Craven Cottage Newsround

Brede Hangeland has played Man Utd before.

“We’re playing reasonably well and we can win every game,” he said. “It’s just that we haven’t had the luck in our last few games.

“It’s a tough game to swallow [the West Ham result] because you feel like you should have won it. I felt it was a free kick when they scored the goal and it makes you feel a bit sorry for yourself after a game like that but what can you do? You have to focus on the coming games and hopefully we can do some magic on Saturday.”

Do some magic. Why not? I have money on there being more than six goals. Just in case.

Meanwhile, more Roy. Also a picture of him pointing again.

“There is an element of luck and sometimes you can play well and lose, or play badly and win. I am very much aware that wins are the order of the day for us and if we don’t get some soon then our predicament will worsen.

Indeed.

“If we work on the basis that 40 points is a minimum then it’s pretty easy to work out how many wins we’ll need but I don’t know how many points will be sufficient for safety this year. If the top teams keep disposing of the bottom teams then the points total will be lower. I don’t like thinking of it in those terms. I like to concentrate on the game ahead and make certain that I as a coach, and the players as players, are ready for the game.”

Finally, here’s an update on the fans’ forum discussion the other night. I’ve steered clear of the subject here because it’s been more than adequately covered in the other forums, and because it has never really affected me. As such any tubthumping on my part would seem somewhat inauthentic. I do, however, hear some of the stories, and there’s no doubt that something is not quite right with the way that (the generally well behaved) Fulham fans are treated, home and away.

So it’s nice to see the club taking steps to engage with supporters. I think we all saw an improvement in general attitude before the West Ham game, and David McNally has suggested that we should see more improvements at each of the remaining home games.

I sit in the Johnny Haynes Stand, which is not the main area of concern. We do get the ridiculous bottle top checks, but by and large we are left alone. Also helping here is the fact that I have the cheapest seats available, which attract a lot of day-trippers and so are fairly quiet. The back of the Hammersmith End is hardly intimidating, but as far as Fulham goes this is the area where stewards are most inclined to flex their muscles (I’m ignoring the away end because they do too. Sorry, cheap shot). There’s always a fine line with these things: the club must be seen to do the right thing by all the authorities, but must also remember that, however much money is coming from Sky, supporters do ultimately make football clubs what they are.

There was something on TiFF with Richard “Game 39″ Scudamore talking about future plans possibly picking up new fans and losing old ones, something he thinks is acceptable but which to many of us is symptomatic of the game’s long march up its own backside. Football could keep on self-improving, trying to get rid of these nasty people who stand and shout and who don’t respect safety officers’ authority, and this would doubtlessly make a lot of people silently happy. But it’s not the way things should go.

Fulham seem committed to sorting things out. Which is a good start.