Which English football club play their home games at Craven Cottage?
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Craven Cottage is the name of a football stadium located in Fulham, London. It has been the home ground of Fulham F.C. since 1896.
The ground's current capacity is 25,700, all-seated, though the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against Millwall Dockers, 8 October 1938.  Located next to Bishop's Park on the banks of the River Thames,  'Craven Cottage' was originally a royal hunting lodge and has history dating back over 300 years. 

As well as by Fulham, the stadium has been also been used by the United States men's national football team,  Australia national football team,  the Republic of Ireland national football team,  and Canada men's national football team,  and was formerly the home ground for rugby league team Fulham RLFC. 

History

Pre-Fulham

The original 'Cottage' was built in 1780, by William Craven, the sixth Baron Craven  and was located on the centre circle of the pitch. At the time, the surrounding areas were woods which made up part of Anne Boleyn's hunting grounds.

The Cottage was lived in by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (who wrote The Last Days of Pompeii ) and other somewhat notable (and moneyed) persons until it was destroyed by fire in May 1888. Many rumours persist among Fulham fans of past tenants of Craven Cottage. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,   Jeremy Bentham, Florence Nightingale and even Queen Victoria are reputed to have stayed there, although there is no real evidence for this. Following the fire, the site was abandoned. Fulham had had 8 previous grounds  before settling in at Craven Cottage for good. Therefore, The Cottagers have had 12 grounds overall (including a temporary stay at Loftus Road ), meaning that only their former 'landlords' and rivals QPR have had more home grounds (14) in British football. Of particular note, was Ranelagh House, Fulham's palatial home from 1886–1888. 

Under construction: 1894–1905

When representatives of Fulham first came across the land, in 1894, it was so overgrown that it took two years to be made suitable for football to be played on it. A deal was struck for the owners of the ground to carry out the work, in return for which they would receive a proportion of the gate receipts.

The first football match at which there were any gate receipts was when Fulham played against Minerva in the Middlesex Senior Cup, on 10 October 1896. The ground's first stand was built shortly after. Described as looking like an "orange box", it consisted of four wooden structures each holding some 250 seats, and later was affectionately nicknamed the "rabbit hutch".

In 1904 London County Council became concerned with the level of safety at the ground, and tried to get it closed. A court case followed in January 1905, as a result of which Archibald Leitch, a Scottish architect who had risen to prominence after his building of the Ibrox Stadium, a few years earlier,  was hired to work on the stadium. In a scheme costing £15,000 (a record for the time ), he built a pavilion (the present-day 'Cottage' itself) and the Stevenage Road Stand, in his characteristic red brick style.

The stand on Stevenage Road celebrated its centenary in the 2005–2006 season  and, following the death of Fulham FC's favourite son, former England captain Johnny Haynes, in a car accident in October 2005  the Stevenage Road Stand was renamed the Johnny Haynes Stand after the club sought the opinions of Fulham supporters. 

Both the Johnny Haynes Stand and Cottage remain among the finest examples of Archibald Leitch football architecture to remain in existence and both have been designated as Grade II listed buildings.

Establishing itself as a stadium

An England v Wales match was played at the ground in 1907,   followed by a rugby league international between England and Australia in 1911. 

One of the club's directors Henry Norris, and his friend William Hall, took over Arsenal in the early 1910s,  the plan being to merge Fulham with Arsenal,  to form a "London superclub" at Craven Cottage.  This move was largely motivated by Fulham's failure thus far to gain promotion to the top division of English football. There were also plans for Henry Norris to build a larger stadium on the other side of Stevenage Road but there was little need after the merger idea failed. During this era, the Cottage was used for choir singing and marching bands along with other performances, and Mass.  

In 1933 there were plans to demolish the ground and start again from scratch with a new 80,000 capacity stadium. These plans never materialised mainly due to the Great Depression.

On 8 October 1938, 49,335 spectators watched Fulham play Millwall. The reason for this exceptionally large crowd was that the game at Stamford Bridge had suddenly been cancelled and so a lot of people made their way west to the Cottage that afternoon instead. It was the largest attendance ever at Craven Cottage and the record remains today, unlikely to be bettered as it is now an all-seater stadium with currently no room for more than 25,700. During the 1930-60's era, Fulham often averaged over 25,000. However, the official attendances can be considered somewhat dubious in this era as many fans would get in by climbing over the fence from Bishops Park into the Putney End. As at many other grounds, fans would sometimes pay at the turnstiles but not be counted.  This boot money would be given to the players (stuffed in their boots) and would not be counted in the gate money. The ground hosted several football games for the 1948 Summer Olympics, and is one of the last extant that did. 

Post-War

It wasn't until after Fulham first reached the top division, in 1949, that further improvements were made to the stadium. In 1962 Fulham became the final side in the first division to erect floodlights.  The floodlights were said to be the most expensive in Europe at the time as they were so modern. The lights were like large pylons towering 50 metres over the ground and were similar in appearance to those at the WACA. An electronic scoreboard was installed on the Riverside Terrace at the same time as the floodlights were installed and flagpoles flying the flags of all of the other first division teams were flown from them.  Following the sale of Alan Mullery to Tottenham Hotspur in 1964 (for £72,500) the Hammersmith End had a roof put over it  at a cost of approximately £42,500.

Although Fulham was relegated, the development of Craven Cottage continued. The Riverside terracing, infamous for the fact that fans occupying it would turn their heads annually to watch The Boat Race pass,  was replaced by what was officially named the 'Eric Miller Stand',  Eric Miller being a director of the club at the time.  The stand, which cost £334,000 and held 4,200 seats, was opened with a friendly game against Benfica in February 1972, (which included Eusébio).  Pelé was also to appear on the ground, with a friendly played against his team Santos F.C.  The Miller stand bought the seated capacity up to 11,000 out of a total 40,000.  Eric Miller committed suicide five years later after a political and financial scandal,  and had shady dealing with trying to move Fulham away from the Cottage. The stand is now better known as the Riverside Stand.

On Boxing Day 1963, Craven Cottage was the venue of the fastest hat-trick in the history of the English football league, which was completed in less than three minutes, by Graham Leggat. This helped his Fulham team to beat Ipswich 10–1 (a club record).   The international record is held by Jimmy O'Connor, an Irish player who notched up his hat trick in 2 minutes 14 seconds in 1967. 

Between 1980 and 1984, Fulham rugby league played their home games at the Cottage. They have since evolved into the London Crusaders, the London Broncos and Harlequins Rugby League before reverting to London Broncos ahead of the 2012 season.  Craven Cottage held the team's largest ever crowd at any ground with 15,013, at a game against Wakefield Trinity on 15 February 1981. 

