Post by QPR Report on May 10, 2009 6:23:34 GMT
Now what name would you obviously see in such a list. And would he be #1, #2, #3....? Well see for yourself!
From Times OnlineApril 28, 2009
The 50 greatest Fulham players
Richard Allen
50: Arthur Rowley
1948-49, 56 appearances, 26 goals
Rowley scored more English league goals than any other player in history, banging in 434 in 619 games. He only scored 26 of these for Fulham, but they were important strikes: in 1948-49 we won the second-division title by a single point, at the time our highest ever finish. Rowley scored 19 in 22 games to lead us over the line. His play “possessed all the finesse of a runaway steamroller,” but he was a goal machine.
49: Len Oliver
1924-35, 434 appearances
Key player in the 1931-32 third division south title winning side, our first 'major' trophy. Captain of Fulham for seven seasons and played 434 times in all.
48: Ray Lewington
1979-90, 276 appearances, 24 goals
Like Frank Penn, Arthur Stevens and Simon Morgan, Lewington is one of the great Fulham club men. A good player in his own right, he also managed the club several times: in charge from 1986 to 1990, a trying time for various reasons, and had caretaker stints in 1991, 1994 and again in 2007. He's on this list for his all-round contribution to Fulham.
47: Gerry Peyton
1976-86, 395 appearances
Ray Lewington says of Peyton “the most dedicated footballer I've ever played with. He was a great student of the game, and talked about it all the time... Les Strong was always telling him to put the ball away and go home, but Gerry would just carry on regardless”. Consistent and reliable, Peyton played 395 times for Fulham.
46: Tosh Chamberlain
1954-65, 204 appearances, 64 goals
Michael Parkinson once described Tosh Chamberlain as having been "created for Johnny Haynes to shout at". Haynes was a perfectionist; Chamberlain was not. Haynes would deliver the perfect pass, weighted, delicate, delicious; Chamberlain would belt it very, very hard. Sadly his shooting was not always accurate. Legend has it that he once hit a shot that flew over the Riverside Stand, landed in a barge and ended up seven miles down the river at Brentford. But Tosh could play a bit: he scored 64 Fulham goals in 204 action-packed appearances. And he also persuaded Johnny Haynes to join Fulham instead of Spurs, which turned out quite well for the club.
45: Bob Thomas
1947-51, 167 appearances, 55 goals
Nicknamed “Over the bar Bob,” Thomas did, however, score 23 goals in Fulham's 1948-49 second division championship season, and managed 57 in 176 career games for the Whites. Worked for the Financial Times after he retired from football.
44: Frank Penn
1919-34, 459 appearances, 52 goals
Amazingly, Penn was at Fulham from 1915 until 1965, first as a player, then as assistant trainer, then chief trainer.
43: Danny Murphy
2007-present
Too soon in his Fulham career for inclusion? I thought so at first, but the more I rolled his contributions around in my mind the more he had to be on the list. Has demonstrated just about everything as a midfield player in the last couple of seasons, devastating through-balls, timely tackles, ice-cool penalties and stupefying headers against Portsmouth. In terms of sheer ability, how many better midfield players have we had? Don't be surprised if he's our next manager.
42: Pat Beasley
1945-50, 163 appearances
A winger for Arsenal, Beasley played in Herbert Chapman's legendary 1934-35 first division championship side. His career was interrupted by World War II, but in 1945 Beasley signed for Fulham. Now a half-back, he captained the side to the second division title in 1948-49, a team known for its work-rate and consistency. He made 163 appearances for the club in all and played for England three times.
41: Steve Earle
1963-74, 327 appearances, 108 goals
“Fans really don't know how they affect players, how they can destroy them. I've played with some good youngsters who were absolutely destroyed by fans. If only they realised what they were doing...” Earle, from Match of My Life - Fulham. He would know, having been on the end of plenty fans' barracking during his time at the club. But he scored 108 times for Fulham in 327 games.
40: Lee Clark
1999-2005, 178 appearances, 22 goals
Every team could use a Lee Clark. Some players just seem to 'get' football. Clark was one of them. Injured for much of his time at the club, but a vital player in our first-division title run.
39: Len Quested
1946-51, 175 appearances
Key player in Fulham's 1948-49 promotion side and ever present in the club's first season in the top division the season after that. His name still crops up when older fans discuss the team's greatest players.
38: Jimmy Conway
1966-76, 360 appearances, 76 goals
"We've got Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy Conway on the wing, on the wing... We've got Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy Conway on the wing, on the wing... Jimmy, Jimmy Conway, Jimmy Conway on the wing."
37: Les Barrett
1965-77, 491 appearances, 90 goals
Fulham fan Gordon Mills says: “Eventually he found his best position of course, which was on the left wing. For someone who was not naturally left footed he did remarkably well, using his speed to go past full backs on the outside and get as close to both the by-line and the goal before crossing low into the path of one of the strikers. He wasn’t a great crosser of the high ball but he got into some really dangerous positions from which his low deliveries caused havoc. Les was one of the few Fulham players who excited the crowd when he received the ball; there was an air of expectancy, that something exhilarating was about to happen.”
36: Brede Hangeland
2008-present
Premature to include him perhaps, but has the potential to be one of the club's greats. Seasoned observers say that they've seen few better centre backs in a Fulham shirt.
