transfer review/season preview

By: timmyg | September 2nd, 2009

All the pundits and fans were saying Fulham needed to bolster their roster, particularly with quality, to cope with the Europa League and have a chance of matching last year’s successes.

Mission accomplished? Well, sort of…

Roy did add several new faces, but are they the class that the media and fans were wanting?

Former Brummie Stephen Kelly was Fulham’s only defensive signing, coming in on a free. To date, he has 14 caps for the squad. Not a whole lot, but we know how much national team caps depend on politics more so than skill (e.g. Brian Ching with 42 caps for the USA). So the initial reaction jury is out in my mind.

The center of the park saw an entire midfield core arrive. Bjørn Helge Riise of Norway, Damien Duff of Chelsea and Newcastle, and Kagisho Dikgacoi of South Africa all signed for undisclosed amounts while Jonathan Greening of West Brom penned a year-long loan deal. Excluding Greening, those are all stalwarts on their national teams. And if we were to count the return of Simon Davies from injury (been nearing 5 months) we have a substitute, and another stalwart, to boot.

In recent weeks, the need for a striker has overshadowed the demand for more midfielders and overall depth. But despite many reported attempts for another striker that reached double digits, only the nameless Swede David Elm and his 6’3” frame came to SW6. Roy sure loves his Scandinavians.

With no one else coming in, and no one else leaving – the big surprise of the entire window – many fans started their temper tantrums against the board and MAF and our endeavor; everything short of us being relegated was being said.

But just because there’s little headlines to show for it, that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. (Oh boy, I sound like an elementary school teacher. Let me explain…)

Al-Fayed doesn’t splash the cash. Roy doesn’t make panic buys. We all know he is methodical with training and preparation and systematic in play. And the same goes for his transfer policy.

Excluding the untested crop of players’ now arriving, name one panic buy or bust Roy made.
Litmanen? He was on a pay-as-you-play so I wonder if he even made it on the payroll. EJ? I inexplicably think he’ll come good, and also believe he was lined up outside of Roy’s auspices. Gera? I’ll bite, but he was free.

This summer Roy targeted numerous strikers he felt could cut it, but not a single one panned out. In fact, it reminded me of playing FIFA 07 or 08 when the computer just won’t let you purchase anyone short of a 10 million quid fee and 60,000 quid a week salary. Only with this we can’t throw our controller onto the ground and press reset.

Instead, not a single player was loaned out or sold before the deadline. And Schwarzer, Dempsey, and Murphy were all locked up in long term deals. Instead of rebuilding, or even reloading, Roy decided to reinvest.

But this season won’t be about who we did or do not sign, I’m afraid.

The clubs that finished directly below us last year are going to finish directly above us this year. City has spent too much money not to be below seventh, again. Tottenham appear to have finally found its guy in ‘Arry; that is before he leaves Spurs bankrupt and jets off to Anfield whenever Rafa leaves. And a financially-settled West Ham team is bound to give us problems, especially considering they’re our bogey team.

So short of Roy making panic buys on overpriced and overhyped players, which would be akin to him shaving his head and quoting Sham 69 lyrics at press conferences, the season just cannot be like last. And I’m okay with that.

So, by my count, that means a 10th place finish, and Roy is a good Cup manager so hopefully we’ll get a good run in. Not a bad finish by any means.