Ten months ago we began our blog affair dear reader, sharing a common allegiance to Fulham FC and looking to spread the word. My aim from the outset was simply to serve up the most authoritative, lively and readable Premiership blog on the ESPNsoccernet site.

For an archived record of Fulham's 10th successive season in the Premier League, this campaign has been a wonderful journey for me personally. At the end of it I have a collective body of work to reflect upon that sums up the ecstatic highs and morbid lows of being madly, irrationately and passionately wedded to this great little football club down by the river.

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Shankly knew. It really is so much more than just a game. I'm no sentimentalist or believer in the hereafter, but in this, a first full season without my Dad - he died on the eve of the Juventus home tie - often I found myself looking skywards after a Fulham goal hoping he was looking down on the Cottage. That side of the ground has barely changed from the time he first took me along in the 1950's. The last thing left to us after decrepitude takes hold are memories. Most of my fondest will come from time watching Fulham.

Our title above encapsulates a season, that till late spring was balanced on a knife edge. Not 30 minutes into game four of a 38 match season, and with three goals in his previous two games, Bobby Zamora had his ankle shattered by a lunging Karl Henry tackle. Our reborn centre forward would have gone to the World Cup that summer but for an Achilles problem that required surgery, having pushed himself through the pain barrier on a needs must basis for the Europa League cause. A season lost advancing his international credentials for BZ ,and when the new manager opened the cupboards at Motspur, Elm, Okaka and Nevland had gone, and little AJ was still holding his knee. We were up against it...

Strangely, the questions being posed from the first blogs of last July still apply now. Who should be keeping goal, do we have a problem at full-back, has Murphy much more to give, surely we need cover up front?

'Where next for the Europa League runners-up' was the title for my very first piece. Now all we have to ask is where next for the side finishing 8th? 7th is our all time best finish thanks to Roy two years ago. Improving on that is going to require a seismic shift in how Fulham operates. The wage structure would have to go through the roof. Is it going to happen on gates of 25,000? Doing an 'Arry and breaking into the top four...Fulham in the Champions League???

The one thing Mark above all got right when coming down was stability in our playing style. Apart from a belated and long overdue improvement in away form, where Roy was indeed overcautious, the side that gave Arsenal such a scare Sunday was still playing very much in the style of Hodgson. It was almost 4-5-1 at times with BZ roaming out to the flanks to stretch the centre backs. Sadly, I remain of the conclusion AJ is no longer the man to profit from the spaces. He's lost a vital yard of zip and ability to take on the last man - you saw that many times Sunday - and there's no gunpowder in the boots anymore. No goal at home from AJ all season...and he's the top earner?

As to Zollie's three minute cameo...what was going on there? It almost gives credence to the conspiracy theory that Mark has sent the side out to scupper the Fair Play route back into Europe. Surely not?

On which note, I shall be back later in the week once UEFA have determined our fate. After that we can draw a line under the season, discuss the new away shirt, your hopes for next season, new signings wish list, season high and lows, and where we're all going on our hols.
In the meantime, big shout out to Stockers and Zamo for making the England squad - and thanks for contributing to the Number One blog in the Prem!

Twitter @fulhamphil / PS I did forecast Blackpool and B'ham for the drop - did ya notice?

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