35: Jimmy Hill
1951-61, 297 appearances, 52 goals
Hill played 276 times for Fulham and scored 41 goals. Not the most gifted footballer on this list, but he more than made up for it with his sheer enthusiasm and determination. George Cohen describes an episode with Hill in his autobiography: “'George, George, George' he (Hill) cried, galloping on, knees high, elbows pumping” and you can see that, can't you? Famously, Hill was instrumental in getting the maximum wage abolished while PFA Chairman.
34: Tony Gale
1977-84, 318 appearances
Elegant defender who made his Fulham debut at 16 and played 318 times for the club in the second and third divisions. Replaced Bobby Moore in the side. Roger Brown said of Gale: “I was the ball winner, the hard man if you like, and he was the pretty boy who would sweep up around me.”
33: Joe Bacuzzi
1936-56, 299 appearances
Fulham's regular right back from 1937 to 1951, Bacuzzi played 299 times for Fulham and scored the club's first ever goal in the top division against Wolves in 1949. Played in the same England (football) team as Denis Compton during the war.
32: Paul Parker
1980-87 (and again in 97), 184 appearances
The Eighties were a difficult decade for Fulham, and reached crisis point in 1986 when property company Marler Estates bought the club. Marler Estates also owned nearby QPR and their ground, and there were fears that the company would merge Fulham and QPR, house the new team at Loftus Road, and sell Craven Cottage to developers for big money. A Jimmy Hill-led consortium prevented this by paying £500,000 for Fulham, and a large part of this deal came from the sale of Parker from Fulham to QPR. He made his league debut for Fulham in 1980 and showed considerable promise while at the club, but took his game to another level with QPR and soon found himself as England's first-choice right back.
31: Frank Newton
1931-33, 74 appearances, 72 goals
Newton's goals propelled Fulham to the Division Three South title in 1931-32, the club's first ever championship. That season he scored 43 in 39 games, still a club record. Scored his 50th Fulham goal the following season in only his 42nd game. Ended with 72 in 74 for the Whites. Also scored 86 in 94 for Stockport County and 29 in 32 for Reading. The man knew where the goal was.
30: Roy Bentley
1956-61, 158 appearances, 25 goals
Roy Bentley only came to us late in his career but was one of the great English players of the 1950s. He made a big impression on the young George Cohen: “He was so strong and composed. He looked untouchable. He was England's centre forward and everything he did on the field told you why that might be so,” Cohen said. Bentley joined Fulham and moved back to right half, just in front of Cohen, and was, as Cohen puts it, “a marvellous guide” to the youngster.
29: Steve Finnan
1998-2003, 202 appearances
From the Denis Irwin school of quietly excellent full backs, Finnan did it all. Sound in defence, quick to join attacks, he was in many ways the archetypal right back. Signed for Liverpool and went from strength to strength.
28: Louis Saha
2000-04, 134 appearances, 62 goals
Explosive. There wasn't much he couldn't do: lightning quick, good in the air, and a deadly finisher. Departed under something of a cloud, but the club gained over £12million and, indirectly, Brian McBride, from the episode. Saha scored 62 goals for Fulham in 134 games, including 32 in 48 in that amazing 2000-01 season.
27: George Best
1976-77, 42 appearances, 8 goals
On the one hand, he only played 42 times for Fulham. On the other, it's George Best ... he's in.
26: Bobby Moore
1973-77, 150 appearances
One of England's greatest ever players, Moore played 150 times for Fulham and was important in the 1975 FA Cup run (we lost to West Ham in the final).
25: Ray Houghton
1982-86, 145 appearances, 21 goals
The greatest free transfer ever. Signed from West Ham for nothing in 1982, sold to Oxford United for £147,000 in 1985. In between he scored some famous goals and played 145 times for the club. Post-Fulham his career was a huge success: he won the Milk Cup with Oxford, several trophies at Liverpool after that, and was a mainstay of Jack Charlton's famous Ireland side.
24: Luis Boa Morte
2000-07, 238 appearances, 52 goals
Fans of other teams don't understand how good Boa was for Fulham. He made little impression at Arsenal and Southampton before joining us, and has been poor at West Ham since he left, but in a Fulham shirt he was eccentric, electric and sometimes just bloody wonderful. Whether on the left wing or up front, Boa was master of the unexpected, equally likely to beat three men or collapse in an ungainly mess. Scored 21 goals in his first term for the Whites, the 2000-01 promotion season, and continued to be effective for five seasons after that.
23: Steed Malbranque
2001-06, 197 appearances, 41 goals
An outstanding footballer who now seems somewhat underrated. A quiet man not given to self-publicity, he just got on with the job of being neat, skillful and excellent. When he was good he was very, very good and could carry the team on his back. His leaving changed the club completely: had we held onto him it seems likely that Chris Coleman's side wouldn't have run into trouble, and Lawrie Sanchez would never have happened. But then neither would Roy Hodgson. Now getting on with being neat, skillful and excellent at Sunderland.
22: Stan Brown
1960-73, 397 appearances
The ultimate clubman, Brown spent ten years as a first-team player, playing everywhere and giving everything. In terms of popularity he was unrivaled, not because he was a great player but because he so obviously cared. And most of his games were in the first division.
