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It may be the smallest London club in the Premier League, but Fulham has big aspirations -- namely, to be just as big a brand name in America as the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal. That's one reason why they went out of their way to sign U.S. National Team stars like Carlos Bocanegra, Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey. Having Americans on the pitch will help pull an American audience and their American dollars.That can't happen, though, if Fulham gets relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship, where Americans can't watch them play regularly. Fulham has dropped to 18th place on the league table, and their continuing decline resulted in the sacking of Lawrie Sanchez today.
How did the Cottagers tumble into the drop zone? Perhaps it was Sanchez' halftime speeches, because Fulham has had a nasty tendency to fall apart in the second half. Consider this: If you ranked Fulham based on halftime scores in their 17 league matches thus far, they would have 29 points and a goal differential of +5. That would put them 8th in the Premier League, just one point behind the likes of Liverpool, Everton and Portsmouth.
Somewhere in the second half, though, it all goes wrong for this club.
If you took the goals scored in the second half of their matches thus far and awarded them points based on that, Fulham would have only 11 points and a whopping -15 goal differential. From half time to full time, Fulham has dropped points in 9 of its 17 matches, which has left them stuck in the relegation zone.
It's not the American connection that has failed Fulham, though, but the Northern Ireland connection. Sanchez managed the Northern Ireland national team before coming to Fulham, and he brought several players from that team to this club. They haven't performed very well. David Healy has only 3 goals in 17 appearances, a disappointingly low number for a striker. Steven Davis hasn't been all that great since coming over from Aston Villa. Some consider Chris Baird to be the second-worst central defender in the Premier League behind Titus Bramble.
Sanchez put a lot of his faith in these players, and they clearly let him down. Now Fulham may end up looking back to America for answers. New England Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst has been on the club's radar for a while, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them try to acquire Chivas USA goalie Brad Guzan, either. Neither would be expensive, and both would be improvements over what they have now.
No matter which tack Fulham tacks, though, they have to do something to climb out of the relegation zone. If they fall out of the Premier League, they can kiss their American dreams -- and most of their American players -- goodbye.
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