Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa Play Off Final Post Match Thread

[purpletrousers]

Yeah I noticed a few slips, one was at quite a crucial moment for our Jack I think.
I wonder if there is a requirement for ground staff to communicate that/when the pitch is watered?
There was a manager (forget who) livid recently for his perception of players wearing the wrong studs.

Those that re-watched it all tell me Jack should have been off as well as the other fella. Swings &.

One reflection is, given our grief at the loss, it makes we wonder how SB is right now.

The loss of such a collosal match in a club's history will way very heavily on his shoulders.
Likely trigger his other bereavements.
Crucially he also carries the burden that his tactics failed.

Like others, such mixed feelings. If we can get better we simply must.
The killer issue is if and who.
I'll support him for stabilising us and being a good man, but given the indubitable failure,  with the reseources he's had, and soon less of them, the longer he's with us I fear that'll run out, and I'd not like to see us turn on him.

[olaftab]

Another one on fan behaviour. Both my train journeys, there and back, were delayed due to idiots pressing the emergency button. On return journey Transport Police has to board the train all the way from Banbury to Moor Street. Not good.

You must have been on the same train as me coming back.

And the one I got back in April 2015.
There some drunken twats singing about Fred West too

Sounds like we were all on the same train!

Blimey April 2015! No wonder it took so long to get to Moor Street.
Richard E it was roughly the 9.15 from Wembley.

[Richard E]

Yeah, me and Chelts got on at Marylebone at about 9:00.

[john e]

I saw no trouble at all, apart from the result it was all very pleasant

got chatting to a fella in weatherspoons who turned out to be Richl from this site and had a couple of beers together, thoroughly nice chap

[cheltenhamlion]

Yeah, me and Chelts got on at Marylebone at about 9:00.

And are arriving back to Moor Street some time tomorrow!

[Richard E]

Yeah, me and Chelts got on at Marylebone at about 9:00.

And are arriving back to Moor Street some time tomorrow!

As long as Aftab stops pressing the emergency button.

[cheltenhamlion]

Yeah, me and Chelts got on at Marylebone at about 9:00.

And are arriving back to Moor Street some time tomorrow!

As long as Aftab stops pressing the emergency button.

I wish he would. Clearly got the wrong end of the stick about how much FFP will cause us issues. I don't think Chiltern class that as an emergency.

[Richard E]

To be fair I was pretty impressed that the guys sitting opposite us were planning to go nightclubbing with Jesus when they reached town, although why they didn’t request his divine intervention to speed up the journey...

[villa `cross the mersey]

We arrived at Wembley really early having stayed in London overnight - our plan for the day was to relax,enjoy the atmosphere and steer clear of the demon booze ! For me the upside for the day was noticing just how diverse our fan base is these days - ignoring the drunken idiots that plague us , more noticeably on sunny/ late kick off days - I was genuinely pleased to see groups of people of varying ethnicities all wearing claret and blue -likewise the generous ticket allocation allowed many diehards to bring along their families including relatives from both ends of the age spectrum - seeing youngsters kids excited at finding  a free flag on their seat was great. Sadly as kick off approached ( and passed)  there were a fair few drunken and abusive individuals literally falling into their seats - within minutes the inevitable "sit down ,we can't see" shouts were heard around us -
Sadly those children who were waving flags gleefully a few minutes earlier were now clinging on to them and looking bemused or at worst a bit frightened.Thankfully it calmed down around us and the six or so boozers vanished before half time to " top up" Our second half rally on the pitch focused attentions back on the pitch and at full time  most just wanted to get back home or go back to the pub !! On the bus back to our hotel I met a nice bloke wearing a Villa shirt -we started talking and it was evident he lived in West London - he was born in Africa but moved to London when he was a child - he chose to support the Villa to be different from his schoolmates who favoured Liverpool, Man Utd etc......as he was getting off the bus he wished us a safe journey back to Formby - his parting comment was " we go again"
That brought  smile to my face .........after all it is only a game

[Chris Smith]

After a couple of post match pints on the way back to get the minibus we bumped into a group of elderly Fulham fans comically satisfying all of the stereotypes you read about them. Plummy accents, dressed more suitably for the opera than football and spouting all the platitudinal stuff that you really don’t want to hear at that moment. I am not sure that all of our supporters would have reacted as civilly as we did.

[villa `cross the mersey]

After a couple of post match pints on the way back to get the minibus we bumped into a group of elderly Fulham fans comically satisfying all of the stereotypes you read about them. Plummy accents, dressed more suitably for the opera than football and spouting all the platitudinal stuff that you really don’t want to hear at that moment. I am not sure that all of our supporters would have reacted as civilly as we did.

Did they make a quick brexit?

[cheltenhamlion]

To be fair I was pretty impressed that the guys sitting opposite us were planning to go nightclubbing with Jesus when they reached town, although why they didn’t request his divine intervention to speed up the journey...

There was no hope for the shitfaced 15 year old with him that they took in a titty bar earlier mind. By the way, I seem to have ripped you off for a tenner on cab fare! 

[KRS]

After the match I was sat amongst a small group of Fulham “folk” on the train back to Waterloo. Apparently Grealish was a disgrace and should have been sent off, they had more fans and were much louder than Villa, and them winning meant that justice was done. I some what agree with the last sentiment though and feel sorry for Shrewsbury losing out on promotion to a team that finished 8pts behind them.

[MillerBall]

Yesterday highlighted that Villa have a lack of pace in the side and the painfully slow build up is only of benefit to the defender's.
A sad performance; Albert struggled badly but was not alone in this.
We are a very cautious side and Grealish apart I did not see much quality on display. Financially the club needs the promotion but it is hard to envisage that we would make much of a contribution other than helping to make the fixtures up.
Plenty of effort but not much speed of thought yesterday.
Fulham were cynical the 4th official was stricken with an optical disorder and many of the Fulham fans have the clap.
Steve Bruce has worked hard and I would like to see him take the club up but I am not convinced this will happen.
The ClapHeads won on the day but it is unlikely they will be able to find such support from the match officials in the Premiership and their season ticket holders will need extra penicillin if they expect to get 5 tickets for the Man Ute game.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I think these drunken incidents happen all the time. Thing Is is all fun and games but when the result goes against you the mood can change very quickly