Fulham enjoyed a solid start under Trebor Mahtal, finishing the 2061/62 season strongly to come home 9th in the Premier League. But the Zambian’s savvy transfer business delivered delayed benefits ahead of his second campaign at London’s oldest club.
Indeed, Fulham turned a £709m profit in the current FFP period and a £194m profit over the last 12 months. As a result, the summer began with £200m in the bank and a £55m transfer budget. That was boosted as Mahtal sold off a few more backup players for a £40m profit, including underperforming left back Ben Kramer to Saudi for £20m, but he was still only receiving 40% of any transfer revenue.
Mahtal’s big priority was to get a first-choice goalkeeper, and he brought in long-term target Dennis Bohmer for £30m rising to £50m from 1860 Munchen. But the most exciting deal of the summer was moving early to snap up attacking midfielder Terry Godart, who has 4 goals in 2 caps for Belgium, for £27.5m from Club Brugge. He was joined by full backs Zoran Vojdovic for up to £10.5m from Thun and Karl Igor Brekalo for £13.75m from Dinamo, 6ft 4in midfielder Luis Reyes for £8m from Atlas and backup striker Thierry Jeanjean on a free from Lyon, mostly for his amazing name but also outstanding attributes that defied his star rating and reminded Mahtal of his former Roma striker Giacomo Cobianchi.
Mahtal stuck with the 4-2-3-1 approach he’d moved to towards the end of last season. Godart drops in behind last season’s star man Alperen Barutcu with Lubos Szabo and youngster James Cormack on the wings. Brilliantly named wonderkid defender Diego Tongue has shown massive progression, so comes into the side alongside Slavomir Toth with Tom Lynard and captain Gianluca Cabrera ahead of them.
Godart And Cormack Hit The Ground Running
The bookies slightly boosted Fulham’s chances, predicting them to finish 14th with 400/1 title odds. Liverpool are 7/5 favourites ahead of Newcastle (15/8), Chelsea (11/1), Villa (13/1), Arsenal (20/1) and Man United (25/1). While Man City’s fall from grace sees them predicted to finish 14th – and their sudden demise seems to have come from building the brand new Pep Guardiola Park amid a mass of financial issues. Godart comes straight in as the 4th favourite to win young player of the year.
The second season in west London began in east London as Godart’s debut strike earned a 1-0 win at Mahtal’s former club West Ham. Godart teed up Cormack for the home opener before the winger laid on Jeanjean’s first goal to down Birmingham 2-0. The bright start continued as Godart and Cormack laid on Szabo and Cabrera goals for a 2-1 win at Everton, a solid defensive effort earned a 0-0 with Mahtal’s other former English side Man United. Alperen’s first of the season nicked a 1-0 at home to Wolves, Cabrera secured the same scoreline at Sunderland and Tongue headed his first senior goal for another 1-0 win at home to Newcastle that sent Fulham top of the league for the first time. And that promising start prompted the Fulham board to hand Mahtal a new two-year contract on an improved £80k a week, his joint-second highest salary behind the £120k at Man United.
They finally lost 2-1 at Palace but bounced back with Godart scoring twice in a 4-0 thumping of Southampton. Bohmer’s brilliance earned a 0-0 at Liverpool before a narrow 2-1 and 1-0 London derby losses at Chelsea and Arsenal either side of Godart and Cormack strikes earning a 3-1 win at home to Leicester. And a huge 4-2 win at home to Brighton took Fulham top of the league heading into the new year. They led fellow surprise challengers Brighton by 1 point and West Ham by 2 points, with the top 11 teams separated by just 8 points! And, amusingly, a bewildered Man City are bottom of the league!
Cup Opportunities
Fulham fell short in the Carabao Cup, defeating Exeter and Cambridge before losing 3-2 at Bournemouth in the fourth round. There was a similar story in the FA Cup as they saw off Swindon, Plymouth and Swansea, before a rotated side got thumped 4-0 at Villa.
Surprise Title Race?
Mahtal bolstered his attacking options with attacking midfielder Mateusz Swiderski for £2.6m from Lodz, while promising midfielder Fernando Vega joined after a loan back to Atletico Rafaela, from whom he joined for £5.75m the previous January.
