Forty years ago, Fulham missed out on promotion by the narrowest of margins and under about the most controversial of circumstances. twoht
There is still time for this to go wrong, but there’s every possibility that this season will end with Fulham finishing above Chelsea in the league for the first time in 40 years. A combination of the Boehly-fuelled transfer mayhem at Stamford Bridge and the steady – when he’s not– hand of Marco Silva at Craven Cottage has left Fulham six points ahead of their west London rivals with six games to play.
That they were serious about a second successive promotion became evident on a national scale in the middle of October 1982, when the Match of the Day cameras were at St James’ Park to see them beat Newcastle United 4-1.
Fulham’s last game would be the most contentious of the whole season in any division of the Football League. They were away to Derby County. Just eight years earlier Derby had become the champions of England for the second time in four seasons, but their subsequent decline had been swift. Beset by financial problems, they were relegated in 1980 and went into the last day of the season needing a win themselves in order to guarantee avoiding relegation to the Third Division.
If this was intended as a show of strength on the part of the Derbyshire Constabulary, it didn’t work. Advertisement hoardings along one side of the pitch were kicked over, allowing free access to the pitchside, while at the end where the Derby supporters were congregated, people just started to walk through the gates in the fences to stand right on the touchline. Within minutes, most of the pitch was surrounded by home supporters standing literally on the touchline.
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