Cottage Pied

Football

National

What an absolute shambles the last year has been for Fulham. I'm sorry but as a passionate fan of the West Londoners I finally have an excuse to vent my frustration over the clubs decisions with the most recent sacking of Felix Magath. Walking down Stevenage Road alongside the Thames you find fans asking “where did it all go wrong?” and “what's next?”, well no one knows the right answer to these questions as theirs so many.

I wasn't at the game, but watching Fulham beat Juventus 4-1 (5-4 aggregate) in the knock out stages of the Europa League on the box was one of the proudest moments of a Fulham fans life. That year we went onto the final in Hamburg and missed out on European silverware with just 4 minutes of extra time to spare against the current La Liga champions, Atletico Madrid.

That was 4 years ago.

Were now nestled in at the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship manger-less with one point from seven games.

Back in those distant memories we were a constant threat to breaking into the top 8 of the Premier League, packed full of experienced international stars and had the current England manager leading the helm, making Craven Cottage a fortress.

As time went on though we found ourselves with a well aged squad struggling to keep pace with a lot of the younger teams in the Premier League and that's where we needed to make a slight change to steady the ship.

I must admit I laughed at Sky Sports pundit Phil Thomson's prediction that Fulham would get relegated last season but the bloke could now be considered a genius as no one else could foresee what was to come.

The man who took us from what is now known as League 1 to the dizzying heights of the Premier League in the space of four years parted ways with the club leaving the current owner on his way to taking Fulham back down to League 1 in three years!!

Jol, Meulensteen and Magath have been shown the door along with virtually the whole squad being ripped out and replaced by youngsters. This is where I have a problem. The club was/is spiralling into turmoil so to have a foreigner who has no experience of English football rid of all the experience we had to play youngsters in a division known for it's physicality is beyond unjustifiable.

Something needed to change, there was too much change and now the club is free falling. Even I don't know what needs to be done to deploy the parachute. SOS.

Cricket

Local

Nothing but respect for the boys from New Road. Promotion from Division 2 with virtually both hands on the title, they deserve nothing less.

An experienced Surrey side heading to New Road with promotion still in sight was always going to be a long ride. Surrey needed 217 for a comfortable win but Jack Shantry had other plans taking 10-131 and scoring a century which were both career bests and enough to seal a 27 run promotion win for the Pears.

I'm proud to be a Worcestershire fan as we do things the right way with the tight budget were on compared to other Counties. We nurture the youngsters in the academy very well and they've proved how far they've come all having a successful season in the first team and getting given extended contracts.

As Northampton and Lancashire look set to face the drop after one season in the top flight, Worcestershire will be favourites to follow suit next term but if our hungry youth can relish the opportunity and we once again pick quality overseas players (hopefully Ajmal will get is bowling action sorted out and come back to us!) we can give the big boys a run for their money.

Golf

History has been made this week. 260 years of history to be precise. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrews has voted to allow female members for the first time. 2,400 global members were in favour of female members with 85% voting for change.

I personally think this is a positive and needed decision as we now live in a world where equality in sport is fundamental. It's a great step forward for women’s participation in golf and is yet another reminder to the world of sport that they have to coincide with the modern times.