To some, there’s nothing more condescending than when their team are described as plucky, punching above there weight or a battling side. Each of the terms generally means the same thing when used towards a football club. You’ve punched above your weight and sooner rather than later, you’re going to get brought down to earth. Fulham have got used to running the whole gambit of these cliche ridden back handed complements this season during their run to the Europa League Final.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve seen a few articles around stating it’s the biggest game in Fulham’s history. Sorry to deflate the collective bubbles, but that simply isn’t true at all. It’s possibly the craziest day in an average Fulham fans lifetime but it’s not even close to biggest match in the clubs history. I doubt even the most ardent Cottage regular would have even considered getting to the final when you look at the teams they were up against. It’s a brilliant day and they will want to win it, but I’ll look at the clubs biggest game in the modern era further down.

Of course, I will be rooting for Fulham on Wednesday night in the final as if it’s my own team. I like Fulham, I like the way they play the game, I like Roy Hodgson, so I naturally want the best for them. I’d love it if they won the game, but do not underestimate Athletico Madrid. Despite the fact that they are clearly the most disaster prone side in European football and have somehow got to the game by only winning 2 matches, they still have some quality in the team.

If any team can implode and throw any situation away, then Athletico are the team to put your money on. For example, they won the Spanish double in 1996 with Raddy Antic as manager and then four years later they dropped out of the Primera League. Their greatest era as a club coincided with Real Madrid being the greatest club side in the world for about 15 years. The fans burnt the club shop down in 2005 when the new Nike kit was discovered to have scrapped the red and white stripes. This is a club that make Tottenham look the model of consistency.

Despite all that, Fulham stand on the threshold of an amazing achievement. Don’t patronise them by assuming by being in the final being good enough. Hodgson and his players will want to win the trophy. By falling at the final fence, everything will have been in vain. All the sweat, the comebacks, the fighting spirit will have come to nothing if they fail to come home without that trophy. Being there doesn’t count unless you win the damn thing. Ask the Middlesbrough faithful.

Now, as for the biggest game in Fulhams modern history, the day they played Torquay United in a battle between the two lowest placed league sides in 1996 has to be up there. Only 14 years ago, Fulham faced relegation out of the league and financial implosion. Crowds were little better than 4,000 a game and they had less than a 1,000 season ticket holders. They lost the match and faced ruin and that was just 14 years ago. The same season, Hodgson was leading Inter Milan to a 7th place finish in Serie A and Fulham managed to survive by bringing Mickey Adams in as manager.

That’s how far this club has come in such a short time and for all the hype and posturing, the Fulham fans will always look back to the day they were facing oblivion in the face. Football is indeed a funny old game, but for Fulham and Roy Hodgson, only a win at the HSH Nordbank Arena will suffice in bringing a smile to their faces.

Fulham’s amazing transformation under Roy Hodgson just keeps reaching new heights and sending their fans in to raptures. I know I’ve written about Roy Hodgson and the fact that the British press have virtually ignored his career until he took over at Fulham, but no-one could have expected this level of improvement from the Cottagers.

2 years ago they were all but relegated from the Premiership and when they went 2-0 down in a league game against Manchester City, they were technically down. Amazingly though they recovered and won that game 3-2, going on a run that saw them survive on the last day of the season. Now here we are in April 2010 and they have a Europa Cup Final to look forward to in 13 days time.

I’ve been sick and tired of people doing the Europa League down, for Fulham and their fans it is a monumental achievement and they deserve to celebrate long in to the night. The achievements of Roy Hodgson can no longer be ignored by the British media who will no doubt be jumping on the bandwagon as we speak, propelling the Fulham manager to demi-god status. They’re about 10 years behind but they’ll never let on just how much they’ve underestimated the like-able Londoner.

As much as Fulham’s European success has been a revelation for the club, it has cemented the managerial abilities of Hodgson. He has taken London’s smallest Premier League club to their first ever continental final and achieved something that some more celebrated English managers have not achieved. I’m truly delighted for them, for him and the Fulham fans.

After the game, Hodgson said “After going a goal down against the run of play I think we made a major piece of history here tonight in a very special atmosphere. We have beaten a very good team and I’m drained after the emotional roller-coaster. I think lots of teams would have lost their discipline and shape, but we stayed strong.”

They’ve seen off more famous and illustrious opponents throughout this cup run and just when you thought they’d come a cropper, they found hidden reserves of mental strength and fortitude to fight back in every knock out tie. Shaktar Donetsk, Roma, Juventus, Wolfsburg and now Hamburg have fallen when all common sense told you that Fulham couldn’t or wouldn’t beat them. They did and with such lovely football too.

