Fulham travel to Anfield for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday with the enticing prospect of reaching a first Wembley cup final since 1975. Making sure that they are still in the tie for the return leg at Craven Cottage will be crucial. Even a repeat of the recent league meeting at Anfield would be a decent result.
A defeat by two goals or more would surely leave the west London club with too much to do in the second leg. But it is hard to imagine Marco Silva's current team suffering a thrashing that completely destroys their hopes of keeping the dream alive.
This certainly was not the case when the two clubs met at Anfield in the first leg of the 1986/87 Littlewoods Cup second round. Currently Fulham are a stable club looking to establish themselves as a Premier League outfit. Back in 1986, the club managed by Ray Lewington was spinning out of control.
There had been a glimmer of light during the Malcolm Macdonald reign between 1980-84. Promoted to Division Two in 1981/82, the club fell agonisingly short of reaching the top flight in controversial circumstances at the end of the 1982/83 campaign. But that was as good as it got for both Macdonald and Fulham.
With their best players sold over the next few seasons, gradually the fortunes of the club faded. Relegated at the end of the 1985/86 season under Ray Harford, Fulham returned to the same division that they started the decade in. With dwindling crowds and no budget, player manager Lewington faced an uphill task in his first managerial role.
Beating Aldershot 5-1 in aggregate in the Littlewoods Cup first round set up a clash with the all conquering Liverpool, but realistically there was little chance of an upset over the two legs. The previous season Kenny Dalglish led Liverpool to the double; Fulham finished rock bottom of Division Two.
Back in 1983/84, Macdonald's team had taken Liverpool to three matches in the 1983/84 Milk Cup third round, a marathon tie involving 330 minutes of drama and tension. But that was then. The now on September 23, 1986 would provide Lewington and his young players with a harrowing experience.
Anfield was an intimidating place to visit at the best of times in the 1970s and 1980s, so the prospect of Fulham taking on Liverpool with such a young team was frightening. Apart from the 30-year-old Lewington, the away team that walked into the lion's den were aged between 18-23. Fulham were lambs to the slaughter. The following 90 minutes should have come with a PG rating.
The rout would begin in the 8th minute, as inevitably Ian Rush opened the scoring. Liverpool's record of not losing when Rush scored was never in doubt, especially when John Wark, returning after fracturing his shin in April, doubled the lead two minutes later. When Ronnie Whelan added a third in the 28th minute, Fulham's youngsters were in danger of suffocating.
Steve McMahon scored the fourth just before the break, but any hopes Fulham had of Liverpool easing off were put to bed after the hour mark. Wark (63) made it five and McMahon completed his hat-trick with goals in the 66th and 71st minute. There was still time for more pain for the Fulham fans in the crowd of just 13,498.
Rush netted the eighth of the evening in the 76th minute, and on a memorable night for McMahon the Liverpool midfielder scored his fourth just three minutes later. Steve Nicol completed the scoring in the 83rd minute, Liverpool's tenth goal past the hapless John Vaughan. Incredibly it could have been worse.
McMahon crashed a penalty against the crossbar amongst the carnage and Rush struck the post twice. Liverpool did equal West Ham's victory in the same competition against Bury in 1983, and broke their previous domestic record of 10-1 against Rotherham. Yet their club record 11-0 win over Stromsgodset remained intact.
Spare a thought for Lewington and his players. The 18-year-old Kevin Hoddy started his first match for Fulham; Paul Parker, who had previously requested a transfer, managed to demonstrate flashes of ability that indicated his future was away from the club; the 22-year-old Vaughan was devastated.
"I just feel gutted," Vaughan said. "I don't think I really had a chance with any of the goals because Liverpool's finishing was so good." Lewington appreciated the class of Liverpool. "We were slaughtered by a fantastic side. You can't say a lot after getting beaten 10-0, but I feel we lost to probably the best team in the world."
"Some of our defending was schoolboy stuff," Lewington continued, although this was hardly a surprise given the immaturity of his players. "The lads are completely humiliated. Heads are down and they are very upset."
Lewington and his players must have feared the worse when Liverpool went 2-0 up after just six minutes of the second leg at Craven Cottage. But a 3-2 loss limited the damage to a 13-2 aggregate defeat, albeit a combined score that was more appropriate for the Fulham rugby league team that played at the time.
Liverpool went on to reach the final and took the lead through a Rush strike against Arsenal on a sunny April afternoon at Wembley. But Rush's record was finally broken after 145 matches, as Arsenal lifted the inaugural Littlewoods Cup. Liverpool may have finished the season without a trophy, but their problems were minor compared to the team they had hammered on their road to Wembley.
As embarrassing as the Liverpool defeat was, soon Fulham's supporters had bigger things to worry about. With rumours circulating that their owners Marler Estates were planning to move the club away from Craven Cottage to share a new ground with Chelsea, the very future of the club was in doubt.
There was worse to come. In February 1987, news broke of a potential merger with QPR, with both clubs sharing Loftus Road under a potential name of Fulham Park Rangers. Thankfully fan power won the day; just a month later the plans were in tatters. Fulham may have struggled in the years that followed - including relegation to the bottom tier in 1994 - but at least the club survived.
Top flight football and League Cup semi-finals must have seemed like a fantasy for any Fulham fans that lived through the merger threat and the 10-0 drubbing at Anfield. Whichever way the forthcoming semi-final goes it will never match that night at Anfield in 1986 or the struggles the club faced just to survive. Back then they were one step from oblivion; now they are one step from Wembley.
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