The Long Read: Cyrus Christie

Following confirmation of his departure from the Club, Cyrus Christie wanted to give his thoughts on his four-and-a-half years as a Fulham player.

Signing on the same deadline day as Aleksandar Mitrović in January 2018, the right-back went on to play 68 times for the Whites.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time as a Fulham player,” Cyrus tells us over the phone. “There have been a lot of ups and downs, but that’s part of the journey.

“Things happen and there’s stuff you can’t control, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time there and met some great people, and the Club as a whole was amazing.

“Obviously I would have liked certain moments to have gone better than they did. It didn’t work out that way, but I’ve got a lot of fond memories to look back on, especially the two promotions which were great occasions for the Club and everyone involved.”

Christie featured in each of our Play-Off Final victories at Wembley, coming off the bench to successfully help Fulham defend their leads over Aston Villa and Brentford, respectively.

Both wins were special for different reasons, with the famous white wall cheering us on against Villa, while defeat by our friends from Hounslow didn’t bear thinking about.

Christie was heavily involved in getting us to that latter Wembley showpiece, playing the full 180 minutes of our Semi-Final triumph over Cardiff City.

“To play a part was massive,” he explains of his Wembley involvements. “Obviously the second time would have been better if there were fans there, but it was still an unbelievable occasion.

“To win at Wembley, to win the Play-Offs, there’s no better feeling really. It’s such a long journey and then it can be a bit of a lottery in the Play-Offs, but there’s probably no feeling – in a football sense – that can match winning them, especially in that league.

“It was amazing to be a part of it, those two promotions were unreal moments in everyone’s career, and I will always look back on those memories fondly.

“Obviously the first one was unbelievable as the fans were there. We’d been on such a good run as well leading into it.

“Coming on and playing in that in front of everyone makes it a lot different, but I played a bigger part in the second one because I featured in both the games against Cardiff.

“So for me there was a kind of different sense and feeling to that, and then the way we won the Final as well, for Joe with the two goals that he scored.

“With no fans being there it was a bit different, but to do it against your local rivals is unreal. There was a lot of noise, a lot of talk going into that game from their side, and that kind of gave us added motivation.

“But we already knew that if we could take it to Wembley then we had a massive chance of winning there.

“We’d been there before, the lads were super confident, and it never crossed our mind that they would beat us again.

“It would have been amazing to do it in front of the fans, but each occasion holds different and brilliant memories.”

Every match without fans in attendance during the pandemic was gutting, but there was one in particular – Wembley aside – when Cyrus wishes the Fulham Faithful had been present.

Tuesday 30^th June 2020. Fulham head three miles up the road for a huge match against Queens Park Rangers, looking to get our promotion campaign back on track following defeats by Brentford and Leeds United at the start of the season recommencement.

Inside the first minute we found ourselves 1-0 down. But after setting up Harry Arter for a first half equaliser, Christie went from provider to scorer with just quarter of an hour left of the derby.

Having received a square pass, the Fulham no.22 tried his luck from that same number of yards, lashing a thunderbolt through a raft of hooped shirts from a tight angle, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance.

A strike that won the divisional Goal of the Month award proved to be Cyrus’ only one in the league for the Club, and came at the end where the away support would have been housed in normal circumstances.

“That was a big shame,” he admits. “If the fans were there, it could have been a big turning point in terms of relationships with the supporters.

“It was such a big occasion, against your local rivals, and to score the winning goal in a time when we’d lost the previous two after Covid, to get the winning goal to get us back on track and help our Play-Off push.

“We went from strength to strength from there. It was a big disappointment that it wasn’t in front of the fans, but overall it was a goal that released a lot of emotion and frustration.

“It was great, but it would have been better if there was fans there as it would have gone a long way with them.”

He may not have featured as often for the First Team as he would have liked – spending 18 months of his Fulham career out on loan – but Christie’s effort in matches could never be questioned.

A popular member of the changing room, he can leave SW6 with his head held high.

“I’d just like to thank everyone, from the supporters, the staff, the boys, for being such great people and supporting me and taking me in,” he says.

“I got on really well with a lot of the boys. There are some unbelievable people there. Not even just the boys, a lot of the staff I got on really well with, so they’ll be a big miss.

“It’s a really good club and I enjoyed a lot of my time there. There were a lot of ups and downs, like we know, but the people that I met there were amazing.

“I got on well with everyone and I’ve met a lot of good people and a lot of good friends that I’ll carry on speaking to throughout my career and my life.

“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, but it’s been an amazing time at Fulham, one I’ll look back on with some great memories in my career.

“It was a pity it didn’t work out the way we envisaged and the way that I imagined, but that’s part and parcel of football and I just want to say thank you to everyone.

“It's great to see that Fulham are back in the Premier League and I hope that they can stay there now and cement their place in the Premier League for many years to come.

“It’s such a wonderful club, with great owners, and with a new stand coming in it makes Craven Cottage even more of a special place.

“It’s been an amazing time and, like I said, I’ll look back fondly on a lot of my time at the Club.”