Fulham fan on Liverpool’s pursuit of Dempsey, Mark Hughes and Paul Scholes

Dan Crawford is the editor of hammyend.com and is a Board Director of the Fulham Supporters’ Trust. Ahead of our game against Fulham today, we grabbed a word with him in what turned out to be an interestinginterview.

1. You’ve bought in 3 players this transfer window but as of yet you’ve not spent any money – what do you make of your summer business?

Some Fulham fans have expressed concern that Martin Jol hasn’t splashed the cash to build on an impressive second half of last season, but Fulham’s pragmatic transfer policy is a reflection of how well the club has been run of late.

All three summer arrivals have added real value to the squad. First in was Mladen Petric, a versatile forward who was already a familiar face to the Fulham faithful after his thumping free kick put Hamburg ahead in the second leg of our Europa League semi-final at Craven Cottage back in May 2010. Jol took Petric to Hamburg and the Croatian international has had an immediate impact, following up his five goals in as many pre-season games with a brace on his league debut against Norwich City last Saturday.

Sascha Riether also played against Fulham during our Europa League run, for Wolfsburg. The versatile German international has so far slotted in effortlessly at right back, but he can also play as a defensive midfielder. Confident on the ball and energetic, Riether is a prudent loan signing, who already seems to be enjoying life in London.

Fulham also concluded a deal to bring Hugo Rodallega to the Cottage on a Bosman after he decided to leave Wigan. Rodallega is still yet to return to full match sharpness after missing a hefty chunk of pre-season and has been largely used from the bench, from where he won the spot-kick that led to Fulham’s fifth goal last weekend as a late substitute.

Perhaps the most significant move in the transfer market this summer though was the permanent acquisition of Mahamadou Diarra, who enjoyed an excellent six months at the Cottage last season. There were no doubts about Diarra’s quality after his successful spells in France persuaded Real Madrid to make him their big money replacement for Claude Makelele – and he scotched any worries by adapting effortlessly to the pace and power of the Premier League.

2. One player heavily linked with a move away from your club has been Clint Dempsey. We hate Scousers at the best of times so seeing their pathetic attempts to get Dempsey have been enjoyable for us to watch. What do you make of their unprofessional approach?

The Clint Dempsey saga could have badly undermined Fulham’s pre-season had Martin Jol not taken the decision to leave him out of the first team’s preparations once the Texan midfielder had indicated that he wanted to leave the club.

Dempsey’s 26 goals were a big part of Fulham’s push into the top half last season, and after Fulham spent $4m to bring him from the MLS, it is disappointing that he has had his head turned by Liverpool. The fact that Liverpool felt it appropriate to announce his arrival on their official website to coincide with their summer trip to Boston when the club hadn’t even had made an offer to Fulham is, as you say, laughable.

3. After betraying your club and refusing to play – would you to ever like to see Dempsey in a Fulham shirt again? Manchester City made idiots out of themselves last season over Carlos Tevez so surely you don’t want to see your club do the same?

It is so important Fulham handle this carefully. The secret of our recent resurgence has been a strong team ethic and work rate that has seen hard working players achieve things we genuinely never thought we’d see at the Cottage. You wouldn’t want anything to jeopardise that.

I may be in a minority but I don’t think it helps to demonise Dempsey. He has always been open about his desire to play in the Champions’ League and if had a genuine opportunity to do that I don’t think people would stand in his way.

Just last week, when Jol confirmed that Dempsey wanted to leave, was the anniversary of his young sister’s premature passing. As a teenager, Dempsey’s sister forfeited her own sports lessons to allow him to play football in Texas. That’s why he points to the sky every time he scores.

Of course nobody wants a Tevez-type situation and it is vital than Fulham handle Dempsey’s future in a better fashion than they did with Steed Malbranque, the supremely talented playmaker, who was the architect of Fulham’s only Premier League success in 2003.

