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The Great Mass Debater

That Fulham game

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Reading Damien Francis' comments on that game, I wondered how other people remember it?

It's known as a game City bottled it and didnt turn up. But that wasnt my assessment at the time.

I remember this game as a freak game that could easily have been different. A niave start I remember, a bit too keen to push forward and caught out twice early on to put us 2-0 down after about 20 minutes.

I then remember a spirited fightback. I think we went in 3-0 down, but I remember thinking we could easily have gone in at 3-3. I think we were denied two stonewall penalties and came close on another occasion - maybe hit the woodwork or had a goal disallowed or something. Seem to remember Dean Ashton being pivotal.

But we went in 3-0 down and hard on our luck. In any other game we might have tightened up and kept the score respectable, but this was no ordinary game, a respectable defeat was no use to us once the other games started to go against us. We had no choice but to push to get back back on terms, and as we became ever more unbalanced, Fulham exploited it mercilessly. I think the result was a freak result, a product of the dynamic of the last day scenario.

I never saw it as a game where the players didnt try or werent comitted. I have seen numerous comments from players criticising certain individuals, so clearly my view isnt widely held.

How do you remember that game?

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I remember chanting “6-5, we’re goin to win 6-5.

At the final whistle there was a huge chant for Ni gel, Ni gel Worthington!

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Rose tinted glasses - or green and yellow tinted ones anyway compared to what I remember.

We were in it for a bit and then when Saffri went off for Holt it was all over. Nothing against Holt, but he wasn't having the best of seasons - I think he had a lung infection it turned out later. After that, their midfield was immense and won everything especially Boupa Diop (sp?). Our lads didn't have much fight in them despite the rally call by some senior players (Helveg, Bentley, McKenzie, Francis all sort of non-existent from what I remember) - no one seemed to really give much, no one seem to really care. Most supporters just seemed to be on a day out in London  (we took thousands though! ) - no one seemed to be really upset which was annoying, as I was bl00dy livid!

Icing on the cake was on the lonely train ride home in a carriage with half a dozen baggies who had just done the great escape - crying into my tinnies 😞 

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3 hours ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

Reading Damien Francis' comments on that game, I wondered how other people remember it?

It's known as a game City bottled it and didnt turn up. But that wasnt my assessment at the time.

I remember this game as a freak game that could easily have been different. A niave start I remember, a bit too keen to push forward and caught out twice early on to put us 2-0 down after about 20 minutes.

I then remember a spirited fightback. I think we went in 3-0 down, but I remember thinking we could easily have gone in at 3-3. I think we were denied two stonewall penalties and came close on another occasion - maybe hit the woodwork or had a goal disallowed or something. Seem to remember Dean Ashton being pivotal.

But we went in 3-0 down and hard on our luck. In any other game we might have tightened up and kept the score respectable, but this was no ordinary game, a respectable defeat was no use to us once the other games started to go against us. We had no choice but to push to get back back on terms, and as we became ever more unbalanced, Fulham exploited it mercilessly. I think the result was a freak result, a product of the dynamic of the last day scenario.

I never saw it as a game where the players didnt try or werent comitted. I have seen numerous comments from players criticising certain individuals, so clearly my view isnt widely held.

How do you remember that game?

Yes, I remember it exactly the same GMD. We were absolutely shafted by the ref. He denied us two stonewall penalties and then ruled out a perfectly good goal by Dean Ashton for an alleged push - when in fact it was a perfectly fair shoulder charge. After we went behind we just chased the game more and more desperately and kept getting caught on the break. 

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Steve Foley told me a typically funny story about the game, which also sheds light on the defeat. I am pretty sure it hasn't been aired anywhere before - apologies if it has. Steve has a funny story for every occasion (easily a book full), and the Craven Cottage debacle was no exception.

Steve was Nigel Worthington's assistant, and with him on the touchline he started to feel very unwell as the game developed. It reached the point where Steve thought that he must be having a heart attack, and he could imagine himself dying there and then, on the touchline in public view. He didn't want to let the side down and he's a proud man who didn't want the indignity of being carted away on a stretcher. On the verge of passing out he allowed himself to be assisted by the St John Ambulance paramedics. They walked him down the touchline and as soon as he got out of sight and in the medical room, he collapsed.