21: Allan Clarke
1965-68, 100 appearances, 57 goals
Fulham's relegation from the first division in 1968 cost the club Allan Clarke, sold to Leicester City for (effectively) £150,000. Bobby Robson, the manager at the time, noted that the club received "many astounding offers" for Clarke, and the player wanted first-division football, so that was that. Clarke was a goalscorer of the highest order, a natural poacher.
20: Roger Brown
1979-84, 161 appearances, 19 goals
Massively influential captain in the early 80s, Lewington says he “had as much influence off the pitch as on it”. Scored 12 goals from centre-back in the 1981-82 season, and epitomises the last good team we had pre-Fayed.
19: Eddie Lowe
1950-63, 511 appearances
A tough-tackling half-back, Lowe played 511 times for Fulham between 1950 and 1963, second only to Johnny Haynes on the all-time register.
18: Jim Hammond
1928-38, 342 appearances, 151 goals
Nicknamed “the galloping hairpin”. Whatever happened to nicknames? Hammond was a one club man, playing 342 games for the Whites between 1928 and 1938. In this time he scored 151 goals, including seven hat-tricks. A fine cricketer, Hammond took 428 career wickets for Sussex.
17: Sean Davis
1996-2004, 185 appearances, 19 goals
Played for Fulham in all four divisions, the only player to do so. Scored a wonderfully dramatic clinching goal at Blackburn in 2001. Davis: “everyone knew that if we won we'd be untouchable and that, if Rovers won they'd still be in the race”. He scored and we were untouchable.
16: Chris Coleman
1997-2001, 162 appearances
Signing Coleman was a real statement of intent. He had had injury concerns at Blackburn, but was still good enough to play at the top level. Simon Morgan says: “take Cookie; he'd been around the lower divisions with Swansea and he knew the mentality needed to move the club upwards.” And here he was in the Fulham side, in the second division, looking every bit the Premier League player. Coleman had (and has) something about him, leadership, presence, confidence. His career-ending injury was a shocker, but led to his appointment as coach and then manager.
15: Jim Langley
1956-65, 356 appearances
George Cohen called him one of the great six-yard box defenders. Langley, he said, had almost elastic legs, was quick into the tackle, took good penalties and possessed a very long throw. Played 356 times for Fulham and three times for England.
14: Simon Morgan
1990-2001, 408 appearances, 53 goals
On leaving the club for a role with the F.A. in 2007 Morgan said: “I’ve been here far too long. I joined in October 1990 and apart from having 10 months off for good behaviour at Brighton, it’s been 17 years. In that time we’ve had the worst ever spell in our history and the best ever so you could say that I’ve seen both extremes of the spectrum. I’m very sad to be leaving.” And we were sad to see him go. The latest Mr Fulham, Morgan played over 400 times for the Whites, a true legend.
13: Charlie Mitten
1951-56, 160 appearances, 33 goals
History will record Mitten as a 'colourful' character. On the field he was an extravagantly talented left winger, an outstanding crosser of the ball, a gifted passer, and a deadly penalty taker. Off it he was what Bobby Robson termed 'a card', once ordering Robson and Johnny Haynes off the team's treatment tables so he could apply physiotherapy to his wounded greyhound (“I've got to get this dog fit for Wimbledon”). Mitten started his career at Manchester United in 1936 then moved to Santa Fe of Bogota in Columbia for the money. A season later he passed up the opportunity to join Alfredo di Stefano's all conquering Real Madrid side, and six months after that he was at Fulham, where he played for five seasons and 154 games, scoring 32 goals.
12: Edwin van der Sar
2001-05, 143 appearances
Probably one of the three or four best players to have worn a Fulham shirt, but marked down because he wasn't with us that long and is more famous for his work elsewhere: Ajax; Juventus; Fulham; Manchester United, with over 100 Holland caps sprinkled throughout. Quite a career. Have we, before or since, signed a player of such ability at the peak of his powers?
11: Tony Macedo
1957-68, 391 appearances
One of the greats. Goalkeeper in the club's famed sixties side, Macedo was agile, brave and commanded his area. Born in Gibralter so did not qualify for England, but team-mate George Cohen thinks he was good enough to have won caps. Tosh Chamberlain once broke his ribs with a back pass.
10: Brian McBride
2004-08, 153 appearances, 40 goals
McBride was famous for his character – he was by all accounts the perfect pro – but what a terrific footballer too! His aerial ability was always talked about, but there was so much more to his game than winning headers: he poached goals in the six yard box, drove them in from the edge of the area, and when he wasn't doing that made defenders' lives a misery. In the end he scored 40 Fulham goals in 153 games (111 starts). The pity is that we didn't have him for his entire career.
9: Bobby Robson
1950-67 (absent between 1956 and 1962), 370 appearances, 80 goals
Started his playing career at Fulham and made his debut as a teenager. Left for West Brom in 1956 (chasing medals) and returned in 1962 and played for another five seasons. Became manager in 1968, but walked into a disastrous situation and only lasted 10 months. Got another chance at Ipswich shortly afterwards and the rest, as they say, is history. Robson the player started as an inside forward with Bedford Jezzard and Johnny Haynes, then, on returning, played a more cultured, defensive game.
