CFuller

OTHER LEAGUES FRANCE Ligue 1 Top Three: Lyon (1st), Marseille (2nd), Sedan (3rd). Relegated: Reims (18th), Rodez (19th), Toulouse (20th). Promoted from Ligue 2: Nîmes (1st), Auxerre (2nd), Lusitanos (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Fernando Torres (Marseille): 17. Most Assists - Samuel Boateng (Sedan), Franck Lannoy (Marseille), Hrvoje Olujevic (Bordeaux), Siaka Chiko Tiéné (Lyon): 10. Highest Average Rating - Franck Lannoy (Marseille): 7.97 Coupe de France: St-Etienne 1-0 Lyon. Coupe de la Ligue: Marseille 1-0 Sedan. GERMANY 1. Bundesliga Top Three: VfB Stuttgart (1st), 1.FC Köln (2nd), Werder Bremen (3rd). Relegated: Leverkusen (16th), FC Bayern (17th), Greuther Fürth (18th). Promoted from 2. Bundesliga: Saarbrücken (1st), SVW Mannheim (2nd), St Pauli (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Julio César Lemme (1.FC Köln): 19. Most Assists - Rubén Méndez (HSV), Dieter Plaßhenrich (HSV): 9. Highest Average Rating - Robinho (VfB Stuttgart): 7.66. DFB-Pokal: Werder Bremen 3-2 FC Bayern. DFB-Liga Pokal: SC Freiburg 4-1 VfB Stuttgart. HOLLAND Eredivisie Top Three: Ajax (1st), Feyenoord (2nd), PSV (3rd). Relegated: Heerenveen (17th, lost play-off), TOP (18th). Promoted from Eerste Divisie: AZ (1st), Utrecht (4th, won play-off). Top Goalscorer - Ibrahima N'Diaye (Willem II): 20. Most Assists - Theo Janssen (Ajax), Dragan Jovanovic (TOP), Begli Nurmyradow (Feyenoord), Karol Piatek (Willem II): 13. Highest Average Rating - Marcelo Brown (Feyenoord): 8.13. KNVB Beker: Feyenoord 2-1 RKC (aet). ITALY Serie A Top Three: Juventus (1st), Inter (2nd), Parma (3rd). Relegated: Alzano (15th, lost play-off), Salernitana (16th), Gualdo (17th), Fiorenzuola (18th). Promoted from Serie B: Bari (1st), Fiorentina (2nd), Udinese (3rd), Cosenza (4th). Top Goalscorer - Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus): 18. Most Assists - Emanuele Ferrari (Inter): 12. Highest Average Rating - Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus): 8.03. Coppa Italia: Brescia 5-2 Milan (aggregate). PORTUGAL Primeira Liga Top Three: Porto (1st), Benfica (2nd), Sporting (3rd). Relegated: Lourosa (16th), Campomaiorense (17th), Belenenses (18th). Promoted from Segunda Liga: Vitória Guimarães (1st), Estoril (2nd), Espinho (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Dragan Mustafi (Beira-Mar): 24. Most Assists - Artur Constantino (Marítimo): 17. Highest Average Rating - Dragan Mustafi (Beira-Mar): 8.21. Taça de Portugal: Porto 1-0 Vitória Guimarães. SCOTLAND Premier League Top Three: Rangers (1st), Celtic (2nd), Aberdeen (3rd). Relegated: Livingston (12th). Promoted from Division 1: Falkirk (1st). Top Goalscorer - Scott Dawson (Dundee Utd): 23. Most Assists - Michael Marsh (Clyde): 12. Highest Average Rating - Jorge Pérez (Celtic): 8.09. Scottish Cup: Rangers 3-0 Celtic. League Cup: Celtic 4-1 Motherwell. SPAIN La Liga Top Three: Barcelona (1st), Celta (2nd), Espanyol (3rd). Relegated: Zaragoza (18th), Oviedo (19th), Villarreal (20th). Promoted from Segunda División: Málaga (1st), Osasuna (2nd), Compostela (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Lionel Messi (Barcelona): 30. Most Assists - Gérson Ferreira Júnior (Betis): 14. Highest Average Rating - Lionel Messi (Barcelona): 8.47. Copa del Rey: Sevilla 2-0 Alavés. CONTINENTAL & INTERNATIONAL CLUB Champions League: VfB Stuttgart 1-0 Lazio - in Wien. UEFA Cup: Besiktas 3-0 Monaco - in London. Super Cup: Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea. Club World Cup: Chelsea 4-3 Lanús. FIFA World Player of the Year - Salvatore Annunziata (Lazio & Italy). World Footballer of the Year - Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina). African Player of the Year - Haruna Babangida (Barcelona & Nigeria). European Player of the Year - Salvatore Annunziata (Lazio & Italy). South American Player of the Year - Mariano Villarreal (Lanús & Argentina). Oceania Player of the Year - Brett Studman (SC Freiburg & Australia). LEADING TRANSFERS (Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 29/07/14 Rune Rasmussen Lind S C Southampton Middlesbrough £12.75M 15/02/15 Giorgio Chiellini D LC Lazio Chelsea £12.75M 28/07/14 Jérémy Toulalan DM RC 1.FC Köln Chelsea £11.5M 30/06/15 Rune Rasmussen Lind S C Middlesbrough Sheff Utd £10.25M 21/01/15 Barry Buxton D/M L Blackburn Ipswich £10M 30/07/14 Rafael van der Vaart AM LC Roma Chelsea £9.75M 02/06/15 Labinot Harbuzi AM C Crystal Palace Leeds £9.75M 02/07/14 Mark Lloyd DM C Norwich Everton £8.5M 02/06/15 Paul Knight AM RLC Burnley Sheff Wed £8.25M 06/10/14 Warren Read AM RC Newcastle Leeds £7.75M LEADING TRANSFERS (not including Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 15/07/14 Björn Ackermann M RC Wolfsburg Roma £26.5M 01/07/14 Bastian Schweinsteiger AM LC FC Bayern Roma £22M 15/09/14 Cristiano Ronaldo F RLC Chelsea Juventus £19.75M 21/12/14 Wayne Rooney F C Everton Valencia £19M 29/12/14 Marc Van Roosmalen F LC Ajax FC Bayern £18.5M 19/07/14 Andrés Iniesta AM C Dortmund Barcelona £17.25M 01/09/14 Dani Alves D/M R Dortmund Porto £16.5M 01/07/14 Fábio Luiz F RC Porto Juventus £15.75M 08/11/14 Wesley Sneijder AM RLC 1.FC Köln Kaiserslautern £15.75M 23/07/14 Aleksey Eremenko AM RLC Milan Porto £15M

