| Fulham |
Fulham FC was founded in 1879 by members of the Church of England and was then known by Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School. The original colors of the squad’s kits were half red half white shirts with white shorts. The club dropped the church part of its name when it starting playing various friendly matches against over clubs in theFA.
Fed up with not being in an actual league, the squad joined the West London Amateur League and won it in its first year. The club began playing out of its current stadium, Craven Cottage in 1896, just two years before turning professional. When Fulham became a professional organization it played out of the Southern League.
In order to be able to play in the First Division, Fulham FC had to start out in the Second Division and move up. The team signed forwards Tommy Meade and Ken McKay in order to make that happen. Eventually it finished runner up in its first two years of playing in the League, and were denied promotion. However, in 1903 the club got promoted into the Southern League First Division
Harry Bradshaw, a well experienced coach was appointed as Fulham’s first manager. Under him the club won the Southern Division twice in the 1905/1906 season and in 1906/1907. By winning this division Fulham was able to apply for promotion into the national Football League.
With no surprise Fulham FC got accepted and took over Burton United’s spot in the Second Division of the Football League. Fulham’s first game in the new league was against Hull City. Only a few days later the club earned its first win, defeating Derby County by a score of 1-0. The highlight of the team's first season in the league was reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup tournament, where the club lost 6-0 to Newcastle United.
The first season was Fulham’s best season for a period of 20 years. Meanwhile, a rivalry with Chelsea was established when club chairman Henry Norris rejected a move to Stanford Bridge, a stadium in which Chelsea currently plays at. After winning only 13 out of 42 games in the 1927-28 seasons Fulham FC got relegated to the Third Division.
In its first three seasons in the Third Division, the club finished in 5th, 7th and 9th place out of 22 teams. In 1931-32 Fulham won the Third Division, defeating Torquay United by a score of 10-2 in the final. The club also won 24 out of 42 games and scored 111 goals through out of the season. As a consequence to the team’s success, it got promoted back to the Second Division.
For that point till the beginning of World War II, the club went up and down in the League tables. It finished third in 1931/32, just behind Tottenham and Stoke City. Fulham also reached an FA Cup semi-final in the 1935/36 season.
League and cup Football in England was cancelled in 1939 due to World War II. However, new competitions called the Football League War Cup and London War Cup were established to take place of the old tournaments. Fulham participated in both contests but were not triumphant in either competition.
Regular football was established in England in the 1946/47 season and Fulham won the Second Division just one year later. The club finished at the top of the tables with a record of 29-9-9. Ironically, this was the same record it had won the Third Division South 17 years earlier.
Fulham’s stay in the First Division was short though. The troubles started from the very start as it finished 17th out of 18th place its first two years in the league. In their third year, Fulham finished 22nd, winning only 8 games out of 42, resulting in relegation to the Second Division.
The Cottages stay in the Second Division was brief though, due to the efforts of Johnny Hayes and Graham Leggat. Hayes was an exceptional midfielder who was known for his passing skills and ability to read the game. Leggat played the winger position and scored many goals for the squad. The two played exceptionally well together promoted the club all the way up to the First Division and reached the semi-finals of the FA cup in 1958.
During the 1960’s, the Craven Cottage was full of Fulham FC supports, despite the squads lack of success. The Whites went up and down in the league tables. Their best performance came in 1960, finishing 10th place in the division. The club nearly escaped relegation twice, finished by one point shy of it. However, after winning only 10 games in 42 the club got demoted to the Second Division. Following that season, Fulham again got demoted and were now stuck in the Third Division.
After only two seasons, Fulham FC got promoted back to the Second Division. It participated in low key European tournaments such as the Anglo-Italian and Anglo- Scottish Cup, not achieving any high results in any of the competitions. This promoted club manager Alec Stock to recruit high level players such as George Best and Rodney Marsh. The result was a trip to the FA Cup final, against West Ham in which Fulham ended up losing.