8: Gordon Davies
1977-91, 450 appearances, 178 goals
Roger Brown says “[Davies] was probably the laziest centre-forward there was, but Ivor was always in the right place at the right time”. Ray Lewington says: “you very rarely play with natural goalscorers like our Ivor... had the wonderful knack of being in the right place at the right time, and could score goals with just about any part of his body. He was an instinctive player, and his goals got us out of trouble on many occasions.” The records say that he scored 178 goals for Fulham, more than anyone else.
7: Alan Mullery
1958-76 (elsewhere 1964-71), 412 appearances, 42 goals
A tenacious tackler with a wide range of passing and an ability to score goals, Mullery started and ended his career at Fulham with an eight year spell at Tottenham in between. Broke into the Fulham side when Johnny Haynes was in his pomp, and presumably learned a lot from the great man. A good argument could be made that England's 1970 World Cup side, in which Mullery was an important cog, was every bit as good as the more famous 1966 side. Played 412 times for Fulham.
6: Arthur Stevens
1946-59, 413 appearances, 124 goals
Another one club man, Stevens served Fulham for 25 years as player, coach and caretaker manager. George Cohen says that Stevens was one of the most skillful players he ever came across, as good as Stanley Matthews. Stevens – nicknamed Pablo – was also good in the air, had two good feet, and was lightning quick over 15 yards. He played 413 games for Fulham and scored 124 goals.
5: Bedford Jezzard
1948-56, 306 appearances, 155 goals
Jezzard was never prolific in the top flight, but when the team was relegated in 1951-52 he went on a goalscoring bender: in the next four seasons he scored 35, 39, 23 and 27 goals, at which point he retired due to injury. In his prime he could score with either foot and was handy in the air. He managed the club from 1958 to 1964.
4: Graham Leggatt
1958-67, 280 appearances, 134 goals
Gordon Mills: “Graham Leggatt now was a really good striker. He came to Fulham in 1958 as a winger who had already played for Scotland and had he come the year before when the deal all but went through, I’m convinced his goals would have secured not only promotion – we finished fifth just a couple of points behind Blackburn who came second – but also a Cup Final place; remember, that year we lost 5-3 in a semi final replay to Manchester United. However, having arrived as a goalscoring winger, he was pressed into service as a centre forward in our first season in the top flight and scored a hat-trick on his first appearance as No 9 in a 3 – 3 draw at Old Trafford.
I believe he was the first of the modern forwards – not very tall but quick and difficult to shake off the ball. He had a great shot with both feet and was very good with his head. He could play anywhere in the front line. He was also tough: when he first came he played with his wrist bandaged to protect a fracture and the programme one day had a little snippet of dressing-room talk in it. Apparently, Tosh Chamberlain remarked to Leggatt when the Scotsman was bandaging his wrist, “When I see you doing that it makes me think you’re getting ready for a fight.” To which Leggatt replied, “Well, Tosh, you never know.””
3: Ronnie Rooke
1936-47, 110 appearances, 78 goals
What might have been. At the end of the 1939 season Ronnie Rooke was 27 years old and had scored 63 goals in 90 games for Fulham. Then came the war. He scored 13 more in 18 games in 1946-47, and, amazingly, added 68 more in 88 games for Arsenal after that. Prolific. I'm worried about overdoing the stats here, but they're so good we might as well keep going: Rooke also scored 212 goals in 199 unofficial wartime games for Fulham. Wow.
2: George Cohen
1956-69, 459 appearances
Brian Glanville describes Cohen: “an immensely amiable Londoner who had played all his professional football with Fulham, a strong, fast, endlessly determined player with a penchant for overlapping and a bottomless good humour.” Sounds about right. Cohen, of course, was in the 1966 World Cup side, and is a clear choice for second place on this list.
1: Johnny Haynes
1952-70, 658 appearances, 158 goals
Haynes was Fulham, is Fulham. He is the player Bobby Charlton was told to model himself on, the complete footballer. It is tempting to reach for modern comparisons, but those who saw him say that there is no modern player who can play like Haynes, who had that presence that only the very greatest players have, whose passing (with the old heavy ball, remember) was otherworldly, and whose will to win astounded opponents and team-mates alike. He appeared in the 1958 and 1962 World Cup finals, but a car-crash in '62 robbed him of his pace and his game finally came down to earth. The Johnny Haynes Stand at Craven Cottage is a fitting tribute, and he has recently been immortalised as a statue outside the ground. “The Maestro”. There will never be another like him.
If it's not too pretentious, references, thanks, etc: Dennis Turner's indispensible “Fulham, The Complete Record”, Martin Plumb's three volumes: “Johnny Haynes, The Maestro”, “Tales from the Riverbank vols 1 and 2”, Bobby Robson “Farewell but not Goodbye”, George Cohen “My Autobiography”, Alan Mullery “The Autobiography”, Michael Heatley “Match of My Life – Fulham”, Michael Joyce “Football League Players' Records 1888-1939”, Barry Hugman “Premier and Football League Players' Records 1946-2005”, Gordon Mills for permission to excerpt his comments, other Fulham fans who may not wish to be associated with this list but whose input was extremely valuable.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/fulham/article6112218.ece?Submitted=true
From Times OnlineApril 28, 2009
The 50 greatest Fulham players
Richard Allen
50: Arthur Rowley
1948-49, 56 appearances, 26 goals
Rowley scored more English league goals than any other player in history, banging in 434 in 619 games. He only scored 26 of these for Fulham, but they were important strikes: in 1948-49 we won the second-division title by a single point, at the time our highest ever finish. Rowley scored 19 in 22 games to lead us over the line. His play “possessed all the finesse of a runaway steamroller,” but he was a goal machine.
