Tokyo next year to cover surfing, his speciality, which will make its Olympic debut in Japan (providing the event goes ahead).

However, it is one photograph of a lightning bolt appearing above the Luzhniki Stadium just after Usain Bolt had claimed 100m gold at the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow that catapulted his work into the public eye.

The Jamaican had achieved an unprecedented ‘double treble’ the previous summer at London 2012, defending his 100m, 200m and 4x100m Olympic titles.

By contrast, Bolt’s last world championship outing at the shortest distance ended in bitter disappointment, as he exited the competition after a false start.

When it comes to the fanfare he receives, few can touch the sprint legend. For Olivier, the atmosphere at Bolt’s races was something special.

“I consider myself one of the lucky ones who has been able to follow Usain Bolt in the whole of his career on every track. This guy was unique. When Bolt was racing, every final I did, I had to really, really, really make an effort not to be taken away by the importance and emotion of the race.

Usain Bolt does push-ups after winning 200m gold at London 2012 (Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images)

“When they are introduced by the speaker and it got to Bolt, every stadium exploded. The crowd was crazy. So at that time, it’s less than a minute before the race, and as a photographer you need to be super concentrated. You cannot talk. So I’m almost like a sportsman myself.

“I try not to get drowned by the emotion and the importance of where I am, but at the same you feel like enjoying it because the crowds are huge and making a lot of noise. Then the speaker says ‘on your marks’. Then silence, complete silence. You could hear your friend 200m away.

“Then the speaker says ‘ready’ and at the fire of the starting gun, there is an explosion like a huge bomb and for nine-and-a-half seconds, it’s a huge explosion until the end. The whole stadium and the ground is shaking.

“It’s super difficult to stay calm and concentrated on what you’re doing. I was happy in my years of photographing Bolt to never crack because I knew I was photographing a legend at that time.”

Bolt’s previous 100m at a World Athletics Championships ended in shock fashion as he false started in the heats (Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images)

Olivier was the only AFP photographer setting up for the race who was interested in the use of remote cameras. It took him three days to set all five of them.

“The remote set is something special, you know? You cannot travel light when you travel with remote cameras, so I was carrying six, seven cameras. It’s 120kg of equipment.

“I always like to do something new. It’s the same for everything in my life. I’m never satisfied with what I’ve got or what I get. I want to experiment with new technology, new ways of doing things.

“Remote camera photography is part of that because it’s a bet. You never know what you’re going to get and it’s a big bet when you set up a fixed camera, because when you set it, you cannot move it after that, so you have to make bets about which lens you’re going to use, where the focus is going to be and hoping the guy you want to photograph will cross the field of the camera you set.

Bolt announces himself on the world stage when he broke the 100m record at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 (Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images)

“There are two wires per camera – a wire to shutter and a wire to bring the disc and the photo back to the editor – so everything looks like a big spaghetti plate.”

Photographers from the various media outlets are spread evenly along the length of the track, with draws taking place to decide who gets which spot.

The image capturing the Bolt metaphor was not the one he had been yearning for.

“My idea was not to have this photo. The idea was to have a [full body] photo of Usain Bolt with his arms open, celebrating passing the line as the winner [with the stadium in the background],” Olivier explains.

Tirunesh Dibaba swept to gold in the women’s 10,000m final before Bolt’s race (Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images)

“It was the photo I had been trying to do since 2008. Every Olympics and World Championships. This guy was always going so fast that the remote cameras were not in the right spot or he was not celebrating.

“I was hoping for this beautiful wide-angle celebration with the stadium in the background with the writing of ‘Moscow 2013’. An iconic photo of Bolt with wide open arms – that was the photo I was running after.”

After realising Bolt was to be in lane five for the final, Olivier had a brainwave. It proved key in getting the photo of his life.

“I decided to put my last remote camera, the one I took the photo with, even further than the allowed position, because I wanted this photo I was talking about earlier. I asked the press manager to validate this position because I was the only camera there. I taped it on the ground to make it safe for everyone and the guy validated my position. That means if I had been five metres more inside, where the other cameras were, I couldn’t get this photo.

Bolt saw off the fearsome challenge of Justin Gatlin to regain his 100m world title in Moscow (Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images)

“It was funny because it was not an easy authorisation. The press manager was OK, but there was an official who was arguing a bit and he didn’t agree with this position.

“Actually, it was bothering nobody, absolutely nobody, but there is always some troublemaker in the middle of everywhere and then the press manager had to call the big media manager to come there, to validate the position.

“So, it was a little struggle and then, after this photo, I went to see the big media manager and he was laughing and I said ‘thanks a lot!’”

A thunderstorm then started during the women’s 10,000m final, the event before the men’s 100m showpiece. Fortunately for Olivier, it endured.