SEASON REVIEW 2014/2015 ENGLAND NOTE: All goals and assist records relate to league matches only. PREMIERSHIP Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Arsenal 38 15 3 1 42 14 11 2 6 27 23 83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Liverpool 38 15 3 1 40 15 4 6 9 24 38 66 3rd Southampton 38 12 5 2 35 10 6 6 7 23 23 65 4th Everton 38 13 5 1 29 8 5 6 8 14 20 65 5th Chelsea 38 13 4 2 35 14 6 4 9 26 35 65 6th Sheff Utd 38 11 2 6 31 24 7 5 7 21 23 61 7th Man Utd 38 12 5 2 33 15 5 5 9 22 37 61 8th Fulham 38 14 2 3 36 13 4 4 11 24 40 60 9th Crystal Palace 38 10 4 5 36 24 4 6 9 23 28 52 10th Crewe 38 12 5 2 36 13 2 4 13 18 34 51 11th Leeds 38 9 7 3 31 20 4 5 10 15 24 51 12th Sheff Wed 38 11 6 2 33 16 1 7 11 14 32 49 13th Middlesbrough 38 9 5 5 29 21 4 5 10 18 29 49 14th Preston 38 10 5 4 39 23 3 4 12 12 28 48 15th Burnley 38 9 7 3 26 16 1 10 8 18 26 47 16th Ipswich 38 11 2 6 31 21 2 3 14 14 46 44 17th Blackburn 38 9 5 5 33 27 3 2 14 17 40 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Charlton 38 10 4 5 28 17 1 4 14 7 28 41 19th R Bolton 38 4 6 9 13 20 1 3 15 9 39 24 20th R Torquay 38 5 7 7 25 27 0 1 18 12 48 23 Top Goalscorer - Falcao (Arsenal), Vincent Mercier (Chelsea): 20. Most Assists - Nick Ball (Southampton), Dean Hutchinson (Crystal Palace): 10. Highest Average Rating - Alejandro Arias (Southampton): 7.80. PFA Player of the Year - Alejandro Arias (Southampton). PFA Young Player of the Year - Wayne Cable (Fulham). DIVISION 1 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Newcastle 46 18 2 3 53 20 9 6 8 35 31 89 2nd P Macclesfield 46 14 3 6 43 27 10 5 8 42 37 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Stoke 46 12 5 6 35 25 10 4 9 28 30 75 4th P Coventry 46 14 6 3 46 29 7 4 12 38 48 73 5th West Ham 46 13 8 2 35 17 7 4 12 26 36 72 6th Grimsby 46 13 7 3 38 23 7 4 12 36 37 71 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Bristol City 46 12 6 5 44 29 7 8 8 33 37 71 8th Bradford 46 15 2 6 38 26 6 6 11 25 30 71 9th Man City 46 17 3 3 49 26 3 8 12 28 50 71 10th Birmingham 46 12 7 4 45 28 6 8 9 33 38 69 11th Reading 46 13 8 2 52 34 5 7 11 28 40 69 12th Huddersfield 46 13 5 5 47 29 5 6 12 27 35 65 13th Norwich 46 10 9 4 55 42 7 4 12 40 47 64 14th Aston Villa 46 13 6 4 38 22 3 9 11 19 30 63 15th Nottm Forest 46 10 5 8 40 34 6 7 10 31 37 60 16th Sunderland 46 12 5 6 42 30 4 7 12 42 57 60 17th Notts Co 46 10 6 7 25 19 4 7 12 12 24 55 18th Wigan 46 11 6 6 33 26 4 4 15 25 45 55 19th Gillingham 46 10 9 4 39 29 1 8 14 22 45 50 20th Rochdale 46 9 7 7 35 37 2 7 14 34 52 47 21st Oldham 46 10 5 8 36 35 1 9 13 25 47 47 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd R Carlisle 46 6 12 5 28 31 3 7 13 26 44 46 23rd R Brentford 46 8 10 5 28 29 2 4 17 8 32 44 24th R Wolves 46 9 6 8 41 38 1 5 17 22 56 41 DIVISION 2 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Tottenham 46 17 5 1 43 9 12 6 5 44 27 98 2nd P Stalybridge 46 12 7 4 34 22 13 3 7 31 22 85 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd P Cambridge Utd 46 14 6 3 40 22 10 3 10 40 46 81 4th Bristol Rovers 46 17 2 4 52 32 7 5 11 28 31 79 5th W.B.A. 46 13 8 2 43 20 9 4 10 31 35 78 6th Swindon 46 12 5 6 36 29 11 4 8 39 34 78 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Peterborough 46 12 4 7 27 15 10 4 9 23 20 74 8th Kidderminster 46 13 2 8 37 27 9 3 11 33 37 71 9th Darlington 46 13 5 5 46 27 6 7 10 26 30 69 10th Leyton Orient 46 12 3 8 41 28 7 5 11 24 29 65 11th Q.P.R. 46 12 6 5 49 36 6 5 12 23 39 65 12th Barnsley 46 10 8 5 33 24 6 8 9 31 35 64 13th Colchester 46 11 4 8 32 33 6 6 11 37 51 61 14th Morecambe 46 9 8 6 38 29 6 7 10 23 28 60 15th Hull 46 12 4 7 50 38 5 5 13 25 40 60 16th Stockport 46 10 8 5 24 21 4 7 12 20 29 57 17th Blackpool 46 12 5 6 33 21 3 7 13 21 44 57 18th Shrewsbury 46 11 7 5 29 24 2 9 12 23 48 55 19th Chesterfield 46 9 6 8 40 33 3 7 13 27 48 49 20th Derby 46 8 4 11 27 28 5 5 13 30 42 48 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21st R Rotherham 46 9 4 10 37 35 2 9 12 22 43 46 22nd R Doncaster 46 8 7 8 31 37 2 6 15 16 45 43 23rd R Swansea 46 8 7 8 31 33 2 3 18 20 43 40 24th R Millwall 46 4 12 7 20 25 1 9 13 11 27 36 DIVISION 3 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Watford 46 16 4 3 49 26 15 3 5 42 20 100 2nd P Oxford 46 16 3 4 42 21 12 5 6 45 30 92 3rd P Tranmere 46 17 1 5 44 23 11 6 6 38 29 91 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Leicester 46 14 6 3 38 17 10 6 7 41 36 84 5th P Wrexham 46 12 8 3 31 24 7 7 9 28 29 72 6th Bury 46 8 8 7 36 35 10 6 7 32 33 68 7th Cardiff 46 12 4 7 42 29 7 6 10 23 32 67 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Dag & Red 46 13 4 6 39 28 5 9 9 29 37 67 9th Scunthorpe 46 14 6 3 41 21 4 5 14 26 42 65 10th Hartlepool 46 9 10 4 15 8 7 6 10 17 19 64 11th Mansfield 46 9 6 8 31 25 7 9 7 23 26 63 12th Port Vale 46 7 6 10 27 32 9 6 8 26 27 60 13th Luton 46 9 11 3 30 17 4 8 11 19 28 58 14th Bournemouth 46 8 10 5 22 15 6 5 12 16 27 57 15th Exeter 46 11 7 5 27 17 1 13 9 13 27 56 16th Rushden 46 6 11 6 28 25 6 8 9 25 30 55 17th Telford 46 7 7 9 26 24 6 7 10 19 27 53 18th Wycombe 46 8 8 7 40 40 5 6 12 32 43 53 19th Northwich Vics 46 9 6 8 32 29 5 4 14 23 39 52 20th Walsall 46 8 6 9 24 24 5 6 12 24 36 51 21st Plymouth 46 9 6 8 20 18 4 6 13 14 28 51 22nd Northampton 46 11 1 11 38 37 4 3 16 20 44 49 23rd Bath City 46 9 4 10 22 31 3 5 15 20 45 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th R Harrow Borough 46 3 9 11 31 44 2 7 14 15 41 31 CONFERENCE Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Portsmouth 42 16 3 2 47 16 11 7 3 39 22 91 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Boston Utd 42 11 6 4 36 23 13 4 4 31 24 82 3rd Cheltenham 42 13 6 2 36 18 8 5 8 29 31 74 4th Lincoln 42 13 3 5 25 15 8 6 7 30 32 72 5th Barnet 42 14 5 2 46 21 7 3 11 26 36 71 6th Tamworth 42 7 10 4 27 19 9 7 5 26 20 65 7th Canvey Island 42 10 4 7 31 25 8 6 7 31 27 64 8th Hereford 42 9 7 5 32 26 9 2 10 32 32 63 9th Burton Albion 42 8 6 7 26 19 9 4 8 22 22 61 10th Gainsborough 42 8 7 6 27 20 7 7 7 17 15 59 11th Salisbury 42 9 5 7 28 20 6 8 7 23 23 58 12th Nuneaton Borough 42 11 5 5 39 25 5 5 11 30 41 58 13th Merthyr Tydfil 42 7 7 7 22 19 7 7 7 26 23 56 14th Folkestone 42 7 7 7 37 39 7 3 11 27 33 52 15th Clevedon 42 7 6 8 25 23 7 2 12 22 31 50 16th Slough 42 8 4 9 32 36 6 4 11 23 41 50 17th Burscough 42 9 1 11 24 22 4 9 8 17 24 49 18th Scarborough 42 4 8 9 22 32 6 7 8 15 24 45 19th Spennymoor 42 5 10 6 13 16 2 10 9 14 26 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20th R Dulwich 42 7 7 7 23 24 1 5 15 13 39 36 21st R Maidenhead 42 5 4 12 18 34 2 8 11 16 39 33 22nd R Runcorn 42 3 4 14 21 36 4 6 11 19 32 31 Promoted to Conference: Bamber Bridge, Chester, Fisher. FA Cup: Arsenal 2-0 Charlton. League Cup: Arsenal 1-0 Burnley. Community Shield: Chelsea 2-1 Middlesbrough. Football League Trophy: Darlington 2-0 Tottenham.

ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... After hitting 30 La Liga goals in a season for the second time, Lionel Messi extends his Barcelona career by signing a new five-year contract worth a ridiculous £100,000 per week. 37-year-old centre-half Carles Puyol leaves the Nou Camp after a record 678 appearances for Barça in 16 seasons, while left-back Ashley Cole returns to England and signs for Liverpool. After 21 years as Ipswich manager, George Burley is told by the Tractor Boys to "get off our land". Burley is replaced by the Premiership's first Australian manager - Harry Kewell, whose seven-month holiday in Las Palmas ended with a mid-table finish in the Spanish Segunda División. Rangers legend Alex McLeish realises that managing Celtic was a mistake. Despite winning the League Cup in his only season at Celtic Park, McLeish decides to get out as soon as possible. Big 'Eck takes charge of newly-promoted Bundesliga side St Pauli, where he looks forward to facing Bayern München and Leverkusen... no, wait, hang on... Rudi Völler hopes that a new Argentinian forward can turn 5th-placed Betis into La Liga challengers next season, as he spends £10million on 22-year-old Daniel Flores from San Lorenzo. Meanwhile, Völler's old club Arsenal begin their quest for Champions League glory by signing... 33-year-old Shola Ameobi from Middlesbrough on a free transfer. Former England defender Wes Brown leaves Manchester United after making 424 Premiership appearances in 18 seasons. Brown was the last remaining member of the United squad from "that night in Barcelona" in 1999. In case you're interested, Teddy Sheringham is now a scout at Notts County, and Ole Gunnar Solskjær runs a nursery in Trafford. IN OTHER NEWS... Business mogul and "The Apprentice" reality star Donald Trump announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for US President ahead of next year's election. Frankly, the orange one has as much chance of winning as Hillary Clinton has of becoming the Democratic nominee... After years of super-mega-hyperinflation, Zimbabwe officially disbands its national currency. The government announces that it will offer its citizens US$1 in exchange for Z$35,000,000,000,000,000 - that's 35 QUADRILLION Zimbabwean dollars. This year's Glastonbury Festival includes a very special guest - the Dalai Lama. Tibet's spiritual leader takes to the stage before Lionel Richie's set and asks, "Hello? Is it me you're looking for?" British actor and occasional heavy metal singer Sir Christopher Lee - best known for his roles as Count Dracula and Saruman - dies at the ripe old age of 93. As per his wishes, Lee is cremated... in a wicker man.

