Kevin Keegan may have gone but the romance remains well and truly alive at Fulham, as English League Cup holders Tottenham found to their cost in an enthralling fourth-round clash at Craven Cottage.
Make no mistake, this Fulham ability to prove they can indeed live with the elite of the game.
Barry Hayles duly put the First Division side ahead early on and even a horrendous blunder by goalkeeper Maik Taylor, which handed an equaliser to Steffen Iversen on 43 minutes, failed to derail them.
For Fulham simply struck back within a minute through Wayne Collins and then centre-forward Geoff Horsfield evaded Spurs' paltry attempt at an offside trap to complete the fully-deserved victory with 14 minutes left.
The first goal came after 10 minutes as Hayles, who had not started a first-team game for two months, took advantage of a rare chance to shine.
Horsfield's cross from the left caused panic in the Spurs defence and when Collins forced Ian Walker to block his second attempt, the ball fell to Hayles, who smashed it into the roof of the net.
Fulham dominated possession from then on until two minutes before the break when Taylor, who had earlier almost fumbled a long-range effort from David Ginola, handed Spurs an equaliser when his goal-kick bobbled straight to Iversen.
The Norwegian international, who was standing on his own just 30 yards from goal with no defenders around him, strode forward and punished the Fulham goalkeeper's error by placing the ball firmly past him.
However, if Spurs had expected the Fulham heads to go down, they were wrong for the West London side's response was to hit back within a minute.
In a flowing move of one-touch football, they moved the ball forward quickly, Hayles did a neat back-heel through Sol Campbell's legs, Lee Clark unselfishly slipped the ball sideways to Collins on the edge of the area and he had the time to pick his spot.
It was certainly not the first time the Tottenham defence was in disarray and Tottenham manager George Graham responded by taking off both Perry and Justin Edinburgh at the break, replacing them with Luke Young and Ramon Vega.
Walker still had to produce a fine save shortly afterwards to tip an effort by Horsfield around the post but from then on, the visitors did at least start to display some more urgency.
Ginola twice shot wastefully over the bar and, with 25 minutes still left to play, Graham's last throw of the dice was to introduce his final substitute, Jose Dominguez, for Armstrong.
It mattered not a jot. For as Tottenham pressed forward ineptly, they left themselves vulnerable on the break and after Hayles had wasted one chance, Horsfield made no mistake to kill the game off.
The centre-forward evaded the offside trap as he raced on to Hayles' through-ball - after a poor header from Vega - and showed tremendous poise and skill to steer the ball past the advancing figure of Walker.
Fulham: Taylor, Melville, Coleman, Symons, Uhlenbeek, Collins (Trollope 79), Clark, Hayward, Brevett, Horsfield, Hayles. Subs Not Used: Hahnemann, Morgan, Finnan, Peschisolido. Booked: Hayward, Brevett. Goals: Hayles 10, Collins 44, Horsfield 77.
Tottenham: Walker, Campbell, Perry (Vega 46), Edinburgh (Young 46), Taricco, Freund, Sherwood, Ginola, Leonhardsen, Iversen, Armstrong (Dominguez 65). Subs Not Used: Baardsen, Nielsen. Booked: Freund. Goal: Iversen 43.
Referee: D Gallagher (Banbury).
