CFuller

Another one for you and the team, @Zachary Whyte. Sheffield United win a penalty, which is taken by Cozier-Duberry at 68:00. Millwall goalkeeper Kelly turns away from the penalty taker and dives to catch the ball without looking at it. Penalty.mp4 CFuller_Sheff Utd v Millwall.pkm

DIVISION 1 TABLE (End of September 2011) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Blackburn 9 4 0 0 13 2 3 0 2 10 8 21 2nd Charlton 9 3 0 1 9 5 3 2 0 9 4 20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Man City 9 2 2 1 13 8 3 0 1 12 12 17 4th Notts Co 8 3 0 0 8 1 2 1 2 9 5 16 5th Wolves 9 4 0 1 9 3 1 1 2 8 10 16 6th West Ham 9 2 1 1 5 4 3 0 2 6 5 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Nottm Forest 9 4 0 1 9 5 1 1 2 4 8 16 8th Birmingham 10 4 0 1 13 4 1 0 4 8 13 15 9th Swindon 9 1 3 1 11 12 3 0 1 9 4 15 10th Sheff Utd 9 2 2 1 16 12 2 0 2 8 8 14 11th Norwich 9 2 1 1 9 7 2 1 2 8 7 14 12th Carlisle 9 3 1 1 6 4 1 1 2 3 5 14 13th W.B.A. 9 3 1 0 9 3 0 3 2 4 7 13 14th Gillingham 9 2 1 2 8 9 2 0 2 7 8 13 15th Huddersfield 9 2 1 1 6 5 2 0 3 7 14 13 16th Aston Villa 10 2 1 2 8 10 1 1 3 11 15 11 17th Fulham 9 1 1 2 7 8 2 0 3 4 7 10 18th Kidderminster 9 3 0 1 8 6 0 1 4 3 10 10 19th Sunderland 9 2 1 1 8 7 1 0 4 7 14 10 20th Tottenham 9 3 0 2 10 8 0 0 4 2 8 9 21st Darlington 9 2 1 2 7 6 0 1 3 4 8 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd Chesterfield 9 2 0 3 9 9 0 2 2 7 13 8 23rd Preston 8 1 0 3 5 9 0 2 2 6 10 5 24th Macclesfield 9 0 1 4 7 13 0 1 3 4 10 2 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Arsenal start their Premiership campaign in ominous fashion, scoring 19 goals to win their first six matches. Francis Jeffers and his new strike partner Falcao get 11 goals between them, including three in an impressive 4-2 comeback win at Torquay. And with no European football to distract them, who’s to say the Gunners can’t regain their title? Europe certainly proves to be a distraction for Nigel Winterburn’s Liverpool. Despite outclassing the mighty ÖIS and Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League group phase, the Reds lose their first four Premiership matches - and then chuck away a win at Coventry after notorious hotheads Xabi Alonso and Michael Owen are both sent off. Ryan Giggs is sacked as Nice manager after they lose five of their first six Ligue 2 matches, scoring just one goal. Amazingly, Giggs’ disastrous 11-month reign in France doesn’t deter the Premiership’s bottom side Bradford, who appoint the former Welsh wizard to replace Garry Hill - apparently after a strong recommendation from Roy Keane. Roma suffer surprise defeats to both Werder Bremen and Leeds in the Champions League, but bitter rivals Lazio are much more convincing as they win their first seven games in all competitions. The Biancocelesti strengthen their squad even further by spending £10.5million on Marseille midfielder Sebastian Deisler, which might be bad news for Barry Ferguson. Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart look set to contest the Bundesliga crown once again, each boasting 100% records after their first five matches. Stuttgart are especially potent after scoring 20 goals - including six from Brazilian forward Robinho, who signed for Felix Magath’s side last Christmas. IN OTHER NEWS... Thousands of protestors occupy Wall Street in New York City, as part of a movement called… Occupy Wall Street. Using the slogan “We are the 99%”, they campaign against economic inequality and political corruption. Their encampment will last for two months. Former “Canadian Idol” contestant Carly Rae Jepsen meets a hot, half-naked guy and gives him her phone number, then says, “Call Me Maybe”. Sadly, the fella isn’t interested in her. At least Carly will get a big worldwide hit single out of it... After a glittering 30-year career, alternative rock legends R.E.M. all go back to where they belong and announce their separation. Fronted by Michael Stipe, the Georgia four-piece enjoyed their greatest successes in the early 1990s, with hit singles such as "Losing My Religion", "Shiny Happy People" and "Everybody Hurts". As Britons become obsessed with Scandinavian crime dramas such as “The Killing”, another Nordic noir series makes its debut. “The Bridge” stars Sofia Helin as Saga Norén - an autistic Swedish murder detective who works with her Danish counterparts when a body is found on the Øresund Bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen. “Passera popcornen.”

