Zoltán the Great! Gera’s Premier League record will take some breaking

Zoltán Gera bid farewell to West Bromwich Albion in the summer of 2014, with a decade of loyal service in English football brought to a close. He took in two spells at the Hawthorns, allowing him to become something of a cult hero in the West Midlands, with a three-season stint at Fulham sandwiched in between.

It was during his time at Craven Cottage that the former Hungary international enjoyed arguably his finest hours. His time in west London coincided with a historic run of form for Fulham Football Club as a whole.

Gera’s Era

Cult. Icon.

Zoltan Gera signed for #FFC on this day in 2008. 🗓 pic.twitter.com/8bU7u9MrYp

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) June 11, 2022

The likes of Bobby Moore, George Best and Johnny Haynes may have graced their books down the years, but it was Gera’s era that delivered the club’s best-ever top-flight finish. The class of 2023-24 are trying to emulate those efforts, with today’s football odds pricing them at +500 to secure a top-half standing.

Fulham may not figure prominently in the Premier League title odds dominated by the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, but they are harboring hopes of pushing for European qualification once more.

When Gera joined their ranks back in 2008, continental action was very much the target. A seventh-place finish at the end of Gera’s debut campaign – a collective best for the Cottagers – booked a spot in the Europa League.

Fulham would, with Roy Hodgson at the helm, go on to enjoy a remarkable run to the final of that competition in 2009-10 – with Juventus and Wolfsburg seen off along the way, before eventually coming unstuck against Atletico Madrid in a contest that required extra-time in order to find a winner.