Topic: Fulham FC v Liverpool FC - 12th February - k/o: ZEBRA CROSSING WEBCAM IS ON

[PhaseOfPlay]

The point about the other clubs is interesting, fulham having extra time to get players fit etc. The rules though? As I say they can be twisted to suit an agenda. The only way we get he points is by playing whether it be Wednesday or march sometime.

They leave themselves wide open though, for other clubs to try the same thing - you just know that Allardyce and Pulis will look at this and want to know why they can't get the same advantage when it suits them.

[End Product]

The relegation clubs will kick up a fuss, however,  i would fell dirty going on a crusade with Fat Sam.

[telekon]

You would think that if they've made every effort for the game to go ahead they need to come up with a reasonable explanation of why their staff can't get to the ground a few hours ahead of time using buses.

What rationale are they going to give for that?

Devil's advocate here but obviously they might have other jobs or engagements that they need to attend to.

Anyway, I'd be fucking fuming if I had arranged tickets, trains and all if this was called off with such short notice with such borderline ficticious reasons.

[BobPaisley3]

They leave themselves wide open though, for other clubs to try the same thing - you just know that Allardyce and Pulis will look at this and want to know why they can't get the same advantage when it suits them.

It's certainly a valid point.

[Herby]

So will the Arsenal v Man U game be postponed too?

[TALBERT]

The relegation clubs will kick up a fuss, however,  i would fell dirty going on a crusade with Fat Sam.

Get on it Fat Sam

Reckon he will kick up a right stink

Hope he sticks it to the FA in the manor he dealt with that prick Jose

[PhaseOfPlay]

The relegation clubs will kick up a fuss, however,  i would fell dirty going on a crusade with Fat Sam.

He'd be nice and warm on a cold night though

[Red_Rich]

Calm down with all this conspiracy bullshit.

People worrying that we will get temporarily caught up by Spurs and Everton .... do you really think that Fulham themselves want all their rivals above them in the league to pull a further 3pts ahead?

[PhaseOfPlay]

Calm down with all this conspiracy bullshit.

People worrying that we will get temporarily caught up by Spurs and Everton .... do you really think that Fulham themselves want all their rivals above them in the league to pull a further 3pts ahead?

It's better that they only pull 3 points ahead, than the potential effective "6 points" plus goal difference if we play and hammer them on the same night.

They are trying to avoid playing us with a depleted side, nothing more, nothing less

[End Product]

With Fulham though they would have known if they were short of stewards on friday as steward numbers estimates have to be submitted three working days before an event, if they are short it is the clubs fault and there duty to make the short fall, they are trying it on, and not trying to find stewards from other avenues.   

[RideTheWalrus]

Calm down with all this conspiracy bullshit.

People worrying that we will get temporarily caught up by Spurs and Everton .... do you really think that Fulham themselves want all their rivals above them in the league to pull a further 3pts ahead?

Fulham wouldn't be arsed, they're already bottom. They just want time to get that Greek fella fit

[Pistolero]

Finding a taxi in London on a strike day? More chance of Jacko resurrecting. And a tenner would take you from Fulham to Putney Bridge in bad traffic.
From what I understand most of their stewards are eastenders rather than west Londoners hence the problem. And if they are at their daytime jobs or uni/college which I imagine most would be at, then it just isn't that simple - these are largely temporary seasonal workers or agency staff who really won't give a shit.

Re the flooding - there is almost certainly going to be some more flooding on the Thames in Surrey. Residents in Chiswick (2 miles away) will be crapping themselves at the moment, and there have been problems with SW Trains and Great Western trains today due to the floods in Surrey and Berkshire. All of these things will make it tougher for the Met and Hammersmith & Fulham Council to sanction the game.

I would love to see it played as I am sure we will twat them on Wednesday, but there is no avoiding some of the practical issues.   

nah, just not buying it mate....if the Arsenal game is going ahead there's no reason why the Fulham game can't...whatever the discrepancies there may be in the public transport services of the two respective areas - I just cant accept that a 60,000 crowd is manageable while 10 miles away a 25,000 crowd isn't

[Lush is the best medicine...]

Thought it was bad enough that these c*nts gave us hodgson and konchesky

[TALBERT]

Calm down with all this conspiracy bullshit.

People worrying that we will get temporarily caught up by Spurs and Everton .... do you really think that Fulham themselves want all their rivals above them in the league to pull a further 3pts ahead?

Fulham need a rest 120 minutes plus penalties against Sheffield United

And a 4.00pm kick off on Sunday against United, where they played out their skins.

They also need to get that Greek fit


Their going to face a Liverpool side that demolished the top table team in 19 minutes and 15 seconds.

If I was Rene Fergie arse licker I would want the game called off

Tubes

Flood the Thames

[Tonyh]

Another issue...

