An Arsenal Blog Post...About Fulham

As everyone knows, Fulham lost the UEFA Cup final last night in the cruelest of fashions, a deflected goal four minutes from the end of extra time. I was not able to see the game, but I (like many Arsenal fans) was gutted for them, and for Roy Hodgson in particular.

At the Emirates 4 days earlier, Arsenal comfortably swept aside a less than full strength Fulham team who clearly had their eyes on their last and biggest European adventure of the season. But what really struck me was the mutual admiration from the fans, and the enormous amount of goodwill from the Arsenal fans to their Fulham counterparts. Que Sara Sara, Whatever Will Be Will Be, We're Going To Germany was the chant heard many times early on from the 3,000 or so Fulham fans packed into the South West corner of the Emirates. All the Arsenal fans on either side of them responded every time by applauding them to the rafters.

The Fulham fans joined in with our traditional stand up if you hate Tottenham, and then in kind we joined in with their stand up if you hate Chelsea, and this continued for the majority of the match, until the referee made some awful decisions on both sides and ruined the joint singalong. But it was incredibly refreshing for there to be this kind of attitude at a game, even if it was an end of season game that one of the sides was not particularly bothered about. It would be nice if this was replicated on more occasions at The Emirates next season.

Lots of speculation is abound about Roy Hodgsons future, and he has admitted he would like one more crack at a top club if such a job becomes available, though he remains comitted to Fulhsm for the time being. If Mr Wenger were not to renew his contract (though I am fairly certain he will), I would put Roy Hodgson at the head of the queue for his job, in front of anyone and everyone including Pep Guardiola. Roy conducts himself with dignity and is afforded the respect he deserves by players and fans of all teams, not just his own. His teams play good football, which is regarded as a must at the emirates after 13 years of Wenger-style total football, but given the resources of a bigger club such as ours (and with our flourishing youth system), I think in the unlikely event Roy Hodgson ends up at Arsenal, he would be a huge success and a very worthy successor to The Professor.