Fulham promoted to Premier League and land £200m windfall as Marco Silva’s side make instant return from Championship
SO the yo-yo that are Fulham are back up in the Premier League — and the bi-annual promotion celebrations in West London are in full swing.
A 3-0 win over Preston North End at Craven Cottage secured promotion - plus a whopping £200million windfall to boot.
Now Marco Silva can properly get to work on making sure they do not come crashing back down next year.
And boss Silva — who took over in the summer from Scott Parker following Fulham’s relegation — spoke of his deep pride in wrapping up promotion with four games spare and now wants to win the Championship title.
He said: “We must be proud of what we’ve achieved for this club. It was the reason me and my staff came here, the reason they invited us to come and join this club and we did it.
“I’m proud of the players, not just because we achieved our goal or aim from the first day but the way we did it, the way we played, the way we were really dominant for most of the season has been fantastic for us, a fantastic journey for us. Now is the moment for them to celebrate and then try to win the title.
“It’s my 10th season as a manager, it is a coincidence I finish my 10th year exactly how I started — getting promoted from a second division to the first when I took Estoril up in Portugal.
“I know what the club wants from me and it’s just the beginning of a long journey I hope. We have to prepare for the big challenge ahead of us.”
Sillva now must contemplate how to end Fulham’s cycle of being a yo-yo club. Next season will be their SIXTH successive season in a different division in the top two tiers.
And he told SunSport: “Yo-Yo team is a nice nickname. We can’t be too concerned about this. It’s a new challenge for us. Getting promoted earlier in the season will give us good time to prepare everything.
“Our next pre-season will be important for us. We’re already working hard to prepare for next season because the challenge is huge.
“You work so hard to achieve it and now you have to be really positive and don’t go into the season with this concern on our minds.
“We must go into the Premier League with full desire and ambition.
“The gap between the Premier League and championship is getting bigger, Every single season you can see it, teams that get promoted find it difficult to achieve what they want the season after.
“It’s difficult but a fantastic challenge. We must make Fulham a Premier League club.”
The West Londoners will be returning to the land of English football giants with fixtures against the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea next season and they thoroughly deserve it.
Aleksandar Mitrovic took his incredible goal scoring tally to FORTY for the season with a first-half brace against Preston, sandwiching a wonderful strike from Liverpool-bound Fabio Carvalho.
Fulham have proved too good for the Championship but will they be able to cut it in the top division?
Spearheaded by Mitrovic’s goals, Fulham have been going goal crazy this season — but they do have a soft defensive under-belly.
And if the club are to stay in the Premier League for more than a season, Silva is going to need a decent shopping list to address that.
It is a pity they are going to lose their brilliant young midfielder Carvalho in the summer.
The 19-year-old is reportedly set to move to Anfield in the upcoming transfer window after already undergoing a medical with Jurgen Klopp's side.
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His 34th-minute goal — an audacious strike from a Neeskens Kebano cross — showcased perfectly his sheer raw talent.
A shock defeat away at Derby on Good Friday, followed by Nottingham Forest's win on Monday, meant the promotion party was briefly put on hold.
But the full-time whistle on Tuesday cued a mass pitch invasion at Craven Cottage, as players and fans celebrated together.
Kebano was hoisted into the air by delirious Fulham supporters - with the party on the banks of the Thames set to go on long into the night.
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“We are going up,” chanted the noisy Fulham faithful, who will be even louder next season with their plush new £80million Riverside Stand due to open in August.
Now they need to make a proper fist of staying up.