Bolt blows kisses after regaining his 100m title (Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images)

As it transpired, Bolt did win gold, but the showmanship on display as he tore away from the field to light up Beijing five years before was nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps inhibited by the wet conditions, he chugged home in 9.77s, with rival Justin Gatlin pushing him hard to finish second in 9.85s. Olivier was understandably downhearted.

He continues: “The remote camera was shuttered by the camera I had in my hand, and I had five remote cameras. I checked the first four cameras and I then arrived to this one [the fifth one] after the race and when I arrived to this camera, I checked quickly on the back screen, but I didn’t see the lightning because it was too small. So I thought ‘shitty photo’.

“It looked like nothing had happened on the photo because he doesn’t have his arms wide open and I was just thinking ‘oh shoot, failed again’ and then I put all the photos on the laptop and when I opened those, I said ‘ooh, it’s not that failed’ and right away, I noticed it was going to be a good photo for sure, just for the ‘Bolt bolt’, but I was far from imagining the viral story this photo had.”

The image blew up online, and was naturally picked up by much of the world’s media.

Unbelievable image of Usain Bolt and a lightning bolt from the men's 100m final in Moscow. pic.twitter.com/7eNCHxK0A4

— Alex Perry (@byAlexPerry) August 12, 2013

Olivier is keen to acknowledge the role of luck in the photographer’s art. He has certainly been on the wrong side of it before, notably when two of his remote cameras failed to fire during the men’s 100m final at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

“Every photographer, if they are all honest, they say that our job and our success depends on luck. At any point, luck has to be present and part of the photo. Any photo, not only iconic photos, because it’s not an exact science.

“The camera can break down at that moment, the discs can be corrupted, it can be a bug in the camera, it can be someone passing in front of your lenses, it can be a ray of light which completely screws the light and exposure.

“There are so many parameters to miss a photo, that, when you get it, it’s already good, and it’s already a little part of luck.

Olivier poses with the photo that won him worldwide acclaim (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

“Luck comes at the point when you have been trying a lot. New lenses or a style of photo or an angle. At one point, it always comes bigger than usual, but luck is part of our daily life in photography and in sports photography even more.”

Is it his best photo ever?

“I don’t know actually. As one photo in a lifetime, yes. Definitely. In those terms, it’s probably the most important photo I’ve ever taken. The nicest, I’m not sure.”

Bolt was eager to get his hands on the image after the race: “I’ve got to get that picture right now.” He got his wish, as Olivier handed him a print of the picture shortly after Bolt had defended his 200m crown. Olivier has a copy of his own signed by Bolt at home.

The two key actors meet as Olivier presents Bolt with a special copy of the photo (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

As technology becomes evermore refined, does Olivier feel the sports photographer role will eventually become redundant? He is cautious about writing its obituary, although accepts that there has been a shift.

“In some venues today, it’s considered a very dangerous sport for a physical person like in a gateway, in a catwalk, in a stadium when you want to shoot from up above. They don’t allow the presence of a photographer.

“So the only things we have is a remote camera. Even better than remote, it’s a robot camera. We call it a robot camera, because they are completely pilotable from anywhere with a network. You can zoom in, zoom out, move the camera around 180 degrees in every way. This technology has already replaced a physical photographer, a live photographer.

“But I cannot believe photographers will disappear completely because of the right of information and second of all because it’s part of the show.

Bolt poses with the iconic image (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

“We are part of the backdrop. So, if you take out photographers, it would be so sad because it gives the situation even more intensity and emotion to see all the photographers around the winner.

“All the organisers, they know that. The possibility is that they will lose a number of photographers, but they never will get rid of them [all].”

 

 

Fulham must evoke spirit of ’79 to upset Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

The year of 1979 saw the Sahara Desert experience snow for 30 minutes, McDonald’s introduce the Happy Meal and Michael Jackson release his hit album Off the Wall. More important, it also bore witness to a fantastic 2-0 win for Fulham at Stamford Bridge.

Little did we know that 39 years later we would have failed to add to our tally. Hopes are not high for that winless run coming to an end, but a new manager has brought renewed optimism.

Our last victory against our near neighbours took place in the old Second Division. Fulham came into the contest off the back of five straight league defeats, while Chelsea were flying high after five consecutive defeats and under the tutelage of the newly appointed Geoff Hurst.

Dave Wilson, a Fulham season-ticket holder for more than 40 years, was at the game.

“We were 3-0 down at half-time away at Birmingham on the first day of the season and won 4-3. We had quite a few high-scoring games, but then we had this bad run before the game at the Bridge.

“I don’t remember much of the game apart from the goals. John Beck’s was a shot from just outside the box midway through the second half and then the second goal was a corner by Peter Marinello which got flicked on at the near post by Tony Gale and knocked in by Ivor.

“Just after the second goal went on, they had this big scoreboard at the North Stand and it flashed up ‘that was Marinello’. It wasn’t corrected.”

John Clarke was 17 and working as a customs officer at the time and was also in attendance.

