SMASH & GRABBAN
Anchorman McDonald warns Fulham’s stylish nice guys that they must now get tough and nasty at Wembley if they are to fulfil their dreams of a return to the top flight
QUAINT as their cottage by the river may be and the football just as pretty, Kevin McDonald has warned Fulham will need to get “nasty” at Wembley.
Acclaimed as the best side to watch in the Championship two years running and everybody’s favourite away trip in London, this is Fulham’s moment of truth.
Tomorrow’s £170million shoot-out with Aston Villa is not a popularity contest – and midfield anchor McDonald says they cannot rely on purity alone.
Nasty Fulham? The phrase is an affront to a famous club built on the legends of Johnny Haynes, George Cohen and Micky Adams.
But McDonald, part of the side edged out of the play-offs by Reading’s nip-and-tuck opportunism 12 months ago, admitted: “We know we play some nice football, but it’s not all about being nice.
“You have to earn the right to play, work hard to win the ball back and I think it goes unnoticed that when we are on our game, we press really well.
“We can’t just turn up and expect to play on the ball. If we think that’s going to happen, I’ll tell you now – we’ll get beat.
“People say our style of football is suited to the Premier League, but I’m not so sure about that. We played Tottenham in the FA Cup last season and got battered.
“Of course we’ve got to have a nasty streak about us at Wembley – I’m sure Aston Villa will have exactly that because they have experience all over the pitch. They will be well up for the fight and we’ve got to make sure we’re the same.”
After last year’s nearmiss, Slavisa Jokanovic’s progressive team have reached the proverbial crossroads.
In 90 minutes, they will reach the Promised Land – or face the break-up of the squad, with boy wonder Ryan Sessegnon (above) and skipper Tom Cairney likely to be tempted away.
McDonald, 29, won the golden ticket with Burnley at Wembley back in 2009 and he added: “Some of the players, if it doesn’t happen, will have the chance to play next year with a Premier League team, some of us won’t. And the manager is the same as the players – he wants to manage in the Premier League, he’ll be the first to admit that and we’ve got another real chance to do it.
“But a play-off final is hard. The occasion takes over for the first 20 minutes, then you’ve got to win your individual battles, you’ve got to win your battles as a team then try and play with a bit of freedom and quality. “If you win promotion to the Premier League, there’s no better way to do it.
“But I’ve also been on the losing side at Wembley with Sheffield United, when we got beat on penalties by Huddersfield to get into the Championship, so I’ve seen both sides. To be on the winning side is fantastic, to lose is devastating.”
For McDonald, promotion would also be his passport to redemption after his last taste of the Premier League with Burnley proved a one-season stop-over punctuated by controversy.
Hauled off at half-time, with the Clarets 5-0 down at home to Manchester City on their way to a 6-1 thrashing, he was fined £5,000 after watching the second half in the pub – the 110 Club next to Turf Moor – with his dad.
McDonald said: “If I’m honest, I wasn’t ready for the Premier League back then. As a young boy, you want to play at that level, but I was probably too young at the time.
“I was the worst trainer then and I’m still the worst now – 100 per cent, that’s not changed. I don’t know why, I just switch off at times and I’ve always been the same.
“You should train how you play, but I feel more relaxed in training and when it comes to a match day I’m the first person to put myself forward for a fight, for a battle.
“The manager doesn’t really accept it, but he lets it go under the radar a little bit.
“He pulls me up about it sometimes and says I have to work harder, but he knows he can rely on me on match days.
“I’ve matured a bit since then, I’ve played more games and I’m ready now, more than ever.”