More new signings

As I said mid-July, 'I can't see room for any more new signings. If anything the team needs trimming'. As ever my finger was firmly on the pulse as Woy continued his acquisition spree and only offloaded a couple of players. Let's take a second look:

Andrew Johnson - A surprise move for someone who once looked extremely effective upfront, but got a reputation as a diver. I wonder if he has shed that from not playing that often for Everton? A big expensive signing, but a proven Premiership goalscorer and adds more pace up front. It appears the lure was London rather than the club though.

Frederik Stoor - At last another defender! Freddie will be fighting Pantsil for the right back berth, which probably means goodbye to Volzy. The Swedish international, who also has Champions League experience, has been linked with the club all summer so it's nice to finally get his signature.

Pascal Zuberbuhler - This one was abit more left-field. A 37-year old Swiss international goalkeeper as back up to a soon-to-be 36 year old goalkeeper. Unless Niemi is soon to move on, which may not be the case considering his previous ties to Woy on the national stage, Fulham again have an abundance of goalies with experience.

Those that have left on loan - Winger Lee Cook has returned to QPR without ever playing a game for Fulham, Hameur Bouzza has gone to Charlton, presumably because there is no room in Fulham's packed midfield and 'development' players Elliot Omozusi (who was promising in a few games last year for the first team) and TJ Moncur have gone to Norwich City and Bradford City respectively.

A bunch of loan outs is hardly cutting down on the squad, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the exits of Steven Davis (who has not been given a squad number back), Volzy as mentioned above and Smertin. I would have thought Healey was for the chop too, but Hodgson has said he would like him to remain part of the squad. Where the hell he'll fit in is the question. At it sounds as if things aren't at all rosy with Jimmy Bullard at the moment with rumours that Woy doesn't like his indisciplined play on the pitch. Say it aint so!

Vox pops

You're probably more than fed up with hearing about me and my views on football and Fulham, no matter how correct I am, so I thought I'd sound out my partners in crime over what they are expecting from their Fulham Season Tickets this year:

Jarrod is our remaining Aussie who misses some early matches because of cricket:

Less than eight months between home wins (of games I see!)
Some entertaining performances, less of last season's rubbish (ie passing the ball to the opposition or no one at all).
But most of all, the home fans as they were for the last 4-5 games last season!

Ishan was unlucky to be sat at the end of our row of tickets and next to a gentlemen who liked to encroach both on our space and our nostrils:


More wins. The same passion from players and supporters as last game of last season in every home game this season and an empty seat when i get to the stadium (late)!

Colin is our newbie, picking up the pieces from Coops and Adam:

My first season ticket, the delights of frosty December weeknights and 0:1 score lines cometh.
All the monies going on Andy Johnson with any luck!
Still thinking about what I want from Fulham this season. My expectations are quite low as a first timer. If the team turn up when I do, I'll be happy.

Interesting points I'm sure you'll agree. Ish and Jarrod have echoed something I'd like to see - a bit more from the crowd at normal games than just for the crunch ones. There were times last season where it seemed that it was just us five making a racket.

Only 11 days now until the start of the Premiership season. It feels as if its been a long time coming.

Mixed feelings

Last pre-season, I was full of optimism. I was a new season ticket holder and in my opinion Lawrie Sanchez was signing some really interesting players who I thought could do the business. He'd also shipped out some of the squad that I didn't particularly like. However that optimism was culled before Christmas.
This pre-season, something has changed. Woy Hodgson has signed some players that are failing to excite me and I'm not sure if they can perform at the highest level. Hopefully the inverse will happen again and Fulham will be pushing for 6th place by Christmas.

Lets have a look at these new signings.

David Stockdale - GK - £600,000. Young goalkeeper for the future. Nice to see Woy's thinking that far ahead.
Mark Schwarzer - GK - Free. Proven Premiership performer, although my Boro mate reckons that he had an awful season last year. Australian International.
Zoltan Gera - MD/FW - Free. I've always been a bit of a fan of Zoltan and was very happy to see him join the Cottagers. Still has something to prove at the highest level. Hungarian International.
Tony Kallio - LB/CB - Undisclosed. Kallio joined on loan in January, but didn't play a game. Not sure why he has now joined full time. One of Woy's Finland international squad members.
Andranik - CM - Free - Bolton reserve player. Don't ever remember seeing him play. If he is a defensive type then could be a very influential player. Iranian International.
John Pantsil - RB/RM - About £1.3m. West Ham reserve player. Never seen him play. Seems a bit of a looney. Ghanian International.
Bobby Zamora - ST - About £5m. West Ham reserve player. I've seen Bobby Z play a lot, but mainly at Championship level. He's usually scored against the team I have been supporting (Play off final 2005!) but he's still not that impressive and has not consistently performed in the Premiership. A confidence player by all accounts.

So all the money saved by getting internationals signed up on free transfers has been splurged on a 27-year-old West Ham reject? Interesting strategy. One aspect that does bode well is that West Brom fans, Bolton fans and West Ham fans seem to be very disappointed to be losing Gera, Andranik and Zamora, which suggests that they at least put the effort in and fans love that. I love that. And the number of managerial changes means that there might be some gems in Premiership teams' reserve ranks signed by the previous regime that the new lot might not fancy. Doesn't mean they are no good. On that note, I see Tony Warner has signed for Hull City on a free.

I can't see room for any more new signings. If anything the team needs trimming. There are four goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 12 midfielders and six forwards. That's quite a big squad. Hopefully Woy can find the right combination.

EDIT - It appears that Ricardo Batista has just signed for Sporting Lisbon - so that's three keepers. Hmmm. Maybe we do need another.

Emancipation for footballers

We're back!

So there we go - we've booked four tickets in H7. We're actually seven rows ahead of where we were last year. We might as well have stayed where we were, except Ish wanted to move away from the smelly guy who sat next to him. I wonder who we will be sat next to in the up coming season?

I must admit though, I was far more confident of watching exciting football this time last year than currently. But that just shows you what I know. Come on Woy, prove me wrong. You've already done it once.