Modern times

 

When the Hillsborough disaster occurred, Fulham were in the second bottom rung of The Football League,  but following the Taylor report Fulham's ambitious chairman Jimmy Hill tabled plans in 1996 for an all-seater stadium.  These plans never came to fruition, partly due to local residents' pressure groups, and by the time Fulham reached the Premiership, they still had standing areas in the ground, something virtually unheard of at the time. A year remained to do something about this (teams reaching the second tier for the first time are allowed a three-year period to reach the required standards for the top two divisions),    but by the time the last league game was played there, against Leicester City on 27 April 2002, no building plans   had been made. Two more Intertoto Cup games were played there later that year (against FC Haka of Finland  and Egaleo FC of Greece ), and the eventual solution was to decamp to Loftus Road, home of local rivals QPR.  During this time, many Fulham fans only went to away games in protest of moving from Craven Cottage.    'Back to the Cottage', later to become the 'Fulham Supporters Trust', was set up as a fans pressure group to encourage the chairman and his advisers that Craven Cottage was the only viable option for Fulham Football Club.  

After one and a half seasons at Loftus Road, no work had been done on the Cottage. In December 2003, plans were unveiled for £8million worth of major refurbishment work to bring it in line with Premier League requirements.   With planning permission granted, work began in January 2004 in order to meet the deadline of the new season. The work proceeded as scheduled and the club were able to return to their home for the start of the 2004–05 season. Their first game in the new-look 22,000 all-seater stadium was a pre-season friendly against Watford on 10 July 2004. Fenway Sports Group originally partnered with Fulham in 2009, due to the perceived heritage and quirks shared between the Cottage and Fenway Park, saying no English club identifies with its stadium as much as Fulham. Boston Red Sox were later in bed with Liverpool FC, after the takeover by Fenway Sports Group.

The current stadium was one of the Premiership's smallest grounds at the time of Fulham's relegation at the end of the 2013–14 season (it was third-smallest, after the KC Stadium and the Liberty Stadium).  Much admired for its fine architecture,  the stadium has recently hosted a few international games, mostly including Australia. This venue is suitable for Australia because most of the country's top players are based in Europe, and West London has a significant community of expatriate Australians. Also, Greece vs. South Korea was hosted on 6 February 2007.  In 2011 Brazil played Ghana, in an international friendly,  and the Women's Champions League Final was hosted. 

Craven Cottage often hosts many other events such as 5-a-side football tournaments and weddings.  Also, many have Sunday Lunch at the Riverside restaurant  or the 'Cottage Cafe' on non-match days. Craven Cottage hosted the Oxbridge Varsity Football match annually between 1991 and 2000 and again in 2003, 2006 (the same day as the famous 'Boat Race' ), 2008 and 2009,  and will once again host it in 2014  as well as having a Soccer Aid warm-up match in 2006.  The half-time entertainment often includes the SW6ers  (previously called The Cravenettes  ) which are a group of female cheerleaders. However, other events have included brass bands, Michael Jackson (albeit just walking on the pitch once, as opposed to performing),  Travis playing, Arabic dancing, keepie uppie professionals and presentational awards. Most games also feature the 'Fulham flutter', a half-time draw;  and a shoot-out competition of some kind,  usually involving scoring through a 'hoop' or 'beat the goalie'. On the first home game of the season, there is a carnival where every Fulham fan is expected to turn up in black-and-white colours. There is usually live rock bands, player signings, clowns, stilt walkers, a steel (calypso) band, food stalls and a free training session for children in Bishops Park.

The Fulham Ladies (before their demise)  and Reserve teams occasionally play home matches at the Cottage. Other than this, they generally play at the club's training ground at Motspur Park or at Kingstonian and AFC Wimbledon's stadium, Kingsmeadow. Craven Cottage is known by several affectionate nicknames from fans, including: The (River) Cottage,   The Fortress (or Fortress Fulham), Thameside, The Friendy Confines, SW6, Lord of the Banks, The House of Hope, The Pavilion of Perfection, The 'True' Fulham Palace and The Palatial Home. The Thames at the banks of the Cottage is often referred to as 'Old Father'    or The River of Dreams.

The most accessible route to the ground is to walk through Bishops Park from Putney Bridge (the nearest Underground station),  often known as 'The Green Mile' by Fulham fans (as it is roughly a mile walk through pleasant greenery).  The Telegraph ranked the Cottage 9th out of 54 grounds to hold Premiership football. 

Plans

On 27 July 2012, Fulham FC were granted permission to redevelop the Riverside Stand, increasing the capacity of Craven Cottage to 30,000 seats.   Beforehand various rumours arose including plans to return to ground-sharing with QPR in a new 40,000 seater White City stadium,   although these now appear firmly on hold with the construction of the Westfield shopping centre on the proposed site. The board seem to have moved away from their ambition to make Fulham the "Manchester United of the south" as it became clear how expensive such a plan would be.  With large spaces of land at a premium in south-west London, Fulham appear to be committed to a gradual increase of the ground's capacity often during the summer between seasons. The capacity of Craven Cottage has been increased during summers for instance in 2008 with a small increase in the capacity of the Hammersmith End. Fulham previously announced in 2007 that they are planning to increase the capacity of Craven Cottage by 4,000 seats,  but this is yet to be implemented.  There was also proposals for a bridge to span the Thames, for a redeveloped Riverside stand and a museum. 

More substantial plans arose in October 2011 with the 'Fulham Forever' campaign.  With Al-Fayed selling his Harrods department store for £1.5 billion in May 2010  it is reasonable to presume that some of this money which has kick-started this larger scale plan into life. A detailed plan into the possibilities of expansion highlighted the Riverside Stand as the only viable area for expansion. The scheme involves the demolition of the back of the Riverside Stand with a new tier of seating added on top of the current one and a row of corporate boxes; bringing Craven Cottage up to 30,000 capacity.  As this would be a major project in a sensitive area the club has taken into consideration many points local residents may have problems with. The riverside walk would be re-opened, light pollution would be reduced with the removal of floodlight masts, new access points would make match-day crowds more manageable and the new stand would be respectful in design to its position on the River Thames. Although there is no time scheme for when the project will begin, the club is already far into the consultation phase and it appeared would like to begin soon during 2012-13.  Buckingham Group Contracting were chosen in March 2013 as the construction company for the project. 

The ground as it stands

Hammersmith End

The Hammersmith End (or Hammy) is the northernmost stand in the ground, the closest to Hammersmith. The roofing was financed through the sale of Alan Mullery to Spurs. It is traditionally the "home" end where the more vocal Fulham fans sit,   and many stand during games at the back rows of the stand. If Fulham win the toss, they usually choose to play towards the Hammersmith End in the second half. The stand had terracing until the reopening of the ground in 2004, when it was replaced with seating in order to comply with league rules following the Taylor Report. For several seasons, national flags of the players represented at Fulham were hung from the roof.  There is a large permanent banner in the river corner reading "We Are Fulham". 

