Div 1 Champs 25 years on: April

To commemorate the 25 year anniversary of Fulham’s 2000/01 title winning season, at the start of every month we will look back on how Jean Tigana’s side fared this time quarter of a century ago. April April 2001 will surely gone down as one of the greatest months in the history of Fulham Football Club. In fact, there was a six-day spell which saw us knock a rival manager off his perch, confirm promotion, and lock in the Division One title. But more on that later. The month started in slightly drab fashion as West Bromwich Albion – one of the sides in the Play-Off hunt – proved stubborn opposition at the Cottage, duly leaving with a point from a goalless draw. Perhaps the lads had one eye on the next match – a trip to closest rivals Blackburn Rovers. We say ‘closest rivals,’ but they did sit 13 points behind Fulham, making this pre-match quote from manager Graeme Souness all the more bizarre… “I admire Fulham because I think they’re a good footballing team – but so are we. Up until now they’ve proved that they are the best because they’re ahead of us in the Championship. But I feel that we’ve been the best team, certainly in the second half of the season. Now we have to go out and show that on Wednesday.” Souness will have felt vindicated by how the game began. As was the case in the reverse fixture, an early Matt Jansen goal had Rovers in front, and they then went a man up when Rufus Brevett was shown a red card. For context, Barry Hayles was riled up after taking an elbow to the face from David Dunn which went unpunished, which probably played a part in the force with which he challenged Keith Gillespie. Brevett played on until the whistle was blown for the free-kick, which Garry Flitcroft took umbrage with and promptly floored the Fulham left-back. Brevett’s response was the faintest flick of a boot in Flitcroft’s direction, but that was enough to see him dismissed. The only man carded throughout the entire evening, somehow… But the Fulham spirit was unbreakable. We went into half-time level when Louis Saha gobbled up the loose ball as Brad Friedel dropped a cross, and then completed the turnaround in second half stoppage time when Sean Davis got on the end of a deflected Lee Clark strike to half volley home in front of 1,500 ecstatic travelling supporters. All of whom can boast a terrific ‘I was there’ moment. Even the super-chill Jean Tigana was sprinting down the touchline. The final word, though, goes to Souness. “The fact that they have done the double on us and the number of points they lead by may suggest otherwise, but I still believe we are the better side.” With our next match just 40 or so miles east in Huddersfield three days later, the team stayed up north, and had the opportunity to go and watch Bolton Wanderers’ Friday night fixture. The Sky Sports cameras must have got wind of this and so panned to the hospitality box that was housing the boys, where a couple were conspicuous by their absence… Barry Hayles and Sean Davis had nipped over to the TGI Fridays in the adjacent retail park, something that was not lost on boss Jean Tigana who was watching on television back at the hotel! Back on the pitch, we faced a Huddersfield side who were fighting for their lives and on a good run, with 11 points from their previous five matches hauling them out of the relegation zone. The Bolton game that – most of – the squad had gone to watch the day before had ended 2-2, which meant that just a point at the McAlpine Stadium would be enough to confirm Fulham’s place in the promised land. In the end, we took all three. Luis Boa Morte was heavily involved in the key moments, first winning the penalty that Louis Saha dispatched midway through the second half, and then poking home the winner five minutes from time having beaten opposition goalkeeper Nico Vaesen to the ball, after Delroy Facey had temporarily restored parity. Appropriately, the Fulham goals came in front of our ecstatic travelling fans, who at full-time were able to celebrate the end of our 33 year hiatus from England’s top flight. There was little time to dwell on those celebrations, though, as just two days later we were back at the Cottage looking to secure the title. Our vastly superior goal difference meant that this was a formality, but the desire to make it mathematically confirmed was pumping through the turnstiles and into the ground. In true Fulhamish style, we made hard work of it. Gerald Sibon’s corner went straight in on the stroke of half-time, a deficit that we spent the entirety of the second half trying to come back from without success. That was until another historic Sean Davis moment, when his sweeping effort from an excellent Barry Hayles lay-off found the top corner in stoppage time. Another ‘pinch me’ moment for those lucky enough to witness it. Penalties were the name of the game in the fixtures that followed Fulham’s title decider, with Louis Saha bagging three of them to earn a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth and a 2-0 home win over Wolves. The highlight of the latter, though, was a first appearance of the season for Simon Morgan, who came off the bench in the 77th minute to an incredible ovation and was later announced as Man of the Match by Diddy David Hamilton, despite touching the ball just eight times! That was the last of Morgan’s 408 appearances for Fulham. Our final home game of the season the following Saturday was when we would receive the Division One trophy, with penalties a key theme once again as Wimbledon threatened to spoil the party through Jason Euell’s late opener from the spot. Thankfully, Luis Boa Morte was on hand to dispatch one of our own with three minutes remaining, not that a defeat would have dampened the party spirit at the Cottage, which was bedecked in black and white scarves, flags and tickertape. There was one remaining fixture to be played in May, but after a season of triumph, we don’t need to go into detail of Fulham’s final day defeat at Grimsby Town… Footage is taken from Fulham's 2000/01 season review DVD, featuring David Hamilton, Rufus Brevett and Kit Symons.