SEPTEMBER 2011 Fulham’s youth academy has produced a few gems in recent years… and it looks like two more young talents might be about to emerge. The first of our two new promotees to the reserve team was Seán Lynch - a 17-year-old Irishman who could play anywhere across the defensive line. With his pace, crossing ability and work rate, his long-term future would most likely be as a right-back. Hopes are also high for Douglas McNeil - another 17-year-old who can play in attacking midfield or up front. The Scotsman is quick, hard-working and has exceptional passing ability. Meanwhile, a star of Fulham’s present was getting a little irritated. Anestis Agritis had started the season well with four goals in five games, though he’d only started twice. Ahead of our home game against struggling Sunderland, the 30-year-old Greek wanted to know why he wasn’t starting regularly. Agritis was undoubtedly a class striker with a keen eye for goal, but during my first nine months as Fulham manager, he had been overshadowed by a resurgent Paul McVeigh. Paul had not exactly slowed down in the early stages of this campaign - scoring an impressive brace to beat West Brom - but Anestis’ form was hard to ignore. I therefore decided to give Agritis an extended run in the starting XI, beginning with the visit of Sunderland. The Mackems narrowly avoided back-to-back relegations last season, but new manager David Mitchell had thus far won only one league game at the helm. Perhaps he was pining for Robert Webb? 10 SEPTEMBER 2011: Fulham vs Sunderland The first 20 minutes were no laughing matter for yours truly. After watching Brett Ormerod head over an early chance to put Fulham behind, we fell behind to Sunderland’s first shot of the match. Jochen Berger swung in a near-post cross, which journeyman midfielder Michael Stewart easily gobbled up. Sunderland captain Darren Bent nearly doubled their lead in the 33rd minute, when his header was met by a strong fingertip save from Cottagers skipper Wayne Hudson. Bent had another moment to forget on 41 minutes. The striker was easily beaten for pace by our left-back Arnar Guðmundsson, whose cross was flicked in by Anestis Agritis for a timely equaliser! Three minutes later, Guð turned bad, as Arnar fouled Berger dangerously close to our penalty area. The Icelander then watched his compatriot Armann Smári Bjørnsson whip in a free-kick to Sunderland forward Michael Dunwell, whose header restored the visitors’ lead just before half-time. I switched to a 4-4-2 for the second half, bringing on Paul McVeigh and Michael Gibson for Ormerod and the booked Florian Schneider respectively. That did us a fat load of good, as the Black Cats benefited from a huge stroke of luck seven minutes into the second half. Gavin Mahon’s free-kick delivery to Dunwell was passed on towards, and although our right-back Graham Bowater managed to intercept the pass, he succeeded only in diverting it into his own net. 3-1 to Sunderland. After Agritis spurned a couple of chances to get us back in contention, Dunwell killed off the contest in the 75th minute. Guðmundsson gave away yet another free-kick - this time copping a yellow card for pushing Bent. Mahon’s free-kick found the head of Dunwell, who outjumped Vicente Núñez and condemned us to a 4-1 deficit. McVeigh did pull a goal back in the 80th minute, converting a killer cross from substitute right-back Peter Mitchell. The Ulsterman was denied a second goal six minutes later by Mackems keeper James Jowsey, though youngster Tom Mølby stabbed in the rebound to make it 4-3. Unfortunately, we had left it too late to launch a proper comeback. Fulham - 3 (Agritis 41, McVeigh 80, Mølby 86) Sunderland - 4 (Stewart 20, Dunwell 44,75, Bowater og52) Division 1, Attendance 16,013 - POSITIONS: Fulham 13th, Sunderland 17th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Bowater (Mitchell), Piccolo, Thatcher, Guðmundsson; Schneider (McVeigh); Mølby, Núñez; Ormerod (Gibson), Cable; Agritis. BOOKED: Schneider, Guðmundsson. I’m struggling to think of another game where we were so shocking defensively. Heads had to roll after such a shambolic display - and I singled out Walter Piccolo for his inability to assert himself aerially. If anyone offered us £1million for the Italian stopper, I would take the money in a heartbeat. Another player who’d massively disappointed me was 17-year-old winger Wayne Cable, who turned up late for training the next morning and obviously looked like he’d had a pint or two. He received a strong warning about his conduct and was dropped from the squad that travelled to Chesterfield in midweek. In a more positive development, we finally welcomed right-winger Scott Brough back into the fold, over five months after he broke his leg in training. The 28-year-old was obviously too short of match fitness to start straight away, so he took his place on the bench as 18-year-old Michael Gibson got another chance to shine. 14 SEPTEMBER 2011: Chesterfield vs Fulham After finding the net in four straight games, this game marked the end of Anestis Agritis’ scoring streak. The Greek god pounced on a poor goal kick by Chesterfield skipper David Lucas in the third minute but could only thunder it against the bar. He would not have another shot at goal before he picked up a yellow card and was substituted at half-time. As the game went on, Chesterfield looked the more likely team to break the deadlock. Despite some brave defending from our German anchor man Florian Schneider, the Spireites would muster four shots on target - two each from striker Lars Iver Strand and midfielder Chris Carruthers. Wayne Hudson remained resolute in the Fulham goal, saving everything that was fired his way. While Hudson was on his way to just a second clean sheet this season, we launched a counter-attack in second-half stoppage time. Chesterfield’s defence had been weakened by an 80th-minute injury to left-back Paul Boertien, and our two half-time subs took full advantage. Midfielder Neil Danns’ through-ball picked out Paul McVeigh, who swept past teenage sweeper Simon Piper and then rifled in yet another late Fulham winner! Chesterfield - 0 Fulham - 1 (McVeigh 90) Division 1, Attendance 5,972 - POSITIONS: Chesterfield 20th, Fulham 9th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Bowater, Davies, Thatcher, Guðmundsson; Schneider; Mølby, Núñez (Danns); Gibson (Brough), Bouchiba; Agritis (McVeigh). BOOKED: Agritis, Schneider. That was our third win of the season - and in all of them, we’d scored the final goal in the last 10 minutes! Can you not leave it so late next time, lads? I don’t think my ticker can take the stress! Fellow mid-tablers Norwich were the next team to visit Craven Cottage, doing so off the back of a four-game winless run. Could we take advantage of their poor form and register another win - ideally with time to spare? 17 SEPTEMBER 2011: Fulham vs Norwich City We might have been brilliant at finishing matches, but we clearly weren’t so hot when it came to starting them. After just two minutes, Norwich striker Darren Kelly stung the palms of Wayne Hudson with a blistering volley. Hudson’s best efforts to keep it out were in vain, as former England midfielder Gavin McCann broke the deadlock from the rebound. That early setback shook us into life, and we created several equalising chances throughout the first half. Paul McVeigh’s attacking instinct got him into some great scoring positions, but he was consistently frustrated by some brave goalkeeping from Norwich’s 20-year-old shotstopper Lee Pike. McVeigh could have had even more chances if Canaries centre-back Wayne Thomas hadn’t been so imperious in the air and won countless headers. While we struggled to figure out just how to break open this rock-solid Norwich defence, Tim Breacker’s visitors broke through again in the 61st minute. Two more Canaries youngsters delivered the goods, as Iceland forward Stefan Jónsson’s cross was finished by a well-crafted strike from Scotland Under-21s midfielder Thomas Sinclair. Then, in the 69th minute, it looked like we would fall THREE goals behind for the second home game in a row. Only Florian Schneider’s goal-line clearance stopped Phil Porter from making it 3-0 Norwich. Florian’s midfield colleague Neil Danns then initiated a Cottagers counter-strike, hoofing the ball up for substitute Anestis Agritis to break away and drive it past Pike! At only 2-1 down, the game was alive and kicking again, with Agritis and McVeigh teaming up to try and get us back level. Anestis’ cross in the 73rd minute was met by a strong header from Paul... and an even better save by Pike, who was determined to preserve City’s lead. Agritis then spurned one more chance to save a point in the 87th minute as we slumped to another narrow defeat. Fulham - 1 (Agritis 69) Norwich City - 2 (McCann 2, Sinclair 61) Division 1, Attendance 12,343 - POSITIONS: Fulham 10th, Norwich 8th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1): Hudson; Bowater (Mitchell), Davies, Thatcher, Guðmundsson; Schneider; Brough (Gibson), Mølby (Agritis), Danns, Bouchiba; McVeigh. Back-to-back home defeats suggested that we still had serious problems to address. You can’t expect to win many matches if you give away eight shots on target on your home ground against a team of similar quality. I certainly wasn’t going to blame Wayne Hudson for our defensive frailties. Our goalkeeping captain had recently asked me for a new contract, and I was happy to reward his recent form with a hefty pay rise - £10,000 per week until the summer of 2016. After sitting out the last two games, Cable returned to the starting line-up when we visited 6th-placed Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Centre-half Jerel Ifil was also back after recovering from a knee injury, but left-back Arnar Guðmundsson was ruled out with a sprained ankle. 24 SEPTEMBER 2011: Sheffield United vs Fulham The early stages showed that Sheffield United had established themselves as one of the most dangerous attacking teams in Division 1. Wing-back Danny Butterfield was denied a 3rd-minute opener by the post, and striker Mark McCormick got a shot on target in the 13th. The Blades’ breakthrough came in the 16th, when playmaker Willie Howie blasted home after Fulham right-back Graham Bowater had miscontrolled the ball on the edge of our area. Following Howie’s opener, another Scot inflicted misery on us at the other end. Midway through the first half, goalkeeper Derek Bruce kept out a series of headers from Anestis Agritis, Curtis Davies and even Wayne Cable. We might have had better luck if we’d kept the ball on the ground, but ah well. Cable showed great endeavour to try and set up an equaliser in the 58th minute. However, his ambitious long ball towards substitute Paul McVeigh was brilliantly intercepted by United defender Indriði Sigurðsson. The Iceland international then played the ball up to the marauding Italian left-back Raffaele Mazzocco, who drove in the hosts’ second goal. We then started to put up more of a fight, with Agritis furiously hammering in a goal back just three minutes later - his fifth goal in six matches, by the way. Sadly, McVeigh didn’t look quite so potent, never coming close to adding to his 103 Fulham league goals. Sheffield United secured victory 10 minutes from full-time, and the Bramall Lane faithful got the chance to salute a centurion of their own. Billy Paynter’s header from a Scott Hughes cross was his 100th league strike for United since signing from Portsmouth in 2005. All those goals had come in Division 1, but who’s to say that Paynter and his Blades comrades won’t be playing Premiership football next term? Sheffield United - 3 (Howie 16, Mazzocco 58, Paynter 80) Fulham - 1 (Agritis 61) Division 1, Attendance 21,248 - POSITIONS: Sheff Utd 4th, Fulham 16th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Bowater (Mitchell), Davies, Ifil, Thatcher; Schneider; Mølby, Danns (McVeigh); Gibson (Brough), Cable; Agritis. BOOKED: Mitchell. Eight games into the new season, and already our promotion challenge was falling apart at the seams. Drastic action needed to be taken before we went to Nottingham Forest for our final match of the month. Agritis and Paul McVeigh played up front together for the first time this season as I switched to a 4-4-2 narrow diamond - with Cable playing as a makeshift attacking left-back. 28 SEPTEMBER 2011: Nottingham Forest vs Fulham Anestis Agritis was particularly determined to continue his latest goalscoring run. His 5th-minute volley might have been kept out by Forest goalkeeper Matthew Ramsey, but he went much closer a few moments later. Agritis latched onto a flick-on from winger Michael Gibson, and then unleashed a powerful strike that home defender Scott Wilson could only divert into his own goal. There was a hint of good fortune about our lead, so it probably wasn’t that surprising that it didn’t last long. Nottingham Forest were back level by the 8th minute, courtesy of a header from striker Beli Moumouni Dagano. The assist came from 19-year-old midfielder Wayne Tucker, who was actually making his Football League debut after signing from non-league Wimbledon just 24 hours earlier! Despite his inexperience, Tucker ran the midfield like a grizzled general, and the hosts went from strength to strength. Then, five minutes from half-time, Forest’s overlapping wing-backs combined to give them the lead, as 18-year-old Johnny Henriksson’s left-wing cross was scored by the more experienced Jamie Smith. Facing a fourth defeat in five games, I must confess that my mind turned to soup in the second half. I tried every act of tactical desperation to try and spark a fightback - switching to John Beck-style long-ball tactics, bringing on Brett Ormerod as a third striker, even playing Scott Brough as a right-back! As the match neared its end, we unsurprisingly looked like a complete mess - and we once again had to rely on Wayne Hudson just to keep the scoreline down to 2-1. There was a loud chorus of boos from the visiting Fulham fans at full-time... and I’m pretty sure one or two of them were calling for a new manager as well. Uh-oh. Nottingham Forest - 2 (Dagano 8, J Smith 40) Fulham - 1 (Wilson og5) Division 1, Attendance 7,021 - POSITIONS: Nottm Forest 7th, Fulham 16th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-4-2 Diamond): Hudson; Bowater (Brough), Davies, Ifil, Cable; Schneider (Piccolo); Gibson, Núñez; Mølby (Ormerod); McVeigh, Agritis. BOOKED: Agritis. Six points adrift of the play-off zone... and just two above the relegation zone. This was not in the script at the start of the season. I needed to turn around our fortunes quickly, otherwise the next head to roll would be mine.

