Ahead of last Sunday's relegation decider, Simon Davies looked ahead to the "the biggest game of my career" and confirmed that even in the worst case scenario, he was committed to the Whites, come what may.
"I'd stay," [if Fulham were relegated] explained Davies. "I think if you go down with a club, you owe it really to try, as a group of players, to get back up. Portsmouth will be the biggest game of my career, no doubt about it. It means so much being in the Premier League, to the club, the staff, the players, everyone."
Anyone who witnessed Davies' reaction at the final whistle on Sunday knows how much victory meant to the Welsh captain. The midfielder was ecstatic after the game as he contemplated the magnitude of Fulham's achievement.
“Unbelievable! It’s going to take a few days to get over this…it’s hard to explain. We were written off by everyone really. We stuck together as a group and kept our heads down. We always believed we could do it. To produce the results and comeback is really incredible – I really can’t believe it myself at the minute.
“At Man City at half-time, I don’t know what the odds would have been on us beating them, and winning three on the bounce away from home - it’s incredible! Everyone deserves a massive pat on the back."
Arguably Fulham's most consistent performer during the 07/08 season, Davies has revelled under Roy Hodgson's stewardship and was delighted with the style and manner in which his side retained their Premier League status.
“It’s difficult when you’re bottom of the league because there are pressure games every weekend. Everyone’s edgy and you can’t really get a flowing rhythm to the game. At the bottom every mistake you make you get punished for. The Manager came in and got us playing and he told us to trust our ability. We got that win against Reading which was a really big one and went on from there and played well.
“We’ve got a lot of good footballers at the Club and we like to get the ball down and play around teams. The Manager’s tried to get the best out of us and we’ve played some excellent football at times in high pressure situations. Sunday wasn’t our best game as it was a bit scrappy but we showed resilience."
Davies will now enjoy several weeks rest before preparations begin for Fulham's 2008/9 season and the midfielder was full of optimism about the forthcoming season.
"Once everything gets settled down I think we can take the momentum into next season because the last few weeks, winning games that we haven’t done for a long time, we’ve got to keep that belief. When we meet up again in July to play in the Premier League we will believe that we can win games. When the new season starts we’ll be ready for it.”
