The 2007-08 season was Fulham's 110th of competitive football, and the club's 7th consecutive season in the Premier League. It was notable in the club's history due to the nature of Fulham's late escape from relegation, narrowly avoiding the drop on goal difference, which culminated on the final day of the season in a 1-0 away victory against Portsmouth.
Lawrie Sanchez had been appointed as manager following on from his caretaker role toward the tail end of 2006-07 and brought about changes by bringing in no fewer than fifteen players - Mohammad Al Fayed had given Sanchez a reasonable large transfer budget to spend to ensure that the club would not find themselves in a situation similar to 2006-07 where Fulham had just about stayed up. Despite the large intake of players, many fans felt that Sanchez hadn't spent wisely, with many of the players were deemed below par for Premier League standard, and he was also criticised for using up nearly £10 million on his fellow Northern Ireland players whom he had previously managed for the national team.
Fulham had the best possible start to a season when David Healy scored in the very first minute of their opening match against Arsenal, but unfortunately for Lawrie Sanchez and the club, it went downhill from there. Despite not entirely struggling to score goals, and not conceding a barrage of goals every week, Fulham couldn't muster up any wins under Sanchez other than against Bolton and Reading. Too many draws occurred and it became clear that they couldn't carry on with the same setup, and on 21 December 2007 he was sacked by the club, with Ray Lewington becoming caretaker manager until Roy Hodgson was brought in on 30 December 2007.
Hodgson immediately looked to strengthen the squad in the January transfer window with several signings, the most notable being that of Norwegian international defender Brede Hangeland. It wasn't a good start for him either as Fulham only picked up a single point in January as well as an embarrassing defeat to Bristol Rovers in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. However, a 2-1 win against Aston Villa brought about an air of optimism amongst the fans, and though the performances were slightly better, a further three losses sunk the squad morale.
Arguably, the Great Escape as many fans and the media called it started when Jimmy Bullard claimed a point away at Blackburn with a late free-kick. The following week the club managed an impressive 1-0 victory over Everton which helped the fans and players believe that relegation was by no means a definite. Fortunately for Fulham, other clubs around them were struggling greatly - Derby County, Birmingham City and Reading mainly; all of which Fulham were to play in the final two months of the season. A slightly disappointing 2-2 draw away at Derby didn't help, but after a painful 3-1 loss at home to Sunderland, many of the fans felt it was possibly too late to survive, and with the club stranded in 19th place with four matches left to play and morale once again very low.
On 12 April 2008, Fulham remarkably recorded their first away victory in the league for 19 months, when they beat relegation rivals Reading2-0 courtesy of Brian McBride and a late Erik Nevland strike. Another loss followed against Liverpool and the club knew they needed results to go their way the next week to ensure they would not get relegated. Fortunately, Fulham stayed in the race for survival after a miraculous victory away at Manchester City, where upon falling 2-0 down at half-time, Fulham scored three second half goals to win 3-2 with Diomansy Kamara stamping his name in Fulham's history books with a thumping 92nd minute winner.
On 3 May 2008, Fulham pulled themselves out of the drop zone following another vital 2-0 victory over relegation rivals Birmingham who were one point ahead of them. This sent Birmingham to 19th position and Reading to 18th position, as Fulham leapfrogged both to 17th position on goal difference. This set up the finale at Fratton Park, Portsmouth, where the club knew they had to win to ensure they survived. A nervy first-half ensued with Fulham unable to find a breakthrough, but in the 76th minute, Jimmy Bullard's free-kick found an unmarked Danny Murphy in the area, who grabbed a rare headed goal and the victory, sparking scenes of euphoria for Fulham players and fans in what was the most incredible of seasons.
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Laurie Sanchez (until 21 Dec)
Ray Lewington (caretaker)
Brian McBride
Diomansy Kamara (6)
Simon Davies (36)
Tony Warner
Ricardo Batista
Antti Niemi
Moritz Volz
Philippe Christanval
Dejan Stefanović
Paul Stalteri
Brede Hangeland
Adrian Leijer
Alexey Smertin
Michael Timlin
Leon Andreasen
Simon Elliott
Seol Ki-Hyeon
Hameur Bouazza
Collins John
Gabriel Zakuani
Björn Runström
David McNally
Heiðar Helguson
Young Boys