Hope and Despair for 2016/17

I had really thought that Fulham would be competitive in the league this year after some promising summer signings. Alas, what appears to be a better team on paper will be a few points and a few places lower than last season's "casserole" as Timmy so aptly put it.

Looking forward to what 2016/17 might hold for us I have both hope and despair found in the stories of two teams we finished ahead of last year: Brighton and Hove Albion and Bolton

Hope comes with the story of Brighton and Hove. In December of 2014 they were in 21st place and brought in a new manager mid-year. They managed to climb all the way to, wait for it, 20th place - and that was only because Rotherham was deducted 3 points at the end of the season. Despite that disappointing start for Chris Hughton they didn't dump him and instead let him revamp the team over the summer. The starting XI was dramatically different this year but it worked well and they went almost half the season without a loss. Now they are in a good position to join the Premiere League for the first time.

Despair comes with the story of Bolton. Bolton finished just one point behind us last year. Like Fulham they had spent many years in the Premiere League, but since coming to the Championship they have continued to get worse. They've never been able to adapt to the Championship, their finances have collapsed, and now they are heading for League 1.

In 2016/17 we could be either. Playing for a playoff spot or wondering how much lower we can go. Anyone care to share what they see in their crystal ball?

 

Good call re: Brighton. Let's not forget everyone, Joka was only named manager on December 27. That's barely 4 months ago. You can certainly be a disaster in 4 months, but he hasn't. What happens in the next 4 months during the offseason and season's start will be fascinating to see.

If Khan were to go bankrupt and pull financing, then we'd be very similar to Bolton.

 

Nice point, Micah. The word "Fulhamish" exist, so I can definitely see things going either way. Since I became a fan in 2004 and had only known Fulham as a Premier League team, after the Great Escape and our European adventures, I really never believed we'd get relegated. Now I genuinely have no idea what will happen every season. Hell, I started rooting for AFC Wimbledon as my "non-league team" in 2007 after seeing a match on my last trip to England (unfortunately, I couldn't schedule my trip around a Fulham home match). At the time, they were in the Ryman Premier League (the league below National League South/Conference South) and now they're in the Playoffs to make League One. I never imagined both my English teams would be perilously close to being in the same division...

~Steve

 

Boro going up. Playoffs? Who knows? Glad to see Yedlin and Sunderland get a leg up to safety. The kid seems to have settled in there nicely, and that bodes well for he and us in Russia. Norwich really blew it today. I reckon we'll be making the trip to Carrow Road next season.