49: Len Oliver
1924-35, 434 appearances
Key player in the 1931-32 third division south title winning side, our first 'major' trophy. Captain of Fulham for seven seasons and played 434 times in all.
48: Ray Lewington
1979-90, 276 appearances, 24 goals
Like Frank Penn, Arthur Stevens and Simon Morgan, Lewington is one of the great Fulham club men. A good player in his own right, he also managed the club several times: in charge from 1986 to 1990, a trying time for various reasons, and had caretaker stints in 1991, 1994 and again in 2007. He's on this list for his all-round contribution to Fulham.
47: Gerry Peyton
1976-86, 395 appearances
Ray Lewington says of Peyton “the most dedicated footballer I've ever played with. He was a great student of the game, and talked about it all the time... Les Strong was always telling him to put the ball away and go home, but Gerry would just carry on regardless”. Consistent and reliable, Peyton played 395 times for Fulham.
46: Tosh Chamberlain
1954-65, 204 appearances, 64 goals
Michael Parkinson once described Tosh Chamberlain as having been "created for Johnny Haynes to shout at". Haynes was a perfectionist; Chamberlain was not. Haynes would deliver the perfect pass, weighted, delicate, delicious; Chamberlain would belt it very, very hard. Sadly his shooting was not always accurate. Legend has it that he once hit a shot that flew over the Riverside Stand, landed in a barge and ended up seven miles down the river at Brentford. But Tosh could play a bit: he scored 64 Fulham goals in 204 action-packed appearances. And he also persuaded Johnny Haynes to join Fulham instead of Spurs, which turned out quite well for the club.
45: Bob Thomas
1947-51, 167 appearances, 55 goals
Nicknamed “Over the bar Bob,” Thomas did, however, score 23 goals in Fulham's 1948-49 second division championship season, and managed 57 in 176 career games for the Whites. Worked for the Financial Times after he retired from football.
44: Frank Penn
1919-34, 459 appearances, 52 goals
Amazingly, Penn was at Fulham from 1915 until 1965, first as a player, then as assistant trainer, then chief trainer.
43: Danny Murphy
2007-present
Too soon in his Fulham career for inclusion? I thought so at first, but the more I rolled his contributions around in my mind the more he had to be on the list. Has demonstrated just about everything as a midfield player in the last couple of seasons, devastating through-balls, timely tackles, ice-cool penalties and stupefying headers against Portsmouth. In terms of sheer ability, how many better midfield players have we had? Don't be surprised if he's our next manager.
42: Pat Beasley
1945-50, 163 appearances
A winger for Arsenal, Beasley played in Herbert Chapman's legendary 1934-35 first division championship side. His career was interrupted by World War II, but in 1945 Beasley signed for Fulham. Now a half-back, he captained the side to the second division title in 1948-49, a team known for its work-rate and consistency. He made 163 appearances for the club in all and played for England three times.
41: Steve Earle
1963-74, 327 appearances, 108 goals
“Fans really don't know how they affect players, how they can destroy them. I've played with some good youngsters who were absolutely destroyed by fans. If only they realised what they were doing...” Earle, from Match of My Life - Fulham. He would know, having been on the end of plenty fans' barracking during his time at the club. But he scored 108 times for Fulham in 327 games.
40: Lee Clark
1999-2005, 178 appearances, 22 goals
Every team could use a Lee Clark. Some players just seem to 'get' football. Clark was one of them. Injured for much of his time at the club, but a vital player in our first-division title run.
39: Len Quested
1946-51, 175 appearances
Key player in Fulham's 1948-49 promotion side and ever present in the club's first season in the top division the season after that. His name still crops up when older fans discuss the team's greatest players.
38: Jimmy Conway
1966-76, 360 appearances, 76 goals
"We've got Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy Conway on the wing, on the wing... We've got Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy Conway on the wing, on the wing... Jimmy, Jimmy Conway, Jimmy Conway on the wing."
37: Les Barrett
1965-77, 491 appearances, 90 goals
Fulham fan Gordon Mills says: “Eventually he found his best position of course, which was on the left wing. For someone who was not naturally left footed he did remarkably well, using his speed to go past full backs on the outside and get as close to both the by-line and the goal before crossing low into the path of one of the strikers. He wasn’t a great crosser of the high ball but he got into some really dangerous positions from which his low deliveries caused havoc. Les was one of the few Fulham players who excited the crowd when he received the ball; there was an air of expectancy, that something exhilarating was about to happen.”
36: Brede Hangeland
2008-present
Premature to include him perhaps, but has the potential to be one of the club's greats. Seasoned observers say that they've seen few better centre backs in a Fulham shirt.