“I went to Stamford Bridge quite a lot during our Second Division games in that era. They still had the dog track around the pitch, so Stamford Bridge seemed a long way from the pitch.

“I’m pretty sure I went with him and a few of his friends because most of my pals were Chelsea fans and they’d have been done the other end, so I certainly didn’t want to stand in the Shed with that lot at a Chelsea-Fulham game.

“My dad, Don, was a Fulham fan, but he always used to work Saturdays. He was a butcher. He was born in 1933, so he started following Fulham around the end of the Second World War. He was part of the old school which would go to Chelsea one week and Fulham the next.”

Brian Phillips went to the game with “25 or 30” of the same Sunday football team based in Fulham.

“We played football for St. Thomas’, which had its own clubhouse just round the back of Fulham Fire Station. We all met up in there and then went off to the game together.

“They went into the Shed End and we went into the top tier of the East Stand. I don’t remember meeting them afterwards!” he chuckles.

Despite the difference in quality between the sides, they were several talented players in the Fulham ranks with the likes of Gale (a Chelsea fan), Les Strong and John Beck all capable of imposing themselves on the opposition.

Strong characters were needed, especially in an atmosphere far removed from the genteel surroundings of Craven Cottage.

Brian decided to sit in the home end to avoid being targeted in the away end by some of the more irate Chelsea contingent.

“Probably not the wisest decision,” he admits. “Chelsea were notorious [for trouble]. What was interesting was that the guys we went with were all Chelsea and if you were born and brought up in Fulham, most of your mates were Chelsea, but what Chelsea were attracting in those days were people from Kent and nearby areas, the troublemaking fraternity.

“Of course you didn’t have to buy your tickets in advance, you just walked up and paid on the door. Chelsea have always attracted bigger crowds and have had a great catchment pool mainly because of what happened late ’60s, early ’70s when they had the likes of Osgood and Hudson. They were a good side then.”

John recalls a confident performance despite our slump in form coming into the contest, unrecognisable from the team which was relegated at the end of that season.

“I don’t think we were under the cosh. We deserved the win. It’s a shame we didn’t follow up on that, which was bad considering we had quite a lot of decent players. I was scratching my head that season, thinking ‘we’ve got to turn it round sometime, because we’re not that bad’, but once confidence goes, even good players look poor and it’s been like that this season unfortunately.”

For Dave, the win marked the start of an unforgettable day.

“I went to see the Boomtown Rats the night of that game at Hammersmith Odeon. Having seen a great performance in the afternoon, I saw another very good performance in the evening.”

The west London rivalry dynamic is complex. Fans around are quick to scoff and what is perceived to be a middle-class and insipid affair. It’s clear that it matters far more to the black and white half of SW6. John feels it certainly has a different feel to other local derbies.

“There wasn’t that hostility, if there is real hostility between Chelsea and Fulham fans. A lot of my friends are Chelsea fans and other than their poor taste in football team, it’s what you’re born with, isn’t it? I don’t get the tribalism and hating other sides. We’ve got to support someone and fortunately I support Fulham.”

The appointment of Claudio Ranieri has enlivened the Fulham faithful and although the 3-2 win over Southampton was a significant departure from the high-possession style we had become accustomed to, it was a welcome change.

“We were happy to concede to concede possession and everyone bought into it,” John observed. “If we can get a few results under our belt, then we can get back to the nice aesthetically pleasing football that we were playing under Slav. Results are paramount for the time being.”

“You could tell the difference straightaway in the way he’s going to play,” Brian added. “The moment we lost the ball, everyone sprinted back to get behind it to condense the space. We only had 37, 38% and that hasn’t happened very often, even when we’ve played some of the better teams.

“I don’t think that gets you through against Chelsea. If we keep backing off against them, they’ll unpick us.”

As far as predictions go, there was reluctance to pin their colours to the mast.

“Ranieri’s got to believe that we can win and he’s got to instil that belief in the players,” said John. “He’ll be looking at it as a chance to get a point or if the Gods favour us, three points, but I think any Fulham fan would bite your hand off for a point right now. A draw at Stamford Bridge felt like a victory to me every time. A clean sheet would be nice as well. We’ll cross our fingers. If we can be four or six points better off by Wednesday night [after Leicester at home], I’ll be over the moon.”

Brian also was hopeful rather than expectant. “I think Chelsea will be too quick on the floor for us, but I think we can win. I don’t think we will and and Ranieri’s probably thinking that way. For him, this is the sort of game where whatever he’s been working on all week, he just wants to see which players can put it in place. If Hazard gets the ball, that’s easier said than done.

“I know they got spanked at Spurs last weekend, but that was their first defeat of the season. They’ve been really, really good, bearing in mind that Sarri’s started from scratch. There won’t be any surprises for Fulham. If there’s a bit of magic or there’s a deflection and it flies in, that’s life. You can’t do anything about that.”

