Morning folks, Jonny Forumer reporting for duty. Last night’s League Cup exit at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday sure was a kick in the teeth for Martin Jol’s Fulham, so today’s £15m departure of Moussa Dembele to Tottenham Hotspur could barely have come at a worse time. Unable to resist the morbid curiosity, I hung around Cottagers messageboards Friends of Fulham and Cottage Corner listening in on what the good folk had to say about this ‘bad moment’, as those fancy foreign coaches say…
mikie, Friends of Fulham…
Hang your head in shame fulham. Last nights result coupled with offloading Dembele is why i dont buy season tickets anymore… As far as i am concerned you have ripped of many of my fellow Fulham supporters and friends. Disgusting!!!
Mr Fulham, Friends of Fulham…
And basically it’s why Moussa only signed a three year deal with a clause in the second year. He saw Fulham as a good stepping stone.
Stop moaning and wake up. There no way he would have signed a new deal at Fulham, he was always going to leave after two or three years.
Burt, Friends of Fulham…
To be fair to him, he has always said that we were a stepping stone on the way to supposedly bigger and better things.
Given how long he has left on the contract, we got a good deal.
It’s a shame. But it was inevitable. And we haven’t got ripped off.
Wizard, Cottage Corner…
We are just a nice little stepping stone club to Man United and the like.
I’m sorry for expressing my disgust at selling Dembele!!
Having followed Fulham from div 3 up I feel I should be allowed to expect us not to just roll over every time a big club shows a little interest.
Fair enough if this pathetic 15m clause actually exists but its still a joke!
What is it with Fulham fans banging on about “what about when ivor went” “we used to be shit so why are you worried”!!! “We sold tom dick and harry so forget Dembele”
I want to see us challenging for Europe again and now I just cant see it!
QPR will finish above us!!!
I sometimes think that alot of the older fans genuinely want us to nose dive and be shit again because they hate change!
Keeno, Friends of Fulham…
Model professional. 100% committed until the end.
Wasn’t his biggest fan, over rated in my opinion, can’t deny he’s one of the best dribblers in the world though, also can’t deny his professionalism.
Thanks for everything Mousa, including the best performance of your FFC career against united on Saturday.
George C, Friends of Fulham…
Great. 3 central midfielders have left, our top scorer, also a midfielder, is refusing to play, and we haven’t brought in one midfielder. Even without the sale of Dembele surely we should have added some real quality earlier in the window. Now we find ourselves in an unbelievably bad situation.
Organic White, Cottage Corner…
Fair enough.
Always committed. And though I also feel he was not the finished article and not worthy of the huge accolades steeped upon him, but he was our unfinished creative dynamo who could boulder his way through midfield defences with ease. Just a shame he went to Spurs – like they’re a bigger club?
See ya Mousse. Be nice to us. Good luck.
Gav, Cottage Corner…
At least the lad has handled himself well in the transfer. Kept his head down and let his football do the selling. The way he took United apart was a pleasure to watch!
Brede Butter Pudding, Friends of Fulham…
The most frustrating part of this for me is that, realisitically, he’s not moved a club that’s going to be hugely more succesful than we are in the next 5 or 6 years… Yes they’re a much bigger club and he’ll earn more money, but there’s no way on earth they’re going to beat the likes of United, Man City or Chelsea to the league title in the next 5/6/7 years, nor are they going to win the CL, let alone reach it. He’s only 25, it’s not like had he stayed another season at Fulham he’d have been unable to move to a bigger club then… I feel as though he’s sold himself short moving to Spurs. He could have easily slotted into the likes of Chelsea, City or United, or even Real Madrid, and I would have then felt that his move was justified as he was joining a club that is realistically going to challenge for major titles. Ultimately he might be involved in a successful Spurs cup run in the next few years, but the likeliehood of him winning the league or Champions League, or even playing in the Champions League, is, in my opinion, minimal, and that for me is the most disappointing part of it all.
But anyway, good luck the Moose, you were the most talented player I’ve seen in a Fulham shirt in a very long time, arguably ever, and I wish you every luck in the future. I just wish you’d gone to a more likeable team, one that I have some respect for.
KnoXy, Cottage Corner…
Getting bummed by a lower league team and dumped out of the only cup we could’ve possibly won. then losing our two best players we’ve ever had in the PL and replacing them with Richardson. Yeah I would say this is a dark dark day for fulham..
Jack Fulham, Friends of Fulham…
12 months and he will be off to Real Madrid, especially as Spurs are now officially their feeder club
Wizard, Cottage Corner…
At the very least, should we plough the 15mil into the clubs catering & staff? I’m thinking 15 mil would only be the tip of the iceburg regarding sorting the ‘matchday experience’
db10, Cottage Corner…
At least the Carlsberg bottles are 130ml bigger this year for the same price!
Barry P, Friends of Fulham…
Congratulations to Moussa and his agent for negotiating a contract that executed his plan to use Fulham as a stepping stone. The man did exactly what he said he was going to do and we got to watch him for two seasons. There are way too many posters acting like the club could have kept him here beyond next season.
A poster I respect put it well when he said in essence that football is a caste system. I would add get used to your place in it or your in for a lot of thttings unless you serve the top master.
Grant, Friends of Fulham…
I can’t describe how gutted I am, I had Dembele down as the best player I’ve ever seen in a Fulham shirt, and I’ve seen a few. The thing that bugs me more than anything is that Tottenham can seem like such a more attractive club than Fulham, and while we’re prepared to sell them our best players, that will always be the case. I’ve supported Fulham for 50 years and we’ve never won anything, and I’ll probably die knowing we’ve never won anything. We’ve got to learn to hang on to a good player when we get one or we’ll always be just little old Fulham. I’m going to try and console myself with the fact that Moussa will help contribute to the cost of our new stand, a step that will go towards making us a bigger club, but I’m totally gutted, us Fulham supporters never seem to get a decent break.
Quills, Friends of Fulham…
Dembele’s always been very open about using us as a stepping stone and wanting to move on to bigger things, and who can blame him – he is definitely Champions League quality, which is why it makes it more puzzling that the rumoured Utd move didn’t come off. If Utd had signed him I’d have put a tenner on them for the league, but never mind. Given that I don’t think any amount of money could have persuaded him to stay. We had two great seasons from him and I think the club have done the sensible thing. The overreaction from everyone on this board is getting a bit tiresome now. If you really are that upset about it you may as well cut your losses and go and support City.
I am sorry to see Dembele go but I can’t honestly say I feel ‘let down’ because of the club’s refusal to run a sustainable business like a teenager let loose on Football Manager.
SAEFubby, Cottage Corner…
I’m with you…this whole thing just frustrates the hell out of me. I mean essentially there is 3 teams every season who have a shot at winning the league, 3 other teams battling for CL then the rest of the lot. And guess what it’s not like those 6 teams change every season…its the same damn ones every year!! and the only way to break that is to spend hundreds upon hundreds of million. When 75% of the teams hope to finish 10th and pray they don’t get relegated there is something seriously wrong with the system…seriously 10th, who the hell takes part in a competition and goes “I hope I finish 10th!”
Then throw on top of that the fact that the media is a bunch of glory hunters and look for every way possible to undermine the smaller teams and make sure their best players are poached by the bigger teams (see Dempsey and Dembele). What’s so wrong with a smaller team having an elite player? God for bid the small teams make smart player personnel decisions and develop young talent. Shame on you small team!! You hand that player over write now!
F@&K THIS