35: Jimmy Hill
1951-61, 297 appearances, 52 goals
Hill played 276 times for Fulham and scored 41 goals. Not the most gifted footballer on this list, but he more than made up for it with his sheer enthusiasm and determination. George Cohen describes an episode with Hill in his autobiography: “'George, George, George' he (Hill) cried, galloping on, knees high, elbows pumping” and you can see that, can't you? Famously, Hill was instrumental in getting the maximum wage abolished while PFA Chairman.
34: Tony Gale
1977-84, 318 appearances
Elegant defender who made his Fulham debut at 16 and played 318 times for the club in the second and third divisions. Replaced Bobby Moore in the side. Roger Brown said of Gale: “I was the ball winner, the hard man if you like, and he was the pretty boy who would sweep up around me.”
33: Joe Bacuzzi
1936-56, 299 appearances
Fulham's regular right back from 1937 to 1951, Bacuzzi played 299 times for Fulham and scored the club's first ever goal in the top division against Wolves in 1949. Played in the same England (football) team as Denis Compton during the war.
32: Paul Parker
1980-87 (and again in 97), 184 appearances
The Eighties were a difficult decade for Fulham, and reached crisis point in 1986 when property company Marler Estates bought the club. Marler Estates also owned nearby QPR and their ground, and there were fears that the company would merge Fulham and QPR, house the new team at Loftus Road, and sell Craven Cottage to developers for big money. A Jimmy Hill-led consortium prevented this by paying £500,000 for Fulham, and a large part of this deal came from the sale of Parker from Fulham to QPR. He made his league debut for Fulham in 1980 and showed considerable promise while at the club, but took his game to another level with QPR and soon found himself as England's first-choice right back.
31: Frank Newton
1931-33, 74 appearances, 72 goals
Newton's goals propelled Fulham to the Division Three South title in 1931-32, the club's first ever championship. That season he scored 43 in 39 games, still a club record. Scored his 50th Fulham goal the following season in only his 42nd game. Ended with 72 in 74 for the Whites. Also scored 86 in 94 for Stockport County and 29 in 32 for Reading. The man knew where the goal was.
30: Roy Bentley
1956-61, 158 appearances, 25 goals
Roy Bentley only came to us late in his career but was one of the great English players of the 1950s. He made a big impression on the young George Cohen: “He was so strong and composed. He looked untouchable. He was England's centre forward and everything he did on the field told you why that might be so,” Cohen said. Bentley joined Fulham and moved back to right half, just in front of Cohen, and was, as Cohen puts it, “a marvellous guide” to the youngster.
29: Steve Finnan
1998-2003, 202 appearances
From the Denis Irwin school of quietly excellent full backs, Finnan did it all. Sound in defence, quick to join attacks, he was in many ways the archetypal right back. Signed for Liverpool and went from strength to strength.
28: Louis Saha
2000-04, 134 appearances, 62 goals
Explosive. There wasn't much he couldn't do: lightning quick, good in the air, and a deadly finisher. Departed under something of a cloud, but the club gained over £12million and, indirectly, Brian McBride, from the episode. Saha scored 62 goals for Fulham in 134 games, including 32 in 48 in that amazing 2000-01 season.
27: George Best
1976-77, 42 appearances, 8 goals
On the one hand, he only played 42 times for Fulham. On the other, it's George Best ... he's in.
26: Bobby Moore
1973-77, 150 appearances
One of England's greatest ever players, Moore played 150 times for Fulham and was important in the 1975 FA Cup run (we lost to West Ham in the final).
25: Ray Houghton
1982-86, 145 appearances, 21 goals
The greatest free transfer ever. Signed from West Ham for nothing in 1982, sold to Oxford United for £147,000 in 1985. In between he scored some famous goals and played 145 times for the club. Post-Fulham his career was a huge success: he won the Milk Cup with Oxford, several trophies at Liverpool after that, and was a mainstay of Jack Charlton's famous Ireland side.
24: Luis Boa Morte
2000-07, 238 appearances, 52 goals
Fans of other teams don't understand how good Boa was for Fulham. He made little impression at Arsenal and Southampton before joining us, and has been poor at West Ham since he left, but in a Fulham shirt he was eccentric, electric and sometimes just bloody wonderful. Whether on the left wing or up front, Boa was master of the unexpected, equally likely to beat three men or collapse in an ungainly mess. Scored 21 goals in his first term for the Whites, the 2000-01 promotion season, and continued to be effective for five seasons after that.
23: Steed Malbranque
2001-06, 197 appearances, 41 goals
An outstanding footballer who now seems somewhat underrated. A quiet man not given to self-publicity, he just got on with the job of being neat, skillful and excellent. When he was good he was very, very good and could carry the team on his back. His leaving changed the club completely: had we held onto him it seems likely that Chris Coleman's side wouldn't have run into trouble, and Lawrie Sanchez would never have happened. But then neither would Roy Hodgson. Now getting on with being neat, skillful and excellent at Sunderland.
22: Stan Brown
1960-73, 397 appearances
The ultimate clubman, Brown spent ten years as a first-team player, playing everywhere and giving everything. In terms of popularity he was unrivaled, not because he was a great player but because he so obviously cared. And most of his games were in the first division.