Brian also mentions the possibility of Aleksandar Mitrović being dropped to the bench due to being one yellow card away from a ban and with a winnable fixture against the Foxes on the horizon. The Serbian’s temperament has been far steadier at Craven Cottage than it was playing for Newcastle, but controlling your emotions against two physical defenders in David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger is no easy task.

“If you’re the manager, are you thinking it’s better to leave him out at Stamford Bridge and play him on Wednesday? I’d be gutted about that. This is the holy grail, winning at Stamford Bridge,” he said. “But if Ranieri is going to be as methodical as it sounds like he is, don’t be surprised if Mitrović is on the bench on Saturday.”

This season has been tough, but it’s worth remembering that in 13 visits to the Bridge during our last Premier League, we managed five draws. The evidence is there. We can compete. The fans are happy to wait, but they wouldn’t mind a win.

 

 

 

 

 

Schürrle eager to repay Fulham’s faith

Motspur Park is usually the place where player interviews are conducted, but today was an exception. With the players due to have their annual team photo on the lush turf at Craven Cottage, training was moved to Fulham’s spiritual home.

André Schürrle is aware of his duties and, after filing into the changing rooms following a strenuous session, he reappears in the home strip. With a limited amount of time before the team take their places in front of the Riverside Stand for this season’s snap, we have to make do with a somewhat cramped side room just out of view of the pitch.

For someone who has a wealth of Champions League and international experience under his belt, the 27-year-old seems incredibly grateful to have been granted a return to SW6 and enthusiastically recalls his feelings on hearing that the move back to England had been completed.

“I was really happy because I wanted to come back to England and I spoke to Fulham for quite a while at the start of the summer,” he tells the programme. “Once you know a transfer is complete, it’s a relief, because you wanted it and I’m really happy that it got through.”

Inevitably, the Whites were not the only side vying for his services.

“The thing that really impressed me the most was that Fulham were there at the beginning of the transfer window. When I gave my agent a call to say that I wanted to move, they were one of the first teams that were persistent and gave me the feeling that they really wanted me.

“I made myself a picture of the club, the team and the manager. I watched the Play-Off games to give myself an idea of what I was dealing with and what kind of style the team played. I like to keep hold of the ball, so it was the team for me.”

Of course, most players moving abroad have some adjusting to do, but Schürrle’s time at Chelsea meant the process slightly easier.

“It was not so difficult for me this time because I know south-west London quite well and I knew where I wanted to live, but of course the first few weeks until you have a house and everything is settled is always difficult. Living in a hotel without a fridge, a dining table or anything is not easy.”

Away from football, he enjoys his life in the capital.

“I just like the people,” he says. “I like to go out with my girlfriend and my family. I like to visit coffee shops on Kings Road, I like Fulham Broadway a lot and I like this area, Parsons Green, because it’s a family area, a lot of nice people, a lot of coffee shops where you can just relax and look a little bit at people. I also like going to South Park and playing some basketball. The Fulham area is perfect.”

It is always difficult to set targets both individually and collectively when moving into a new division and the man on loan from Borussia Dortmund is reluctant to expect massive things from the squad after four years out of the top flight.

“We have quality, but as a promoted team, you can’t always aim for a top-half position in the table,” he admits. “First of all, we have to stay in the league – that’s the main objective. Then, when we achieve this, we can go further. We have to keep looking from game to game. We have to get points in all the games at home and after this, I’m sure we can go a little bit further, but the first objective must be to settle into the league.”

As for trying to predict how many he would score during the campaign, Schürrle is emphatic in his response.

“No, I never do this. I don’t set a goals target for the season because you always have to look from game to game. If you have your goals target, you want to score ten goals, you have nine and then you try to shoot, shoot, shoot. I don’t like this. I want to keep it simple, keep it natural and if the goals come, it’s good. If not, I hope we still win.”

The 2014 World Cup winner opened his account for his new side in front of the Hammersmith End against Burnley, capitalising after Aleksandar Mitrović’s fierce drive had beaten Joe Hart and thundered off the base of the post.

A smile breaks across his face when he discusses playing on the banks of the Thames. After all, he scored a hat-trick here for the Blues. It is nicer to see him scoring in black and white though.

“The ground is so special because it’s so traditional,” he gushes. “It feels like so many people have already played in this stadium because it hasn’t changed that much. I saw pictures from 60, 70 years ago when it was almost the same. It’s incredible. My family have been sitting in the Cottage [for the Crystal Palace and Burnley games]. This feeling that everybody’s so close makes it feel very special.”

Schürrle’s second goal for the Club against Brighton & Hove Albion came following a wonderful scooped through-ball from Jean Michaël Seri. The German has played with many technically gifted midfielders in his time, but certainly feels the Ivorian is one of the best.

“For sure, he’s up there. His quality on the ball is amazing, he is a good passer and has a good sense of his team-mates. He’s a brilliant guy and I hope he will help us a lot this season.”

