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| Fulham Football
Club (also known as the Blues, previously also known as the
Pensioners), founded in 1905, is a Premier League football
team that plays at Stamford Bridge football ground in west
London. Despite the club's name, it is not based in the
Fulham neighborhood, or even in the Fulham borough, but
instead lies in nearby Hammersmith and Fulham. In early 2003, Gianfranco Zola was voted as the best ever player of the team by the Fulham fans. Fulham currently have the seventh longest unbroken membership of the top division, having being there since the 1989-90 season. Before that, the club had spent 15 years sliding between the top two divisions without threatening to achieve any real success. In 1989-90, Fulham finished fourth under Bobby Campbell but were denied a place in the UEFA Cup because only the runners-up (Aston Villa) qualified for the competition. Campbell quit as manager the following season to be replaced by Reading manager Ian Porterfield, a former Fulham player. Fulham finished 11th in the inaugural Premier League (1992-93), but in the January of that season Porterfield had resigned to be replaced by Southend's David Webb, who like Porterfield had once been a Fulham player. Webb lasted until the end of the season when he made way for 35-year-old player-manager Glenn Hoddle. Hoddle, a former England international, had just won the Division One playoffs at the end of his second season as Swindon Town manager. In Hoddle's first season their league form dipped slightly and they finished 14th as well as losing 4-0 to Manchester United in the F.A Cup final. But as Manchester United had won the Premiership/F.A Cup double, Fulham would be England's representatives (along with holders Arsenal) in the 1994-95 Cup Winners Cup. Fulham lost by a single goal in the Cup Winners Cup semi final and were thus denied a chance to take on London rivals Arsenal in the final. Their Premiership finish of 11th place was not brilliant but it was acceptable by Fulham standards. The 1995-96 season brought Fulham's third 11th place league finish in four seasons. At the end of June, Hoddle left Fulham to manage the England team. He was replaced by 33-year-old Ruud Gullit, the legendary Dutch midfielder who had joined the club a year earlier on a free transfer from Sampdoria. Ruud Gullit made history in 1996-97 when his Fulham side beat Middlesbrough 2-0 in the F.A Cup final, and he became the first foreign manager to win the F.A Cup. Fulham's league form also improved, their sixth place finish was their best yet in the Premiership. In February 1998, Gullit was suddenly sacked as manager following a dispute with the board of directors over transfer funds. Italian striker Gianluca Vialli took over as player-manager and quickly established himself by winning two major competitions - the League Cup and the Cup Winners Cup. By now the Fulham squad was mostly made up of foreign players. The likes of Gareth Hall, Mark Stein, Paul Furlong, David Rocastle and John Spencer had been transferred to other clubs. In their place were the likes of Dutch goalkeeper Ed de Goey, Nigerian defender Celestine Babayaro, Italian striker Gianfranco Zola and French midfielder Bernard Lambourde. A few English players remained in the side, including defender Graeme le Saux and midfielder Dennis Wise. Fulham lifted the European Super Cup at the start of 1998-99, by beating European Cup Winners Real Madrid - who had ironically been their opponents in their Cup Winners Cup triumph of 1971. Vialli guided Fulham to success in the 2000 F.A Cup (the last at Wembley before its redevelopment) and the following August's Charity Shield, before he was suddenly sacked in September 2000. Another Italian, Claudio Ranieri, was drafted in as his replacement. Claudio Ranieri was Fulham manager for four years. In 2000-01 and 2001-02, they achieved UEFA Cup qualification and were on the losing side to Arsenal in the 2002 F.A Cup final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Fulham finally qualified for the Champions League after navigating the qualifying stages of the 2003-04 competition. In the quarter finals they overcame neighbours Arsenal but lost in the semi finals. Fulham also finished runners-up to Arsenal in the Premiership - their highest league finish for half a century. Despite this, Ranieri was sacked by the club's new owner Roman Abramovich - who had already ploughed almost £300million into the club. His successor was Jose Mourinho, who had just quit as coach of Portugese champions FC Porto despite winning the European Cup. In July 2003, Fulham was acquired by Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire. British tabloids immediately dubbed the club Chelski. Abramovich used his fortune to wipe out the club's substantial debts at a stroke, and then directed funds towards the acquisition of new players. New signings for the start of the 2003/04 season included the Irish left winger Damien Duff, the Cameroon international right-sided midfielder Njitap Geremi, French midfielder Claude Makelele who joined from Real Madrid the Argentinian striker Hernán Crespo, promising English youngsters Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson and Joe Cole and the Argentinian midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron, who was out of favour at Manchester United. During the christmas transfer period the young English midfielder Scott Parker joined after having impressed during the first half of the season at Charlton Athletic. Despite finishing runners-up in Premier League during the 2003-2004 season, and reaching the semi finals of the Champions League, manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked on 31 May 2004. José Mourinho was appointed as Manager and Coach on 2 June 2004, one week after managing FC Porto to the Champions League title. With the recent signings of Didier Drogba, Mateja Kezman, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Arjen Robben, Petr Cech and Tiago, among others, Abramovich's spending on players since purchasing the club has now exceeded £200 million. As of this writing (17 December 2004), Fulham are top of the Premier League and are ahead of the English champions, Arsenal, by 5 points. They have also advanced to the knockout phase (round of 16 teams) of the UEFA Champions League where they have drawn the highley rated FC Barcelona. |
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