Putney End

The Putney End is the southernmost stand in the ground, nearest to Putney and backing onto Bishops Park.  This generally hosts visiting and 'neutral' supporters, though often this is mixed with home and away fans. When the ground became redeveloped, with the standing terraces replaced in 2003-04 the club applied for a licence to have a designated neutral area, in the rows closest to the Cottage, (nicknamed 'Little Switzerland'. ) Due to Fulham's history of having no segregation in the Putney End and no history of crowd trouble, the FA gave the club special dispensation to allow for this, making Fulham the only club currently in the UK to have such an area.  Flags of every nationality in the Fulham squad were hung from the roofing, although they were removed after the 2006–07 season commenced and there is now an electronic scoreboard in place. There is a plane tree in the corner by the river,  the only remaining tree in a senior British football ground.

Riverside Stand

The Riverside was originally terracing that backed onto the Thames. It also featured large advertising hoardings above the fans. By 1973, a proper seated stand had been built called the Eric Miller Stand (one of the directors at the time). The stand was opened in a prestigious friendly against S.L. Benfica, who included Eusébio in the team. The name of the stand became called simply The Riverside after the discovery of Eric Miller's suicide, who had been under investigation for fraud and embezzlement.

The Riverside Stand backs onto the River Thames and is elevated uniquely above the pitch  unlike the other 3 stands. It contains the corporate hospitality seating alongside Fulham fans. Jimmy Hill once referred to the Riverside being "a bit like the London Palladium" as Blocks V & W (the middle section) are often filled with the rich and famous (including often Al-Fayed). There are several Harrods advertising boardings and above these is the gantry, for the press and cameras. Tickets in this area are often the easiest to buy, not surprisingly they are also some of the more expensive.  It has the Hammersmith End to its left, the Putney End to its right and is opposite the Johnny Haynes Stand.

During the 1970s, Craven Cottage flooded, with water gushing in from the Riverside. The stand houses the George Cohen restaurant,  while on non-match days there is the Cottage Cafe, located near to the Cottage itself. (The River Café is also located nearby).   Under Tommy Trinder's chairmanship in the 60s, flags of all other teams in the Division 1 were proudly flown along the Thames. However, when Fulham were relegated in 1968,  Trinder decided not to change the flags as "Fulham won't be in this division next season". True to Trinder's prophecy, Fulham were relegated again.  There is now a campaign to bring back the flags again. The roof of the stand has been used by sponsors, with FxPro currently advertising in this way,  and Pipex.com,  Lee Cooper Jeans and LG  having previously done so. The end of the Riverside Stand towards the 'Smithy' End' indicates the end of the 'Fulham Wall', which is the mile post in The Boat Race.

Johnny Haynes Stand

Originally called the Stevenage Road Stand, after the road it backs onto,  the Johnny Haynes stand is the oldest remaining football stand in the Football League and professional football, originally constructed in 1905, and is a Grade II* listed building. Designed by Archibald Leitch, the stand contains the ticket office and club shop and features original 'Bennet' wooden seating. Following his death in 2005, the stand was renamed after former player Johnny Haynes. 

The exterior facing Stevenage Road has a brick façade  and features the club's old emblem in the artwork. Decorative pillars show the club's foundation date as 1880 though this is thought to be incorrect. Also, a special stone to commemorate Fulham 2000 and The Cottagers' return to Craven Cottage was engraved on the façade. The family enclosures are located in the two corners of the stand, one nearest to the Hammersmith End and one nearest to the Putney End.  The front of the stand now contains plastic seating, but originally was a standing area. Children were often placed at the front of this enclosure and the area had a distinctive white picket fence to keep fans off the pitch up until the 1970s.

The Pavilion

The Cottage Pavilion dates back to 1905 along with the Johnny Haynes Stand, built by renowned football architect Archibald Leitch. The reason The Cottage was built was due to an oversight in the Stevenage Road Stand (as it was then), as Leitch had forgotten to accommodate changing rooms in his final plans.  Besides being the changing rooms, the Cottage (also called The Clubhouse) is traditionally used by the players' families and friends who sit on the balcony to watch the game. In the past, board meetings used to be held in The Cottage itself as well. There is a large tapestry draped from the Cottage which says "Still Believe". It encapsulates the now-famous moment, when fans facing defeat against Hamburg SV in the Europa League semi-final roused the players with the chant of "Stand up if you still believe".    In the three other corners of the ground there are what have been described as large 'filing cabinets', which are corporate boxes on three levels. 

Details

Records

*Record Attendance: 49,335 v Millwall, 8 October 1938 - Division Two  
*Record Modern Seated Attendance: 25,700 vs:
:*Arsenal on Saturday 26 September 2009 - Premier League 
:*Liverpool on Saturday 31 October 2009 - Premier League 
:*Manchester United on Saturday 19 December 2009 - Premier League 
:*Hamburg on Thursday 29 April 2010 - UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg 
:*Aston Villa on Saturday 13 August 2011 - Premier League 
:*Manchester United on Wednesday 21 December 2011 - Premier League 
:*Arsenal on Monday 2 January 2012 - Premier League 
:*Norwich City on Saturday 31 March 2012 - Premier League 
:*Southampton on Wednesday 26 December 2012 - Premier League 
:*Swansea City on Saturday 29 December 2012 - Premier League 
:*Arsenal on Saturday 20 April 2013 - Premier League 
:*Manchester United on Saturday 2 November 2013 - Premier League 
:*Southampton on Saturday 1 February 2014 - Premier League 
:*Hull City on Saturday 26 April 2014 - Premier League 

All-time attendance

*Total attendance:31,234,275 (Correct up to January 2013)  
*Average total attendance:15,759 (ranked 31 of 130 English club teams in history)
* Ground improvements at English football Stadia

International matches

On February 22, 2000, it hosted England’s under 21’s international under 21 friendly against Argentina’s under 21s. The hosts won 1-0 with Lee Hendrie’s sixty seventh-minute goal with 15,747 in attendance.

In recent years, Craven Cottage has hosted several International Friendly matches, including the Ireland national team who played Colombia and Nigeria there in May 2008  and May 2009  respectively and Oman in 2012.
The South Korea national football team have also used the ground thrice in recent years for international friendlies, first against Greece in February 2007 second against Serbia in November 2009,  and then against Croatia in February 2013. 
On 17 November 2007 Australia beat Nigeria 1–0 in an international friendly at Craven Cottage.
 