The Fulham faithful have already become accustomed to seeing the forward shoot from range and he has already had 15 shots, with eight of them hitting the target. Down the years, fans have got used to seeing players who are reluctant to pull the trigger. Why has he adopted this approach?

“I need shots that feel good on the pitch. I don’t need to do a lot of dribbling or passing. I like to be where I can score a goal. I like to be outside the box, inside the box. I have really settled well into the team because I have found my position. Obviously I have had quite a few shots during the season and I hope to translate them into goals.”

Schürrle is more used to being stationed on the left flank during his career, but has quickly got used to playing on the opposite wing due to the performances of Luciano Vietto. However, his versatility has stood him in good stead.

“The teams I have played in are very flexible. You can start on the left and change to the right. You look for your position. Because the game is so fast, you always have to find where you can be better. It may be good to spend 20 minutes on the left, but then they change a little bit and adapt to this and it’s better to switch to the right. So I can play both. I can also play in the middle as a second striker; it’s one of my best positions. I look forward to keep playing like this.”

The trip to Manchester City last weekend was a stark reminder of how devastating the Premier League champions can be and the scoreline could have been an awful lot worse for Jokanovic’s men.

“They are one of the best teams in the world and you could see it at the weekend. In the end, we didn’t have too many chances there, because when they get an early goal at the Etihad, they will just play, play, play and try to find the spaces. They are a very good team and they will do well this season. We have to keep focusing on the games where we can really do damage and try to keep going.”

This afternoon’s match could potentially pit Schürrle against former Chelsea teammate Nathaniel Chalobah.

The pair never appeared alongside each other, but the ability the midfielder possessed was clear to see and his reputation travelled beyond England.

Schürrle has been keeping an eye on his career.

“When I went to Wolfsburg and Dortmund, the managers asked me about him because he was quite big at Chelsea in the youth team and was a promising kid, so I have followed him.

“He’s a good guy, a great player and I hope he can do well, but not on the weekend,” he chuckles.

For many footballers, a loan move is a means to an end – returning to the international fold. Schürrle though has not allowed himself to think about the possibility of a recall from Joachim Low.

“It’s not in my sight. I’ve played a lot of games for Germany and scored a lot of goals. I was part of the golden generation, but it’s not my goal to get in there as quickly as possible,” he insists.

“I want to play well for Fulham, that’s my main target. My main goal is to help the team play good football and the rest, we will see.”

Joe Bryan: “I was minutes away from signing for Aston Villa”

This interview was conducted for Fulham Football Club’s official matchday programme for the game against Burnley on Sunday 26th August 2018.

 

Considering he only moved two weeks ago, Joe Bryan seems to have already acclimatised to life at Fulham.

Relaxed and engaging, he starts this interview by expressing astonishment at how many media people there are at Motspur Park, another moment of realisation that he had achieved his dream of being in the Premier League.

The 24-year-old joined four others who put pen to paper for the Whites on what was a frantic deadline day which saw the club’s summer spending eclipse £100m for the first time.

Once the signing had been confirmed, Bryan did not have much time to catch his breath.

“I physically signed the contract at 4.45pm, so 15 minutes before the deadline and then trained Friday morning,” he tells the official matchday programme.

“I met most of the lads on Thursday whilst doing my medical, but I met everyone in training on Friday, so I had a two-hour session where the manager taught me the basics.

“I spoke to him after I signed, had a meeting and he told me the way he wants me to play and showed me what he wants from full-backs.

“I had an idea, as I’d played against Fulham, so I know their style. It’s not rocket science, it’s not like changing careers. It’s just playing for a different club in a different environment at a higher standard.”

Joe is no stranger to playing against Premier League opposition, as his Bristol City side knocked out Manchester United in the Carabao Cup last term and also put neighbours Manchester City under significant pressure before bowing out 5-3 aggregate at the Semi-Final stage.

However, he argues that playing regular league football against top-flight opposition is a tougher challenge and has already noticed the increase in difficulty from the second tier.

“In the cup, it’s always a little bit different. In league matches, there’s always a different buzz and that extra level of quality. It’s definitely a way higher standard [compared to the Championship]. It’s the speed of the players and their ability to capitalise on mistakes. You can’t switch off.

“There aren’t bad players in the Premier League. You don’t get to that standard without being quite good at football,” he says wryly.

The question of how his transfer came about then crops up and the 24-year-old lets out a loud laugh. He is happy to clarify what happened and put any lingering rumours to bed.

“I knew I’d have to tell that story eventually. I went to Villa, I did the medical. I’d signed nothing. I hadn’t had any photos. I hadn’t had a steak dinner with Steve Bruce and he didn’t chase me down the motorway.

“I read a tweet that said I’d left him in the middle of a dinner after playing a round of golf with him. I don’t play golf and I don’t eat steak!

