The following exclusive feature is taken from the latest issue of Fultime, now on sale in the Club Shop and Cafe @ the Cottage. The latest issue includes an extensive interview with Roy Hodgson and much much more!
From receiving the Club captaincy, to freak injury, rehabilitation and returning straight into the pressure of a dramatic fight against relegation, Brian McBride’s last season at Craven Cottage was anything but uneventful. Speaking in his last interview as a Fulham player, the Whites skipper and US soccer legend gives us his own take on 2007/08 …
A good captain should embody the team he represents and lead by example, and in terms of commitment, focus and professionalism, Fulham could have asked for nobody better to skipper the Club in the tense finale to 2007/08 than Brian McBride.
A natural born leader, McBride has built his considerable reputation by conducting himself in exemplary fashion on and off the pitch, showing no hesitation in putting his body on the line to help his team’s cause, and scoring crucial goals for club and country. Shattered cheekbones, bloody noses and serious blood clots have all been mere occupational hazards for this All-American hero over the years.
One supporter, of a rival club no less, summed him up earlier this season, commenting on a popular football website, “He strikes me as the kind of bloke that if you were in an American war movie, he'd be the sergeant that led your little band of brave troopers. Possibly he’d have a 'girl back home' and a job on his daddy's farm lined up when he gets back from the war, only to dive on a grenade and sacrifice himself right at the end. The guy's an absolute hero.”
A columnist on the same website noted that he is “a rare exponent of the old-fashioned centre-forward bruiser role that does not involve sticking your elbow into the face of an opponent. Hard as nails and yet scrupulously fair.” Whites fans, of course, wholeheartedly agreed, voting him Fulham Player of the Season in 2006 and 2007.
The only surprise then was that it took three-and-a-half-years in SW6 before Brian was given the Fulham captaincy, in July 2007.
“It was a real honour. It’s something that I didn’t take lightly at all,” he reflects as we talk just days after the conclusion of what has been a year of ups and downs for the 35-year-old.
Last summer everything looked so rosy. Having gratefully accepted the captain’s role, Brian then began to reignite a promising strike partnership with David Healy, one that had started seven years earlier when they were both at Preston. After reacquainting themselves in pre-season, the pair looked sharp on the opening day at the Emirates and in the win against Bolton.
But after just 15 minutes of the following game, at home to Middlesbrough, it all turned sour. Characteristically in the act of scoring, McBride turned awkwardly and his knee gave way. Whilst a packed Cottage was jumping in celebration the Fulham captain lay still on the turf.
Moments later he was stretchered off to a hero’s applause, but it would be the last time Whites fans would see him in action for six months. Never a player to sustain a simple injury, Brian’s quadriceps tendon had torn completely away from his knee, far worse than merely dislocating his kneecap as was reported. A bright new campaign had been cruelly stopped in its tracks. It was unclear at first how much match action he would miss, but the prognosis did not look good.
“I got on the phone to my national team doctor and he told me, “the quicker you do it [have surgery], the quicker you’ll be back, because the muscle goes quickly.” So I had the operation and then I was in a brace for three months and on crutches for six weeks of that,” Brian explains, before admitting that he found the rehabilitation period that followed tough, but not just because of the physical limitations of his injury.
“Not being able to have any type of influence in the day-to-day playing side of things was disappointing because I really enjoyed doing what I could to help. I’d get to the training ground early and so I’d already be working whilst everyone else was catching up and then training without me so it was difficult, but the great thing is that we had other leaders and a great group of guys that were willing to push themselves through some difficult periods.”
By the time he returned to action on February 3 against Aston Villa, what had started out as an optimistic new start for Fulham had descended into desperation. The Club were 19th and in need of inspiration. Significantly the Whites won upon the return of their leader, their first victory in three months, but Brian refuses to take credit.
“I was just happy to be back out there. I was hoping to have a positive influence in some way to help out the team, but that day wasn’t about me, it was about Jimmy and his free-kick. For me, it was just great to play a part by being back on the field and being able to train, play games and be a positive influence for a group of guys that had really started to bond.”
After such a lengthy lay off, it took time for the skipper to find his feet and return to full strength. Some critics dared to suggest that he wouldn’t recover, certainly in time to be of significant service to the Whites’ cause, but anybody entertaining such thoughts clearly knows nothing of his character. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before he was back in the thick of the action, scoring vital goals, such as the winner in the 1-0 victory against Everton; a typical McBride goal as he threw himself at a teasing Simon Davies cross to head past Tim Howard.
