Chairman's Notes

Have an early read of an excerpt from Shahid Khan's notes that he's penned for Saturday's matchday programme.

The task we face in the months ahead speaks for itself. No one here at Motspur Park is happy being near the very foot of the table, and it’s the last thing we wanted or expected for our faithful supporters. But, no one is accepting our position today to be our destiny. I certainly am not for many reasons, but first and foremost simply because I believe in Claudio and the calibre of players in this squad. And of the two options in front of us - to concede or compete - the only answer is to compete.

We could have conceded and been sellers in January. To that point, after investing more than £100m in the summer in a clear mission to compete, we stayed loyal to our commitment by turning down more than £100m in January to sell players to clubs in Europe as well as in China. Why? Because we wanted to give this squad every opportunity to compete, to show the fight I know is inside them and be the ones we’ll remember making a dramatic and successful late run to safety.

It’s been a difficult campaign thus far, with our fate at times being downright cruel. However, Fulham is far from the only club in football bitten by bad luck, so it’s incumbent upon us to reverse our fortunes, as we did in the second half at home to Brighton & Hove Albion. That result wasn’t an accident, but rather the result of a fierce response that followed one of our poorer first halves of the season. If you were there, you know we could have scored five, six or even seven goals in the final 45 minutes. We were brilliant.

And, if you were there, each of you earned Man or Woman of the Match honours. Down two goals at the break, rather than greeting your team with indifference or contempt as may have happened with home crowds elsewhere, you brought immediate and much-needed energy and noise that literally willed us to a win. I do not exaggerate here - you supported us, stood with us and stuck with us, and that transferred mightily to our performance and three points earned. It was massive fun for everyone, and I am going to ask you to repeat that effort, home and away, over each of the 13 matches ahead, starting in our fixture against Manchester United that will enjoy a national and global television audience. Fulham is celebrated throughout the world for its civility and class, but that doesn’t mean our supporters shouldn’t raise the roof for 90-plus minutes every week. Let’s show the world, and our team, that our players and our supporters are up for the fight.