“I got a call that Fulham had had an offer accepted while I was at Aston Villa and I said: ‘I want to play in the Premier League, I can’t turn down this opportunity.’ This was after the medical had occurred. I hadn’t signed a contract or anything tying me to Aston Villa. So I said to the manager [Steve Bruce] that I needed a couple of hours to think. Then we got back to the hotel and in my heart I knew I wanted to play in the Premier League, but I was probably 15, 20 minutes away from signing for Aston Villa.”

Joe clearly still has fond memories of his boyhood team and went to watch them beat Queens Park Rangers 3-0 on Tuesday night at Loftus Road. However, just as the step up a division is a reality check, the change in city will also take some getting used to.

“I played 230 times for Bristol City. A lot of people say Bristol’s a more relaxed London. In my head, London’s like Bristol on steroids. I’m settling in. I’m moving into an apartment in the next couple of weeks.

“For me it’s quite easy because I’m English, so I just went on Rightmove and had a little look. Someone at my agency helped me, booked a few viewings within a couple of days and sorted one out. I think it’s a lot more difficult for the foreign lads, because obviously they can’t speak the language and that’s why they’ve got the network here to help them out.”

Despite the high turnover of players over the past few months, Joe had played against a number of his current team-mates, with the West Country outfit coming away victorious from SW6 four times in the last three seasons.

“We always liked playing Fulham when I was at City, for some reason we always used to do well against them. I spoke to a couple of the lads when I signed and they were like ‘yeah, they always used to play really well against us and we don’t know why.’  We played a similar style of football to Fulham with high-tempo passing, so it’s been fairly easy to slot into the style of play.”

When Lee Johnson’s men outplayed Fulham by the banks of the Thames last October, it would have been hard to envisage the Whites enjoying a Play-Off Final victory at Wembley nearly seven months later. Their form in the second half of the season made everyone sit up and take notice, including Joe.

“They did really well. They put that really good run together after Christmas and it’s testament to the character and quality within the squad. They’ve always played good football and they’ve obviously got Premier League quality with players like Sess, Kev and Tom.

“The Championship’s like a little Premier League now. Any team in there, apart from a few, can step up to the Premier League and that’s why it’s such a hard league to get out of.”

Bryan looked set to grab an assist last Saturday against Tottenham, when his cross landed at Sessegnon’s feet, only for the 18-year-old to square the ball to the prostrate Aleksandar Mitrović to bundle home. Joe is just happy to have played a part in Fulham’s first goal back in the big time.

“I had a conversation with him [Sessegnon]. I just said, ‘When I get into that kind of area, I’m going to put it round the back of the defence. Just make sure you’re getting in there.’ It doesn’t really matter who gets the assist or makes the contribution, as long as it goes in.”

However, Joe’s is not solely preoccupied with on-pitch matters. Having been voted EFL Community Player of the Year last season, he is keen to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself. He recently informed his old club that any City fan who had his name on the back of their shirt could swap it for a new one. Other gestures have included helping out amateur footballers in Mangotsfield after their pitches were vandalised and becoming the ambassador for Children’s Hospice South West. How important is it for him to contribute?

“Massive,” exclaims Joe. “I’m not one to shout about things I do, I just think it’s human nature to do nice things. If you’re in a privileged position to help people out, I think you should do. There are a lot of people that struggle for opportunities to play football or to do things with their life and we as footballers are lucky in that we earn a lot of money and do a job which 95% of people would give an arm and a leg for. I think we do need to remember where we come from and that we need to give back.”

The signs were there against Mauricio Pochettino’s men that the team can dominate the ball for spells, even against some of the best opposition in the country. Mitrović’s equaliser came at the end of a move comprising almost 30 passes and involving every Fulham player. That style won’t change.

 “There are a lot of new faces in the squad, which has made it easy for me to settle in, but on the pitch, it makes it a little bit more difficult,” Joe admits. “We’ve had two good weeks of training now, so hopefully we’ll start kicking on, picking some points up and getting the wins.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, as long as you trust in your ability. If you play football right and pass it correctly, teams won’t be able to get near you.”

 

 

 

Looking back: The 1975 FA Cup journey

The day is almost upon us. Wembley provides Fulham with another shot at glory.

Back in 1975, West Ham proved just too strong for the Whites. Now another claret and blue obstacle stands in our way.

Fulham fans never expect, but always hope. Nevertheless, the return to the national stadium has been long overdue.

“You look at pictures of during the Cup run when you’ve got the team bus going around and you suddenly realise how distant a time 43 years ago was.

“Between then and now, I’ve gone to work, retired. It’s a big spread of time,” reminisces Glen, who was 17 at the time.

In the pre-internet age, programme tokens were the way of getting your hands on a golden ticket. Stephen Date was one of the lucky winners and was driven to Craven Cottage by a West Ham-supporting cab driver to exchange them at the ticket office.

“He drove me all the way from West Ham to Fulham that morning. No fare,” he recalls.

“We pulled up outside Stevenage Road and got in the queue there. The funny thing I remember is that we were queueing up and half of us are wearing black-and-white scarves. It was a Sunday morning.”

