http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article3913286.ece No need to freak out about the overweight thing. Kid apparently had 22 shutouts for Darlington this season. He's easily a prospect to be the backup for whoever is #1, but we'll see what happens.
Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Ok, Summer is here and we've escaped again. Let's hope Toad without a passport keeps his checkbook open! [youtube]BnXgk-s78DQ[/youtube]
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 More goalkeeping rumors... According to the swedish newspaper Expressen (http://www.fotbollsexpressen.se/Nyheter/1.1167249/fulham-pekas-ut-som-isaks-nya-klubb), swedish international goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson is being linked with a move to Fulham from Manchester City. (where he has been stuck on the bench) I have no idea how accurate the information is. My own opinion is that he has been very good (even brilliant) for the national team where he has been the clear #1 preference for the coach for a number of years now. But his club form has definitely had lots of ups and downs - more downs than ups recently at Manchester City where he got off to a bad start 2 years ago with a series of injuries.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 It was announced on the news here in oz this afternoon that Mark Schwarzer has signed for Fulham.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Never really rated Keller. Hope Fulham goes well with Schwarz next season.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 He was better than Niemi. But it's good to see them pick up someone of quality who's a little younger.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 I feel like a swap for Schwarzer is a lateral move of sorts, if Keller is the one to go.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 How do you know that the answer isn't "No room for Niemi"? Have you paid attention at all since he came in? He's been great, and deserves a lot of credit for Fulham's survival. Niemi is the one who needs to go, he was incompetent game after game. He got "caught looking" too many times. From: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=537763&cc=3888 :'(
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 I'm with you ... Keller is 38 and Schwarzer is 35 ... if you're going to get a new keeper why not go for someone a little more spry who might actually have a future with the club?
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 I wouldn't be complaining, Schwarzer is coming on a free transfer. Use the money that they saved on him on a younger backup keeper to be his understudy for the next few years.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 From: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=241235&cc=3888 Ahh Schwarzer, so happy you're ours.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Yeah he did have a pretty good match, made an awesome reflex save down low in the corner right near the end of the match & his positioning was excellent. He scuffed a couple of clearance kicks though, but apparently the pitch was a bit rough & the ball was bobbling around a bit. Rugby league & rugby union gets played on that field regularly at this time of year in that stadium. I'd have him on par with Sterjovski for man of the match. Sterj picked up 2 yellow cards though, so maybe Schwarz gets it by default.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Lots of sources are claiming we signed Bernard Mendy from PSG... speedy RB with three caps for France. Don't know much more about him other than that and watching him burn Roberto Carlos in a clip.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Just to let you know...Schwarzer had an outstanding game in Australia's 1-0 win over Iraq in our WC qualifier. Made numerous one-on-one saves and we only got the 3 points thanks to him. Very good free signing.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Yeah, I didn't see the full match, just the highlights... but he looked very good, and made a couple big one-on-one saves. Question: Is Iraq better than I thought or Australia worse? I didn't think the Socceroos would have such a tough affair at home in this one.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Injuries in attack and central defence made our organisation fairly ordinary, especially with the offside trap.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 GK David Stockdale joins http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/7436458.stm
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 they announce this as if we didn't know . . this deal was done long ago, they just didn't want to distract people with the news.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Fulham sign Zoltan Gera Must have offered him a boatload if we outbid Pompey and the Toffies...
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Fulham spent the most last summer, outside of the big four, in the EPL. The money is there... and nabbing two players on frees would be wonderful.
Re: Summer Transfer Thread 2008 Probably more to do with the guarantee of first team football; which is something that neither Portsmouth or Everton would offer him. The only clubs you lot had to outbid from a wage stanpoint were Bolton and West Brom. Easy to forget, however, that Gera's uneven form saw him dropped from West Brom's first team squad at various times last year.