36 The Official Fulham FC Matchday Programme
up their end of the bargain, with a
crowd of 17,000 turning up for the
midweek encounter, something
rarely seen today.
“The Premier League is such a
money-maker now that teams
often put out weakened sides,”
states Neilson. “They say it’s a
squad game, but in my opinion,
teams should try and win every
match, build their confidence
and put their best sides out. If
you said to a kid, ‘You’ll get to the
FA Cup Final at Wembley’, they’d
all want that.”
Neilson lined up as left-back in
a defence that included Coleman,
Symons and Steve Finnan, but
it was striker Barry Hayles
who took the headlines after
his 85th-minute strike put the
Whites in the hat for the Fourth
Round. “We paid £2m for Barry
and I think he’d admit that when
he first arrived he was a bit
overawed,” Neilson muses. “But
he’s still playing now. When you
build a successful team you need
all the right characters and we
had him, Sean Davis, Steve, who’s
a good friend of mine, Maik, who
I speak to regularly - we had
some great times.”
The intervening two
decades have seen Fulham
and Southampton embark on
contrasting journeys, but Neilson
believes it won’t be long until the
Whites join Saints back in the
big time. “Both clubs have great
academies and have top young
players coming through,” says
Alan. “It’s just getting harder
to get in the top flight and stay
there. There are three leagues
within the Premier League - the
top, middle and bottom thirds.
A lot of teams that get promoted
just want to finish 17th. Even the
middle third get drawn into the
relegation scrap.”
Fulham famously went on to
beat Aston Villa at Villa Park in
Round Four, before bowing out
of the competition with a 1-0
loss to Manchester United at Old
Trafford. Domestically, however,
the Whites would go on to win
Division Two with a record 101
points. Injury limited Neilson to
just four league appearances, and
though he got on the scoresheet
with a rare goal against Luton
Town at home in October, the fact
it was in a 3-1 loss summed up his
luck that season. Despite that, he
remains upbeat.
“I remember all my goals,” he
smiles. “It was a header from
about six yards. I’d love to say
they were all 30-yard blasts, but
I think they all came to a total
of about 30 yards! I still say now
to my players, ‘It doesn’t matter
where you score from, it’s still a
digit on your stats.’”
While Fulham were firmly in
the ascendance during Alan’s
four-year stay at Craven Cottage,
it’s safe to say that wasn’t the case
at The Dell. He remembers several
last-day hair-raisers. “In my first
season at the club we played
“I remember all my
goals. l think they all
came to a toal of about
30 yards! Bu i’s still
a digi on your stas”
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