The build-up was certainly not in keeping with Fulham’s status as a club that kept a low profile.

Under the guidance of Alec Stock, they had charted a seemingly impossible route through to the season’s showpiece, disposing of three First Division sides and somewhat surprisingly, every win came away from Craven Cottage.

 

MEMORIES: Mementos remind fans of a bygone era

 

The concept of extra time and penalties hadn’t been introduced, meaning teams would contest replay after replay until there was a winner.

Fulham’s journey to the Final was the longest in history. This remarkable string of matches included four ties against Nottingham Forest, the last of which saw the enigmatic Viv Busby score twice to help the Whites progress.

That meant a fifth-round clash with Carlisle United and a long trek up to Brunton Park. It was a day Wayne Bradford would never forget.

“The players came on the train with us,” he remembers fondly. “I spoke to Alec Stock, got his autograph.

“They appreciated the fact that for someone to travel up to Carlisle back in the 70s, you were talking leaving at 4, 5 o’clock in the morning. It seemed to take forever.”

One of Wayne’s most vivid memories is staying in, desperately waiting for news from the semi-final replay against Birmingham. He had gone to the first game at Hillsborough, but being just 12, the journey to Maine Road was not possible on a school night.

“My friend was round my parents’ house and I remember it coming up on the news, saying: ‘Good news, it’s an all-London final.’ With that, we were all up in the air because that was the first time we knew what the score was and it took ages to see the actual goal from John Mitchell.”

West Ham, with Billy Bonds roaming the midfield, awaited and were probably slight favourites, but that underdog status did not dampen Stephen’s expectations.

 

UNDERDOGS: If you want your son to play for Fulham, call him John

 

“I thought we were going to win it. I loved Viv Busby, he was on fire. Don Revie almost considered taking him into the England squad at one stage.

“We had Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery. What else do you need? You had the greatest player ever to wear the shirt playing against his old club. I thought it was written that we’d win.”

Others concur that Moore, despite moving to SW6 in the twilight of his career, was up there with the best to have pulled on the black and white shirt.

“It was amazing to watch him,” gushes Paul Baker, who attended the Final with a group which included Lesley Dunlop.

“He was amazingly calm because his positional sense was so extraordinary that the only time you noticed there was a problem was when he put on a turn of speed. If he was caught out of position, I remember seeing him and thinking: ‘What’s happened? Bobby Moore is sprinting, he never does that.’”

Saturday jobs were postponed for the occasion.

“I used to do rounds as a milkman and get a couple of quid,” said Wayne, who went with his friend Paul.

“I didn’t do it that day because we wanted to be up there to savour the atmosphere. We wanted to see what was going on.”

Sadly, the game didn’t go to plan for Stock’s men, with two second-half strikes from Alan Taylor taking the Cup to the East End for the second time in their history.

 

NO CIGAR: Mervyn Day scrambles the ball away from the attentions of John Mitchell

 

Stephen was not allowed to forget the result.

“I went on my own and stood in the Fulham end and the worst part of that story, apart from losing, was where I lived in those days was West Ham territory. We went out for a pint, me and my Dad, surrounded by West Ham fans celebrating. I was sitting there in my Fulham scarf. I felt a bit of a plum that night.”

Paul was similarly downcast. “What I remember about that day was a sense of inevitability when West Ham scored and then almost immediately again. That was such an enormous deflation. After all the excitement of the Cup run, the dejection of the match was tough.”

Wayne’s recollections are somewhat more rosy. “It was me and my friend, along with 20-odd thousand Fulham supporters. It was just a fantastic day and all I remember is from the time we walked into Wembley, we never stopped singing, even when we were losing.

“I’ve never known Fulham sing like that and I’ve never heard it since, to be honest.”

Clubs were not considered merchandising machines as they are now, but thankfully Stephen has some tangible reminders.

“Last year, for a Christmas present, my son got a programme of every team we played in ’75. He put them all in a picture frame, put a Wembley programme in front of it and a copy of a Wembley ticket – it wasn’t my ticket, I’d lost that since. It’s in a part of my lounge where I can see it. That was a really cool present.”

 

COMPREHENSIVE: The Christmas present Stephen received from his son

 

However, there are other, more poignant memories attached to the occasion.

“My dad Bertie and I only had enough tokens to get one ticket,” Glen recalls. “So I ended up going. He died shortly afterwards.

“A friend of mine is a Spurs supporter and they got to the final which then went to replays, so I managed to get tickets on both occasions [in 1981 and 1982].

“That was still pretty good, but it wasn’t the same as my dad going to watch the club he’d supported all his life.”

Stephen is going to tomorrow’s match with his wife Christine and son Stephen, but working as a magnetic health jewellery on Romford Market means the decision does not come without its sacrifices.  