JUNE 2015 I did not expect Fulham's first season back in the Premiership to go this well. Not only were we the best of the newly-promoted teams, but we also finished in 8th place, making this the Cottagers' best ever season in the top flight. We had also secured a place in European competition for the very first time... even if it was the Inter-Toto Cup. Ideally, we would see this as an opportunity to kick on even further next season, and maybe even displace our neighbours Chelsea as the best team in west London. But I'm also realistic; we could easily succumb to second-season syndrome if we're not careful. Our aim for 2015/2016 must be consolidation. This summer would be a quiet one in the Fulham backroom, with no departures or arrivals. There also wouldn't be as much movement in terms of playing staff as there was 12 months ago. Coventry had offered us £950,000 to sign goalkeeper Wayne Hudson, who was about to begin the final year of his contract... but I turned the offer down. Despite the emergence of John Johnson and the impending return of John Forde from injury, I wanted to keep Hudson around as a backup for one more season. Trevor Francis was interested in holding midfielder Henning Numme and made several attempts to sign him for Crewe - his last offer going as high as £3.5million. It would take more than that for me to even consider parting with the 21-year-old Norwegian talent. Henning certainly seemed happy enough to stay at Fulham... ...but it was a very different story with Erwin Maas. When the Dutch left-back heard that I had rejected a £5million offer from Ajax, he told me that he wanted to sign for the Eredivisie champions. I was reluctant to see a player of Erwin's ability leave so early in his Fulham career, but I said that if Ajax came back with a bigger offer, I'd let him move on. Sure enough, Ajax made another bid a few days later, and after some tough negotiations, we agreed a deal for £7.5million - the highest fee Fulham had ever received for a player. After just one season at Craven Cottage, Maas was heading back to Holland, and we had made a neat profit of around £4.8million. We then made another £160,000 through the sale of defender Seán Lynch to Division 3 side Leicester. The Irishman came through our academy and made a couple of senior appearances in 2012 before having a couple of loan spells in the Conference, but it became clear this year that he wasn't going to make it. Time was also up for Thomas Friberg, who spent the second half of this season on loan at Wolves but couldn't save them from relegation to Division 2. After three years with the Cottagers, the 23-year-old returned to his native Sweden and joined Malmö FF for £700,000. 20-year-old Scottish forward Douglas McNeil also spent much of the season on loan in Division 1, though he could only score 4 goals in 24 games with a Gillingham team who barely stayed up. McNeil is immediately being loaned out once again, as he will join newly-relegated Carlisle in Division 2 for the entire 2015/2016 season. Right-back Grant Gibson's second spell with Fulham came to an end after two seasons, as his contract was terminated by mutual consent. Gibson only made four appearances for the Cottagers after our promotion, and he is now expected to return to Scotland. Another Scot who looks set to depart on a free transfer is, of course, Alan Stewart. After scoring 31 goals in three years at the Cottage, the 31-year-old forward was once again refusing to sign a new contract. Our latest offer of £32,000 per week was apparently not enough to remove his bitterness over something I did a long time ago. I'm not giving up on you, Alan. I've made him one final offer, which he will mull over in pre-season. If he still won't sign, then I guess we'll just have to let him leave on a free transfer... But now we move on to the new signings. Off the back of record-high attendances and league finishes, the Fulham coffers had swelled so much that the board gave me a whopping £24million in transfer funds! And my first signing with that huge budget? Yes, you've guessed it... a free transfer. 18-year-old Christer Severin is an energetic Swedish attacker with plenty of potential. The attacking midfielder (and occasional right-winger) scored 20 league goals for his local amateur club Stenungsund, though he had been a free agent for some time. I will be following his development closely in the reserve team next season. In terms of senior signings, my first target was a left-back to replace Maas. I had offered England captain and left-back Ashley Cole £30,000 per week to return home to London after leaving Barcelona... but the 34-year-old decided to join Liverpool for double the money instead. I almost crashed my car when I heard the news. Instead, I turned to another experienced Three Lions left-back. 31-year-old David Murphy might only have two caps - which is 120 less than Cole has right now - but the powerful Teessider has made over 300 top-flight appearances in England and Portugal. He was instrumental in Burnley finishing Premiership runners-up in 2014 and then reaching the League Cup Final this year. Murphy signed for Fulham for a club-record fee of £5million. Barely 48 hours later, we equalled our new transfer record to sign another English defender - one who is at the opposite end of his career. I've been tracking former Liverpool and England Under-21s centre-back Matthew Marney for a while. Marney - who turns 22 in July - was ever-present for Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier League this season, and it's not hard to see why when you look at his skills. He's very brave and strong in the air, he's calm under pressure, and he's comfortable with the ball on either foot. This boy has an exceptional future ahead of him. Having invested £10million in our defence, I am now shifting my focus to finding a potential Stewart successor on the right-wing. We've agreed a £3million fee for a pacey and creative winger who's currently playing in the Mexican league, and we're just waiting for a work permit before we complete the deal. I hope Theresa May doesn't screw us over this time. I'm still looking to sign another striker, though I want to find Milan Lukas a new club first. Another midfielder might also be on the horizon if Crewe's interest in Numme gets more serious. Centre-back Peter Mitchell's future is still uncertain, but I'm pretty sure that I will keep Arnar Guðmundsson around. While Arnar's days as a marauding wing-back might be coming to an end, he is versatile and skilled enough that he can quite easily be moved into defensive midfield... or even central defence. Peter Devlin will be staying for sure. The Irish striker scored 11 goals this term and was voted the Fulham Fans' Player of the Year for the third year in a row. If Devlin wins that award again next season, he will equal Paul McVeigh's record of four consecutive wins between 2008 and 2011. Incidentally, McVeigh has just announced his retirement from football aged 37, having finished his career with the Croatian club NK Olimpija. Lastly, let's talk about our opening fixtures in the 2015/2016 Premiership season. Ironically, after finishing the last campaign at Old Trafford, we will also start the new campaign away to Manchester United on 22 August! Our first home game will be against Everton four days later. Before all that, however, we will have the small matter of the Inter-Toto Cup. Barely three years after limping to a 15th-place finish in Division 1, Fulham are about to go continental!

It would be an interesting adventure for sure. But it'll cut right into our pre-season, so I wonder if we'll be ready for it.

FULHAM PLAYER STATISTICS (2014/2015) Goalkeepers Apps Con Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Collins, Craig 2 4 0 0 0 0 6.00 13 Forde, John 14 16 0 0 0 1 7.14 1 Hudson, Wayne 13 (3) 23 0 0 0 1 6.81 40 Johnson, John 11 14 0 0 0 0 7.18 Outfield Players Apps Gls Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Cable, Wayne 34 (1) 6 5 1 0 2 7.37 8 Cooke, Daniel 17 (12) 9 1 3 0 1 6.90 5 Deschacht, Olivier 19 (6) 0 1 4 0 0 6.80 9 Devlin, Peter 32 (6) 11 9 0 1 3 7.08 33 Donaghy, Ian 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 26 Friberg, Thomas 6 (1) 0 0 0 1 0 6.86 2 Gibson, Grant 4 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 37 Gómez, Héctor 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 15 Guðmundsson, Arnar 13 (15) 0 2 0 0 0 6.57 * Hall, Jordan 1 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 23 Hansen, Kári 0 (2) 0 0 1 0 0 6.00 28 Hogg, Gary 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 14 Hunt, Nicky 25 (3) 0 2 0 1 3 7.18 7 Iversen, Atle 18 (7) 5 5 1 0 1 6.96 17 Johnson, Daniel 29 (1) 3 0 1 1 0 7.07 20 Lukas, Milan 6 (11) 2 1 0 0 0 6.65 16 Maas, Erwin 29 (1) 1 2 4 0 3 6.83 24 Márquez, José Luis 0 (3) 1 0 0 0 0 6.67 34 McDonald, Chris 3 (10) 1 2 0 0 0 6.15 29 McIntyre, Derek 2 (9) 0 1 0 0 0 6.36 12 Mitchell, Peter 24 (1) 1 1 2 0 1 6.48 4 Mokoena, Aaron 31 (4) 0 2 10 0 1 6.71 19 Numme, Henning 20 (5) 3 4 2 0 0 6.84 25 Ryan, Colm 0 (3) 0 1 0 0 0 7.00 6 Schneider, Florian 34 (2) 4 7 6 0 2 6.86 18 Scott, Greg 25 (3) 2 4 4 0 0 6.79 * Simpson, Terry 2 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 10 Stewart, Alan 26 (5) 11 2 1 1 5 7.23 27 Sturridge, Phil 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 * Weir, Steven 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 * [Player not currently at club]

PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of 2014/2015 season) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Arsenal 38 15 3 1 42 14 11 2 6 27 23 83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Liverpool 38 15 3 1 40 15 4 6 9 24 38 66 3rd Southampton 38 12 5 2 35 10 6 6 7 23 23 65 4th Everton 38 13 5 1 29 8 5 6 8 14 20 65 5th Chelsea 38 13 4 2 35 14 6 4 9 26 35 65 6th Sheff Utd 38 11 2 6 31 24 7 5 7 21 23 61 7th Man Utd 38 12 5 2 33 15 5 5 9 22 37 61 8th Fulham 38 14 2 3 36 13 4 4 11 24 40 60 9th Crystal Palace 38 10 4 5 36 24 4 6 9 23 28 52 10th Crewe 38 12 5 2 36 13 2 4 13 18 34 51 11th Leeds 38 9 7 3 31 20 4 5 10 15 24 51 12th Sheff Wed 38 11 6 2 33 16 1 7 11 14 32 49 13th Middlesbrough 38 9 5 5 29 21 4 5 10 18 29 49 14th Preston 38 10 5 4 39 23 3 4 12 12 28 48 15th Burnley 38 9 7 3 26 16 1 10 8 18 26 47 16th Ipswich 38 11 2 6 31 21 2 3 14 14 46 44 17th Blackburn 38 9 5 5 33 27 3 2 14 17 40 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Charlton 38 10 4 5 28 17 1 4 14 7 28 41 19th R Bolton 38 4 6 9 13 20 1 3 15 9 39 24 20th R Torquay 38 5 7 7 25 27 0 1 18 12 48 23 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Arsenal become the first team to lift all three major English trophies in one season - completing their treble with a 2-0 win over Charlton in the FA Cup Final. Gunners goalie Roman Weidenfeller saves a first-half penalty from Charlton's Kevin Hughes, before winger Keijo Huusko and midfielder Kim Källström strike in the second period. A late Dimitris Dimitriadis red card compounds the misery for the Addicks, who are later relegated from the Premiership. Lazio and VfB Stuttgart meet in Wien in the Champions League Final, after ending Genoa's and Celta's dream runs to the Semi Finals. Bundesliga champions Stuttgart prevail 1-0, with a 29th-minute strike from Robinho delivering their second European Cup in four years. Turkish giants Besiktas see off Monaco 3-0 to win the UEFA Cup in their first season under new head coach Bob Bradley, whose family in New Jersey barely even notice. It's the end of an era at Bayern München, whose late surge under Nigel Winterburn isn't enough to extend their 50-year stay in Germany's top division. Bayern defeat Leverkusen 2-1 on the final day to take 'Die Werkself' down to the second tier with them, and then bravely fall 3-2 to Werder Bremen in the Final of the DFB-Pokal. Despite losing to St-Etienne in the Coupe de France Final, Lyon bounce back quickly and are crowned Ligue 1 champions for the first time. 'Les Gones' have two Czech heroes to celebrate - attacking midfielder Jiri Valenta, who scored both goals in the decisive 2-0 win over Paris-SG, and goalkeeper Petr Cech, who skull-captained them to glory. The Old Lady is smiling again. Juventus win their final four matches to secure their first Serie A scudetto for 17 years, as Cristiano Ronaldo finishes top scorer with 18 goals. Defending champions Lazio fall to 6th, while Roma are squeezed out of the top half by Coppa Italia winners Brescia. Porto lose just one match en route to a fifth successive Primeira Liga title, while Barcelona claim a SIXTH La Liga championship in a row - their 12th in 13 years! IN OTHER NEWS... The Labour Party loses the UK general election after Ed Miliband eats a bacon sandwich. David Cameron's Conservatives remain in power with a clear majority, which means they don't need the Liberal Democrats to prop them up anymore! Attention soon turns towards another major national vote that is expected to happen next year. Several executives at world football's governing body are arrested in Zürich in connection with alleged corruption, following an investigation by the American FBI. FIFA vows to clean up its image... and immediately elects Sepp Blatter for a fifth term as President. IT’S A GIRL! The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcome their second child when Kate gives birth to a daughter. She is named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana - to the delight of the Daily Express, who immediately declare that the newborn baby will either cure or cause cancer. The thrill is gone when blues legend and electric guitar pioneer B.B. King passes away in Las Vegas aged 89. In other sad music news, Errol Brown - the Jamaican-born lead singer of British soul icons Hot Chocolate - dies from liver cancer at the age of 71. Never thought it would come to this...

MAY 2015 12 months ago, Sheffield United celebrated their first season back in the Premiership by finishing in the top seven and qualifying for Europe. Now it looked like Fulham were about to do the same. With just two matches left to play, my newly-promoted Cottagers were in 7th place. European football would be heading to Craven Cottage if we could score big points in our remaining fixtures - at home to Bolton on 4 May, and then away to Manchester United on 17 May. Battling for a result at Old Trafford on the final day would be a big ask, but the Bolton game looked much more winnable on paper. For one thing, our home record had been excellent - only champions Arsenal and 2nd-placed Liverpool had taken more points on their home patches this term. For another, Bolton had won just one league match on the road this term, and they were now doomed to relegation after 14 years in the Premiership. After missing the whole of April with a calf strain, Erwin Maas made a timely return at left-back. Unfortunately, Aaron Mokoena was now absent with a stubbed toe, which meant Peter Mitchell came in at centre-half. This would potentially be Mitchell's last home game at the Cottage. So... beat Bolton, and keep the dream alive before we head to Old Trafford. Sounds simple, right? 4 MAY 2015: Fulham vs Bolton Wanderers What should have been a simple task on paper became rather more complicated in the third minute. Bolton striker Gary Anderson almost arrowed a free-kick into the top corner, before John Johnson somehow punched it away. Unfortunately, the ball fell to the Trotters' other frontman - our old Birmingham nemesis Fabio Campese, who was left with a simple finish. Amid heavy rain at Craven Cottage, it looked like our European dream would be swept away in a flood of tears. But just eight minutes later, Henning Numme - the Norwegian midfielder six days shy of his 21st birthday - brought smiles back to Fulham faces by gliding across the slippery surface and driving in the equalising goal! The assist for Numme's equaliser came from Florian Schneider, and the captain led by example again just before the half-hour mark. Numme found Schneider out left, and the German general sent Peter Devlin free with a lofted ball that was weighted perfectly to be volleyed home. Devlin was now on 11 goals for the campaign, and we were 2-1 up! Greg Scott might well have doubled our lead in the 34th minute, but Bolton keeper Christopher Kirkland parried the shot away. Then, a week after the Sheffield Wednesday fiasco, we were denied another penalty when Trotters midfielder Kennedy Bakircioglü's murderous challenge on Wayne Cable somehow went unpunished! I honestly had to double-check that Simon Dart wasn't refereeing us again - mercifully, he was not. This referee did at least toughen up in the second half, showing a yellow card to Bolton defender Ifeanyi Udeze for upending Alan Stewart. Mind you, he did also book three of ours, including Daniel Cooke, who had replaced Scott at half-time. However, we wouldn't threaten the Trotters' goal again until the 84th minute, when our second sub Derek McIntyre's left-cross to Devlin was claimed by Kirkland. We had the chance to clinch victory in stoppage time, when we won a corner. Unfortunately, centre-back Olivier Deschacht had rolled his ankle, which meant that young midfielder Chris McDonald had to come on. McDonald's first act was to make his way to the near post... where he outjumped Udeze to get his head to Schneider's corner and put it past Kirkland! Chris had scored his first ever senior goal, completing Florian's assist hat-trick - and a 3-1 victory for Fulham! Fulham - 3 (Numme 11, Devlin 29, McDonald 90) Bolton Wanderers - 1 (Campese 3) Premiership, Attendance 28,122 - POSITIONS: Fulham 5th, Bolton 19th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): J Johnson; Hunt, Mitchell, Deschacht (McDonald), Maas; Numme, Schneider; Stewart, Scott (Cooke), Cable (McIntyre); Devlin. BOOKED: Deschacht, Cooke, Schneider. That was our 14th home win of the league season. More importantly, it meant our European fate would be in our hands on the final day! Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Arsenal 37 15 2 1 40 12 11 2 6 27 23 82 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Southampton 37 12 5 2 35 10 6 5 7 23 23 64 3rd Everton 37 13 5 1 29 8 5 5 8 14 20 64 4th Liverpool 37 14 3 1 37 15 4 6 9 24 38 63 5th Chelsea 37 12 4 2 34 14 6 4 9 26 35 62 6th Fulham 37 14 2 3 36 13 4 4 10 23 38 60 7th Sheff Utd 37 11 2 6 31 24 6 5 7 19 23 58 8th Man Utd 37 11 5 2 31 14 5 5 9 22 37 58 So here's the situation: the top four teams qualify for the Champions League. 5th place will go into the UEFA Cup, along with the FA Cup finalists Charlton, and I think 6th will be enough to qualify as well. Finish outside the top six, and your only hope is that you are invited to play in the Inter-Toto Cup. We could still finish 4th and sneak into the Champions League if we beat Manchester United, Liverpool lost at home to relegated Torquay, and Chelsea failed to defeat Ipswich at home. Realistically, we were aiming for the UEFA Cup. That meant we would need to beat Manchester United - or, if we drew, hope for Sheffield United to slip up at Bolton. Were we to lose at Old Trafford, the Inter-Toto Cup would be our last hope. Unfortunately, we would head to Manchester without several regular players. As well as Olivier Deschacht being ruled out with a sprained ankle, we lost midfielders Henning Numme and Greg Scott to knee and chest injuries respectively. Fortunately, Mokoena was now fit again. Having been out since December with a broken leg, first-choice goalkeeper John Forde had returned to full training... but he wouldn't go straight back into the team. During his recovery, our physios noted that Forde had a chronic groin problem which required surgery. I decided that John would be better off going under the knife now and then returning in pre-season, rather than risk his long-term fitness by playing him in one match. That meant 17-year-old John Johnson stayed in goal for our final - and by far our biggest - match of our season. Could JJ get us a result at Manchester United - and help Fulham qualify for Europe for the first time ever? 17 MAY 2015: Manchester United vs Fulham Our first attempt on goal came after eight minutes through Daniel Cooke, who unluckily cleared the bar with a pot-shot from Peter Devlin's cross. Devlin himself went from goal in the 25th minute, though he could not make the most of Wayne Cable's delivery, hooking it well wide. Manchester United would not launch their first meaningful attack until the 28th minute. Right-back David Prochazka floated in a free-kick that was nodded goalwards by David Dunn - the former Blackburn and Celtic midfielder who was enjoying a late-career revival at Old Trafford. John Johnson did well to push Dunn's cross away goal, but he could not keep out the follow-up strike from Italian starlet Luigi Vianello. 1-0 to the Red Devils. United took it easy for the rest of the first half, but it was still a stressful afternoon for a couple of our defenders. Left-back Erwin Maas was cautioned in the 38th minute for a clumsy challenge on England striker Chris Worthington, joining centre-half Aaron Mokoena in the book. That was Mokoena's 10th booking of the season, and he was replaced before the second-half with rising star Héctor Gómez. By half-time, our slim hopes of reaching the Champions League were dead in the water, as Liverpool were already thumping Torquay 3-0. We had to fight back from 1-0 down to stay in UEFA Cup contention, but with Sheffield United also comfortably ahead at Bolton, we were heading for 8th place - our lowest potential finish before kick-off. Our ticket to the UEFA Cup slipped further away early in the second half. United's leading scorer Joe O'Shea had already stung John Johnson's fingertips in the 50th minute... and the Irish hotshot went even further a minute later, outpacing Gómez to stab in a flick-on from Worthington. Manchester United were guaranteed their lowest league finish since 1991, no matter what happened, but they were determined to at least finish on a high. French forward Gilles Borbiconi almost claimed them a third goal in the 56th minute, though the experienced Nicky Hunt put him under just enough pressure to fire off target. At the other end, Alan Stewart showed his tenacity with three brilliant efforts on goal between the 68th and 77th minutes. The first went inches wide, the second hit the post... but third time was the charm, as he headed in a brilliant delivery from substitute midfielder Colm Ryan. 2-1 down now - a glimmer of hope, perhaps? Afraid not. That was our lot, as United's new manager Phil Neville showed all his defensive nous to grind out a victory. We might have thumped Neville's old Middlesbrough team 3-0 in October, but Phil got his revenge in this second battle of the former Kidderminster managers. Manchester United - 2 (Vianello 28, O'Shea 51) Fulham - 1 (Stewart 77) Premiership, Attendance 60,464 - POSITIONS: Man Utd 7th, Fulham 8th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): J Johnson; Hunt, Mokoena (Gómez), D Johnson, Maas; Schneider; Cooke (McIntyre), McDonald (Ryan); Stewart, Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Mokoena, Maas. A great effort, but not quite enough. Liverpool, Southampton and Everton finished in the Champions League places alongside runaway champions Arsenal. Former champs Chelsea had to settle for the UEFA Cup... and Sheffield United had also qualified, beating Bolton 2-0 to pip Manchester United on goal difference. Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Arsenal 38 15 3 1 42 14 11 2 6 27 23 83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Liverpool 38 15 3 1 40 15 4 6 9 24 38 66 3rd Southampton 38 12 5 2 35 10 6 6 7 23 23 65 4th Everton 38 13 5 1 29 8 5 6 8 14 20 65 5th Chelsea 38 13 4 2 35 14 6 4 9 26 35 65 6th Sheff Utd 38 11 2 6 31 24 7 5 7 21 23 61 7th Man Utd 38 12 5 2 33 15 5 5 9 22 37 61 8th Fulham 38 14 2 3 36 13 4 4 11 24 40 60 So 8th place it was for Fulham. Unless Manchester United had turned down an invite to the Inter-Toto Cup, it seemed there would be no continental football for us. Even so, cracking the top half in the first half was still a bloomin' good achievement. In fact, we were only six points behind runners-up Liverpool. Then again, this was a season in which so many top teams struggled for consistency, allowing Arsenal to race away and win the title by 17 (SEVENTEEN) points. Again, our success was built on a strong home record - 14 wins, 2 draws, and 3 defeats. We claimed some big scalps at Craven Cottage by beating Liverpool, Southampton, Everton, Chelsea and Manchester United... and we were just one minute from beating Arsenal as well. We were much less convincing away from the Cottage, losing 11 out of 19 matches on the road. Also, only Ipswich and Torquay allowed more away goals than our 40. If we want to launch a more serious challenge for European title next season, we need to be much tighter at the back, especially on our travels. In terms of goals, we found the net 60 times - putting us only behind Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. But while all three of those teams had one dominant striker with 15+ goals, our workload was much more evenly spread. Alan Stewart was our top league scorer with a relatively modest 11 goals - two more than Peter Devlin (who also got two in the cups) and Daniel Cooke. Stewart is probably leaving us this summer, so replacing him on the right wing will be my top priority this summer. I'll also look for another striker to seriously challenge Devlin, as Milan Lukas still cannot adapt to British life and is probably not the answer. And yes, there will be plenty of defensive recruitments as well. Some long-serving players will inevitably move on, but I'm also mindful not to bin off too much of that experience. After years of upheaval, we've clearly got a good thing going here at Fulham, and it'd be a shame if that hard work got spoilt. Anyway... after such an encouraging first season up, you would think I was at least a contender for Premiership Manager of the Year, right? Nope. I wasn't on the shortlist - and neither were Southampton's Mark Hughes nor Everton's Gary Butterworth, who had both taken unfancied teams into the Champions League. Instead, 3rd place went to Mick Doohan, who took Burnley from 2nd place last season to 15th place this season! In 2nd was Fabrício Nogueira, who led Sheffield Wednesday from 8th to 12th. And the 2014/2015 Premiership Manager of the Year... Chelsea's Jean Tigana, who finished in 5th place with last season's champions. Is Simon Dart in charge of the awards committee as well?! I can only assume they just copy and pasted last season's shortlist and then called it a day. What a joke. That didn't dampen my spirits too much, though, as I prepared to head off on my summer holiday, in the sunny exotic climes of Cambridgeshire. Then the Fulham chairman Richard Bailey forwarded me this email he had received: Well. Looks like we ARE heading on a European adventure after all!

PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of April 2015) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Arsenal 36 15 2 1 40 12 10 2 6 25 22 79 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Liverpool 36 14 3 1 37 15 4 6 8 23 36 63 3rd Southampton 36 11 5 2 32 10 6 5 7 23 23 61 4th Everton 35 12 5 1 26 8 5 5 7 13 18 61 5th Chelsea 35 11 4 2 32 13 6 4 8 26 32 59 6th Man Utd 36 11 5 2 31 14 5 5 8 22 34 58 7th Fulham 36 13 2 3 33 12 4 4 10 23 38 57 8th Sheff Utd 36 10 2 6 29 24 6 5 7 19 23 55 9th Crystal Palace 36 10 3 5 36 24 4 5 9 21 26 50 10th Leeds 36 9 6 3 31 20 4 4 10 15 24 49 11th Preston 36 10 5 4 39 23 3 4 10 12 25 48 12th Sheff Wed 36 11 5 2 33 16 1 7 10 14 30 48 13th Burnley 36 9 7 2 25 14 1 10 7 17 24 47 14th Middlesbrough 36 8 5 5 26 20 4 5 9 18 28 46 15th Crewe 36 10 5 2 32 12 2 4 13 18 34 45 16th Ipswich 36 10 2 6 29 20 2 3 13 14 45 41 17th Blackburn 36 8 5 5 32 27 3 2 13 16 37 40 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Charlton 36 9 4 5 27 17 1 4 13 7 27 38 19th R Bolton 36 4 6 8 13 18 1 3 14 8 36 24 20th R Torquay 36 4 7 7 24 27 0 1 17 12 45 20 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Arsenal are confirmed as Premiership champions after Falcao's double secures a 3-1 win over Crewe, putting them beyond Chelsea's reach. The Gunners are now one match away from a domestic treble, having set up an FA Cup Final showdown with Charlton after rallying late on to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 in the Semis. As well as reaching the Cup Final, Charlton face a battle to avoid joining Gary Neville's Bolton and Chris Kamara's Torquay through the Premiership's relegation trapdoor. Newcastle come back up as champions of Division 1, while Macclesfield - who were playing Division 3 football as recently as 2010 - celebrate their first ever promotion to the top tier! There is late drama in three of the Champions League Quarter Finals. Moacir da Rosa's 90th-minute winner knocks out holders Chelsea and sends Celta into a Semi Final against VfB Stuttgart, who need an 89th-minute strike from Dirk Kuijt to see off Parma. Celta's fellow debutants Genoa also advance in dramatic fashion, as right-back Diego Conti scores a late penalty at the Nou Camp to shatter Barcelona. 'Il Grifone' will meet their compatriots Lazio in the last four. Lyon might be on course to win Ligue 1, but could another French club be about to win the UEFA Cup? Hélder Postiga and Tapani Hiltunen are on target as Monaco come from behind to beat SC Freiburg in the Semi Finals. But despite leading Les Monégasques to the Final against Besiktas, head coach Ramón Díaz won't be at Wembley... as he decides that he would rather manage Alavés (13th in La Liga) instead. Juventus close in on the Serie A scudetto with a 5-1 thrashing of Roma, who sack manager Masami Ihara after sleepwalking into the relegation battle. Only Inter can deny the Old Lady now, sitting two points behind with four games to play. Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard finally learns what winning a league title is like when Rangers are confirmed as Scottish Premier League champions with two games to spare. IN OTHER NEWS... A devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people in the country and leaving over 100,000 people homeless. There are also some fatalities in neighbouring China, India and Bangladesh. Hillary Clinton declares that she will seek the Democratic nomination for President of the United States next year. But there’s good news for liberals who don’t want to see another Clinton in the White House; they can endorse a fresh-faced socialist upstart named Bernie Sanders instead. German retiree Marianne Winkler finds a 108-year-old message in a bottle after it washes ashore off the island of Amrum. Sting is understood to be delighted with the news. Richie Benaud - the Australian all-rounder who later became one of cricket's best-loved commentators - passes away at the age of 85. Benaud's distinctive voice was heard on British TV for over 40 years, and his eight 'rules' of commentary are essential reading for any budding sportscaster.