All of the medical people were hugely concerned, fearing cardiac arrest or similar, and Steve was loaded into an ambulance and rushed straight to St Thomas' Hospital to be assessed.

At the Hospital he was given absolute priority attention as an emergency admission and within a matter of minutes he was joined by a Consultant and a medical team, ready for action. The Consultant's first question was 'Now, Mr Foley, please tell me exactly what the problem is?' To which Steve replied, 'It's simple. The problem is, we just can't fookin defend!'

Many a true word is spoken in jest 🙂

(It turned out that the illness was a nasty viral complaint, and Steve recovered quite quickly).

 

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On the coach home we heard something of this, but didn’t really know what had happened.

Edited by not a clue
Clarification

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Aye, I remember it as a typical case of trying too hard and getting out-foxed by a more experienced opponent. I read observations afterwards that Francis was laughing and smiling at the end despite the humiliation (the inference being he couldn't care less because he had a contract lined up elsewhere already) but IIRC we hadn't won an away game all season and that pattern was unlikely to be broken with the pressure on. 

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23 hours ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

Yes, I remember it exactly the same GMD. We were absolutely shafted by the ref. He denied us two stonewall penalties and then ruled out a perfectly good goal by Dean Ashton for an alleged push - when in fact it was a perfectly fair shoulder charge. After we went behind we just chased the game more and more desperately and kept getting caught on the break. 

Yes I remember Ashton wagging his finger at the ref  "just give as a break would you"? 

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I remember it being an absolutely horrible day. Full of optimism walking to the ground, and then the ground was just pulled out from under us. 1 goal, 2 goals and the team just gave up. Fulham weren’t even that good, we just didn’t turn up and the players didn’t take the opportunity despite the fact that our fate was in our hands.

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I remember it similarly to the OP. We actually started off quite well + had a goal disallowed etc. At the time, you can't tell if it was the right decision or not, but my recollection is that I videos it and watched it when I got home and felt hard one by. 

Desperate in the second half, but if we'd had a different ref...

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What a strange day that turned out to be.

Lovely sunny weather, beers in the packed Star & Garter by the Thames, optimism....what a let down ! Damien Francis has been trying to justify his performance on this site recently but having already decided to jump ship if we went down he was a complete ' no show '. There were others too.

Bizarrely had the other teams around us lost we'd have stayed up. Some scene that would have been. Players dancing round the pitch having just lost 6-0.

Afterwards we accidentally went in a pub full of Fulham ' lads ' near the Star & Garter. They were OK - winning 6-0 helps - but when one of us went to the gents he was followed in by a couple of them. Resigned to a kicking was much relieved to see they were only there to do a bit of drug dealing.

One good result that day.

 

 

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On 29/03/2020 at 22:04, Chip20 said:

Aye, I remember it as a typical case of trying too hard and getting out-foxed by a more experienced opponent. I read observations afterwards that Francis was laughing and smiling at the end despite the humiliation (the inference being he couldn't care less because he had a contract lined up elsewhere already) but IIRC we hadn't won an away game all season and that pattern was unlikely to be broken with the pressure on. 

If anyone saw the Ricky Hatton v Flloyd Mayweather fight, that assessment reminds me of that

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The thing that always rankles with me is when a relegated player says 'But I want to stay in the Premier League'

So did we son, so did we...

You stay in the Premier League by grafting to keep your team up. You havent earned the right
 

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Can anyone remember who the ref was that day ? There was some very dodgy decisions against us that day, still think if we had scored first we would have won

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On 28/03/2020 at 18:53, NWC said:

Our lads didn't have much fight in them despite the rally call by some senior players (Helveg, Bentley, McKenzie, Francis all sort of non-existent from what I remember) - no one seemed to really give much, no one seem to really care.

A little harsh on Mckenzie. I don't think I ever saw him not caring or giving 100%. He had some technical limitations but he remains one of my favourite players due to his effort.

I remember very little about the game to be honest, I think I've blocked it out.

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