21: Allan Clarke
1965-68, 100 appearances, 57 goals
Fulham's relegation from the first division in 1968 cost the club Allan Clarke, sold to Leicester City for (effectively) £150,000. Bobby Robson, the manager at the time, noted that the club received "many astounding offers" for Clarke, and the player wanted first-division football, so that was that. Clarke was a goalscorer of the highest order, a natural poacher.
20: Roger Brown
1979-84, 161 appearances, 19 goals
Massively influential captain in the early 80s, Lewington says he “had as much influence off the pitch as on it”. Scored 12 goals from centre-back in the 1981-82 season, and epitomises the last good team we had pre-Fayed.
19: Eddie Lowe
1950-63, 511 appearances
A tough-tackling half-back, Lowe played 511 times for Fulham between 1950 and 1963, second only to Johnny Haynes on the all-time register.
18: Jim Hammond
1928-38, 342 appearances, 151 goals
Nicknamed “the galloping hairpin”. Whatever happened to nicknames? Hammond was a one club man, playing 342 games for the Whites between 1928 and 1938. In this time he scored 151 goals, including seven hat-tricks. A fine cricketer, Hammond took 428 career wickets for Sussex.
17: Sean Davis
1996-2004, 185 appearances, 19 goals
Played for Fulham in all four divisions, the only player to do so. Scored a wonderfully dramatic clinching goal at Blackburn in 2001. Davis: “everyone knew that if we won we'd be untouchable and that, if Rovers won they'd still be in the race”. He scored and we were untouchable.
16: Chris Coleman
1997-2001, 162 appearances
Signing Coleman was a real statement of intent. He had had injury concerns at Blackburn, but was still good enough to play at the top level. Simon Morgan says: “take Cookie; he'd been around the lower divisions with Swansea and he knew the mentality needed to move the club upwards.” And here he was in the Fulham side, in the second division, looking every bit the Premier League player. Coleman had (and has) something about him, leadership, presence, confidence. His career-ending injury was a shocker, but led to his appointment as coach and then manager.
15: Jim Langley
1956-65, 356 appearances
George Cohen called him one of the great six-yard box defenders. Langley, he said, had almost elastic legs, was quick into the tackle, took good penalties and possessed a very long throw. Played 356 times for Fulham and three times for England.
14: Simon Morgan
1990-2001, 408 appearances, 53 goals
On leaving the club for a role with the F.A. in 2007 Morgan said: “I’ve been here far too long. I joined in October 1990 and apart from having 10 months off for good behaviour at Brighton, it’s been 17 years. In that time we’ve had the worst ever spell in our history and the best ever so you could say that I’ve seen both extremes of the spectrum. I’m very sad to be leaving.” And we were sad to see him go. The latest Mr Fulham, Morgan played over 400 times for the Whites, a true legend.
13: Charlie Mitten
1951-56, 160 appearances, 33 goals
History will record Mitten as a 'colourful' character. On the field he was an extravagantly talented left winger, an outstanding crosser of the ball, a gifted passer, and a deadly penalty taker. Off it he was what Bobby Robson termed 'a card', once ordering Robson and Johnny Haynes off the team's treatment tables so he could apply physiotherapy to his wounded greyhound (“I've got to get this dog fit for Wimbledon”). Mitten started his career at Manchester United in 1936 then moved to Santa Fe of Bogota in Columbia for the money. A season later he passed up the opportunity to join Alfredo di Stefano's all conquering Real Madrid side, and six months after that he was at Fulham, where he played for five seasons and 154 games, scoring 32 goals.
12: Edwin van der Sar
2001-05, 143 appearances
Probably one of the three or four best players to have worn a Fulham shirt, but marked down because he wasn't with us that long and is more famous for his work elsewhere: Ajax; Juventus; Fulham; Manchester United, with over 100 Holland caps sprinkled throughout. Quite a career. Have we, before or since, signed a player of such ability at the peak of his powers?
11: Tony Macedo
1957-68, 391 appearances
One of the greats. Goalkeeper in the club's famed sixties side, Macedo was agile, brave and commanded his area. Born in Gibralter so did not qualify for England, but team-mate George Cohen thinks he was good enough to have won caps. Tosh Chamberlain once broke his ribs with a back pass.
10: Brian McBride
2004-08, 153 appearances, 40 goals
McBride was famous for his character – he was by all accounts the perfect pro – but what a terrific footballer too! His aerial ability was always talked about, but there was so much more to his game than winning headers: he poached goals in the six yard box, drove them in from the edge of the area, and when he wasn't doing that made defenders' lives a misery. In the end he scored 40 Fulham goals in 153 games (111 starts). The pity is that we didn't have him for his entire career.
9: Bobby Robson
1950-67 (absent between 1956 and 1962), 370 appearances, 80 goals
Started his playing career at Fulham and made his debut as a teenager. Left for West Brom in 1956 (chasing medals) and returned in 1962 and played for another five seasons. Became manager in 1968, but walked into a disastrous situation and only lasted 10 months. Got another chance at Ipswich shortly afterwards and the rest, as they say, is history. Robson the player started as an inside forward with Bedford Jezzard and Johnny Haynes, then, on returning, played a more cultured, defensive game.