Apologies for the late response. It's a very complicated case, and I don't envy you trying to get your head around it for your file. For the time being, I'm going to stick with assigning all records until 2002/2003 to CSA Steaua, and all records from 2003/2004 onwards to FCSB (this seems to be how it's treated in the Romanian competition histories in-game). I would rather not duplicate entries and have two different teams share the exact same record for a particular year (or years). Likewise, I will only apply Czechoslovakia's competition results to Czechia (but not to Slovakia as well), though this is obviously a very different case.

I'm seeing a lot of goals in my Millwall save as well. In the 2023/2024 season, there were an average 3.11 goals per match in the Championship. Norwich scored 109 goals and conceded 69. Seven teams scored at least 80 goals, and six teams conceded at least 80. Selected results from that season: Norwich 8-2 Ipswich (Shots on target: 14-3) Sunderland 5-5 QPR (Shots on target: 9-6) Bristol City 3-6 Blackburn (Shots on target: 7-10) QPR 4-4 Stoke (Shots on target: 6-6) I'm now about 34 matches into the 2024/2025 season, and the average is just under 3.10 goals per match. Sheffield United have scored 94 goals in 34 matches and are on course to break the league record (122) that has stood since 1927. I've also seen the following scorelines this season: Sheffield United 7-3 Plymouth (Shots on target: 11-3) Sheffield United 9-0 Cardiff (Shots on target: 17-0) Norwich 6-3 Sunderland (Shots on target: 19-5) Sunderland 6-3 Sheffield Wednesday (Shots on target: 15-4) Ipswich 5-4 Fulham (Shots on target: 6-6) Sunderland 6-2 Birmingham (Shots on target: 15-4) Save files uploaded as CFuller_2024.fm and CFuller_2025.fm. CFuller_Norwich v Ipswich.pkm CFuller_Sunderland v QPR.pkm CFuller_Bristol City v Blackburn.pkm CFuller_QPR v Stoke.pkm CFuller_Sheff Utd v Plymouth.pkm CFuller_Sheff Utd v Cardiff.pkm CFuller_Norwich v Sunderland.pkm CFuller_Sunderland v Sheffield Wednesday.pkm CFuller_Ipswich v Fulham.pkm CFuller_Sunderland v Birmingham.pkm

DIVISION 1 TABLE (End of August 2011) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Blackburn 4 2 0 0 4 0 2 0 0 5 1 12 2nd Man City 4 1 1 0 5 3 2 0 0 7 5 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Wolves 4 2 0 0 4 1 1 0 1 4 5 9 4th Nottm Forest 4 2 0 0 4 1 1 0 1 2 4 9 5th Norwich 4 1 1 0 4 2 1 1 0 3 1 8 6th Notts Co 3 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 4 1 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Swindon 4 0 1 1 3 5 2 0 0 5 1 7 8th Gillingham 4 1 1 0 3 1 1 0 1 3 3 7 9th Fulham 4 1 1 0 3 2 1 0 1 1 2 7 10th Birmingham 4 1 0 1 3 1 1 0 1 4 4 6 11th Carlisle 4 1 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 2 6 12th West Ham 4 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 2 6 13th Chesterfield 4 1 0 1 4 4 0 2 0 6 6 5 14th Charlton 4 1 0 1 3 3 0 2 0 2 2 5 15th Sheff Utd 4 0 1 1 6 7 1 0 1 3 3 4 16th Kidderminster 4 1 0 1 4 4 0 1 1 3 4 4 17th W.B.A. 4 1 1 0 5 3 0 0 2 1 4 4 18th Darlington 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 0 2 1 3 3 19th Tottenham 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 0 2 1 3 3 20th Aston Villa 4 1 0 1 3 3 0 0 2 3 7 3 21st Sunderland 4 1 0 1 5 5 0 0 2 1 5 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd Huddersfield 4 1 0 1 2 4 0 0 2 2 6 3 23rd Macclesfield 4 0 1 1 5 6 0 1 1 3 4 2 24th Preston 3 0 0 2 0 5 0 0 1 2 4 0 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Barcelona’s dream team becomes even more formidable with the signings of Hertha BSC midfielder Pablo Aimar and PSV striker Mateja Kezman for a combined £20.5million. Kezman makes an instant impact, as the Serbian and his Croatian strike partner Ivica Olic each score twice to destroy Celtic 4-0 in the Club World Championship Final in Istanbul. Ipswich are beaten 3-1 by Chelsea in the season-opening Community Shield... but the mood at Portman Road is soon lifted by a new signing. 36-year-old England centurion David Beckham signs a season-long deal with the Tractor Boys after leaving Leeds. Meanwhile, Victoria Beckham pursues a new career making designer overalls for farmers. Manchester United lose 3-0 at Panathinaikos in the Champions League qualifiers, and face a humiliating demotion to the UEFA Cup. That is until the return leg at Old Trafford, where two Frank Lampard penalties and a Thierry Henry hat-trick send United through with a 7-0 win! By full-time, PAO’s goalkeeping captain Antonis Nikopolidis is looking more like George Galloway than George Clooney! Sulking striker Djibril Cissé leaves Old Trafford and joins Lazio for £5.75million. Another French international on the move is winger Franck Ribéry, who swaps Marseille for Glasgow in an £11.75million transfer to Rangers. Meanwhile, Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes a slow start at Ibrox, being outscored by Gers team-mates Alan Smith and Daniel Bierofka. Ex-Manchester United forward Ruud van Nistelrooy - now 35 - scores five goals in five games as Bordeaux race to the top of Ligue 1 under new coach Tom Prahl. Prahl isn’t the only Swede to captivate France’s top flight, as 24-year-old striker Carl Shkulqi also opens the season with five goals for 2nd-placed Lille, including two against former club St-Etienne. IN OTHER NEWS... Six months into Libya’s civil war, rebel forces take control of the capital city Tripoli and overthrow Muammar Gaddafi’s government. Colonel Gaddafi and his family flee east to his home city of Sirte, which remains loyal to him. Mark Duggan - a 29-year-old black man - is shot dead by police in Tottenham. His death triggers days of violent clashes and rioting across London (and subsequently other English cities), leading to five deaths and £200million worth of property damage. Cher Lloyd - the 18-year-old X Factor reject and Cheryl Cole knock-off - has her first (and hopefully only) UK Number 1 single with “Swagger Jagger”. A couple of weeks later, “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera cracks the top three. In completely unrelated news, The Rolling Stones consider going on yet another world tour. Is there life on Mars? We still don’t know, but NASA says that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed what appears to be liquid water on the red planet…