Of course, they’ll now face Athletico Madrid who have put Liverpool out tonight, which I’m delighted with. Not disrespecting Liverpool, but now all the build up in the UK will focus on Fulham, which is what they deserve. If Liverpool had made it, we would have had constant coverage of Benitez’s miserable and moronic press conferences which I’ve seen more than I deserve to over the last 5 years. Now Fulham and their fans can bask in the next two weeks as the excitement builds towards Hamburg.

They must be in shock, stunned as they’ve seen the transformation of their team in such a short space of time. Enjoy it Fulham fans and I truly, really want you to win the cup. Congratulations to all of you. Now get drunk!

The build up had been going on for weeks, with the first teasers of the new kit advertised on the hoardings surrounding the pitch during Spurs’ final home League game against Manchester City. “Glory Comes In Three Colours” read the tagline, and Spurs fans collectively shrugged at the thought of having another 3 kits for the fourth season in a row. Since the Puma deal started in the 2005-2006 season, Spurs have had 13 new outfield player kits and 8 goalkeeper kits, plus 2 Carling Cup Final limited editions.

Being a Spurs fan is not cheap, even in these heady times of the Premiership. Whilst theirs plenty of money floating around, it still isn’t driving down the cost of supporting Tottenham in particular. Yet, being a fan, you kind of get used to the expense over the years. You don’t fully accept it, but you can’t help supporting the team you love can you? When it’s an emotional attachment, all common sense goes out of the window.

Yet, I couldn’t help but feel really disappointed with the new kits, especially the home shirt in the leaked images that were floating around the internet. It just didn’t look right and I was hoping it would be the same as the awful mock up’s of the England kit that were flying about only to be disproved when the real thing was released.  Some fans had certainly been vocal in their hostility to it, whilst others refused to believe the images were real.

So with a large fanfare, and microsite publicising the release of the new kits, Tottenham could relax in the knowledge that the fans would be fine with whatever they were served up. They were wrong though. Within minutes of the kits finally being revealed to the fans, text messages, facebook profiles and  twitter accounts began to show the real feelings of the fans. In general, they hated the new home kit.

A petition was quickly set up, yidsagainstyellow and as of today, it’s reached almost 2,700 signatures. So I rang the club to ask them what they feel about this response. Suffice to say, they’ve ignored it and tried to sell the kit to me! I advised them that unless they’d give it away, I wasn’t interested but they still wanted £45.00 so I passed. Ah well.

I must admit I’m a little bit staggered by the response, if I’m honest. Whilst I hate it, due to the yellow stripes and dabs on it, I didn’t expect anyone else to dislike as much. In fact, I’m quite shocked just how many people do hate it but I think it shows just how much fan interaction has come on through the internet. From the formation of F.C. United, to the purchase of Ebbsfleet by members of myfootballclub.com to the Spirit of Shankly group, fans can now interact without having to meet face to face.

If anything, I really dislike the fact that football clubs decide on new kits without consulting the fans. Whether football clubs like it or not, it is an important barometer of the clubs status to see shirts being worn other than on a match day. If you have the audacity of Tottenham in regards to kit releases, 13 in 4 season of the Puma deal and an incredible 35 different home, away, third and limited edition shirts in 12 seasons, the club HAS to take the fans opinions in account. Why aren’t they asked what they like? After all, they’re the ones who will be wearing it!

Will the club listen? It does seem as if a ground swell of support is building, which includes boycotting all three of the kits unless the home strip is changed, though hopefully we’ll not see a repeat of the Athletico Madrid fans, who firebombed the club shop because Nike changed the stripes to halves. I suppose it’s all down to money, but it would be nice if Tottenham’s chairman, Daniel Levy, actually came out, admit they’ve got this very wrong and try and rectify it. Just change the yellow trim to blue and hey presto! Nice kit.

Pre-Order The New Tottenham Home Kit Today

Pre-order the new home Tottenham Hotspur shirt or kit today so you’ll be the first to get it. UK residents can order here through Kitbag, while US residents can order here, through Kitbag USA.

Related Posts:

• Interview with Alan Mullery,
• Journey from America to White Hart Lane,
• Photo slideshow Of pilgrimage to White Hart Lane,
• Official Photographs of Tottenham Home, Away and Third Shirts For 09/10 Season.