A bit about you:
Name: Neil D. Springate
Current home town: Putney
Birthplace: Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey
How long have you supported your team? 1985-1986 season
Overview of your club:
Favourite thing about your home ground: The stroll through Bishop’s Park, alongside the Thames to, arguably, the best sited stadium in World football. The views from the river and opposite bank will be improved immensely, once the redevelopment of the Riverside Stand is complete.
Favourite match played by your team & why: 17.xi.2002, away to Birmingham City. 9-man Fulham held out for a goalless draw in front of 25,000+ baying Brummies who, clearly, had not moved on from John Mitchell’s winner in the FA Cup semi-final of 1975, one of whom appeared to be on the verge of detonating at the final whistle, such was his anger.
Aside from prolonged and desperate last-ditch defence, the highlight of the match was van der Sar’s dispatch of that charmless, peroxided beach-bum, Savage, whose gross stupidity in launching himself, late in the game, at the big Dutchman was countered by the force of the blow he received in return, pole-axing him, much to the amusement of the travelling fans.
Favourite player of all time who played for your club: I never had the pleasure of seeing the likes of Haynes, Chamberlain, the FA Cup Final side of 1975 or Macdonald’s team that nearly won promotion in 1982-1983, so it has to be a more contemporary player.
Sylvain Legwinski, who played for us between 2001 and 2006, was a very hard-working midfielder with a powerful shot, and capable of scoring from long distance. He is perhaps best remembered for his injury-time pile-driver against Spurs on 11.ix.2002, when Fulham recovered from a 0-2 deficit at half-time to win 3-2. We were sad to see him leave, even more so given the discourteous treatment he received from one-time team-mate and then manager, Chris Coleman, which was shabby.
About our forthcoming match against you:
Your favourite current player in your squad and why? Pajtim Kasami, Macedonian-born, but a Swiss national of Albanian origin, who should be a certainty for their squad for next year’s World Cup. An attacking midfielder, who offers energetic and muscular support for our striker(s) and whose equalising goal against Crystal Palace in the 1-4 victory was the finest scored by a Fulham player in many a season (although I’m sure Berbatov would disagree).
Player in your squad we should most fear and why? If he’s given a game, Elsad Zverotic, a Montenegrin, who has 40 caps for his country and can be used as a full back or a midfielder, capable of scoring some fine goals. His intelligent link play with Alexander Kacaniklic formed a solid right-sided axis in the last round against Everton and it is bizarre that he has yet to start a Premier League fixture.
Has your manager played a full strength team in previous rounds, or mainly used squad players and what type of line up do you expect this time? A mixture of some regular first-teamers and fringe players were used against both Burton Albion and Everton, so we’d expect the same in this round. That said, after their shockingly lacklustre performance against Southampton on the weekend, the entire first team should be turned out with the basic message that football is made easier if one manages to communicate with one’s team-mates.
Player in our squad you most fear and why? A cynic might suggest that any eleven of them could be feared. A traditional centre-forward, Lambert, proved our initial undoing at Southampton, so David Nugent’s experience could prove a handful for us. Anthony Knockaert’s name features regularly in match reports and dispatches, so the contest between him and our full backs should be entertaining.
Up and coming prospect in your squad? Although our junior and reserve teams have had some success recently, it’s rare for any of them to break into the first team. The better ones tend to find themselves being loaned out before being sold.
What are your expectations for your side this season? On current form, avoiding relegation has to be the primary objective.
How do you think you’ll do against us? Confidence is brittle among the squad. Until Kasami’s equaliser against Crystal Palace, we appeared pretty poor. Our ability to recover from conceding the first goal is limited. We may be able to cling on to a 1-2 score-line.
Any other comments? Leicester is one of our favoured away trips, with plenty of good alehouses, beers and local grub. In the more than 80 matches between the two clubs, there have been very few goalless draws and, given both clubs’ current form, this is unlikely to be another.
Neil is a committee member of the Fulham Supporters Trust, if you like to read the about their Trust you can do so via this link http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/