Cairney and King contracts are such a massive boost
In his new column for West London Sport, Jack Kelly reflects on Tom Cairney and young prospect Josh King signings new contracts at Fulham.
It’s such great news for Fulham that Tom Cairney and Josh King have signed new deals.
I’m glad Cairney is going to be here next season.
There’s so many highlights, so many high points of the Tom Cairney era. It’s very unique to Fulham. It’s very unique to football.
Ten years at one club is very, very rare, especially nowadays, where there is hardly any loyalty in football anymore.
He’s not going to be playing every single game, but I’m sure he will still make a difference to the team when he comes on. And, obviously, there’s the off-the-pitch leadership skills as well – the advice he can give to young kids coming through.
From his first season at the club where Fulham were terrible, where Fulham looked like we could have been relegated to League One, then to a season where we got into the playoffs, and he was magnificent.
He scored so many important goals, he scored in the play-offs against Reading. Then, obviously, there was that photo, that shot of him in front of the Fulham fans at the end of the game when we’d lost in the play-off semi-final. It was poignant.
A year later he would score the winning goal in the play-off final against Aston Villa. In my opinion, that was the biggest moment in Cairney’s career. A beautiful finish, at a packed out Wembley Stadium which gained Fulham a spot in the Premier League.
It’s just been an amazing journey. Three promotions, under Slavisa Jokanovic, Scott Parker, and then under Marco Silva, where he scored on that night where we won the league. He scored the first goal in the 7-0 win against Luton, the 100th goal of the season.
And then you go into the Premier League, scoring a brace against Leicester, scoring against Sunderland in the FA Cup, and just making a real difference to the team, even last season, scoring the header against Brentford. He scored in that game, and we went on to win the derby. He is everything that you want in a player; loyalty, quality, and a lovely person on and off the pitch.
What a journey it’s been. Ups, downs, last-minute goals, last-minute heartbreaks. Tom has been at the centre of it all. Playing with class, quality and loyalty. He is one of the Fulham greats.
And King re-signing is terrific for the club as well. It’s so important for so many reasons. He is the biggest young talent I’ve seen at Fulham in my lifetime.
I think this season he’s going to be part of the first-team squad every week, and I think that’s a clear statement of intent.
This is it now, the platform for him to grow and develop as a first-team player has started. It’s incredibly exciting. A four-year deal – it means no club can swoop in and get him on a free transfer next summer, that of course was the fear. I’m absolutely delighted. The morale and excitement in the fanbase is something I haven’t seen for ages.
It’s because it hasn’t happened in ages, Fulham haven’t tied down a promising youth player to a long-term contract in a while, now Fulham have tied down two, with Luc de Fougerolles signing the week before.
Marco Silva will manage his minutes, and use him sensibly, but Fulham fans have something to get really excited about.