8: Gordon Davies
1977-91, 450 appearances, 178 goals
Roger Brown says “[Davies] was probably the laziest centre-forward there was, but Ivor was always in the right place at the right time”. Ray Lewington says: “you very rarely play with natural goalscorers like our Ivor... had the wonderful knack of being in the right place at the right time, and could score goals with just about any part of his body. He was an instinctive player, and his goals got us out of trouble on many occasions.” The records say that he scored 178 goals for Fulham, more than anyone else.
7: Alan Mullery
1958-76 (elsewhere 1964-71), 412 appearances, 42 goals
A tenacious tackler with a wide range of passing and an ability to score goals, Mullery started and ended his career at Fulham with an eight year spell at Tottenham in between. Broke into the Fulham side when Johnny Haynes was in his pomp, and presumably learned a lot from the great man. A good argument could be made that England's 1970 World Cup side, in which Mullery was an important cog, was every bit as good as the more famous 1966 side. Played 412 times for Fulham.
6: Arthur Stevens
1946-59, 413 appearances, 124 goals
Another one club man, Stevens served Fulham for 25 years as player, coach and caretaker manager. George Cohen says that Stevens was one of the most skillful players he ever came across, as good as Stanley Matthews. Stevens – nicknamed Pablo – was also good in the air, had two good feet, and was lightning quick over 15 yards. He played 413 games for Fulham and scored 124 goals.
5: Bedford Jezzard
1948-56, 306 appearances, 155 goals
Jezzard was never prolific in the top flight, but when the team was relegated in 1951-52 he went on a goalscoring bender: in the next four seasons he scored 35, 39, 23 and 27 goals, at which point he retired due to injury. In his prime he could score with either foot and was handy in the air. He managed the club from 1958 to 1964.
4: Graham Leggatt
1958-67, 280 appearances, 134 goals
Gordon Mills: “Graham Leggatt now was a really good striker. He came to Fulham in 1958 as a winger who had already played for Scotland and had he come the year before when the deal all but went through, I’m convinced his goals would have secured not only promotion – we finished fifth just a couple of points behind Blackburn who came second – but also a Cup Final place; remember, that year we lost 5-3 in a semi final replay to Manchester United. However, having arrived as a goalscoring winger, he was pressed into service as a centre forward in our first season in the top flight and scored a hat-trick on his first appearance as No 9 in a 3 – 3 draw at Old Trafford.
I believe he was the first of the modern forwards – not very tall but quick and difficult to shake off the ball. He had a great shot with both feet and was very good with his head. He could play anywhere in the front line. He was also tough: when he first came he played with his wrist bandaged to protect a fracture and the programme one day had a little snippet of dressing-room talk in it. Apparently, Tosh Chamberlain remarked to Leggatt when the Scotsman was bandaging his wrist, “When I see you doing that it makes me think you’re getting ready for a fight.” To which Leggatt replied, “Well, Tosh, you never know.””
3: Ronnie Rooke
1936-47, 110 appearances, 78 goals
What might have been. At the end of the 1939 season Ronnie Rooke was 27 years old and had scored 63 goals in 90 games for Fulham. Then came the war. He scored 13 more in 18 games in 1946-47, and, amazingly, added 68 more in 88 games for Arsenal after that. Prolific. I'm worried about overdoing the stats here, but they're so good we might as well keep going: Rooke also scored 212 goals in 199 unofficial wartime games for Fulham. Wow.
2: George Cohen
1956-69, 459 appearances
Brian Glanville describes Cohen: “an immensely amiable Londoner who had played all his professional football with Fulham, a strong, fast, endlessly determined player with a penchant for overlapping and a bottomless good humour.” Sounds about right. Cohen, of course, was in the 1966 World Cup side, and is a clear choice for second place on this list.
1: Johnny Haynes
1952-70, 658 appearances, 158 goals
Haynes was Fulham, is Fulham. He is the player Bobby Charlton was told to model himself on, the complete footballer. It is tempting to reach for modern comparisons, but those who saw him say that there is no modern player who can play like Haynes, who had that presence that only the very greatest players have, whose passing (with the old heavy ball, remember) was otherworldly, and whose will to win astounded opponents and team-mates alike. He appeared in the 1958 and 1962 World Cup finals, but a car-crash in '62 robbed him of his pace and his game finally came down to earth. The Johnny Haynes Stand at Craven Cottage is a fitting tribute, and he has recently been immortalised as a statue outside the ground. “The Maestro”. There will never be another like him.
If it's not too pretentious, references, thanks, etc: Dennis Turner's indispensible “Fulham, The Complete Record”, Martin Plumb's three volumes: “Johnny Haynes, The Maestro”, “Tales from the Riverbank vols 1 and 2”, Bobby Robson “Farewell but not Goodbye”, George Cohen “My Autobiography”, Alan Mullery “The Autobiography”, Michael Heatley “Match of My Life – Fulham”, Michael Joyce “Football League Players' Records 1888-1939”, Barry Hugman “Premier and Football League Players' Records 1946-2005”, Gordon Mills for permission to excerpt his comments, other Fulham fans who may not wish to be associated with this list but whose input was extremely valuable.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/fulham/article6112218.ece?Submitted=true
)