After loosing George Best and Rodney Marsh to club teams in the US, the club success was over. The manager which took the club to the FA Cup finals, Bobby Campbell, was replaced by Malcolm Macdonald, causing even further disruption. After winning only 11 games out of 42 the team got relegated into the Third Division.
Macdonald however took an active role on the squad, recruiting players that could get Fulham FC back into the top division. He was attempting to create a team which would have a combination of both experience and young talent. In doing so Macdonald recruited defender Tony Gale, goalkeeper Gerry Peyton and midfielder Ray Lewington.
Ultimately, Macdonald created a team that would bring the organization success once again. The club got promoted to the Second Division in 1981-1982. It did so well that it almost got promoted in the First Division. However, a 1-0 loss to Derby prevented that from happening.
Despite the success on the field, the club financially was not stable. This was a result of merger that went wrong with QPR. In order to make some money back for the team, the club was forced to sell of its successful players. As a result the club was relegated into the Third Division in 1987.
The club performance in the new division was horrible. Fulham FC lacked talent and the fund needs to purchase new players. The club almost went out of business. Due to the efforts of ex-player Jimmy Hill and a major restructuring effort, Fulham did not go under and was not renamed Fulham FC Ltd. Not surprisingly Fulham FC got relegating into the new Division Three, since the creation of the Premier League, forced the old Third Division to be renamed to the Second Division
Fulham appointed Ian Branfoot to become the new manager of the organization. Under his leadership the club was at the bottom of the League. It finished 17th out of 24. They lost to teams such as Torquay United, which should have been easy wins.
As a result Branfoot was replaced by former player Mickey Adams. He slowly reformed the organization. First thing that Adams did was appoint was save the team from relegation. He then appointed Simon Morgan, who had great leadership skills. The team finished second place in the league that season. However, after a poor start in 1997, Adams was hired by new club owner Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Al-Fayed appointed Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins to managerial positions. He pledged to revolutionize the team and take it all the way to the top of the Premier League. In doing so he signed new players such as Chris Coleman and Louise Saha to the squad.
Despite the removal of Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan leaving the team to become the coach of the English National Team, the club got promoted to the Premiership level in the 2000/2001 season. Frenchman Jean Tigana was in charge of the team at that time. The club scored a total of 90 goals in 46 games.
During the club’s first two seasons back in the top division of English football, it was expected to earn a spot in either the UEFA Cup or Champions League, but failed to do both. The Whites finished 13th place in the EPL standings, losing to easy opponents such as the Blackburn Rovers. The team’s purchase of Steve Marlet was also failure, due to his underachieving performance.
All these failures resulted in Tigana getting replaced by Chris Coleman, which started a new era in Fulham FC history. Despite Coleman’s lack of experience as a manger, the club finished highly ranked over a course of three seasons. Due to financial restrictions, the club was forced to sell Louis Saha to Manchester United in the 2003/2004. Fulham acquired midfielder Alexey Smertin and American Clint Dempsey to take his place. It defeated tough opponents such as Liverpool FC and Chelsea in the West London Derby.
Coleman’s success stopped at the end of the 2006/2007 season. The club lost consecutive games between Mid December and May. It was disqualified from the FA Cup by Tottenham Hotspurs. As a result Coleman got replaced by Lawrie Sanchez, on a temporary basis.
Despite Sanchez only staying with the club for a single he made a huge impact to the squad. His contribution did not come quickly as the club lost its first games under his management. However he ended up saving the club from relegation. Also, Sanchez signed fresh new talent to the team. He was offered a permanent contract with the squad, but instead resigned to become the North Ireland manager.
Roy Hodgson, the current manager took over Sanchez’s place. He further strengthened the squad by recruited fresh talent. These new players helped the team defeat tough opponents at the start of the season. However, towards the end things did not turn out so well for the squad as they failed to gain any kind of momentum. The squad was on the rinks of relegation, but escaped it after winning against Birmingham City.
Currently, Hodgson is still the manager for Fulham FC. He will be trying hard in the 2008/2009 season to improve the team and get it ranked high in the EPL.