[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by Big Hugg

I wish Coleman would use his damn head and put Dempsey in the starting lineup.

I can't wait to get home from work and watch my boys get smoked by Man U.

You may have seen this about Bullard and his meet the fans night, lifted it off the Latics board but think they had lifted it off the Fulham board.

When he came into the room, he was wearing a knee-brace but that was because he had just been working it and the club want the brace on whilst he does. A few weeks ago he had some numbness in the knee but that has passed and he is feeling stronger all the time. He is currently cycling and doing some treadmill work (slight inclines and the like) and can feel progression. Ball-work, however, is some way off.

He told us about when it happened, saying that he had never known pain like it before and when they called for the gas and air for him, they couldn’t get the thing working… which caused him some consternation (to say the least). He’s been in contact with Scott Parker and there is absolutely no animosity there, so that is good.

I asked him if he’d met Michael Owen in the waiting room of the doctor’s in the States and he said that he kept just missing him. He knows Owen slightly, however, and they have compared notes.

As for the future, I asked him about the widely tipped June return and he stated categorically that he was just aiming for pre-season 07/08 as a comeback and that he feels that that is realistically achievable. If anything, it hurts more to see the team lose when he knows that he could do something about it if he were fit but he knows that he has broken the back of the layoff now (five months gone, four to go) and is dead-set on coming back and showing the fans what they’ve been missing for the season.

He talked a bit about Wigan and the move to Fulham (most of which is covered in Fultime) but added that there only seems to be about three of the players who played with him last season still turning out for the Latics these days, so he doesn’t feel particularly bad about leaving the JJB. He did, however, say that it always feels weird when playing against teams that he used to play for, none more so than when he plays against West Ham, who he always supported as a boy.

There was talk about his England prospects and he laughed at the suggestion that he could play against Estonia, Israel or Russia, pointing out that there are many very good players in the national set up (even Jermaine Jenas, who seemed to be singled out by some fans). He would be dead chuffed to be invited though and the general consensus amongst the fans was that, should he regain his form of last season/early this season then he would be a shoe-in (but then we would say that, wouldn’t we?)

The subject of fishing came up and he said that he was coming on quite nicely there, having joined Dorking Angling Club (which, I am led to believe is the Man Utd of the fishing world). Football is his true love, though, so I don’t think we’re going to lose him to the rivers and lakes of the world. He is also an enthusiastic golfer.

Other than that, he has started doing some unofficial scouting for the club. Not much was said about the level that he was looking at but he was enjoying the experience of seeing different clubs in action and getting a feel for tactics etc.

Finally, congratulations to Jimmy and his wife on the birth of their new son recently (I didn’t catch the lad’s name, sorry).

Jim then posed for loads of photos, made the sponsor’s draw and made the year of wee Kodi, the youngest there, by sitting her on his knee and signing the label of her Fulham bear.