APRIL 2015 I was now into the final stretch of my first Premiership campaign, and it really couldn't have gone much better. With seven games remaining, Fulham had already reached the 50-point mark... and we only needed three more to secure our survival. Barring a late collapse, Fulham fans would be seeing more top-flight football at Craven Cottage next season. They could even start dreaming about the prospect of European football if we could stay in the top five. Mind you, our run-in wouldn't be easy: 4 April: vs Middlesbrough (A, 15th) 11 April: vs Charlton (H, 18th) 15 April: vs Liverpool (A, 8th) 18 April: vs Chelsea (H, 3rd) 25 April: vs Sheffield Wednesday (A, 10th) 4 May: vs Bolton (H, 20th) 17 May: vs Manchester United (A, 7th) We also still had some defensive issues. Left-back Erwin Maas was set to miss a large chunk of the run-in with a calf injury, and centre-half Daniel Johnson was suspended for another two matches. Goalkeeper John Forde was back in light training after breaking his leg in December, though he was nowhere near ready to return to action. The impressive 17-year-old John Johnson would stay between the posts, having conceded only five goals in his six league matches so far. Our first match of the run-in was at Middlesbrough, who were in freefall having won just one league match since Christmas. Despite this, the Riverside Stadium gave a warm welcome to new Boro manager Edgardo Bauza - the Argentine journeyman having taken the reins following Phil Neville's return to Manchester United. 4 APRIL 2015: Middlesbrough vs Fulham There was plenty of Nordic talent on both teams, and it was they who had the best scoring opportunities early on. Our Norwegian winger Atle Iversen put a volley wide in the 5th minute, though Middlesbrough's Danish midfielder Ole Pedersen went closer in the 23rd minute. His low strike was pushed behind by Cottagers goalie John Johnson, who has no Viking ancestry... at least as far as I'm aware. However, it was another great Dane who sent JJ barking mad in the 31st minute. Our defenders failed to pick up a loose ball before the ex-Tottenham and Southampton striker Rune Rasmussen Lind, who drove in his ninth goal of the season. The Smoggies were celebrating another goal just before half-time, as Geordie hotshot Shola Ameobi finished a through-ball from Swedish skipper Alexander Farnerud. Trailing 2-0 at half-time, I decided to replace Iversen with the talented but inconsistent Greg Scott. This was an inspired change, as the boy from South Yorkshire would have one of his better afternoons in North Yorkshire. It began in the 63rd minute, when his assist for captain Florian Schneider halved the deficit to just one goal. I then decided to make another change, replacing Aaron Mokoena with Peter Mitchell at centre-back. And then it all fell apart again. Though Fulham midfielder Henning Numme had shown great determination to slide-tackle the ball off Ameobi's feet, Pedersen picked it up and fired home. The Boro were two goals ahead again... ...but once again, Scott came to the rescue. In the 79th minute, his low cross to the near post was blasted in by Peter Devlin, who scored his first goal since mid-January. Now we were back within touching distance at 3-2 down! But then our defence faltered for a fourth and final time. Pedersen doubled his tally with an excellent strike into the top corner, completing a dream debut for his new manager Edgardo Bauza. Middlesbrough - 4 (Rasmussen Lind 31, Ameobi 45, Pedersen 72,81) Fulham - 2 (Schneider 63, Devlin 79) Premiership, Attendance 32,145 - POSITIONS: Middlesbrough 13th, Fulham 6th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): J Johnson; Hunt, Mokoena (Mitchell), Deschacht, Guðmundsson; Schneider, Numme; Iversen (Scott), Stewart, Cable (McIntyre); Devlin. BOOKED: Scott. Good grief. It wasn't a particularly bad performance, in truth, but defensive collapses like those might cost us a European place. As far as I was concerned, John Johnson was largely blameless. Indeed, his solid form since breaking into the first-team was rewarded with a new long-term contract, running until 2019. One young Cottager who'd been impressive throughout the entire season was, of course, our left-winger Wayne Cable. Indeed, when the PFA held their awards dinner a few days later, Cable was the only Fulham player named in the Premiership Select XI. But that wasn't all, as Cable was voted the 2014/2015 PFA Young Player of the Year! Cable had played 140 senior matches, scored 22 goals, and made 27 assists... and he still won't turn 21 until the end of next month! Just like Alan Stewart on the right wing, I suspect Wayne will be another player we struggle to keep hold of this summer. Midweek results meant that we still needed one more point to secure our Premiership survival - a point that I hoped would come at home against third-from-bottom Charlton. Right-back Grant Gibson had not played a single minute of league action this season, but I gave the 26-year-old Scot one final chance to prove that he could still contribute. 11 APRIL 2015: Fulham vs Charlton Athletic As great as he had been in Division 1, Peter Devlin's clinical finishing ability was often letting him down at a higher level. This was evident after nine minutes, when left-back Arnar Guðmundsson found the Irishman in the six-yard box with a wide-open Charlton goal to fire at. Peter screwed it past the post. It was also a painful afternoon for goalkeeper John Johnson, whose toughest opponent in the first half-hour was his own body. With 32 minutes gone, JJ went down with a dead leg, unable to play on. Cottagers stalwart Wayne Hudson came on to replace him, which usually meant that either he would keep a clean sheet... or concede four goals from four shots. As it happened, Hudson did keep a clean sheet... because we kept the ball so well that Charlton didn't get even a sniff at goal! We enjoyed 79% of possession in the first half, and then a more modest 59% after the break, giving us a final total of 69%. Nice. Of course, possession would mean nothing if we couldn't convert it into goals. Alan Stewart did exactly that three minutes into the second half, firing the ball past young Addicks goalie Shaun Goodall after some great midfield work from Henning Numme. Though we couldn't find the net again, Stewart's single strike was all we needed. Fulham - 1 (Stewart 48) Charlton Athletic - 0 Premiership, Attendance 41,508 - POSITIONS: Fulham 6th, Charlton 18th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): J Johnson (Hudson); Gibson, Mokoena, Deschacht, Guðmundsson; Schneider, Numme; Stewart, Scott (Cooke), Cable; Devlin (Márquez). It wasn't pretty, but it was enough. In front of over 40,000 fans at Craven Cottage, we had achieved our main goal for this season. With survival now in the bag, I decided that it was time to phase out some of our underperforming players and give more chances to upcoming talents. This was bad news for the likes of Arnar Guðmundsson and Peter Mitchell, whose long-term Fulham futures were now in some doubt. Of course, I still had one eye on Europe. Our next match was at Anfield against Liverpool, who were now one point ahead of us in 5th. Daniel Johnson returned to our defence after a three-match ban, but Cable needed a rest and stayed at home. 15 APRIL 2015: Liverpool vs Fulham It might have been Wednesday rather than Saturday, but it was still a great day for Frankie Bridge's husband. Liverpool left-back Wayne Bridge lifted the ball up to into our penalty area, and when it was fired home by Polish midfielder Sebastian Mila, it was clear that we had issues. Specifically, we had issues in defence. Grant Gibson was not a Premiership defender, and the 26-year-old lacked the pace to keep up with a 34-year-old Bridge. Though Liverpool still only led by a single goal at half-time, I decided to replace Gibson with a proper right-back before he could cause any further damage. Nicky Hunt was now on, and so too was Derek McIntyre, who replaced Daniel Cooke on the left wing. Though we were clearly missing the flair and star quality of Wayne Cable out wide, McIntyre did show glimpses of his talent. In the 69th minute, the young Scot escaped Reds right-back Alain Martineau and crossed to Henning Numme, who tapped in an equaliser against the run of play! That should have been enough for us to leave Anfield with a point... but with barely a minute to go, disaster struck. Hudson flapped at a lofted ball from Liverpool striker Marcus Tudgay, allowing Martineau to pick up the loose ball and cross to Mike Bradshaw at the unguarded far post. Anfield erupted as the 19-year-old Scouse midfielder headed in a late home winner. Liverpool - 2 (Mila 5, Bradshaw 89) Fulham - 1 (Numme 69) Premiership, Attendance 41,407 - POSITIONS: Liverpool 5th, Fulham 6th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Gibson (Hunt), Mokoena, D Johnson, Deschacht; Schneider; Scott (Devlin), Numme; Iversen, Cooke (McIntyre); Stewart. BOOKED: Cooke, Scott, Numme. That was a heartbreaker. Liverpool were now four points clear, and it looked increasingly likely that our only route into Europe would be if we got an invitation to the Inter-Toto Cup. Despite his late mistake, Wayne Hudson stayed in goal for the west London derby at home to Chelsea. The Blues were 11 points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, though they hadn't yet given up on retaining their title. 18 APRIL 2015: Fulham vs Chelsea Another bumper crowd had gathered at Craven Cottage, and after just 19 minutes, the home fans already had reason to celebrate. Fulham left-back Olivier Deschacht carved the Chelsea defence open with a fabulous cross to Peter Devlin, who poked in his 10th goal of the season! This was the Irishman's fourth season with the Cottagers, and he had reached double figures in all of them! We could’ve doubled our lead in the 24th minute, when Devlin's devilish footwork drew a foul and booking out of Blues defender Giorgio Chiellini. However, Chiellini managed to block Florian Schneider's free-kick, and Chelsea launched a quick counter-attack that ended with Vincent Mercier's 20th Premiership goal of the season - his 29th in all competitions. Cristiano who? Things got a bit scrappier later in the first half, as Chelsea picked up a couple more bookings, and Schneider also saw yellow. Our Norwegian youngsters experienced some mixed fortunes. Henning Numme's banana shot almost beat Blues keeper Peter Bechmann in the 32nd minute - 10 minutes before a gashed leg brought Atle Iversen's match to a halt. Schneider had looked unusually shaky in the first half... so naturally, I decided to sub off our captain at half-time and bring on the less experienced Chris McDonald. The 22-year-old took just eight minutes to make his mark, playing Greg Scott through on goal with an excellent lofted pass. Though Scott's first shot was saved by Bechmann, the rebound found the target - and Greg had restored our lead with his first ever Premiership goal! Nearly 13 months had passed since Scott's last competitive goal, but now it seemed that the 25-year-old midfielder couldn't stop finding the net! Seven minutes later, a low cross intended for Devlin was scuffed into the Chelsea net by Blues captain Damir Bogdan, giving us a 3-1 lead! Chelsea boss Jean Tigana had left his usual leaders Jermaine Jenas and Rafael van der Vaart on the bench, but now he had to call upon the veteran midfielders to try and bail out his (mostly) young bucks. van der Vaart came close to pulling one goal back in the 79th minute, when a long-range strike hit the bar. The ball then fell to Mercier, who attempted to play it back to van der Vaart... but then came an interception from Kári Hansen - a 19-year-old Faroese right-back making his senior Fulham debut. Hansen's intervention effectively secured a famous Fulham win, but Scott made that certain by scoring again in the 89th minute. Greg's place and dribbling skills made Chiellini look helpless as he raced through to hammer in our FOURTH goal of the afternoon! Fulham - 4 (Devlin 19, Scott 53,89, Bogdan og60) Chelsea - 1 (Mercier 25) Premiership, Attendance 40,060 - POSITIONS: Fulham 6th, Chelsea 4th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): Hudson; Hunt (Hansen), Mokoena, D Johnson, Deschacht; Schneider (McDonald); Scott, Numme; Iversen (Cooke), Cable; Devlin. BOOKED: Schneider, Mokoena. What an extraordinary second half! We had humiliated the champions and effectively handed their crown to Arsenal. You're welcome, Jean-François. Though getting back into the top five was still a big ask, we had given ourselves a fighting chance. After a midweek international break, we paid a visit to mid-table Sheffield Wednesday, who reached the Semi Finals of the UEFA Cup but were unlikely to need their passports again next season. John Johnson was now back to full fitness and back in the Fulham goal. I also gave a first league start to midfielder Chris McDonald, whose Northern Ireland Under-21s team-mate - 18-year-old striker Ian Donaghy - was on the bench. 25 APRIL 2015: Sheffield Wednesday vs Fulham After just two minutes, Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Marc Matthews was booked for arguing with the referee Simon Dart. By the 14th minute, I was wanting to share a few choice words with the official as well. Wayne Cable was clearly knocked down in the Wednesday area by Liam Ridgewell, but the referee waved away our claims for a penalty. To make matters worse, this had come just six minutes after he had denied us another penalty, even though Greg Scott was scythed down by Jean-Alain Boumsong. With Florian Schneider having been dropped to the bench, Cable was captaining the Cottagers for only the second time. The PFA Young Player of the Year showed his game-changing influence in the 18th minute, perfectly weighting a cross for Alan Stewart to make it 1-0 Fulham. We probably should have been 3-0 up by then, but still... Cable almost found the net himself in the 29th minute, only to be thwarted by a stunning save from Owls goalie Alex Manninger. John Johnson also made a couple of good saves at the other end, though he was unable to keep Bernard Aristouy out of his net just before half-time. The French winger elegantly controlled a killer ball from striker Rene Adams, and then rounded Johnson before tapping into an empty net. By the 54th minute, this was turning into a great Saturday afternoon for Wednesday fans. From about 30 yards out, the Owls' flying Dutchman Adams unleashed an unstoppable rocket into the top corner - easily one of the best goals I'd seen all season. That put us 2-1 behind, and now I was even more annoyed about those non-penalties! A number of our players were struggling to contain the Owls - in particular the young midfielder Chris McDonald, whose full debut was not going to plan. I seriously pondered taking him off... but two minutes later, I was having to think again. McDonald showed great composure to shrug off Aristouy and lift the ball out right to Stewart, who drew us level with his 10th goal of the campaign! Sheffield Wednesday boss Fabrício Nogueira tightened up his defence in the final half-hour, though we still managed a couple more shots at goal. Manninger's fingertips denied Devlin in the 59th minute, though it was the strong tackling of Boumsong at centre-back and Gareth Barry at left-back that gave our attackers the most problems. Another big problem was the man in black, who might as well have been the man in blue. Incredibly, Mr Dart dismissed ANOTHER Fulham penalty claim in the 87th minute, when American forward Clint Dempsey delivered a tackle on McDonald that looked more at home in the NFL than the Premiership! I could only assume that Mr Dart had put money on a Sheffield Wednesday win... well, unluckily for him, the score finished 2-2. Sheffield Wednesday - 2 (Aristouy 45, Adams 54) Fulham - 2 (Stewart 18,56) Premiership, Attendance 36,166 - POSITIONS: Sheff Wed 13th, Fulham 6th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-1-4-1 Attacking): J Johnson; Hunt, Mokoena, Deschacht (Hansen), Guðmundsson; Numme; Scott (Cooke), McDonald; Stewart, Cable; Devlin (Donaghy). BOOKED: Deschacht, Hansen. Though a draw at Hillsborough was still a good result, I felt a real sense of injustice. Referee Simon Dart had denied us THREE clear penalties - in fact, I could point to about a dozen incidents this season where we had legitimate penalty claims waved away! After the match, I put in an official complaint to the FA, who agreed that Mr Dart's decision-making had been off target and apologised for his performance. Referees get enough grief as it is, but it's still important that officials are held to account. Fulham are now guaranteed an 8th-place finish at worst - and if we win our final two games of the season, we could crack the top four! Our dream of a European adventure is still on!