“Every time I give up a Saturday or a trade market, apart from the costs of the tickets and the fare, it also costs me a day’s takings and Saturday is my busiest day. This Saturday is costing me hundreds to go.”

 

ATMOSPHERE: The Fulham players were backed by a vociferous following from SW6

 

Wayne will be there with three generations of his wife’s family as well as his younger son Jack, who is, shock horror, a Chelsea fan.

“He always gives us a big cheer until Fulham start singing about the blue flag,” Wayne chuckles.

“I’ve already had a cheeky bet – 3-0, Mitrovic to score first. I really do believe Fulham will win this one.

“I just feel it’s right for us and my only dread is if we lose, what would our team be like next year. The one we don’t want to see go is Slav. Will he give it another go?

“That’s why I think the pressure is on Fulham a little bit more than Villa. If we don’t go up, we could lose a manager and maybe five or six players.”

 

CURRENT CROP: The class of 2018 have shown remarkable spirit in an incredible calendar year

 

Despite the monumental changes that have taken place, the charm that characterises Fulham and Craven Cottage is still there for all to see. It keeps drawing Stephen back to the banks of the Thames.

“I know we’re all biased, but there is something about the club. It’s wonderful. I remember Chris Coleman said: ‘We don’t play in a stadium, we play in a ground.’

“We’re all going to say our fanbase is unique. It’s probably no more unique than Aston Villa’s, but we feel it is. We feel there’s something special.”

Now living in Falkirk, Glen is unfortunately unable to make the trip due to health reasons, but will enjoy the game in front of the TV with loved ones. He is happy with the owners.

“The way the Khans are looking after the club is pretty positive. You feel they have an affinity with what the club is about and appreciate keeping the heritage of the place as well.”

Stephen feels regretful about not inviting his dad along in 1975.

“I hope it’s not another 43 years, because I won’t be around to see it, that’s for sure.

“We’ll get the first goal, it will open them up and that suits us. I think that’s how it will be for us. What do I know? I just support Fulham.”

Featured image: Alex White

Images (top to bottom): Simon Coote, YouTube, Alex White, Stephen Date, Getty Images, Fulham Football Club

Maidenhead step into play-offs after deserved win at Sutton

Sutton United 0-2 Maidenhead United

Sam Barratt was the star of the show as Maidenhead United took a deserved three points back to Berkshire after seeing off in-form Sutton United at the Knights Community Stadium.

The hosts went into the game in top spot, but struggled to cope with the vibrancy of the visitors.

In a game of relatively few clear-cut chances, the deadlock was broken when Barratt’s free-kick was bundled home after 73 minutes by Ryan Upward.

Alan Devonshire’s side wrapped up the three points when Harold Odametey embarked on a marauding run down the right wing before sliding the ball past Jamie Butler.

Maidenhead had endured a frustrating week, losing 1-0 at home to Leyton Orient before losing star striker Dave Tarpey to Barnet.

Last season’s National League South champions were the first to test the keeper, with James Comley unleashing a rasping drive which stung the palms of Butler.

Sutton then almost opened the scoring when Josh Taylor flicked the ball around the corner to Tommy Wright, who hammered a half-volley from distance just wide.

The half-chances continued to come and go, as both teams worried each other’s defence but struggled to find that clinical edge.

Barratt was the game’s brightest spark and on 32 minutes whipped on a vicious delivery, but Harry Pritchard’s desperate slide was not enough to apply the finishing touch.

Both sides continued to probe, with Aswad Thomas heading over a chipped delivery from Moses Emmanuel, before Pritchard’s low drive from Odametey’s low centre was blocked heroically by Nicky Bailey.

The early stages of the second half were lacklustre and it looked as if the match would trundle to a goalless conclusion.

Kenny Davis had been introduced at the interval and the summer signing from Boreham Wood almost sent the crowd into raptures with a powerful shot that whistled over the bar.

Barratt continued to show why he had played for Reading’s youth team as he flew past Bailey and Louis John and threw in a step over, but he did not trouble Butler.

However, the 21-year-old soon finally had some joy, with his set-piece leading to panic stations in the Sutton defence and allowing Upward to get on the scoresheet.

This spurred the south Londoners into a response, with Kieron Cadogan knocking the ball over the heads of the Maidenhead backline for Craig Dundas to chase.

The striker rounded Craig Pentney, knocking the keeper over in the process. However, he could not get the shot out of his feet.

Pentney was subsequently treated for several minutes, leading to accusations of gamesmanship from the Sutton fans.

The hosts continued to press in an attempt to salvage a point, with crosses bombarding the Maidenhead box without a finishing touch being applied.

However, they were made to pay in the second minute of stoppage time when Odametey picked up the ball close to the halfway line and went on a rampaging run before guiding his effort into the bottom left-hand corner past Butler.

Following their victory, the Magpies rose to seventh, while Sutton fell from the summit to fourth and both sides will look to push towards the automatic promotion place when they face Halifax and Gateshead respectively next weekend.