Marked for Sander Berge
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fulham can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 May 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Fulham heard it as anything else.
Market7 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fulham is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 May 2029
Tempers go at Fulham
Alex Iwobi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
No hiding place for Kevin
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin, and the manager let it.
Market7 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Antonee Robinson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Feb 2029
No end in sight to Fulham's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fulham has to find a result from somewhere.
Market12 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Aidan Evans
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aidan Evans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fulham the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Fulham
Alex Iwobi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match10 Feb 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Sander Berge
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
A performance of 8.52 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamadou Kanté and Fulham agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Nov 2028
Fulham march on in the cup
Burnley are out and Fulham go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Alex Iwobi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fulham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bernd Leno, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A performance of 8.94 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marked 8.36 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A performance of 8.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Fulham are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
A one-man rearguard from Bernd Leno
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market23 Oct 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Fulham, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Fulham
Alex Iwobi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Nobody could get near Alex Iwobi
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Oct 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces23 Oct 2028
The spotlight tightens on George Hirst
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Alex Paulsen gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market23 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Antonee Robinson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 5.47, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
In brief
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Squad
A wage question at Fulham
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Boardroom
The Fulham production line keeps running
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The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Bernd Leno
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 50 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A one-man rearguard from Bernd Leno
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Defensive actions: 36, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match30 Sep 2028
No mercy from Fulham
Manchester United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Fulham were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market2 Oct 2028
Oscar Bobb wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Fulham hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Alex Iwobi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fulham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
50 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Marked 9.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Aug 2028
The unthinkable, invoiced: Rodrigo Muniz sold
Tottenham arrived with $107.3M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Fulham
Alex Iwobi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match19 Aug 2028
A bad afternoon for Fulham against Everton
2‑4 to Everton, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sander Berge, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Marked 8.68 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Fulham board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.
Market21 Aug 2028
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market21 Aug 2028
He is 16, and nobody at Fulham signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.