AUGUST 2011 Our early pre-season results had shown plenty of promise... at least on the defensive side of things. We had yet to concede a goal in three matches, though I was more concerned that we had only scored two at the other end - both against Elgin City. While our new 4-1-4-1 system was clearly making us more defensively stable, I wanted to show a bit more ambition and look at alternatives. For the short trip to Division 3 side Watford, I went back to a 4-4-2 - with Paul McVeigh and Brett Ormerod continuing their long-time strike partnership. 2 AUGUST 2011: Watford vs Fulham Okay, so maybe 4-4-2 isn’t the answer to our prayers. We needed to talk about Kevins in the 12th minute, when journeyman winger Kevin McLeod volleyed in a cross from striker Kevin Russell to give Watford a surprise lead. We narrowly avoided falling further behind and eventually drew level 11 minutes into the second half. Tom Mølby played a one-two with Paul McVeigh and then stung the Hornets with a lovely curler, but it wasn’t enough to spark a full-on comeback. Watford - 1 (McLeod 12) Fulham - 1 (Mølby 56) Friendly, Attendance 8,171 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-4-2): Wilkinson; Bowater (Mitchell), Piccolo, Ifil (Davies), Magnusson (Guðmundsson); Gibson (Danns), Núñez (Mølby), Schneider (Numme), Bouchiba (Cable); Ormerod (Agritis), McVeigh. BOOKED: Schneider. Good grief. If we’re this blunt in competitive games, there’s no chance we’re going up! While I considered bolstering my attacking options even further, we looked ahead to our penultimate friendly - at home to a Crystal Palace team who finished 11th in the Premiership last season. 6 AUGUST 2011: Fulham vs Crystal Palace Youth and experience combined with devastating effect in the 4th minute, when a fresh-faced Wayne Cable crossed for an evergreen Paul McVeigh to head home. Crystal Palace never recovered from that, as our high-intensity attacking game meant that they could never take it easy. Joe Royle’s family got another kick up the proverbial three minutes into the second half, when a dropped catch from goalie Patrik Eklund allowed McVeigh to score again. Rounding off a dominant Fulham display was 17-year-old midfielder Atle Iversen, who came off the bench and headed in the third and final goal. Fulham - 3 (McVeigh 4,48, Iversen 73) Crystal Palace - 0 Friendly, Attendance 13,183 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Mitchell (Bowater), Davies, Thatcher (Ifil), Guðmundsson (Magnusson); Schneider (Núñez); Mølby (Iversen), Danns; Ormerod (Gibson), Cable (Bouchiba); McVeigh (Agritis). Huh. Well, that shut me up! Okay, so we could do it against Crystal Palace, but could we also hack it on a cold Tuesday night in Nottinghamshire? Our final warm-up match for the new season was at Field Mill, as we faced a Mansfield team who were recently relegated to Division 3. 9 AUGUST 2011: Mansfield Town vs Fulham This was a miserable game, as play frequently got bogged down in midfield, resulting in both teams managing just a single shot apiece. Ours from Michael Gibson in the 13th minute was not very lucky, deflecting off the Mansfield wall and going wide. By contrast, Stags striker Richard Fenton unleashed a perfect shot on the hour mark, soundly beating Jimmy Wilkinson with the hosts’ only effort of the game. Typi-bloody-cal. Mansfield Town - 1 (R Fenton 60) Fulham - 0 Friendly, Attendance 2,949 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Wilkinson (Price); Mitchell (Bowater), Ifil (Piccolo), Thatcher, Guðmundsson (Magnusson); Núñez (Schneider); Mølby (Iversen), Danns (Ormerod); Gibson, Cable (Bouchiba); Agritis (Butler). [Sigh] I don’t know what to expect from us anymore. So that’s six games played, six goals scored, two goals conceded. We only deliver the finest entertainment in this corner of west London. That disastrous result against Mansfield probably didn’t bode well for the new season. Our first five competitive matches of the new campaign would all be against teams from the Midlands. First up, we headed deep into the Black Country... and into the Wolves’ lair at Molineux. The Wanderers conceded 96 goals en route to another Premiership relegation last season, but in one-cap England striker Shola Ameobi, they had a bona fide goal machine who could tear up Division 1. This would not be an easy start to my first full season at Fulham. 13 AUGUST 2011: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Fulham Both goalkeepers were called into action in the first 10 minutes. Wolves goalie Michael Phillips - once of Manchester United - caught a very early header from Wayne Cable shortly after kick-off. Fulham counterpart Wayne Hudson then denied home striker Emmanuel Olisadebe - erstwhile of Northampton - in the 8th minute. After an open start to this match, it was Wolves who edged in front. Former England Under-21s midfielder James Edge knocked the ball down for defender Dave Duffy, who made an unexpected run towards goal and then fired home. It was only the 26-year-old centre-back’s second senior goal, because of course it bloody was. Things almost got worse for us in the 28th minute, when our new German midfielder Florian Schneider narrowly avoided a debut red card for a dangerous two-footer on Poland international Olisadebe. Schneider escaped with just a yellow, but he returned for the second half... and almost got an assist in the 52nd minute. Unfortunately, Brett Ormerod could only fire Florian’s cross into Phillips’ hands. Shola Ameobi then had three chances to secure victory for Wanderers. The first two of these were saved by Hudson, but there was nothing Wayne could do about the third. With 15 minutes to go, Ameobi skipped past Ormerod, Ben Thatcher and then Tom Mølby before blasting a stunner into the top corner - a strike worthy of winning any match. Wolverhampton Wanderers - 2 (Duffy 16, Ameobi 75) Fulham - 0 Division 1, Attendance 13,238 - POSITIONS: Wolves 8th, Fulham 20th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Bowater, Davies (Mitchell), Thatcher, Guðmundsson; Schneider (Núñez); Mølby, Danns; Ormerod, Cable; McVeigh (Agritis). BOOKED: Schneider. I never expected much from that game, but the fact we never looked competitive was a major concern. Could we actually rely on 19-year-old Tom Mølby to be our playmaker this season, or was he not ready for such a big responsibility? Mølby was one of three players who were dropped from the starting XI for our first home league game of the season against West Brom, who also lost 2-0 on the opening day (against Notts County). Curtis Davies and Brett Ormerod also made way, with Jerel Ifil, Michael Gibson and 21-year-old winger Mark Smith all coming into the side. Smith had reached a pivotal point in his Fulham career. The Wales Under-21s international had already made 54 appearances for the Cottagers after coming through the academy, but his development had stalled and he spent the second half of last season on loan at Farnborough in the Conference. If Mark was ever to become a regular starter at Craven Cottage, he needed to show it now. 20 AUGUST 2011: Fulham vs West Bromwich Albion Though West Brom tried to attack from the outset, they barely troubled Wayne Hudson in the first 20 minutes. Indeed, the deadlock would be broken at the other end in the 23rd minute, when Paul McVeigh unleashed a fierce and accurate shot from just outside Albion’s penalty area. 1-0 to Fulham! Four minutes later, however, the Baggies found their bounce. Midfield maestro Wade Elliott escaped from Florian Schneider to deliver a killer cross to striker Neil Mellor, whose lethal header levelled the scores. The momentum was now with West Brom, but with Hudson between the sticks, we didn’t have too much to worry about. Captain Wayne turned away a couple of efforts from Elliott either side of half-time and remained as resolute as ever, also thwarting my former Kidderminster midfielder Danny Gould. Our own attacks were far from convincing, so a 1-1 draw looked to be on the cards... until substitute winger Elbekay Bouchiba won a corner off West Brom keeper Daryl Maughan in the 90th minute. Another sub - Spanish midfielder Vicente Núñez - floated a fantastic delivery into the box, and McVeigh outjumped Maughan to head in a dramatic winner! The Northern Irishman’s 100th league goal for Fulham couldn’t have come at a much more critical time! Fulham - 2 (McVeigh 23,90) West Bromwich Albion - 1 (Mellor 27) Division 1, Attendance 14,252 - POSITIONS: Fulham 15th, West Brom 21st FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Bowater, Ifil, Thatcher, Guðmundsson; Schneider (Agritis); Gibson (Núñez), Danns; Smith, Cable (Bouchiba); McVeigh. Our league campaign was underway, but how far would we go in the League Cup? A tough test awaited us in Round 1, when we went to Pride Park to face a resurgent Derby side who had already stormed to the top of Division 2. At risk of almost guaranteeing another cup upset, I tried another tactical experiment - and returned to an attack-minded 5-3-2 system that had served me well at my previous clubs. 