4. Last season ex-Red Mark Hughes left you after a fairly decent performance in his first season. Were you gutted to see him go in such a shock decision?

To be honest, the Fulham faithful never really warmed to ‘Sparky’ as he was clearly the club’s second choice to replace Roy Hodgson and Hughes never really tried to cultivate a relationship with the fans.

His departure was a strange one, with Hughes’ loveable agent Kia Joorabchim asserting that he wished to manage a side more suited to his ‘ambition’. Needless to say, the Fulham fans greatly enjoyed our win at Loftus Road last season, which made our aggregate margin over the Shepherd’s Bush side 7-0. Hughes’ ‘ambition’ looks even more misplaced after Swansea’s stroll in the sunshine last Saturday.

For our part, Fulham fans are very happy with the progress being made under Martin Jol. He’s changed the system, converted Mousa Dembele into a midfielder and promoted the promising Alex Kacanilkic and Kerim Frei into the first team.

5. Over the last few years you’ve been a bit of a bogey team for us – but do you enjoy taking points off United? I assume you’d rather see us win the league than the likes of Chelsea or Arsenal as they’re local rivals?

To be honest, Fulham are starting to be an irritant to most of the top sides now that we’ve become established as a top flight side. The Whites have enjoyed a few notable home wins over United in recent years – my favourite being the battling win secured by Zoltan Gera’s bicycle week shortly after United were at their imperious best – but have failed to replicate that form on the road, despite a terrific record in Manchester (largely consisting of some memorable wins at the home of your city rivals, which we’ve cheekily nicknamed ‘Eastlands’.

Given that Fulham have spent the last decade getting accustomed to life at the top table of English football, we’ve tended not to pay too much attention to the battle for the title and enjoying the quality of the football on show. In that regard, Fulham fans would generally appreciate the way United have retained true to their attacking ambitions rather more than the stale football played by the hotel in Fulham.

6. You had a strong start to your season last week, beating Norwich 5-0, how do you feel this season will go?

The trouble with such a great start is that it raises expectations. Fulham played some great stuff against Norwich, but today will give us a far better indication of where we are as it is one of toughest tests in football – especially as Fulham are still very much two different sides, the confident one you see at the Cottage and the slightly nervy, angst-ridden outfit on our travels.

Fulham are something akin to the league’s quiet underachievers so we tend to quietly accumulate points. A good season would see steady consolidation of Jol’s first year in charge and a perhaps a serious effort in one of the Cup competitions as the Whites can match all of our peers on a good day.

7. Last time we played you at your place we won 5 – 0 but the last time you visited Old Trafford it was a close affair and, if you got the penalty you perhaps deserved, you’d of got something out of it. How do you fancy your chances this time around?

Keeping it tight is vital. Last time at Old Trafford, we were undone by one lapse in concentration and some predatory finishing from Wayne Rooney. The fact that could play just behind Robin van Persie is truly frightening. I suspect Jol might want his team to play more football than last season and look to counter-attack at pace.

8. Who/what would you say your biggest threat is?

You could perm anybody from the front four, but I’d say both Damien Duff and Bryan Ruiz have been excellent in pre-season. Bryan looks a lot sharper now he has a full pre-season behind him and is far move effective behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1 system than out wide.

9. What are your main weaknesses?

Scoring goals. Fulham don’t do it enough away from home and there’s a tendency for a lone striker to get horribly isolated at Old Trafford. Since United have so much quality in the final third, it’ll be difficult to get anything from the game without breaking our goal drought on the red side of Manchester.

10. Leaving financial matters aside, If you could have any two of our players, who would you have?

For sentimental reasons, Paul Scholes as he embodies everything a professional should be and is a terrific role model for the youngsters starting out in the game. To improve our team I’d pinch Tom Cleverly and Danny Welbeck – which, since United have benefited from Fulham talents like Edwin van der Sar, Chris Smalling and Louis Saha lately, would be a fair deal in my opinion.