On 26 May 2011, Craven Cottage hosted the game of 2011 UEFA Women's Champions League Final between Lyon and Potsdam. In September 2011, a friendly between Ghana and Brazil was also held at Craven Cottage. 
On the 15th of October, 2013, Australia beat Canada 3-0 at Craven Cottage. On 28 May 2014 Scotland played out a 2-2 draw with a Nigerian team who had qualified for the 2014 World Cup Finals.

Other

* Fulham Rugby League Club, now London Broncos, played at Craven Cottage between 1980 and 1984, hosting their largest attendance. The ground has also hosted Oxbridge varsity matches in rugby and football.
* The ground has hosted the most Australia national team matches outside of Australia and was one of the pioneers in hosting (neutral) international friendlies.
* Fulham were the last team to have standing accommodation in the Premier League, as Craven Cottage included terraces in the 2001–02 season – eight years after the Taylor Report outlawed terraces at this level.
*The original Craven Cottage site was covered in woodlands.  One plane tree survives today in a corner of the Putney End, the sole tree to be found in any British senior football stadium.
*On 3 April 2011, Fulham unveiled a statue of Michael Jackson inside the stadium before its match with Blackpool. The singer, who died in 2009, was not a Fulham fan and had no interest in football whatsoever, but attended a Fulham match once, saying "Fulham fans were like people at my concerts. I wanted to jump up and start dancing";  and was friends with club chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, who commissioned the statue.   In 2013, Al-Fayed stated that the statue will be moved to a different property he owns. Fulham Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fulham, Greater London, England. Founded in 1879, they play in the Championship, having been relegated from the Premier League in 2013–14 under Felix Magath, after 13 consecutive seasons in the top-flight.  They are the oldest-established football team from London to have played in the Premier League. 

The club has spent 25 seasons in English football's top division, the majority of these in two spells during the 1960s and 2000s. The latter spell was associated with former chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, after the club had climbed up from the fourth tier in the 1990s. Fulham have never won a major honour, although they have reached two major finals: in 1975, as a Second Division team, they contested the FA Cup Final for the only time in their history, losing 2–0 to West Ham United, and in 2010 they reached the final of the UEFA Europa League, which they contested with Atlético Madrid in Hamburg, losing 2–1 after extra time. 

The club has produced many English greats, including Johnny Haynes, George Cohen, Bobby Robson, Rodney Marsh and Alan Mullery. They play at Craven Cottage, a ground on the banks of the River Thames in Fulham which has been their home since 1896. Fulham's training ground is located near Motspur Park, where the club's Academy is also situated.

History

1879–98: Formation

Fulham were formed in 1879 as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School F.C.,  founded by worshipers (mostly adept at cricket) at the Church of England on Star Road, West Kensington (St Andrew's, Fulham Fields). Fulham's mother church still stands today with a plaque commemorating the team's foundation. They won the West London Amateur Cup in 1887 and, having shortened the name from Fulham Excelsior to its present form in 1888, they then won the West London League in 1893 at the first attempt.  One of the club's first ever kits was half red, half white shirts with white shorts worn in the 1886–7 season.  Fulham started playing at their current ground at Craven Cottage in 1896, their first game against now defunct rivals Minerva. Fulham are one of the oldest established clubs in southern England currently playing professional football, though there are many non-league sides like Cray Wanderers that are several decades older.

The club gained professional status on 12 December 1898, the same year that they were admitted into the Southern League's Second Division. They were the second club from London to turn professional, following Arsenal, then named Royal Arsenal 1891. They adopted a red and white kit during the 1900–01 season.  In 1902–03, the club won promotion from this division, entering the Southern League First Division. The club's first recorded all-white club kit came in 1903, and ever since then the club has been playing in all-white shirts and black shorts, with socks going through various evolutions of black and/or white, but are now normally white-only.  The club won the Southern League twice, in 1905–06 and 1906–07.

1907–49: Football League

Fulham joined The Football League after the second of their Southern League triumphs. The club's first league game, playing in the Second Division's 1907–08 season, saw them lose 1–0 at home to Hull City in September 1907. The first win came a few days later at Derby County's Baseball Ground by a score line of 1–0. Fulham finished the season three points short of promotion in fourth place. The club progressed all the way to the semi-final of that season's FA Cup, a run that included an 8–3 away win at Luton Town. In the semi-final, however, they were heavily beaten, 6–0, by Newcastle United. This is still a record loss for an FA Cup semi-final game.  Two years later, the club won the London Challenge Cup in the 1909–10 season. Fulham's first season in Division Two turned out to be the highest that the club would finish for 21 years, until in 1927–28 when the club were relegated to the 3rd Division South, created in 1920. Hussein Hegazi, an Egyptian forward, was one of the first non-British players to appear in The Football League, though he only played one game for Fulham in 1911, marked with a goal, afterwards playing for non-league Dulwich Hamlet. 

During this period, businessman and politician Henry Norris was the club chairman and curiously he had an indirect role in the foundation of Fulham's local rivals Chelsea. When he rejected an offer from businessman Gus Mears to move Fulham to land where the present-day Chelsea stadium Stamford Bridge is situated, Mears decided to create his own team to occupy the ground. In 1910, Norris started to combine his role at Fulham with the chairmanship of Arsenal. Fulham became the first British team to sell hot dogs at their ground in 1926.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v4qbHohM1rfY&feature
relmfu Fulham hot dog 1926 - YouTube] Fulham had several high-profile international players during the 1920s, including Len Oliver and Albert Barrett.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?vzYuQEh9XxEQ&feature
relmfu Craven Cottage.1929 - YouTube]

After finishing fifth, seventh and ninth (out of 22 teams) in their first three seasons in the Third Division South, Fulham won the division in the 1931–32 season. In doing so they beat Torquay United 10–2, won 24 out of 42 games and scored 111 goals, thus being promoted back to the Second Division. The next season they missed out on a second consecutive promotion, finishing third behind Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City. A mixed bag of league performances followed, although the club also reached another FA Cup semi-final during the 1935–36 season. Fulham were also to draw with Austria in 1936 before Anschluss.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?vOlxwhn0r1WU&feature
relmfu FULHAM V AUSTRIA 1934 - YouTube] On 8 October 1938, Craven Cottage saw its all-time highest attendance at a match against Millwall, with a crowd of 49,335 watching the game.

League and cup football were severely disrupted by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, with the Football League split into regional divisions temporarily, with a national Football League War Cup and a London War Cup up for grabs. Craven Cottage was used like many grounds for fitness and training of the army youth reserves.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?vH6J5sWaLBlk&feature
relmfu Craven Cottage.1940 - YouTube] Post-war, a full league programme was only restored for 1946–47. In the third season of what is now considered the modern era of football, Fulham finished top of the Second Division, with a win-loss-draw record of 24–9–9 (identical to that which won them the Third Division South 17 years previously). John Fox Watson made a pioneering transfer to Real Madrid in 1948, becoming one of the first players from the British Isles to sign for a high-profile side abroad.