This season has surpassed all my expectations. I was honestly expecting mid-table at best. It would be great if we can finish strongly and qualify for the UEFA Cup, though I think the Champions League is beyond us right now.

I don't see the harm in this. It doesn't (and shouldn't) happen before every match, but it would be a realistic addition for certain competitions and occasions (e.g. the first day of the Premier League season). And given SI's track record on anti-discrimination campaigns, it wouldn't surprise me if this was something they have already considered. You can only speak for yourself - not for anyone else.

PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of March 2015) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Arsenal 30 11 2 1 31 10 10 2 4 25 18 67 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Southampton 31 10 4 2 30 10 6 5 4 21 17 57 3rd Chelsea 30 10 4 1 30 11 5 4 6 22 25 53 4th Everton 31 11 4 1 24 8 4 4 7 12 18 53 5th Fulham 31 11 2 3 28 11 4 3 8 18 30 50 6th Sheff Utd 31 10 1 5 26 19 5 4 6 17 21 50 7th Man Utd 31 9 5 2 27 13 4 5 6 21 31 49 8th Liverpool 30 11 3 1 31 13 3 4 8 19 34 49 9th Crystal Palace 31 9 3 4 33 20 3 4 8 15 21 43 10th Sheff Wed 31 10 3 2 28 12 1 7 8 14 27 43 11th Burnley 30 8 6 1 23 12 1 9 5 14 19 42 12th Crewe 31 9 4 2 31 12 2 4 10 16 27 41 13th Leeds 31 6 6 3 23 17 4 4 8 13 20 40 14th Preston 31 8 5 3 32 22 2 3 10 11 25 38 15th Middlesbrough 31 6 5 5 20 18 4 3 8 18 25 38 16th Ipswich 31 8 1 6 25 20 2 3 11 13 39 34 17th Blackburn 31 6 5 4 27 23 3 1 12 14 32 33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Charlton 31 7 3 5 22 14 1 4 11 7 24 31 19th Torquay 31 4 6 6 24 26 0 1 14 12 41 19 20th Bolton 31 2 5 8 11 18 1 3 12 7 32 17 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Premiership champions-elect Arsenal go through a second month in a row without conceding, and then secure the first trophy of a possible treble. Craig Ward scores the only goal 11 minutes into the League Cup Final against Burnley... but the England midfielder is sent off 24 minutes later and is not allowed to join the post-match celebrations. Claudio Ranieri's eight-year spell as Valencia coach is over, as the Tinkerman is sacked just minutes after... er, beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0. Giannis Kirastas ends an unhappy tenure at Manchester United to take over at the Mestalla. The Glazers try to win back a restless United fanbase by bringing a club legend back to Old Trafford, as Phil Neville leaves Middlesbrough to become the new Red Devils chief. Gary is furious. Three Italian clubs qualify for the Champions League Quarter Finals: Lazio, Parma... and newcomers Genoa, who edge out Sporting and Manchester United in the second group phase. Juventus finish 3rd in their group behind defending champions Chelsea and UEFA Cup holders Barcelona, giving them more time to try and throw away the Serie A scudetto. After knocking out Roma on away goals, Burnley's run to the UEFA Cup Quarter Finals is halted by Monaco, who face SC Freiburg in the Semi Finals. The other last-four clash will see Turkish champions Besiktas take on Sheffield Wednesday, whose attacking coach Ian Rush gives the Owls players some vital advice before they beat Hajduk on penalties. The latest Euro 2016 qualifiers spring up more surprises. After winning their first five games, defending champions Italy go down 1-0 in Romania, while Spain are humbled 4-0 at home by Russia! Werder Bremen's Frédéric David scores an 88th-minute equaliser to save France from defeat in Belarus, and his reward is a £5.75million transfer to Ipswich. IN OTHER NEWS... English author Sir Terry Pratchett - who proved that the earth was a flat disc balanced on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle - dies from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 66. Pratchett was once quoted as saying, "Everything happens for a reason, except possibly football." For some reason, Smithy from “Gavin & Stacey” is now hosting the CBS chat show “The Late Late Show with James Corden” and broadcasting to millions to Americans. I guess it can’t possibly be any worse than “Horne & Corden”. Millions of teenagers worldwide are heartbroken when Zayn Malik announces he is going in a different direction from his One Direction bandmates. Oh no! Anyway... Jeremy Clarkson is sacked from BBC car show "Top Gear" after attacking a producer, while his co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May resign in solidarity. And on that bombshell...