I don't know the specific situation at Fulham, but I do at Charlton, Twickenham and Spurs, and imagine it will be the same. Significant numbers of the match day staff from stewards to turnstile and catering staff are employed by agencies and not the club. Getting poorly paid agency staff (they are!!) across London when you don't get paid travelling time is a nightmare and I imagine that Fulham and their agencies have probably already found their pool of staff reduced dramatically due to the strike and (ahem) sickness/exams/funerals etc. They wouldn't necessarily know this until confirming rota's etc last Thursday/Friday/Monday.

If you have been to Craven Cottage, you will know they couldn't run a bath there, and I can imagine the Monday op's meeting where the above situation was found out.

[lukeb1981]

Whats the big fucking deal Fulham, plenty of buses heading down that way ,i walked from London Bridge to craven cottage in around an hour before,surely the staff and stewards wouldn't even have that far to to come, fucking no marks, a lot of supporters will massively out of pocket if they are allowed to do this ,always a big away crowd at this.

[Twitter.com]

Martin Lipton (Daily Mirror Chief Football Writer) ‏@MartinLipton 23 min.

Busy few days coming up. Can't see any reason PL should allow #ffc v #lfc to be postponed. But there you go

[macca888]

And you know that for a fact? Despite the posts made in here by numerous London based Liverpool fans, pointing out that it might not be as easy as it looks?

In any case they have until tomorrow at 3pm to figure it out - lets not rush to judgment, we wouldn't want to be hypocrites now would we?

They were c*nts before this, and they'll remain c*nts even if we play. Blanket dad statue worshipping twats.

[Snail]

Martin Lipton (Daily Mirror Chief Football Writer) ‏@MartinLipton 23 min.

Busy few days coming up. Can't see any reason PL should allow #ffc v #lfc to be postponed. But there you go

That means absolutely nothing.

[Red_Irishman]

Martin Lipton (Daily Mirror Chief Football Writer) ‏@MartinLipton 23 min.

Busy few days coming up. Can't see any reason PL should allow #ffc v #lfc to be postponed. But there you go

What the fuck does 'but there you go' mean?

[PhaseOfPlay]

Another issue...

I don't know the specific situation at Fulham, but I do at Charlton, Twickenham and Spurs, and imagine it will be the same. Significant numbers of the match day staff from stewards to turnstile and catering staff are employed by agencies and not the club. Getting poorly paid agency staff (they are!!) across London when you don't get paid travelling time is a nightmare and I imagine that Fulham and their agencies have probably already found their pool of staff reduced dramatically due to the strike and (ahem) sickness/exams/funerals etc. They wouldn't necessarily know this until confirming rota's etc last Thursday/Friday/Monday.

If you have been to Craven Cottage, you will know they couldn't run a bath there, and I can imagine the Monday op's meeting where the above situation was found out.

They may be valid points, but the real issue is not whether the game is able to go ahead tomorrow, but whether we will have to play it at all, and what constitutes "Reasonable Effort" according to the Premier League handbook, to get the game played in the first place. If there were enough alternatives that were reasonably available, and Fulham didn't pursue them, then there is every right for the club to want the forfeit and the points rather than allow Fulham to reschedule the game when it is most advantageous to them and less advantageous to us.

It's a test of how tightly the Premier League actually applies their own rules. They don't post a good record of that so far.

[LFCStephen]

If the teams, media & Fans can get there i see no reason why enough workers can't either?!?!

[JerseyKloppite]

That means absolutely nothing.

No but it's at least a positive thing that a load of journos, including those who have no objective interest in LFC, share our belief that this is farcical. It makes it clear that it's not Liverpool fans feeling 'victimised' (yawn), it's a fucking ridiculous situation that Fulham are trying to take advantage of.

[Tonyh]

nah, just not buying it mate....if the Arsenal game is going ahead there's no reason why the Fulham game can't...whatever the discrepancies there may be in the public transport services of the two respective areas - I just cant accept that a 60,000 crowd is manageable while 10 miles away a 25,000 crowd isn't

I know what you are saying, it just sounds wrong in a modern world. But Arsenal is a well run club in a purpose built stadium with excellent transport links. Yet even they have lost 2 matches to strikes in the past, so I suppose they have learnt from those experiences.

[Cu Chulainn]

What the fuck does 'but there you go' mean?

He means he doesn't think it should be postponed, but he also thinks it will be. Not sure why Lipton would have any information though.

I was feeling good towards René and Fulham after Sunday and his BBC interview. This had best go ahead.

[macca888]

Allegedly.

And then pay them $25 million not to hatch in court.

[rickardinho1]

Another issue...

I don't know the specific situation at Fulham, but I do at Charlton, Twickenham and Spurs, and imagine it will be the same. Significant numbers of the match day staff from stewards to turnstile and catering staff are employed by agencies and not the club. Getting poorly paid agency staff (they are!!) across London when you don't get paid travelling time is a nightmare and I imagine that Fulham and their agencies have probably already found their pool of staff reduced dramatically due to the strike and (ahem) sickness/exams/funerals etc. They wouldn't necessarily know this until confirming rota's etc last Thursday/Friday/Monday.

If you have been to Craven Cottage, you will know they couldn't run a bath there, and I can imagine the Monday op's meeting where the above situation was found out.

