Fulham are back up, and now the attempt to defy gravity begins again

Promoted, relegated, promoted, relegated, promoted: social mobility was supposed to be rarer in football these days but Fulham’s status changes every year. They have gone from 25 league wins to seven, then 23 to five, and now 26 and counting. By the middle of January, Aleksandar Mitrovic had already scored as many league goals this season as Fulham, as a team, did in the whole of last.

A third promotion in five campaigns was sealed by Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Preston. Perhaps the sight of Sheffield United in sixth and West Bromwich Albion in 12th, clubs who were demoted alongside them and expected to make a similarly swift return, illustrates their return was not inevitable. Each is on their second manager of the campaign whereas Marco Silva, the wunderkind who had lost his way, has proved a fine appointment.

Evertonians may note that 2022 could conclude with their former managers winning the Championship, the Champions League, Europa League, La Liga and even the World Cup. The Fulham faithful may fear it ends as 2018 and 2020 did, with the Cottagers in the bottom three, awaiting their seemingly unavoidable fate.

Perhaps it explained why Silva’s celebrations felt brief as he considered Fulham’s reputation. “It’s a nice word: ‘yo-yo team,’” he said. “It’s a good nickname. But we have to be not too concerned about this.”

And yet if the concept of the yo-yo club is scarcely new, it feels more prevalent amid the stratification of football. The last time Fulham faced Norwich was in March 2018. They have spent the subsequent four years swapping divisions in opposite directions. Norwich’s model has felt more organic, with greater continuity in the dugout and fewer expensive additions – certainly compared to Fulham’s masterclass