1949–69: First Division Cottagers

Promotion to the top tier of English football saw the club perform poorly, finishing 17th in their first year and 18th in their second. In only their third season of First Division football, Fulham finished rock bottom of the 22-team league in the 1951–52 season, winning only eight of 42 games. On 20 May 1951, Fulham played one of their first ever games in North America in an exhibition match against Celtic at Delorimier Stadium in Montreal in front of 29,000 spectators.  

A few seasons of mediocrity in the Second Division followed, but then the club reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1958 and used this momentum to win promotion back to the First Division in the following season, having finished second to Sheffield Wednesday. Also joining Fulham in 1958 was Graham Leggat, who went on to score 134 goals in 277 appearances, (making him the club's fifth all-time top scorer). In the 1959–60 season, they achieved tenth position in the First Division, which until finishing ninth in the 2003–04 season was their highest-ever league position. This accompanied another appearance in the last four of the FA Cup in 1962.
By this time, the club were regularly playing in front of 30,000 plus crowds at Craven Cottage,  despite struggling in the League.

The club experienced several close escapes from relegation, none more spectacular than in 1965–66, when the club rooted at the bottom went on an astounding run beating all the top sides with a few games to go.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v6JNj-Gg77rQ&feature
relmfu Fulham V Liverpool 1966 - YouTube] On the morning of 26 February 1966, Fulham had just 15 points from 29 matches. The last 13 games saw Fulham win nine and draw two to reach safety. Eventually, however, the club suffered relegation in the 1967–68 season, having won just ten out of their 42 games. Even that, however, was not as catastrophic as the calamity of next season. Winning only seven in 42, the club were again relegated to the Third Division. (Note that this is not the same as the Third Division South, as the regional Third Divisions had been removed with the 1959 creation of the Fourth Division).

Possibly the single most influential character in Fulham's history is Johnny Haynes.  "Mr. Fulham" or "The Maestro," as Haynes later came to be known, signed for The Cottagers as a schoolboy in 1950, making his first team debut on Boxing Day 1952 against Southampton at Craven Cottage. Haynes played for another 18 years, notching 657 appearances (along with many other club records too), his last appearance for Fulham coming on 17 January 1970. He is often considered as the greatest player in Fulham history,  and never played for another team in Britain.  He gained 56 caps for England (22 as captain),  with many being earned while playing for Fulham in the Second Division. Haynes was injured in a car accident in Blackpool in 1962, but by his own admissions never regained the fitness or form to play for England again, missing out on England's victory in the FIFA World Cup 1966 for which he would have stood a chance of being selected.  The Stevenage Road Stand was renamed in his honour after his death in a car crash in 2005.

1970–94: Mixed fortunes outside the top flight

The aforementioned Third Division hiatus lasted only two seasons before the club was promoted back to the Second Division as runners-up in 1970–71. This spell also saw Fulham invited to the Anglo-Italian Cup, which saw the club draw four out of four games in 1972–73 season. This preceded a period of high-profile signings for the club under Alec Stock in the mid-1970s, including Alan Mullery and Bobby Moore. Fulham reached their only FA Cup final in 1975, having won their first semi-final in five attempts. The club then lost to West Ham United in the final. This gained the club qualification to another European tournament, the Anglo-Scottish Cup, where they made the final, losing to Middlesbrough.

George Best played 47 times for the club in the 1976–77 season. Rodney Marsh, who having grown up with Fulham in the 1960s went on to play First Division football and play for England, rejoined the club in the same season, playing only 16 games. This capped one of the most successful eras in Fulham history.

The club were relegated again after winning only 11 in 42 matches in the 1979–80 season, which eventually resulted in Bobby Campbell's sacking in October 1980, to be replaced by Malcolm Macdonald. With a strong squad during his 1980–1984 period in charge (with players such as Ray Houghton, Tony Gale, Paul Parker, Gerry Peyton and Ray Lewington), they won promotion again in 1981–82 back to the Second Division, although the promotion was overshadowed by the suicide of former defender Dave Clement a few weeks before promotion was sealed.

In 1980, Fulham founded the rugby league club that is now London Broncos designed to be an extra stream of income for the football club, but which made financial losses every year while linked to Fulham F.C. Then called "Fulham Rugby League," they played at Craven Cottage until moving away from the parent club in 1984.

In 1978, Fulham had signed Gordon "Ivor" Davies who, during two spells at Fulham, became the club's leading goalscorer of all time with a total of 178 goals in all competitions; the record still stands. Fulham narrowly missed out on back-to-back promotions to the First Division, losing 1–0 to Derby County away on the last day of the 1982–83 season – although the match was abandoned after 88 minutes due to a pitch invasion and inexplicably never replayed or finished. The side which had shown so much promise was quickly sold off as the club were in debt, so it was little surprise when the club were relegated again to the Third Division in 1986. The club nearly went out of business in 1987 via an ill-advised merger attempt with Queens Park Rangers. It was only the intervention of ex-player Jimmy Hill that allowed the club to stay in business as a re-structured Fulham FC 1987 Ltd. In 1987, the club took part in what was then the longest penalty deciders ever recorded – it needed 28 spot kicks to sort out a winner between them and Aldershot following a Freight Rover Trophy match.

In 1992, the foundation of the Premier League, and the resignation of 22 clubs from The Football League, restored Fulham to that league's Second Division. However, the club were relegated to the new Third Division after a poor 1993–94 season, following which Ian Branfoot was appointed as team manager.

1994–97: Fulham's lowest ebb

After an eighth-place finish in Branfoot's first season in charge, the club hit its lowest-ever final league position in the 1995–96 season, finishing 17th out of 24.  Branfoot was sacked as manager, but remained at the club in other capacities for a short while. In February 1996, Micky Adams became player-manager. Adams oversaw an upturn in form that lifted the side out of relegation danger. The next season, he engineered a second-place league finish, missing out on first place because several years previously the league had dropped the old "goal difference" system in favour of a "goals scored" tally, meaning Fulham finished behind Wigan Athletic. Ironically, the club's then-chairman Jimmy Hill had argued that goals scored should decide places of teams tied on points, and the Football League clubs had voted the system in.