If thats the case Fulham need to hold the staffing company accountable for that shambles, and in turn the Premier league need to hold Fulham accountable for not being on top of the strike situation earlier. Fulham will no doubt try to shift the blame but they are ultimately the ones responsible if a game at their stadium is cancelled and should be fined and/or docked points if the fixture has to be rearranged for a later date at such short notice. Either they or the staffing agency should have to pay for the away fans' travel arrangements on the new rearranged date as well.

On the flip side though, I would really enjoy watching every manager in the league denouncing Fulham and especially the FA for their underhand tactics, in particular Big Sam and Tony Pulis. There's no way the FA could fine all the managers in the league if they all went against them

[PhaseOfPlay]

If the teams, media & Fans can get there i see no reason why enough workers can't either?!?!

Exactly - good point. If Liverpool fans can travel 200 or so miles to a game, surely the stewards can travel less than 50?

[Cu Chulainn]

Exactly - good point. If Liverpool fans can travel 200 or so miles to a game, surely the stewards can travel less than 50?

I live in the Thames Valley (not London). I'd fucking help steward this game. No excuses for Fulham. This is gamesmanship, no doubt about it.

[rickardinho1]

I would've expected this from Ferguson or Mourinho, but never Fulham. They've really changed my perception of them as a nicely run and pleasant club with this. I hope the backlash towards them is immense.

I wonder how the Fulham players feel about it? They must be relishing the chance of a few more days rest to revel in the performance at OT a little bit longer...

[decky]

I'll be travelling from east London for this game, they're trying it on. Hope it goes ahead and we twat them

[Canuck33]

Devil's advocate here but obviously they might have other jobs or engagements that they need to attend to.

Anyway, I'd be fucking fuming if I had arranged tickets, trains and all if this was called off with such short notice with such borderline ficticious reasons.

Really? Well, wouldn't they have those other jobs or engagements with or without a strike, with or without a midweek game? Better stick to your day job. An advocate you'll never be, devil's or otherwise.

[Canuck33]

I would've expected this from Ferguson or Mourinho, but never Fulham. They've really changed my perception of them as a nicely run and pleasant club with this. I hope the backlash towards them is immense.

I wonder how the Fulham players feel about it? They must be relishing the chance of a few more days rest to revel in the performance at OT a little bit longer...

They're not the same anymore since they got sold.

[Gerrard[LFC]]

If this is viable, then every second week there's gonna be a game called off for whatever the reason
they can come up with...
pathetic excuse bringing up security and health, just hire few buses to get them there.
Surely that isn't too much to ask.

[jckliew]

Play or get DOCKED 3 points, -6 goals    :p

[telekon]

Really? Well, wouldn't they have those other jobs or engagements with or without a strike, with or without a midweek game? Better stick to your day job. An advocate you'll never be, devil's or otherwise.

You missed two things here.

1) That if they have other jobs, it might take too long to travel from the first one considering the strike
2) The meaning of devil's advocate

[Chavasse1917]

They're not the same anymore since they got sold.

...........and they now have an ex Manc in charge. They will know every cynical trick in the book to suit their purpose.

[Tonyh]

They may be valid points, but the real issue is not whether the game is able to go ahead tomorrow, but whether we will have to play it at all, and what constitutes "Reasonable Effort" according to the Premier League handbook, to get the game played in the first place. If there were enough alternatives that were reasonably available, and Fulham didn't pursue them, then there is every right for the club to want the forfeit and the points rather than allow Fulham to reschedule the game when it is most advantageous to them and less advantageous to us.

It's a test of how tightly the Premier League actually applies their own rules. They don't post a good record of that so far.

Totally agree, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out that this situation may have been a problem. They could easily have come to an arrangement with a club like Reading or Brentford a week or so ago where they bus in their staff from west London (against the direction of the worst traffic), put them through training in advance and drive them in and out on the day. The staff would have been picked up at one collection point and dropped back off there. That's how Earls Court operates its huge events.

Maybe Fulham are pulling a fast one, but they applied to the Safety Action Group last week for a discussion on a postponement, long before our game and their game was played. They couldn't know we would slaughter Arsenal and they would get run ragged.

This smacks of a disorganised club who maybe are now using the situation to their advantage rather than a pre-organised attempt to screw us. However there has to be some form of sanction because this could have been avoided with hindsight.

[Canuck33]

You missed two things here.

1) That if they have other jobs, it might take too long to travel from the first one considering the strike
2) The meaning of devil's advocate

Not missed a beat at all.

1. If you're a Fulham staff member, your first obligation is to make it to work on time. The number of jobs you have besides your Fulham staff job is not Fulham's problem or responsibility. If you can't handle that, get yourself a work-from-home job or whatever. Just don't work for Fulham!

2.  The definition of a Devil's advocate does not include making excuses for lazy people.

[Canuck33]

...........and they now have an ex Manc in charge. They will know every cynical trick in the book to suit their purpose.

Truth be known, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. So we'll beat them some other day. The only really disconcerting thing is, that there are people who made arrangements to go there and might get screwed now.