23 AUGUST 2011: Derby County vs Fulham Playing in an attacking midfield role seemed to suit Tom Mølby to the ground, as the Danish teenager opened the scoring from Arnar Guðmundsson’s cross after just seven minutes. With Wayne Hudson getting the night off, Arnar was wearing the captain’s armband - and even though the Icelander was only 23, he was already showing great leadership qualities. Taking Hudson’s place in goal was the equally reliable Jimmy Wilkinson, who kept out a couple of potential quick equalisers from left-back Matthew Taylor and striker Michael Symes. Unfortunately, Jimmy could do little to stop a powerful header from right-back Darren Way, which drew Derby level in the 13th minute. The next half-hour was action-packed, with both teams producing chances to move 2-1 ahead. Come the half-time whistle, however, Derby boss Steve McClaren was in a happier mood than I was. A mistake from Fulham midfielder Michael Gibson gave the ball away to his Rams counterpart Jimmy O’Connor, and the 20-year-old Scot took full advantage to put the hosts in front two minutes before half-time. Thankfully, Gibson went from zero to hero just six minutes into the second half. Michael’s hanging-ball corner was headed in by Greek frontman Anestis Agritis, and the scores were back level... until Derby’s attacking midfielder Craig Disley restored their advantage in the 67th minute. County’s second lead was even shorter-lived than their first, lasting just a couple of minutes. Guðmundsson chipped in a second assist, Agritis volleyed in his second goal, and now it was 3-3! But a crazy game then took ANOTHER turn in the 78th minute, when Taylor thundered in a free-kick after a foul from Walter Piccolo, putting Derby back ahead for a THIRD time! With captain Rudi Coleano and the rest of the Rams backline defending deep, it would take a big effort for us to equalise once again. Our last chance to save our League Cup skins came deep into injury time, when Vicente Núñez nodded a Gibson corner goalwards. Derby keeper Norbert Ernst tried to deflect the ball away... but Ben Thatcher thrashed in the rebound with as much aggression as one of his trademark tackles! FOUR-FOUR! Having played through over 90 minutes of breathtaking football, both teams looked out on their feet before extra-time, let alone half an hour later! A gruelling game eventually took its toll on one of our players, with professional hardman Thatcher coming off six minutes from the end because he’d stubbed his toe. The 35-year-old Welshman would play no part in the penalty shoot-out that would decide the outcome of this League Cup epic. After the first four rounds of penalties, the scoreline in the shoot-out was exactly the same as it was in regulation time - 4-4. Sadly, this unblemished record ended when an anxious Mølby screwed his penalty wide, giving Derby the chance to secure victory. Norwegian midfielder Ole Talberg stepped forward... and then blazed the ball over Wilkinson’s crossbar! Sudden death! Following Mølby’s let-off, another teenager took our sixth penalty. Alas, Cable’s effort was no match for Ernst, who put the Rams on the brink of victory once again. This time, Taylor made no mistakes, and Pride Park erupted with joy as our League Cup exploits came to an agonising end. Derby County - 4 (Way 13, J O’Connor 42, Disley 67, Taylor 78) Fulham - 4 (Mølby 7, Agritis 51,69, Thatcher 90) [after extra-time, Derby County win 5-4 on penalties] League Cup Round 1, Attendance 17,389 PENALTY SHOOT-OUT (Fulham, Derby): Gibson 0-1, Mair 1-1, Agritis 1-2, Elliott 2-2, Núñez 2-3, J O’Connor 3-3, Davey 3-4, S O’Connor 4-4, Mølby missed, Talberg missed, Cable saved, Taylor 5-4. FULHAM LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Wilkinson; Piccolo, Davies (Magnusson), Thatcher; Bowater, Guðmundsson (Cable); Gibson, Núñez; Mølby; Ormerod (Davey), Agritis. BOOKED: Bowater. It really was the worst outcome. We were out of the League Cup, and several key players were knackered for our next two league games, which Ben Thatcher would definitely miss with a stubbed toe. Birmingham’s entertainers were next up for us at St Andrew’s. Wayne Cable was still a little cut up after his crucial penalty miss against Derby, so the more experienced left-winger Elbekay Bouchiba made his first start of the season. I also gave a competitive debut to 17-year-old Atle Iversen on the right wing. 27 AUGUST 2011: Birmingham City vs Fulham I knew all about Birmingham’s firepower, so I absolutely feared the worst when they found the net after just nine minutes. Grant McCann wheeled away in delight after flicking home defensive midfielder Richard Murphy’s through-ball, but the Northern Ireland star’s celebrations were cut short when an offside flag was raised against striker Andy Johnson. Nonetheless, the tone was set for a match that the Blues pretty much dominated. They frequently carved our defence open and had NINE shots on target, including SIX from Johnson, who found the net 26 times last season. However, the hosts were consistently kept at bay by Wayne Hudson, who even by his ridiculously high standards was goalkeeping out of his skin! No prizes for guessing who the Man of the Match was! That said, Birmingham’s keeper Matt Bates was no slouch either, twice keeping Paul McVeigh off the scoresheet. I eventually replaced him with Anestis Agritis - another substitution that would pay huge dividends late on. With eight minutes to go, left-back Arnar Guðmundsson sent a free-kick into City’s box, where Agritis produced a stunning header to silence St Andrew’s! Immediately after Agritis’ strike, I brought on Vicente Núñez for fellow midfielder Neil Danns. Núñez was my third and final sub... and with impeccable timing, centre-back Jerel Ifil went down clutching his knee just two minutes later. Having to defend a slender lead with 10 men against a striker of Johnson’s quality was a daunting task, but we somehow managed to hold on. Birmingham City - 0 Fulham - 1 (Agritis 82) Division 1, Attendance 23,355 - POSITIONS: Birmingham 14th, Fulham 6th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Bowater, Ifil, Piccolo, Guðmundsson; Schneider; Mølby, Danns (Núñez); Iversen (Smith), Bouchiba; McVeigh (Agritis). Another league win... but another injury to a defender. Ifil’s twisted knee kept the Saint Lucia international on the sidelines for our Bank Holiday Monday match, at home to a mighty Notts County team. Walter Smith’s Magpies were not only undefeated; they had not yet conceded a goal in their opening fixtures. 29 AUGUST 2011: Fulham vs Notts County Wayne Hudson immediately carried on from where he left off, tipping away a first-minute header from Notts County striker Sebastián Cobelli. The one-time Argentina international tried again in the 34th minute, only to be denied once again. Nobody else would come close to scoring in an otherwise mediocre first half. We certainly never looked like opening the scoring - so when we did just that six minutes into the second half, it was very much against the run of play. Making just his 11th senior appearance, 17-year-old winger Wayne Cable skilfully dribbled past the experienced Magpies right-back Kevin McNaughton and then crossed into the box. Anestis Agritis then showed why he deserved to start ahead of Paul McVeigh, nodding in his fourth goal in as many games - and giving Wayne his first senior assist! Walter Smith urged his team to push forward relentlessly for the final half-hour. Cobelli had a third shot saved by Hudson, who also frustrated Notts County’s attacking midfield substitute Ilias Androutsos. The pressure eventually paid off on 87 minutes, when a header from veteran striker Neil Harris gave us a taste of our late-goal medicine - and took a point back to the Midlands. Fulham - 1 (Agritis 51) Notts County - 1 (Harris 87) Division 1, Attendance 12,691 - POSITIONS: Fulham 9th, Notts County 6th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Bowater, Davies (Mitchell), Piccolo, Guðmundsson; Schneider; Gibson (Núñez), Danns; Ormerod (Smith), Cable; Agritis. BOOKED: Davies. A cruel way for our month to end, but I’m quietly confident about what’s to come. If we can come out of our shell and counter-attack with more confidence, we have the makings of a very good team.

