Having already cast an eye over the relegated clubs, Philip Cornwall looks at Fulham and suggests Lawrie Sanchez is getting rough press, Bolton and Sunderland, where the future's bright...
Fulham
What went wrong
Lawrie Sanchez has come in for plenty of flak around here - and with two wins by mid-December after a lucky escape the previous May that is no surprise. Nor did his Northern Ireland supermarket sweep impress. But the margins were very slim at the start of the season.
Fulham led at half-time in their first four matches but won just one of them and lost three of them to goals scored in the 88th minute or later. There was still time in one of those matches for David Healy to have an equaliser disallowed, while a penalty should have given Fulham the chance to double the 1-0 lead at Villa.
Bad luck afflicts everyone, but Fulham's opening run was miserable. Teams with small squads have to pick up points when they are playing well and with decent luck and/or concentration Fulham would have been six to 10 points better off by the end of September.
To make matters worse, Brian McBride broke a kneecap in the process of putting the team ahead against Middlesbrough, a match lost to one of those late goals. Nor did Sanchez ever have Jimmy Bullard at his disposal.
What went right
Roy Hodgson didn't panic. As I wrote when he was appointed, he was once hot favourite to be the next England coach and is our most successful managerial export of his generation. His stock in England was at its highest in 1997-98 - maybe Mohamed Fayed's living in the past has its advantages...
Bullard recovered at last. McBride returned, too. In the pre-season previews, this column described Diomansy Kamara as overpriced. And he was, especially for a player heading to the Africa Cup of Nations - a small squad can less easily afford such an absence. But he delivered at a crucial time.
Danny Murphy, a veteran hero of relegation battles with Crewe, proved up to the task once more.
Reasons to be cheerful
The idea of Craven Cottage hosting top-flight football this century is still astonishing. Bullard's bad luck must end. Hodgson has the chance to shape the team in pre-season and has the record to show he can do it.
Doom and gloom
Fayed may have more time to spend with his football club now he is not so busy with his lawyers, but his ambition of building 'the Manchester United of the South' has been blown away by the arrival of investors elsewhere with deeper pockets and the rise in TV revenue that reduces the edge he might have on others.
I'll leave the Jari Litmanen jibes to others.
And the moral is...
Finns ain't what they used to be. Oh, hang on.
BOLTON
What went wrong
If there was one match Little Lee wouldn't have wanted on the opening day, it was the return of Big Allardyce. A 3-0 defeat in your first home game against your predecessor...At least the second game at the Reebok was a 3-0 win against Reading, but that was the only victory for Sammy the Second.
New managers need breaks, especially new managers getting their first (last?) crack in such a role in the top flight, and Lee did not get much. But a team that has done so much on spirit cannot cope with losing that sense of togetherness.
Big Sam succeeded by getting the unexpected out of supposedly average players. Little Sam got less than expected out of even more average players.
By the first weekend of February, 25 points had been amassed - 20 of them under Gary Megson in his first 16 matches. But Nicolas Anelka had left for Chelsea and not been properly replaced. Just six goals came in the 12 games after his departure, and just the one win. A catastrophic last half-hour at home to Arsenal, when ten visitors turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win, was followed by a lame 4-0 surrender at Villa.
What went right
Before Christmas, they beat Manchester United, which would warm any Trotter's heart, to cap a run of three draws not long after Megson's appointment. There was a feelgood factor from the change of manager, despite the lukewarm reception from the fans.
In April, who knows what happened? Suddenly, a team that had struggled under a manager with a diabolical top-flight record found what it took to win three games out of four. That run started at home to West Ham - maybe that was what made the difference, playing a team who had taken the foot off the gas at a crucial moment.
But they were also unbeaten at home against the other teams in the bottom eight and lost only once, at Birmingham, to the teams who were relegated.
And Kevin Davies never, ever gives up.
Reasons to be cheerful
Doom and gloom
Gary Megson is still in charge and has convinced very few people that he is the right man in the long term. Those fans who went to Lisbon to watch the reserves lose a winnable UEFA Cup tie, especially, feel bitter towards a man who showed such casual disregard for their loyalty.
And the moral is...
Always take a Sporting chance.
Sunderland
What went wrong
High-profile signings did not deliver. Craig Gordon is not your stereotypical Scottish goalkeeper, but his work was frequently questioned with good reason. Kieran Richardson looked overpriced - to say the least - and proved injury-prone, too, while Michael Chopra had a good August and a decent April, with not much in between. Let's not mention Greg Halford.
Away from home, Sunderland were equal 18th with Birmingham in terms of points won, albeit in a tight field.
Newcastle's recovery was cemented by a convincing derby victory.
What went right
For the most part, Roy Keane showed a maturity as a manager that he lacked as a player, while maintaining the best of the qualities that made him such a force on the pitch - the drive and focus, the refusal to take setbacks lying down.
Sunderland won eight of their home games against other teams in the bottom 11 and drew the other two. They lost only once - at Reading - to the teams that finished in the bottom four.
Kenwyne Jones was an excellent signing - considered by John Terry to be the most difficult player he came up against, other than Petr Cech - and when Roy Keane gave him more support up front there were results.
And there was a crucial January signing. Charlton's sale of Andy Reid looked like an admission that they were happy to stay in the Championship and his form in the top flight was an inspiration to the overweight everywhere. OK, it helps to be that skilful, too, but when I saw him in the autumn starring in an otherwise-weak Charlton side he looked the odd one out for more than one reason. He didn't look out of place in the Premier League.
Reasons to be cheerful
They are all in it together. Niall Quinn working well with Roy Keane proves that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
Battling against relegation is not what Keane became a manager to do.
Doom and gloom
Really, battling against relegation is not what Keane became a manager to do.
A clear-out is needed and Keane won't get back what he paid.
The burden on Reid could be as great as the one around his middle.
And the moral is...
Big can be beautiful.
Philip Cornwall
Your Comments
Alfarero
"Regards Fulhams remarkable revival and your article entitled Silly spending, wind-ups and Sudoko posted 18/07/07 where certain new Fulham players were named in not very complimentary terms. It has now been seen that they played a major part in the "great escape" so I would now hope that you will give them the same "air" time in a concilitary fashion as you did when you rubbished them. Everyones entitled to their opinion but you can also be humble when you get things wrong!"
Dr_Thaksin_Who
"'What Went Right' for all 3 teams was not signing Robert Earnshaw!"
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