Tom Cairney claims Scott Parker has ‘elite mentality’ that will stop Fulham making the same Premier League mistakes
Tom Cairney admits he and his Fulham teammates 'got ahead of ourselves' when they were promoted to the Premier League two years ago - and he insists that won't happen again.
The Cottagers joined Leeds and West Brom in being promoted to the top-flight having beaten Brentford in the play-off final earlier this month.
They also reached the Premier League in 2017/18 by beating Aston Villa in the play-off final, after going on a brilliant unbeaten run during the second half of the season.
Great things were expected of Fulham in 2018/19, but they went straight back down to the Championship - conceding an incredible 81 Premier League goals along the way.
And Cottagers captain Cairney, who was part of that Fulham side, shed light on where the mistakes were made.
He told talkSPORT: "We got ahead of ourselves last time because we went half a season unbeaten in the Championship.
"We spent a lot of money and some people were even talking about qualifying for the Europa League... the Premier League is a ruthless league and we found that out."
But Cairney believes manager Scott Parker, who has promised Fulham will not make the same mistakes, possesses an 'elite mentality' that will keep everyone at the club grounded in one the new Premier League season begins.
Cairney added: "We'll leave that to the manager. What he's done in his first year is nothing short of amazing and maybe he doesn't get the credit he deserves.
"I'm sure he'll be fully aware of the task ahead. He's only recently played in the Premier League.
"It was our first day back in on Monday and we never once spoke about the final. It was about what's ahead of us.
"I remember when we first went up there was a pitch invasion in the semi-final second leg; we went out, we were partying that night.
"With Scott there was like a little group of us and he said 'well done' and we just got on the bus and went home.
"I think that's an elite mentality from him, he's played at the top, has captained England and it fades down the club."