Or perhaps it's not as easy a fix as you seem to think it is.

Fulham squad - Start of 2011/2012 season GOALKEEPERS 1. Jimmy Wilkinson - GK, age 22, English A product of Fulham’s academy, Wilkinson is a brave, consistent and competent goalie. Unfortunately, he is overshadowed by an even better one. 14. Wayne Hudson - GK, age 26, English Nobody at this club deserves the captaincy more than Hudson. He is an exceptional and almost undroppable shotstopper who always comes big when it matters. DEFENDERS 2. Graham Bowater - D R, age 27, English Former Peterborough right-back Bowater was one of last season’s surprise packages. Though he isn’t great technically, he is very solid defensively. 3. Ben Thatcher - D LC, age 35, Welsh [33 caps, 3 goals] Thatcher’s experience is unrivalled at Fulham, with over 600 senior games to his name. The hot-headed stopper loves a crunching tackle but is also strong in the air. 4. Walter Piccolo - SW/D C, age 23, Italian I’m starting to think that Piccolo is not a centre-back. The technically-gifted sweeper is being retrained as a holding midfield to atone for his lack of height. 5. Jerel Ifil - D C, age 29, Saint Lucian [4 caps] Ifil is brave and authoritative in the air, which should make our defence tougher to beat. The former Watford and Wolves ace also has a positive attitude. 12. Peter Mitchell - D C, age 25, Scottish [capped at Under-21s level] Mitchell arrives from Arsenal for a second spell at Fulham. Though he is reliable enough at centre-half, his crossing ability could be more useful at right-back. 15. Arnar Guðmundsson - SW/D/DM RLC, age 22, Icelandic [14 caps] Guðmundsson is my most expensive signing so far at £1.5million. The Icelander is quick, strong, two-footed, and surely destined to be a top-class wing-back. 18. Curtis Davies - D C, age 26, Sierra Leonean [3 caps] Davies signed a new contract this summer but question marks remain over him. Can the energetic and intelligent centre-back be relied upon in aerial challenges? 31. Nigel Proffitt - D LC, age 18, English Left-back Proffitt works hard, is strong in the tackle, and made 12 appearances last season. That said, he probably needs to go out on loan to reach the next level. MIDFIELDERS 6. Mark Smith - AM/F RC, age 21, Welsh Despite playing over 50 games for Fulham already, Smith is still not established at Fulham. The pacey winger might benefit from another loan. 7. Scott Brough - AM RLC, age 28, English Brough is a versatile winger who showed plenty of technique and creativity at points last season. Sadly, he broke his leg in March and a return is still some way off. 8. Neil Danns - AM RC, age 27, Guyanese [18 caps, 2 goals] Danns isn’t the most gifted midfielder, but he’s a handy and committed team player. The Liverpudlian’s best attributes are his pace, stamina and creative vision. 13. Michael Gibson - M RC, age 18, English Gibson looks to have a bright future as either a right-winger or central midfielder. The set-piece specialist is looking to kick on after a promising debut season. 19. Florian Schneider - DM LC, age 26, German [capped at B level] Schneider is the no-nonsense midfield general this team lacked last season. He is strong, defensively responsible, and blessed with fine technique on both feet. 20. Elbekay Bouchiba - M L, age 32, Dutch Bouchiba got 4 goals and 10 assists last season after arriving from Dagenham & Redbridge. The flying Dutch-Moroccan’s contract expires next summer. 21. Wayne Cable - AM L, age 17, Welsh Speedy trickster Cable is the latest left-wing sensation to come out of Wales. He showed glimpses of his talent last term but is he ready for regular senior football? 22. Vicente Núñez - DM RC, age 20, Spanish Núñez is a tireless midfielder whose all-round skills could take him to the top. My first Fulham signing has already played 14 times since joining the team in December. 28. Tom Mølby - AM C, age 19, Danish Mølby made a huge breakthrough under my leadership, getting 3 goals and 6 assists. The classy attacking midfielder has the world at his feet if he can become more consistent. FORWARDS 9. Paul McVeigh - S C, age 33, Northern Irish [9 caps, 1 goal] The evergreen McVeigh had his best-ever season last term, bagging 26 goals in 44 games. He is now the club’s all-time top scorer, and hopefully there’s still more to come. 10. Anestis Agritis - S C, age 30, Greek [2 caps] Explosive striker Agritis tends to get frustrated at not being a regular starter. But he does take his chances when they come, scoring 11 times in his first Fulham season. 11. Brett Ormerod - F RC, age 34, English Ormerod’s 10th season at the Cottage will surely be his last. After 107 goals in 362 games, can the popular and hard-working marksman sign off in style? 17. Michael Butler - S C, age 17, English Butler is a quick, tall and selfless forward, but he needs to be more clinical to make the grade. The youth graduate is still waiting for a first senior goal after 25 games. RESERVES GOALKEEPER: Craig Price (16) DEFENDERS: Graham Edwards (18), Gary Hogg (17), Halldór Magnusson (19), Stephen Richardson (20), Dave Taylor (21) MIDFIELDERS: James Hughes (23), Atle Iversen (17), Henning Numme (17), Colm Ryan (18) FORWARDS: Jamie Davey (20), Derek McIntyre (16)

ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Having led Southampton to their first top-five finish in 36 years, Guus Hiddink shaves off his moustache and retires from management aged 64. Hiddink is succeeded by ex-Ajax boss Bob Bradley, who becomes the second American to coach a Premiership club - following in the footsteps of Newcastle's Brian Quinn. Manchester United add even more experience to an ageing team, as they sign Porto striker Miroslav Klose and Blackburn goalkeeper Alex Manninger. 34-year-old Phil Neville also returns from Celtic to be reunited with his older brother... until Gary leaves to become Wycombe's new player-manager a few weeks later. Phil is gutted. After winning zero trophies in nine years, Zlatan Ibrahimovic's ego grows too big for Newcastle - and Rangers' new manager Bernd Krauss brings him to Ibrox for £10.75million. Meanwhile, bitter rivals Celtic smash their transfer record with the £17.5million purchase of Spain and Mallorca winger Joaquín. Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon ends an eight-year spell at Liverpool and returns home in an £11.25million transfer to Lazio. Across the eternal city, Roma focus on strengthening their frontline, poaching Real Madrid legend Raúl and Toulouse's French goal machine Frédéric David on Bosman free transfers. Argentina win their first Copa America title since 2003, overcoming holders Brazil 2-1 in the Final in Asunción, Paraguay. Hertha BSC midfielder Pablo Aimar scores the winner in the 80th minute, after captain Gabriel Milito's early opener is cancelled out by Brazil defender Ricardo. IN OTHER NEWS... Norway is rocked by two terrorist attacks on 22 July. Eight people are killed by a car bomb in central Oslo, before another 67 are shot dead at a youth summer camp on the island of Utøya. A 32-year-old far-right extremist is arrested in connection with the attacks. One of Britain's best-loved musicians dies suddenly at a tragically young age, leaving their legions of fans distraught. Rest in peace, Würzel - guitarist of heavy metal legends Motörhead. It is reported that journalists from “News of the World” - the Sunday tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International - hacked the phones of British soldiers’ relatives, 7/7 London bombing victims, and murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. The scandal quickly leads to the paper’s closure, after 168 years in print. There isn't a dry eye in the clubhouse at Royal St George's when Darren Clarke wins his first major golf title at the Open Championship. This had been the 20th attempt at winning the Open for the popular Northern Irishman, who lost his wife Heather to cancer five years ago.

JULY 2011 My first full season at Fulham was on the horizon, and I had a good feeling about this one. Having taken the Cottagers to within a couple of points of the Division 1 play-offs, I believed that we could now go a step further. The Fulham board didn't fancy our chances quite so much. Their expectations were simply to "stay clear of relegation", having finished in 21st place in each of the three campaigns prior to my mid-season arrival last November. That negative mindset was something I would look to change over the coming months. Ahead of the new campaign, I had started to build a team that I believed could realistically challenge for promotion to the Premiership. The new defensive trio of wing-back Arnar Guðmundsson and centre-halves Jerel Ifil and Peter Mitchell would strengthen a rather shaky Cottagers backline that had been significantly weakened by captain George McCartney's shock departure to Arsenal. Defensive midfielder Florian Schneider was the only other major addition to the squad, though I did bring in a handful of young prospects. These included a couple of Norwegian talents, who arrived just before we began our pre-season training camp in northern Scotland. The skilful 16-year-old attacking midfielder Atle Iversen signed on a free transfer, having recently been released by Lillestrøm. We then paid an initial £150,000 to second-division side Clausenengen for Henning Numme - a 17-year-old holding midfielder who had coveted interest from Lyon in Ligue 1. Meanwhile, backup goalkeeper Mike Edwards was sold for £230,000 to Carlisle. Edwards had spent part of the previous campaign on loan at Hartlepool in Division 3, and although the 28-year-old was a pretty capable shotstopper, he was not quite of the same quality as first-teamers Wayne Hudson and Jimmy Wilkinson. I was now pretty happy with my squad and was in an optimistic mood when we arrived in the Highlands for our opening two friendlies. The first of them was against Scottish Division 2 side Elgin City, who were managed by a certain former Fulham boss. Yes, unbelievably, Kevin Keegan was still in charge at Borrough Briggs, and had been for almost a decade now! For this match, I decided to try out a new variation of the 4-1-4-1 - with the two wingers pushed up into the attacking midfield strata to provide more support for the lone striker. I would love it if this tactical switch worked... LOVE IT! 19 JULY 2011: Elgin City vs Fulham Though some sloppy passing gave Elgin far more possession than we would have liked, we were still far too strong for the hosts. Anestis Agritis opened the scoring with a 17th-minute scorcher after some good build-up play from midfielder Neil Danns. Two debutant midfielders then linked up to double our lead early in the second half. Florian Schneider's free-kick was finished by a header from 17-year-old Henning Numme, who celebrated his first Fulham goal by dancing to a cheesy Moldovan pop song. Kevin Keegan did not love it. Elgin City - 0 Fulham - 2 (Agritis 17, Numme 56) Friendly, Attendance 2,611 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson (Price); Mitchell (Edwards), Davies, Piccolo (Ifil), Guðmundsson (Magnusson); Schneider (Núñez); Danns (Gibson), Numme; Iversen (Smith), Cable (McIntyre); Agritis (McVeigh). BOOKED: Guðmundsson. While our pre-season was off to a good start, the smile was wiped off my face the next morning... when Mitchell was absent from training. I eventually found the Scottish defender fast asleep in his hotel after a night of heavy drinking. Furious, I sent him home - and warned him that any further misconduct would not be tolerated. A few days later, we faced Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who finished 2nd in Division 1 last season - narrowly missing out on a first-ever promotion to the Scottish Premier League. 23 JULY 2011: Inverness Caledonian Thistle vs Fulham I'll be honest with you - this match was absolute garbage. Neither team could string together more than a few passes at a time, and the only shot on target was a very tame free-kick from Fulham winger Michael Gibson late on. Those poor souls at the Caledonian Stadium all deserved a refund after sitting through 90 minutes of misery. Inverness Caledonian Thistle - 0 Fulham - 0 Friendly, Attendance 2,115 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Wilkinson (Hudson); Bowater (Edwards), Richardson, Thatcher (Piccolo), Magnusson (Guðmundsson); Schneider (Smith); Mølby (Núñez), Numme (Gibson); Ormerod, Bouchiba (Cable); Butler (McVeigh). That match was quickly forgotten, and focus turned towards our next friendly match away to Derby. Then the League Cup Round 1 draw took place, and we were drawn away to... erm, Derby. While it was tempting to use this friendly match as a dress rehearsal for the cup game, I spoke with Derby's manager Steve McClaren, and we agreed that it didn't make sense to go ahead. The friendly was cancelled, and we instead had a full week of training to prepare for our first home fixture of pre-season. The first visitors to Craven Cottage this summer were the back-to-back League Cup holders Bolton. How would our new-look 4-1-4-1 look up against Bruce Grobbelaar's low-block defence? 30 JULY 2011: Fulham vs Bolton Wanderers This was slightly livelier than our last game. Bolton forward Jermaine Johnson forced three very good saves out of our goalkeeper Wayne Hudson, while the rest of our defence did a great job of frustrating the Trotters to keep another clean sheet. Things didn't look so good, as playmaker Tom Mølby had a 32nd-minute goal disallowed, and our attackers struggled to find the target for the next hour. Another bore draw. Fulham - 0 Bolton Wanderers - 0 Friendly, Attendance 4,180 FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson (Wilkinson); Mitchell (Bowater), Davies, Ifil (Thatcher), Guðmundsson (Magnusson); Schneider (Núñez); Mølby (Gibson), Danns; Ormerod (Hughes), Bouchiba (Cable); Agritis (McVeigh). BOOKED: Schneider. Good news... we've worked out how to defend! Hudson was inspirational in goal once again, and there was no doubt that someone with his consistency and leadership was the right man to take over the Fulham captaincy full-time. Now... if we could figure out how to start scoring again, that would be great!