1997–2001: Al Fayed takeover

Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the club for £6.25 million in summer 1997.  The club was purchased via Bill Muddyman's Muddyman Group. Micky Adams was replaced by Al-Fayed in the aftermath of a mid-table start to the season. He installed a two-tier management "dream team" of Ray Wilkins as First Team Manager and Kevin Keegan as chief operating officer,  pledging that the club would reach the Premier League within five years. After an argument over team selection, Wilkins left the club in May 1998 to hand over the full managerial duties to Keegan, who helped steer the club to promotion the next season, winning 101 points out of a possible 138, after spending £1.1 million to sign Paul Peschisolido from West Bromwich Albion, who was top scorer and captained by Chris Coleman – then the most expensive footballer outside the top two divisions of the English league.

In 1999, Keegan left Fulham to become manager of England, and Paul Bracewell was put in charge.
Bracewell was sacked in March 2000, as Fulham's promising early season form dwindled away to a mid-table finish. Frenchman Jean Tigana was put in charge and, having signed a number of young stars (including French striker Louis Saha), he guided Fulham to their third promotion in five seasons in the 2000–01 season, giving Fulham top-flight status for the first time since 1968. Fulham once again amassed 101 points out of a possible 138 in their scintillating title run, which was crowned with an open-top bus parade down Fulham Palace Road. They are the only team to have twice reached 100 points in a season. During the season, Chris Coleman was involved in a car crash that put him out of action for well over a year and eventually ended his playing career after he failed to make a sufficient recovery. Fulham's run through the divisions saw a large turnover of players, with the only player to play for the club in all four leagues being Sean Davis.

2001–07: Early Premier League years

Fulham returned to the top division of English football, and competed in the Premier League for the first time. The club finished the 2001–02 season in 13th place. Fulham were the only team to host top-flight football with some standing areas in the 21st century, but due to restrictions on standing, this was not allowed to continue; clubs promoted from the second division had only three years to make their ground all-seater. Fulham were forced to groundshare with QPR at Loftus Road during the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons while Craven Cottage was rebuilt as an all-seated stadium. There were fears that Fulham would not return to the Cottage, after it was revealed that Al-Fayed had sold the first right to build on the ground to a property development firm. 

In 2002–03, Fulham spent most of the season in the lower half of the table. Chairman Al-Fayed told manager Jean Tigana that his contract would not be renewed at the end of the season. However, with five games left to play and relegation still possible, Tigana was sacked, and Chris Coleman was temporarily put in charge. Fulham won ten points from a possible 15 and managed to avoid relegation. Coleman was appointed manager on a permanent basis in the summer of 2003; despite predictions that the inexperience of Coleman would result in Fulham's relegation,  he kept the club well clear of relegation, guiding them to a club record ninth-place finish in his debut season. This might have been greater had the club not come under significant financial pressure to sell Louis Saha to Manchester United, for whom they received a club record £13 million.

Fulham lost a legal case against former manager Tigana in 2004 after Al-Fayed wrongly alleged that Tigana had overpaid more than £7 million for new players and had negotiated transfers in secret. 

Coleman notched up another satisfactory performance in the 2004–05 season and guided Fulham to a secure 13th-place finish. The following season Fulham improved by one place, finishing 12th – the high point of the season was a 1–0 win over local rivals and reigning champions Chelsea in the West London derby – Chelsea had only lost two games in two and a half years. The 2006–07 season proved to be Coleman's last, as on 10 April 2007, Fulham terminated his contract with immediate effect. His replacement was Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez. Fulham only gained four points from five games with Sanchez as caretaker manager. They ensured top-flight survival that season by defeating a weakened Liverpool side 1–0 in the penultimate match of the season, and Sanchez was appointed manager.

2008–10: Hodgson's transformation

Sanchez received strong financial backing from the board and made a number of signings during the summer break, but, after just two league wins in the first five months of the season and with Fulham in the relegation zone, he was dismissed on 21 December 2007 after a defeat to Newcastle United.  Roy Hodgson was named as the new manager of Fulham on 28 December 2007 and took up his contractual duties on 30 December,  just two days before the January transfer window opened.

Hodgson's tenure did not start well and it took a month to secure his first win, against Aston Villa, courtesy of a Jimmy Bullard free-kick. Fulham continued to struggle and a 3–1 home defeat in April at the hands of fellow strugglers Sunderland left Hodgson on the verge of tears in the post-match press conference and many pundits writing off Fulham's survival chances.  Despite the negative press, Hodgson continued to believe survival was attainable. The turning point of the season came in the third-to-last match, against Manchester City. Fulham trailed 2–0 at half-time and had the Premier League scores at that time become results, they would have been relegated. However, the introduction of Diomansy Kamara heralded the start of a fantastic comeback—Kamara struck twice as Fulham registered an amazing 3–2 victory. Fulham then won a crucial match against fellow strugglers Birmingham City at Craven Cottage, leaving survival in the club's own hands. Barring a goal-rush from fellow strugglers Reading, a win against a Portsmouth side looking ahead to their fourth FA Cup final would guarantee survival.

With 15 minutes to play at Portsmouth, Fulham were drawing, and with Birmingham City and Reading leading comfortably against Blackburn Rovers and Derby County respectively, they looked likely to be relegated. However, Fulham earned a free-kick with 76 minutes played; Jimmy Bullard's delivery found Danny Murphy, who headed home the decisive goal, sparking manic celebrations from the travelling fans. Hodgson had ensured survival against all odds, breaking several club records in the process and cementing his place in Fulham folklore. Fulham narrowly missed out on a UEFA Cup place via Fairplay by a dubious 0.8 of a point behind Manchester City, who lost 8–1 at Middlesbrough.

In the 2008–09 season, Fulham finished seventh, their highest-ever league placing, earning qualification for the inaugural UEFA Europa League, the second time that the club had entered a UEFA competition.

2009–10 was arguably the most successful season in the club's history. They were eliminated from the FA Cup in the quarter-finals for the second year running, and finished 12th in the Premier League, despite fielding weakened teams in the last few matches.  In the inaugural Europa League season, however, Fulham reached the final, meeting Spanish club Atlético Madrid, who had dropped down from the Champions League, at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. In their first European cup final, the Cottagers were beaten 2–1 after extra time, having drawn 1–1 after full-time. The achievement of taking Fulham so unexpectedly far, beating famous teams like Hamburger SV, Juventus, holders Shakhtar Donetsk and Basel in the competition, led to Roy Hodgson being voted the LMA Manager of the Year by the widest margin in the history of the award.  The home match in the round of 16 was arguably Fulham's greatest result in the history of the club. Despite losing 3–1 in the first leg at Italian giants Juventus and falling behind minutes into the second leg at Craven Cottage, Fulham scored four goals with no reply from Juventus.

At the end of the season, Hodgson left Fulham to manage Liverpool. 