MARCH 2015 February had been a memorable month for Fulham forward Alan Stewart, whose performances earned him a nomination for Premiership Player of the Month. Alan ultimately lost out to Everton striker Albert Mulder (hey, remember when I gave him his big break at Kidderminster?) but his displays were reportedly attracting serious interest from elsewhere. The 30-year-old Scotsman now had just four months left on his contract. We opened fresh talks over a new three-year deal, offering him £27,500 per week - that's £5,000 more than he's earning right now - and some meaty goal and assist bonuses. Unfortunately, Stewart said no. Although Alan was delighted with the club's recent Premiership form and very happy with the overall squad atmosphere, he still had reservations about how I'd treated him in the past. I tried to reassure him that I was a changed man, a calmer man, a wiser man in my advancing years... but he was still sceptical. Barring a sudden change of heart, I was resigned to losing Alan Stewart at the end of the season. The only thing that I could see convincing Stewart to stay was Fulham qualifying for Europe next season. Sitting in 5th place with nine games to go, it was certainly a realistic target. Now that we were effectively safe from relegation, we could now set our sights on getting into at least the Inter-Toto Cup, if not the UEFA Cup... or maybe even that other big continental cup. Because of some scheduling and calendar quirks, we would only play two matches in March. The first of them was at Ewood Park against 17th-placed Blackburn. Yes, Rovers did beat us 3-1 at the Cottage in November, but they had looked rather less threatening since Bruce Grobbelaar succeeded Danny Wilson as manager last month. 14 MARCH 2015: Blackburn Rovers vs Fulham Since becoming Blackburn manager in February, Bruce Grobbelaar had made two signings - Spanish midfielder Mikel Ramos from Norwich, and veteran forward Ian Armstrong from Aberdeen. It was those two players who made the breakthrough for Rovers after 17 minutes. Ramos supplied the ammunition with a brilliant direct ball, and Armstrong fired it home with an unstoppable volley. Things went from bad to worse for us just five minutes later. Blackburn's 36-year-old former England midfielder Seth Johnson chipped the ball out right to his opposite winger Markus Saler, and the ex-Fulham loanee was wiped out by a two-footer from current Cottager Daniel Johnson. Daniel was dismissed... and as a double whammy, right-back Neil Adams doubled Blackburn's lead direct from the free-kick. As DJ sampled the Ewood Park bath products, I had to quickly remix the team. Striker Milan Lukas made way for holding midfielder Henning Numme, as Aaron Mokoena moved back from midfield to defence. Rovers would also lose a centre-back later in the first half, as England Under-21s defender Paul Scott came off with a thigh injury in the 36th minute. After successfully stemming the bleeding in the first half, we looked to strike back in the second. A shaky first touch from Blackburn winger Saler in the 63rd minute was intercepted by Numme, who chipped it into the area for Alan Stewart. The big Scot then outjumped Ramos to pull one goal back... but we needed another. Sadly, that second Fulham goal would never come. A wayward banana shot from Stewart in the 85th minute was all we could muster late on. Rookie goalkeeper John Johnson did make a strong save to stop Nunzio Pepe from restoring Blackburn's two-goal lead, but thanks to his namesake's mistake, the three points would stay at Ewood Park. Blackburn Rovers - 2 (Armstrong 17, Adams 22) Fulham - 1 (Stewart 63) Premiership, Attendance 33,999 - POSITIONS: Blackburn 16th, Fulham 5th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): J Johnson; Hunt (Devlin), Mitchell, D Johnson, Maas (Guðmundsson); Mokoena, Schneider; Stewart, Cooke, Cable; Lukas (Numme). BOOKED: Stewart, Mokoena. SENT OFF: D Johnson. Our disciplinary record is getting ridiculous now. That was our FIFTH red card of the season - all straight reds! Ironically, only Blackburn have had more reds in the Premiership this season! Daniel Johnson's sending-off was the worst of the lot, and he was rightly slapped with a three-match ban. He also got a two-week fine for violent conduct, which he obviously protested about, but I felt it was time to lay down the law. We had to stew over that defeat for a fortnight, because it was time for another international break. The usual suspects went off to represent their countries, and it was a particularly great week for left-back Erwin Maas. Winning his 7th Holland cap at home to Moldova, Erwin scored his first international goal - and then set up another goal for captain Rafael van der Vaart in a 3-0 win. Once everybody was back in west London, we got ready for a home meeting with one of our fiercest foes. After four draws and five defeats against David Moyes' Preston, could we make it TENTH time lucky? 28 MARCH 2015: Fulham vs Preston North End In my latest attempt to outwit David Moyes, I reverted to a bog-standard 4-4-2 - with Alan Stewart and Peter Devlin playing up front together. Though Stewart had rejected my latest offer for a new long-term contract, his short-term commitment to Fulham was not in doubt. The in-form marksman was on target once again after 17 minutes, rifling in a byline cross from right-winger Atle Iversen. Though we bossed Preston in the opening stages, we could not increase our lead, as Preston's goalkeeper once again seemed to have reserved his best performance specifically for us. Captain Lee Camp saved a deflected free-kick from our skipper Florian Schneider in the 25th minute, and an even better catch 12 minutes later kept left-back Erwin Maas off the scoreboard. I made one change at the break, as Aaron Mokoena - now on a booking - was replaced at centre-half with teenage debutant Héctor Gómez. Meanwhile, Preston brought on their first two subs early in the second half. One of them was former Birmingham striker Andy Johnson, who was denied a goal in the 54th minute by John Johnson's fingertips. There would be no more tears in the Fulham goal... not for another 20 minutes, anyway. The visitors' other early sub Dean Oakes was soon forced off with a broken toe, and replaced by 17-year-old Northern Irish striker Ryan Bell. It turned out Camp wasn't the only Ulsterman determined to ruin our day, as with 16 minutes remaining, Bell scored the fifth goal of his rookie season from a Lloyd Doyley cross. Almost as soon as Preston had equalised, I brought 20-year-old Derek McIntyre on in a last-ditch effort to regain our lead. McIntyre should have won us a penalty in the dying moments, when he was cynically brought down by Preston right-back Colin Oakes to stop him connecting to Wayne Cable's cross. Instead, the referee waved play on, and yet another opportunity to defeat our Lilywhite foes disappeared. Fulham - 1 (Stewart 17) Preston North End - 1 (Bell 74) Premiership, Attendance 28,597 - POSITIONS: Fulham 5th, Preston 14th FULHAM LINE-UP (4-4-2): J Johnson; Guðmundsson, Mokoena (Gómez), Deschacht, Maas; Iversen (Cooke), Scott, Schneider, Cable; Stewart, Devlin (McIntyre). BOOKED: Mokoena, Maas. It's hopeless. We are never going to beat Preston North End! In even more disappointing news, Maas picked up a calf strain in the closing stages and was likely to miss the whole of April as a result. With seven games to go, we're now three points off the Champions League places. It's a bit ambitious to be thinking about that, but if we can hit another purple patch in the run-in, then anything's possible...

PREMIERSHIP TABLE (End of February 2015) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Arsenal 28 10 2 1 30 10 9 2 4 24 18 61 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Southampton 29 9 4 2 28 10 6 4 4 21 17 53 3rd Chelsea 29 9 4 1 29 11 5 4 6 22 25 50 4th Fulham 29 11 1 3 27 10 4 3 7 17 28 49 5th Everton 28 10 3 1 21 7 4 3 7 10 16 48 6th Liverpool 28 10 3 1 30 13 3 4 7 18 32 46 7th Man Utd 29 8 4 2 23 13 4 5 6 21 31 45 8th Sheff Utd 28 8 1 5 22 17 5 4 5 16 19 44 9th Crystal Palace 29 8 3 4 32 20 3 4 7 15 20 40 10th Crewe 29 9 3 2 30 11 2 3 10 16 27 39 11th Burnley 28 7 6 1 22 12 1 9 4 14 18 39 12th Sheff Wed 28 10 3 1 28 11 0 6 8 12 27 39 13th Middlesbrough 28 6 4 5 20 18 4 2 7 16 22 36 14th Leeds 28 5 5 3 21 16 4 3 8 13 20 35 15th Preston 29 7 5 3 30 21 2 2 10 10 24 34 16th Charlton 28 7 2 5 20 12 1 4 9 7 22 30 17th Blackburn 28 5 5 4 25 22 3 1 10 14 29 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Ipswich 28 8 1 6 25 20 1 2 10 10 36 30 19th Torquay 29 4 6 5 24 25 0 1 13 12 39 19 20th Bolton 28 2 4 7 11 16 1 3 11 7 28 16 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Celta's Champions League debut gets even better, as they are the first team into the Quarter Finals after back-to-back wins over Manchester United. And it's all down to the brilliance of their undisputed star man - journeyman forward Gaizka Saizar, playing arguably the best football of his career at the age of 34. With no European football to distract them, Arsenal have their sights on an unprecedented domestic treble. After strengthening their Premiership lead with three straight wins, the Gunners knock out Division 2 Morecambe to reach the FA Cup Quarter Finals, and then see off Sheffield Wednesday in extra-time to set up a League Cup Final versus Burnley. After his £14.25million move from Betis in December, Francisco Salazar scores five goals in his first seven La Liga matches for Barcelona... but the Chilean is then ruled out for the season with a torn groin muscle. Barça boss Franky Van der Elst weeps that he has only four world-class forwards left, and that Lionel Messi has scored just 20 goals in 25 league games. Juventus' Serie A charge hits a snag when they lose 3-0 at a resurgent Napoli. Cristiano Ronaldo is so furious that he snatches the 'man of the match' award from Partenopei midfielder Elano. Parma close in on the Old Lady with six wins in a row, and even 3rd-placed Inter still hold hopes of taking the scudetto from Lazio - now 17 points adrift after selling captain Giorgio Chiellini to Chelsea for £12.75million. Despite their Bundesliga struggles, Bayern München reach the Final of the DFB-Pokal after Yaw Quaye bags a late winner against Wolfsburg. Immediately after the game, manager Bernd Krauss flees the country and seeks refuge at Sevilla. Bayern's new head coach is a certain Nigel Winterburn - recently sacked by Hertha BSC. IN OTHER NEWS... After living long (for 83 years) and prospering (on American TV), legendary "Star Trek" actor Leonard Nimoy boldly goes to the other side. Steve Strange from synth-pop pioneers Visage fades to grey, and fellow LGBT+ music icon Lesley Gore tells her mourners, "It's my funeral, you can cry if you want to." EL James' attempt at making Twilight fan-faction gets completely out of control when it is turned into a Hollywood film. In "Fifty Shades of Grey", Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan... ahem, discuss the merits of charcoal, pewter and graphite. Canadian hip-hop star (who knew such a thing existed?) Drake threatens to bore everyone to death with an hour-long mixtape of mumble-rap songs, some of which might include traces of Lil Wayne. If you’re reading this, it’s too late. Hollywood's swashbuckling superstar Johnny Depp gets married for the second time, tying the knot with fellow actor Amber Heard. And they all lived happily ever after...