2005-06 Season

12th in the Premier League
League Cup: 3rd Round, West Bromwich Albion h. 2-3 aet.
FA Cup: 3rd Round, Leyton Orient h. 1-2

Highlight:
1-0 win over Chelsea 19/3/06

Low Spot:
1-2 home defeat to Orient in the FA Cup 8/1/06

Good:
Steed Malbranque:
Just a class act. Can create and score with a bit of style.
Brian McBride:
Gave Fulham some presence up front and led the line very intelligently. Strong in the air with a decent touch McBride was something of a surprise success story.

Bad:
Moritz Volz:
Generally a target for opposition attacks he was mercilessly exposed by Arsenal at the Cottage and ended up being set upon by Zat Knight at half time. Knight wasn't playing that well either, it must be said.
Mark Pembridge:
Managed 5 appearances which some would say was 5 too many. Not one for the future.

In Brief:
Fulham had a poor start but were buoyed by an excellent win over Liverpool towards the end of October.
From there on it was generally a case of win at home and lose away but survival was never really in doubt.
Despite winning 4 out of the last 5 nobody will be over confident of continuing in the top flight.
There were extremely disappointing exits from both cup competitions as well.

Fulham Football Club History

Fulham Football Club was formed in 1879, beginning life as Fulham St Andrews Church Sunday School FC. It was not until 1888 that the club became known as simply Fulham FC.

The club made a good early impression before fading generally into the background. Before achieving league status in 1907 Fulham had already progressed as far as the quarter finals of the FA Cup on one occasion.

That happened in 1905 when the club beat Reading and Nottingham Forest before suffering a 5-0 defeat at Aston Villa who went on to lift the trophy.

When Fulham were elected into Division Two they managed a 4th placed finish as well as making it through to the FA Cup semi finals. They beat Norwich City, Manchester City and Manchester United before taking a 6-0 hammering from Newcastle United in the last four.

Despite reaching two more FA Cup quarter finals Fulham did not move out of the second division until 1928 and then it was to drop into Division Three South. In 1932 the Cottagers won the championship in that division to return to Division Two.

In 1949 the club won the second division title to take their place in Division One for the first time. The stay lasted only three years before relegation in 1952.

Fulham could call on the services of several fine players in the 1950's but found it difficult to escape the second division. Johnny Haynes, Bedford Jezzard and Bobby Robson, who would all represent England, served the club with distinction in Division Two.

In 1958 a heavy schedule saw Fulham falter late on in their promotion bid to finish 5th in Division Two while progressing to the FA Cup semi finals. They beat Yeovil Town, Charlton Athletic, West Ham United and Bristol Rovers to set up a meeting with Manchester United in the last four.

United were soldiering on in the aftermath of the Munich disaster and Fulham obviously fancied their chances. After two remarkable games, however, United prevailed. The first game at Villa Park ended in a 2-2 draw while the replay at Highbury saw United run out 5-3 winners.

At least Fulham finally managed promotion the following season as they finished runners up in Division Two.

The Cottagers managed to survive for nine seasons in the top flight before going down in 1968. The following year Fulham were relegated again to fall into Division Three.

During their spell in the first division they did reach another FA Cup semi final in 1962. After defeating Hartlepools United, Walsall, Port Vale and Blackburn Rovers the Cottagers went down to a 2-1 replay defeat to Barnsley at Filbert Street, Leicester.

Fulham were promoted from Division Three at the second time of asking in 1971 and then spent nine seasons in Division Two.

This period was notable for the arrival at Craven Cottage of a series of ageing stars. Bobby Moore, Alan Mullery, Rodney Marsh and George Best all dropped off by the Thames to provide a bit of nostalgic entertainment.

Moore and Mullery were part of the team that reached the FA Cup final in 1975. Fulham put out Hull City after two replays, Nottingham Forest after three replays, Everton and Carlisle United before beating Birmingham City in the semi finals, again after a replay.

The final was an anti-climax, however, as West Ham strolled to a comfortable 2-0 win.

After relegation in 1980 Fulham bounced back into the second division in 1982 and the following season looked certainties for promotion to Division One before a dramatic late collapse allowed Leicester City to overtake them at the death.

In 1986 the club dropped back into the third division and had to reform the following year amid financial turmoil.

After reaching the Division Three play offs in 1989 the Cottagers collapsed, avoiding relegation by one point in 1990 and being spared the drop a year later due to a restructuring of the league.

There would be no such reprieve in 1994, however, as Fulham finally dropped into the fourth tier of English football.

The clubs rise has been dramatic since promotion from the basement in 1997. The financial backing of rich shopkeeper Mohammed Al Fayed has been key and the inspirational management of Kevin Keegan and Jean Tigana also helped.

Fulham stormed to the Division Two title in 1999, amassing 101 points in the process, and remarkably they mustered the same tally when claiming the Division One crown in 2001. They are now embarking on their fifth season in the Premier League.

The clubs best effort in the League Cup has been to reach the 5th round, something they have managed three times in 1968, 1971 and 2000. They also progressed into the UEFA Cup in 2002-03 after successfully negotiating the Intertoto Cup competition.

Perhaps the clubs most famous servants have been Johnny Haynes, George Cohen and Gordon Davies.

Haynes holds the clubs appearance record with 594 league games to his credit and the midfield general also captained England for a spell while collecting 56 caps.

Cohen was a part of the victorious 1966 England World Cup winning team while Davies set the clubs goalscoring record during his two spells at Craven Cottage, netting 159 times for the club between 1978 and 1991.

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