2010–13: Established in the Premier League

On 29 July 2010, Mark Hughes was named the successor to Hodgson, signing a two-year contract with the club. Hughes had previously managed Manchester City, the Welsh national team and Blackburn.  Hughes' first match in charge was against Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium. The highlight of the season was a 4–0 win in the FA Cup over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, all goals coming in the first half. Hughes resigned as manager of Fulham on 2 June 2011, having spent fewer than 11 months at the club. The Whites had an encouraging finish in eighth position and qualified for the Europa League via Fairplay.

On 7 June 2011, Martin Jol signed a two-year contract with Fulham, becoming successor to Hughes. Jol's first match was a 3–0 Europa League win against NSÍ Runavík of the Faroe Islands on 30 June.  Fulham then navigated their way with some ease to the group stage in the Europa League through late summer. However, the Cottagers were knocked out with the last seconds of the group stage matches, Odense BK equalising to make a draw, leaving Fulham in third place, with Polish side Wisła Kraków instead progressing to the next round.

Fulham's Premier League form in the 2011–12 season was mixed, with the continuing away-record hangover of previous seasons dragging on. In October 2011, Fulham had an emphatic 6–0 home win over neighbours QPR, with Andrew Johnson scoring a hat-trick for Fulham in the match.  The January 2012 transfer window saw Bobby Zamora move over the Hammersmith flyover to Loftus Road, with Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak coming in place from VfB Stuttgart.

The New Year saw two further hat-tricks scored by Clint Dempsey. On 11 February 2012, Progrebnyak scored on his debut in the 2–1 win over Stoke City.  In March 2012, a 5–0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers saw a hat-trick from Pogrebnyak.  The Cottagers broke their historic drought on Merseyside with a 1–0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on May Day and another win against Sunderland in the last home game meant Fulham were only one point short of equalling their largest points haul in the Premier League, with just one game remaining. However, they failed to achieve this after losing their last game away at Tottenham.

In the 2012–13 season, Fulham ended a seven-match winless run by beating Swansea City 3–0 away at the Liberty Stadium on the final game of the season on 19 May 2013. Fulham finished the season in 12th place. 

2013–present: New ownership and struggles

Shahid Khan took over as chairman in July 2013,  but after a poor start to the 2013–14 season, having only amassed ten points from 13 games,  Martin Jol was sacked as manager on 1 December 2013, with René Meulensteen taking charge as head coach.  On the "deadline day" of the January transfer window, Fulham reportedly broke their transfer record to purchase Greek international Kostantinos Mitroglou for £12.5 million from Olympiacos.  Meulensteen was replaced by Felix Magath after just 17 games in charge,  but fortunes did not improve, and Fulham were eventually relegated to the Championship after a 4–1 defeat away to Stoke on 3 May.  Post-season, the media criticised chairman Shahid Khan's decision to sack Meulensteen and appoint the third manager of the season in Magath, with Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp going as far to say "what did Fulham expect?"  The Daily Telegraph stated that the club was "no longer well run" as it had been under Al Fayed.  Magath retained his job as manager despite being linked with a move to Southampton. 

Fulham broke the Championship transfer record that summer in a restructuring of the squad by Magath, purchasing, amongst others, Ross McCormack for a reported £11 million.  However, after an alarming start to the new season, amassing just one point in seven games, Magath was sacked in September 2014, with Kit Symons appointed as caretaker manager.  Former captains Brede Hangeland and Danny Murphy slated Magath, claiming that Magath ignored doctors and instructed Hangeland to place a block of cheese on his thigh to make him fit for the next match.  Murphy suggested that this was "ridiculous,"  before Magath later admitted that he did suggest cheese as a remedy.  Fulham eventually finished the season in 17th place.

Fulham made their second squad overhaul in as many years, adding 12 new players to the first-team squad,  but were forced to sell several key players, such as Bryan Ruiz,  Hugo Rodallega  and Patrick Roberts.  Fulham suffered an inconsistent start to the season, with results such as a 4–0 against local rivals QPR  countered by results like a 0–3 home loss to Wolves.  After a 2–5 loss at home to Birmingham City,  and lying in 12th place,  Kit Symons was sacked as Fulham manager in November 2015.  It took 49 days to find a replacement, the club using Peter Grant and Stuart Gray in the interim, before appointing the Serbian Slaviša Jokanović on 27 December 2015.  Fulham's fortunes did not improve greatly following Jokanović's appointment, with no league wins until their 3-1 victory over QPR on 13 February 2016. This poor run of form brought Fulham down to 18th position in the Championship.   Aside from a further victory against Charlton Athletic on 20 February 2016, the club again went winless until their 2-1 victory over relegation strugglers MK Dons, on 2 April 2016.  Fulham finished the 2015/16 Championship season in 20th place, initially climbing up the table with several wins at the start of April 2016. The club then fell back down to being just above the relegation zone following several large defeats towards the end of the season, including a 5-0 loss to promotion contenders Brighton & Hove Albion, and a 3-0 loss to Brentford.  

Finances

Fulham Football Club is owned by Shahid Khan. Khan completed his purchase of the club from Mohamed Al-Fayed on 12 July 2013 for a reported £150–200M. 

During his ownership of Fulham, Al-Fayed had provided Fulham F.C. with £187 million in interest free loans.  In March 2011 Fulham posted annual losses of £16.9 million, Al-Fayed stated that he would continue to make "funds available to achieve our goals both on and off the pitch" and that the "continued success of Fulham and its eventual financial self-sustainability is my priority.".  As of January 2013 Fulham were effectively debt free as Al-Fayed converted the loans into equity in the club. 

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Current management

Players

First-team squad

 

Out on loan

Under 21s

 

Academy squad

Fulham in Europe

Fulham are a member of the European Club Association, having qualified three times for European Competition, qualifying for the UEFA Intertoto Cup after their inaugural season in the Premier League, and the UEFA Europa League twice, they played in the inaugural edition of the competition after their club-best seventh-place finish in the 2008–09 Premier League season, and qualified again for the 2011–12 Europa League via England's Fair Play berth. Fulham are unbeaten at home in European competition, in 23 games, with a record of 17 wins and six draws.

On 18 February 2010, Fulham's home unbeaten run in European competition stretched to 13 games when they beat UEFA Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine 2–1 at Craven Cottage in the Europa League Round of 32 first leg, with goals from Zoltán Gera and Bobby Zamora. In Fulham's 46 games in all European competitions, (excluding the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final lost in extra-time) they have only lost seven of them (all away): 2–1 to Hertha BSC, 1–0 to Amkar Perm, 2–1 to Roma, 3–1 to Juventus, 1–0 to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, 1–0 to Twente and 1–0 to Wisła Kraków.