With every strike vital to Fulham’s survival (in the end the margin between relegation and safety was just +3 goal difference), he would score two further highly significant goals in the weeks that followed. Firstly, the opener in what would turn out to be Fulham’s first away win in 19 months, against Reading, and then the first in one of the most important matches Craven Cottage has seen in years, against Birmingham. As ever, his sense of rising to the occasion was second to none.
It was no coincidence, observers noted, that McBride’s return to the team had corresponded with Fulham’s return to form and surge to safety. Amidst the mayhem and ecstasy of the post-match celebrations at Fratton Park on the final day, the man from Illinois was as overjoyed by the Whites’ survival as any of the Londoners applauding from the away end, and speaking at the time he confirmed that the final push to safety ranked alongside other achievements in a career that has also seen him represent his country in three World Cup Final tournaments.
“It was definitely very much the same sort of feel because the importance of the game was huge, and it wasn’t just about ourselves, we could see how important it was to the fans, and to the Chairman and all the people putting in a lot of effort around us,” he enthused. “You only get those feelings in big situations and it helped in a way to help us keep our focus. It was a tight game, but when the time came we were able to take advantage of it.”
And take advantage of it the team did, eventually sealing the 1-0 victory that was just enough to achieve what had at times looked like an escape against all logic.
“It was pretty crazy and I’m sure most people didn’t think it was possible, but it all comes back to taking one game at a time and thankfully we did that. Everybody that was a part of our squad this year was completely behind us. People might not necessarily think that, but I can tell you that in training it was always very positive and everybody was always pushing each other to do better.”
In the end, the escape was so dramatic that some romanticists have suggested it was fate’s way of rewarding the Club after a disastrous run of bad fortune earlier in the season, or some kind of karmic reward for Brian or Jimmy Bullard after their personal injury struggles. McBride however, says that the explanation is far simpler than that.
“It has to do more with a group of guys working hard to reach their goal,” he states. “You can’t think about things that are beyond your control, and you can’t say “that was meant to be,” because no one really knows that. It makes for a good story, but I’m not one that necessarily believes that. Maybe it was, I don’t know, it was certainly a very special run, one that was very exciting and one I was so happy to be a part of, but whether or not it was divine intervention, or somebody was pushing us a long I don’t know. If that is the case, that would be great!
“What I do know is that if you start thinking [the task is insurmountable] then you’ve given up, and I think you can see that at no point did anybody give up. Sure, we’re not foolish, when we woke up on a Sunday morning and looked at the standings we knew it was going to be difficult, but you don’t give up, you definitely never think that.”
The captain is quick to distribute credit widely for the Club’s eventual survival. To the fans: “You know, they got more behind us when people started writing us off. Not just being vocal, but they have a great understanding of when to do it, and I tell ya, it spurred us on when we needed it and that transferred to the field.”
To the Manager: “He was great at making sure we kept our focus. From day one when he came in he wanted us to play a certain way and in every training session we worked on possession and shapes with the ball and without the ball to get that understanding. We did it over and over and there were plenty of times when we’d be thinking “can’t we do something else?” but you can see it paid off. Everybody understood their roles and, to be honest, he didn’t have a lot of time to get that into our heads. He didn’t have a pre-season or a lot of time to get to know his players, but he did what he needed to in the time he had.”
And the Chairman, who confirmed to any doubters how much he cares about his football club by paying the team regular visits towards the end of the season:
“He’s just such a passionate guy,” explains Brian of Mr Al Fayed’s influence. “He’s someone that always exudes confidence, and a winning quality. You can see that everything he does he wants to be the best it can be. To have someone that has that charisma, that personality and amount of enthusiasm come and talk to us, it can’t do anything but help.
“When he talks to us he’s focused on getting us to laugh a little bit, but also on getting his point across and that is that you have to have the will to win. It’s something you don’t think about much, but when it’s brought up to you and you do think about it, it makes complete sense, so it was great to have him around.”
But whilst Brian’s modesty would never allow him to take recognition himself, his own contribution, sometimes with his mere presence exuding the calm focus that was needed to treat each game in the dramatic run-in as an individual, tough, but not impossible task, cannot be underestimated. Just as he had in the three-and-a-half years that preceded this most dramatic of campaigns, he again played a central role in everything Fulham.
In years to come the statistic of 40 goals and 153 appearances will tell future generations a lot about his contribution to the Club, but it will only convey half the story, for no numbers can adequately sum up the positive influence he had and the memories he leaves us with.
“My final message is thank you so much for a great four-and-a half-years,” he says in closing. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed it, and now I’ll be supporting Fulham like you guys from the States.”
Farewell and good luck, Brian.
