It’s Fulham on Sunday and that can only mean one thing, a general lack of interest.  Like so many games that Latics (and I would imagine) our visitors are involved in, there’s nothing about this one to grab the attention of neutrals and so we’re left on our own with our cheap tickets, cod promotions and decisions over the autumn or winter jacket.

Sunday is a special game though, it’s the first in a couple of seasons that I’ve had to book the day after off and the first for even longer that Latics have been at home on my Birthday.  Or it feels like it anyway.  In reality, Latics gave me a 0-0 with Stoke to celebrate entering my 30-somethingth year.

Like Stoke, Fulham will always have undertones of the lower divisions for me.  Memories of them being the only visitors to Springfield where all the fans chose to sit in the stand.  Of the only fur coat I’d seen outside of the directors box and of jokes about how they’d brought so few fans they’d probably come in a Rolls.

Fulham have always been posh, you see, or at least they have to is simple northern souls.

And then later there was Al Fayed, Micky Adams doing a grand job, Keegan and Wikins, Jones v Angus, the best day out and hauling back a 13 point deficit.  Fulham might currently be winning the war, what with their fancy Dan Europa League and what have you, but Latics got the best of those tussles and swamped full of birthday nostalgia, my mind says they were more important.

Back in the present and all talk will be about these sides’ previous results, but in anything other than confidence stakes they’re meaninless.  Fulham are no more 3-1 better than Liverpool than Latics are four goals worse than Portsmouth.  Each of the managers has a job keeping his players focussed.  Hodgson keeping heads out of clouds, Bobby chins off the floor.

If they manage that then it should be an even game, better than last Birthday’s, but that wouldn’t be hard, would it?

Match thread on the forum can be found here

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