Not long now. We season ticket holders are gloating over our FFC goodie bags with the commemorative coin, a lavishly illustrated hardback account of the Championship campaign and a pack of 48 cards.
The latter are described as postcards but where do you put the message or the address (or the stamp if you can afford it)? Each of last season matches is allotted a card with an appropriate caption; some of these are clever, some (and I quote) quite Rodakulous.
The ‘Ain’t Nobody’ card celebrates the 2-0 victory over Cardiff in October 2021, which saw the return of Tom Cairney from injury. The song goes ‘Craven Cottage, Captain Cairney makes me happy...’. Four decades ago Chaka Khan recorded the melody that now echoes around the ground. I say melody but the rhythm is even more important, ‘Ain’t nobody’ easily transmutes into Craven Cottage, leaving four syllables to honour an FFC favourite like (Captain) Cairney or Marco Silva.
The trophy winning manager amply deserves to be praised alongside the Cottage but many other names, from Marek Rodak to Harry Wilson, fit the rhythm just as well. (Inconvenient monikers like Mitrovic or Ream have their own songs or chants anyway.) Supporters will in time proclaim new names that make them happy but the Cottage will always feature. As I said last season, the ground has never looked better, a tribute to all who fought to save it prior to the Khan era (Shahid not Chaka).
In the crazy heat of mid-July the club chairman invited the Times sportswriter Alyson Rudd to admire the view from his new riverside stand, a perspective that he modestly termed the best in London:
‘The attractions of London are along the river, the Tower, then Parliament, then Fulham.’
Who would have thought it – the neighbourhood where I was born and bred now ranking with that iconic bridge and the Palace of Westminster? Marvellous as the ground looks Mr Khan does not ignore the embarrassment of the club’s recent seasons in the Premier:
‘If you don’t learn from history you’re doomed to repeat mistakes... This time it feels different and we’re going to stay up.’
Many supporters will share his belief, the rest will hope he is right. Individually and collectively the team scintillated last season but there were dodgy moments when we thought (or said out loud) ‘We’d never get away with that in the Premier’?
Those memories were revived in July when Fulham suffered a 5-1 hiding on a visit to Benfica. Apart from a deft Mitro header from a Wilson corner the team looked substandard. Much more encouraging was the 3-1 victory at Estoril. Mitrovic, Wilson and newcomer Joao Palhinha (from Sporting Lisbon) collaborated to put the team three goals up in the first 24 minutes.
The players returned to the Cottage last Sunday for a watchable 1-1 draw with Villarreal. The starting line-up had a familiar look apart from Palhinha and Andreas Pereira. In the second half the manager gave opportunities to Jay Stansfield, Luke Harris and (eventually) Kevin Mbabu. All three acquitted themselves well and Mbabu created the late equaliser for Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The League’s opening fixtures should give some indication of whether the team can live with Liverpool, fresh from their 3-1 defeat of Manchester City, and establish themselves in the top tier as firmly as Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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