2063 began with a bore draw at Birmingham before Alperen’s brace earned another crucial win over West Ham and Godart, Alperen and Cormack goals decided a 3-2 thriller at home to Everton. They dropped points in a few away games but remained really strong at home, including Szabo and Jeanjean earning a dominant 2-0 victory over Forest, before Cormack, Szabo and Cabrera secured an overdue away win at struggling Southampton.
That solid form kept Fulham top of the league heading into the final eight games, opening up a 5-point lead over Liverpool and a 10-point gap back to West Ham in 4th. That was extended to 7 points as Liverpool drew 0-0 at Everton before Alperen nicked a 1-0 against Norwich. Another heavy 3-0 defeat at Villa followed on the same day as Mahtal’s former club Man United did him a favour with a late equaliser at Anfield. That teed up a massive game at home to Liverpool in mid-April. Fulham played well in the first half and finally took advantage as Alperen slammed home Cormack’s cross 30 seconds after the break. Liverpool grew into the game without ever really threatening and Fulham picked up a huge victory.
That left Fulham 9 points clear of Liverpool and Brighton and 10 points clear of West Ham heading into the final five games. But they had a few potentially tricky games remaining, including a final day trip to Brighton.
Game 1 – Man City (20th, away): Fulham’s run-in began with a trip to struggling City. And early goals by centre back Diego Potel and Alperen were enough to edge a 2-1 win. Brighton also edged a 2-1 over West Ham and Liverpool thumped Sunderland 4-1. That at least confirmed Fulham’s highest-ever league finish, surpassing the 5th place in 2059, but Mahtal had far loftier ambitions. And it relegated Man City!
Game 2 – Chelsea (9th, home): Fulham could secure the title if they beat Chelsea and the other two sides failed to win. The nerves appeared to be showing as Chelsea bossed the first half. But Fulham left it late as Vojdovic’s cross found Godart unmarked to head home the opener and Tongue headed home a corner to secure a 2-0 victory. Later that day, Brighton beat Birmingham won 1-0 but Liverpool drew 1-1 at Newcastle to drop out of the title race.
Game 3 – Leicester (15th, away): So, Fulham just needed 1 point from the final three games to become Premier League champions for the first time. Cormack should have scored early on at Leicester, while Brighton went 2-0 down inside half an hour at home to Everton. The icing looked to be on the cake as Portela hammered home Alperen’s corner after 76 minutes and, after conceding an undeserved equaliser, the striker swept home a late winner before young winger Eddie Clark made it three.
Fulham won the English Premier League!
Fulham won the title by 6 points from Liverpool, finishing on 81 points – the second-lowest points tally of this save, after Newcastle’s 80 in 2049 – after 24 wins, 9 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 64 and conceding 31. Alperen was the joint-3rd top scorer with 19 in 36 and Bohmer kept the 4th-most clean sheets with 12 in 32. At the other end of the table, a beleaguered Man City were relegated with just 22 points and conceding 101 goals.
Celebrating Unexpected Success in South West London
Mahtal had quietly built a really strong little team at Fulham, but certainly hadn’t been expecting a title challenge. That said, they had six or seven players who were world-class or on the verge of it supported by a mass of promising youngsters. They weren’t exactly the most exciting winners, but they were certainly clinical. Alperen led the way with 20 goals and 9 assists in 40 games, followed by Godart (14 goals and 6 assists), Cabrera (9 goals and 4 assists), Cormack (7 goals and 9 assists) and Szabo (7 goals and 7 assists).
Mahtal’s careful financial management also had Fulham set, leaving the club with over £200m in the bank. He’d been expecting a longer-term project, but was delighted to have inspired the club to glory quicker than expected. The 79-year-old manager departs Fulham after 689 days and 91 games, of which he won 50, drew 18 and lost 23, scoring 153 and conceding 104 with a 54% win ratio.
Indeed, that success leaves Mahtal with 7 more letters to tick off his Alphabet Challenge. But where would he end up next? Join us on Friday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment