Stephen Kelly is hoping Fulham will be able to replicate the Club's memorable UEFA Europa League run of 2009/10 with preparation for the forthcoming season soon to get underway.
Martin Jol’s men will report back to Motspur Park ahead of the first Europa League qualification match and Kelly is well aware of the demands an international calendar and an early start will present.
“It’s going to be tough and we have all got internationals as well so it’s going to be difficult,” Kelly told fulhamfc.com. “To be finishing international duty and then to be back in 10 or 11 days later is going to be pretty demanding but that’s football.
“To be a successful team, you have to take part in competitions like this and do everything right. If we do get into that stage, we are mentally able to do well in the competition. It’s going to be tough with the amount of games that we will have, but as I team I think that we are capable of it.”
The Whites coped well with juggling the demands of domestic and Europa League action last time out and with many of the 09/10 squad still present, the experience gained is bound to be beneficial.
“I think it’s pretty much the same squad from the time when we got to the final,” Kelly recalled. “We all played a massive part in that campaign so we are all hopeful and wishful that we can do that again because it is a tough thing to achieve, but as I said the experience is there from players that have already done that and achieved that and it’s something that, as a team, we would expect to have a good go at!
“I don’t think anybody expected what happened last time, I think the big one was the Juventus game because that really projected Fulham as a club onto the worldwide stage. To come back and win that game in the style that we did really made people think: ‘God, they’re a good football team, they’re a good club, they’ve got some pretty talented players and they’re capable of achieving good things, especially against world giants like Juventus.’