Who won the FA Cup and the EFL Cup? FA Cup winners qualify for Europa League. EFL Cup winners qualify for the Europa Conference League.

I'm enjoying it more than FM23. But then again, FM23 set the bar pretty low for me. The match animations are still a bit messy (especially with goalkeepers) but the game in general seems a bit more polished. I just wish we didn't have to put up with the same old user interface bugs cropping up year after year, of which there are too many to mention.

Back for a fourth season in a row, ITCH might just be for you if you love managing in international football, or even if you merely like having accurate national team histories. This file gives every national team in FM24 complete histories from various tournaments. Using Wikipedia and RSSSF for reference, I have added data for all the qualifying and final stages of World Cups and continental championships, plus other in-game competitions such as the Confederations Cup. My update is designed to be as CORRECT, COMPLETE, and CONSISTENT as possible. I have completely erased all national team histories from the database and inserted my own data for every country from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. This means that my file will be compatible with the original and updated FM24 databases. I created ITCH after becoming appalled at the standard of national team history data in the original database. While the histories for some countries like England were fairly accurate, the histories for other countries like Spain were badly lacking, while many did not have any history at all. For example, some nations that had previously qualified for World Cups were not shown as having done so. This update rectifies such errors and omissions. My ETCH update adds full continental competition histories to clubs in Europe. My ATCH update adds continental competition histories to teams in North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. ETCH adds data for all the qualifying and final stages of every official UEFA club competition since 1955, including the Champions League, the Europa League and now the Europa Conference League. ATCH adds data for all the qualifying and final stages of every official CONMEBOL and CONCACAF club competition since 1960, including the Copa Libertadores and the CONCACAF Champions League. I hope you enjoy using these files as much as I enjoyed creating them. I would also like to thank @magicmastermind124, without whose help the creations of these databases would have taken much longer than they did. SAMPLE IMAGES ITCH ETCH ATCH QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Q. How many changes have you made to the database? A. Around 53,000 on ITCH, 86,000 on ETCH, and 32,000 on ATCH. Q. Why is there no data for age-group tournaments, such as the Olympic Games or the FIFA U-20 World Cup on ITCH? A. Currently, it is impossible to add past tournament data specifically for age-group teams. Only a small number of national teams had histories for such tournaments, so I have removed those from the database for now. However, I am considering the possibility of adding age-group tournament data in a future update - perhaps for FM25. Q. I have started a new save game with your ETCH and ATCH updates and I cannot find continental competition histories for clubs in certain countries. Why? A. When Football Manager creates a new save game, it will only load changes for clubs in the nation(s) that you have loaded. For example, if you load just the English leagues, FM will only load full continental histories for English clubs. It also means that you'll need to install custom leagues to see complete histories for clubs based in nations such as Cyprus and Lithuania, which don't have leagues in the original database. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about this. Q. Why is there no data for the UEFA Nations League and the CONCACAF Nations League? A. When FM24 records new tournament histories for the Nations Leagues, it records the finishing position and the group number, but not the division. I have reported this bug to Sports Interactive for several versions now and they still have not fixed it. Until it is fixed, I will not include any data from the UEFA Nations League or the CONCACAF Nations League in this update. Q. What about African, Asian and Oceanic clubs? A. I do want to cover CAF, AFC and OFC continental competitions in future. In terms of Africa, the main reason I haven't covered that continent yet is because there's only one African league in the main game right now (South Africa) - unless you download custom leagues. Adding competiton histories for African clubs is only worthwhile if you have their leagues loaded. Until SI include more African leagues in the game by default (and I hope they do in future) instead of you having to download them yourself, I'm afraid that very few people will benefit from this. I would like to include Asian competition histories soon, given that there are now more Asian leagues in the main game. However, my top priority with regards to TCH 2025 is adding competition histories for women's international tournaments and the UEFA Women's Champions League. Q. Will these be compatible with other files? A. ITCH, ETCH and ATCH are all confirmed to be compatible with one another. I am also confident that they won't clash clash with any other files that DO NOT also edit national team or club history data. Q. I've noticed a mistake or a discrepancy in one of your files. What should I do? A. You can either leave a reply in this thread or contact me via PM. If I have made any errors, I will look to rectify them and bring out a new version of the relevant update in due course. DOWNLOAD LINKS ITCH - Steam Workshop (2024.0) / Direct Download (2024.0) ETCH - Steam Workshop (2024.0) / Direct Download (2024.0) ATCH - Steam Workshop (2024.0) / Direct Download (2024.0)

Yes, the files are ready to go as soon as I can upload them to the Steam Workshop. I'll give it until the end of the week - and if SI don't fix that editor bug by then, I'll make the new files available for direct download.

Yes, this has been happening quite a bit since FM23. It seems like players aren't really aware of what's going on around them. Here's one example from my save. At around 45:00 in the first half, Millwall's left-winger Longman hits a long ball up to Watmore, who runs away from the ball as soon as it gets near him, leaving Huddersfield with an easy interception. Will post more examples when I see them. CFuller_Huddersfield v Millwall.pkm

More examples: Blackburn v Millwall 37:00 - Millwall goalkeeper Bialkowski sidesteps through his side netting as Blackburn prepare to take a corner. 81:15 - Blackburn goalkeeper Wahlstedt goes through his post while trying to stop a header from Millwall's Hutchinson, which goes over the bar. 90:55 - Millwall's Abdulmalik walks through Blackburn's Adam Wharton. Millwall v West Brom 85:25 - Millwall goalkeeper Sarkic dives through his post trying to save a deflected header. Rotherham v Millwall 47:55 - Millwall goalkeeper Sarkic jumps through his post trying to save a header from Rotherham's Quansah, which goes over the bar. Huddersfield v Millwall 51:05 - Huddersfield goalkeeper Nicholls dives through his post trying to save a shot from Millwall's Norton-Cuffy, which goes over the bar. Millwall v Leicester 39:10 - Watmore runs through the referee. 41:45 - Millwall's Longman and Leicester's Justin go through each other twice in a matter of seconds. Millwall v Cardiff 7:45 - Millwall's Billy Mitchell runs through Cardiff's Ugbo to win the ball, and Ugbo then tackles through him seconds later. Swansea v Millwall 26:25 - Millwall goalkeeper Sarkic goes through his near post after catching a header from Swansea's Yates. CFuller_Blackburn v Millwall.pkm CFuller_Millwall v West Brom.pkm CFuller_Rotherham v Millwall.pkm CFuller_Huddersfield v Millwall.pkm CFuller_Millwall v Leicester.pkm CFuller_Millwall v Cardiff.pkm CFuller_Swansea v Millwall.pkm

More examples: Millwall v West Brom 14:10 - Molumby has a long shot at goal for West Brom. Millwall's goalkeeper Sarkic dives to his left, but pushes it wide past his right-hand post. Millwall v Leicester 23:50 - Longman hits a swerving shot for Millwall towards the top-right corner of Hermansen's goal. Hermansen dives to his right and saves, but pushes it wide past his left-hand post. CFuller_Millwall v West Brom.pkm CFuller_Millwall v Leicester.pkm