After defeating 20-time Italian champions Juventus on 18 March, Fulham advanced to the quarter-finals against reigning German champions VfL Wolfsburg. On 1 April, Fulham defeated the Germans 2–1 in the first leg of the two-legged home-and-away series. Bobby Zamora and Damien Duff scored within five minutes of each other in the second half, while Wolfsburg defender Alexander Madlung scored two minutes from time to cut the deficit in half. One week later at Wolfsburg, Zamora struck again, this time in the first minute to give Fulham an overall 3–1 lead in the series. Wolfsburg were unable to overturn the two goal deficit, and Fulham advanced to the semi-finals of the competition. On 22 April, following a long coach trip due to flights being grounded because of the Icelandic volcano, Fulham played out a 0–0 draw against Hamburger SV in the first leg of their semi-final in Hamburg. On 29 April, they then beat Hamburg 2–1 at Craven Cottage to secure a place in the final.

On 12 May, Fulham lost 2–1 after extra time to Atlético Madrid in the final. Fulham went 1–0 down, though it ended 1–1 after 90 minutes thanks to a Davies equaliser to force extra time. Diego Forlán, however, scored the winner on the 116th minute to clinch the game for the Spanish team. 

Fulham qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League by virtue of the Fair Play league. They started their campaign in the first qualifying round, beating NSÍ Runavík, followed by a win over Crusaders in the Second qualifying round. A 3–1 aggregate win over Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk saw them into the group stages, where they were drawn against Twente, Odense and Wisła Kraków in group K. They were knocked out of the tournament when Odense equalised for a 2–2 draw in the very last second of the final group game, leaving Fulham stranded in third, with Kraków going through along with Twente in first.

Rivalries

Fulham fans consider their main rivals to be Chelsea.[http://www.footballfanscensus.com/issueresults/Club_Rivalries_Uncovered_Results.pdf Club Rivalries Uncovered Results]  Football Fans Consensus Despite this fixture not being played that often in the years preceding Fulham's ascent to the top division, this is a clear local derby as Chelsea's ground, Stamford Bridge, is actually within Fulham. However, it is only recently that the two teams have been competing in the same league.

Fulham consider their secondary rivalries to be Queens Park Rangers. Fulham last played QPR in the 2000–01 season before meeting them again twice in the 2011–12 Premier League season in which Fulham were the victors with a 6–0 victory at Craven cottage, and beating them 1–0 away from home at Loftus Road.[http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/249893/report Match Report – Fulham v QPR – 2 October 2011] Sky Sports Fulham also have rivalries with other London clubs, including Brentford and Crystal Palace.

Outside of London, Gillingham are still considered rivals to Fulham hardcore despite the two clubs having played in different divisions for the past 11 years. Fulham and Gillingham have been involved in several ill-tempered matches in the lower leagues, including the death of a Fulham supporter outside a game between the two clubs in Kent, in the 1990s.

Supporters

Fulham's fan base has fluctuated over the years, with high crowds coinciding with the club's success in the Premier League so that the club now averages in the top 20 home attendances in the country. Fulham supporters have played a vital role in the clubs long term stay at Craven Cottage. When the club moved temporarily to Loftus Road, a committee known as Back to the Cottage  was formed, committed to ensuring the club continued to play at their spiritual home.

Fulham fans have traditionally come from areas in South-West London, such as Putney, Sutton and Worcester Park. The club is unique as in no London postcode are they the most supported club, most likely due to the fact that they are one of three clubs located in the Hammersmith and Fulham borough. 

Fulham's more vocal fans are known to congregate at the back of the Hammersmith end, the traditional home end of Fulham fans, in blocks H4, H5 and H6. Another area of the ground where Fulham fans who sing congregate is H-Block of the Johnny Haynes stand.

Fulham has a selection of celebrity supporters, such as Hugh Grant, Keith Allen, Example, Tony Curtis, Daniel Radcliffe, Richard Osman and John O'Farrell. 

On 3 July 2012, the club website asked supporters using Facebook and Twitter to pick their best FFC Premier League XI from 2001 to the present. The supporters picked their favourite goalkeeper, full-backs, centre-backs, wingers, centre midfielders and forwards to create a classic 4–4–2 formation. 

The results were announced 9 July. 

Managers

Fulham have so far had 36 managers at the club in 114 years. Prior to the appointment of the first manager at the club (Bradshaw in 1904), duties normally assigned to a modern-day manager would have been shared between club secretary, captain and other officials.

* * Frank Osborne was employed continuously by the club from 1948 to 1963, but only spent the above periods as designated manager.
* ** Ian Branfoot continued to be employed by the club after his dismissal as manager.
* † Kevin Keegan was employed by the club as chief operating officer (during which time he essentially acted as an Assistant Manager) during the time of his predecessor (Ray Wilkins) being the actual manager.
* § René Meulensteen was appointed as Head Coach under previous manager Martin Jol (during which time he essentially acted as an Assistant Manager), but never took on the title of "manager" after Jol's departure, despite assuming the duties usually assigned to one. He remained as Head Coach for four days after Magath's appointment before being released.
* ± Some managers have only had the official description of "Head Coach" rather than "Manager": René Meulensteen and Slaviša Jokanović, as well as interim head coach Peter Grant.

Managerial records:
*Only one man has managed the club through two different spells, Frank Osborne, in 1948–49 and then 1953–56.
*The longest spell as Fulham manager was by Phil Kelso, 15 years (1909–1924)
*Several managers have failed to last more than a year at the club: Bobby Robson, Alan Dicks, Ray Wilkins, Paul Bracewell, Lawrie Sanchez, Mark Hughes, Rene Meulensteen and Felix Magath. Further to this, Frank Osborne only had a year after his initial arrival at the club during which he was principally in charge of the team (before Dodgin, senior) arrived, although he later took sole charge of the club for an extended period.

Temporary managers at the club have included:
*Johnny Haynes: Took over after Sir Bobby Robson was fired in 1968 for only a handful of matches. The Maestro was offered the role permanently but had no inclination to become a manager.
*Karl-Heinz Riedle: when Paul Bracewell was fired halfway through the 1999–2000 season, there was a temporary period of Fulham being managed by their striker Karl-Heinz Riedle, assisted his old boss at Liverpool, Roy Evans. Riedle injured a lung in the season's penultimate game.
*Chris Coleman: after Tigana resigned four months before planned in 2003, Chris Coleman was soon appointed as caretaker manager, much to the delight of the fans. Having initially denied he wanted the post, Coleman accepted the role of full-time manager that summer.
*Lawrie Sanchez: when Coleman was sacked, Sanchez came in to take control of the club for the remaining five games of the season. (See above) 
*Ray Lewington: took temporary charge of Fulham for three games following Lawrie Sanchez's dismissal in December 2007.  Lewington also took temporary charge of the club in July 2010 after Roy Hodgson had left the club until the appointment of Mark Hughes.
*Kit Symons: temporarily took charge of Fulham after Felix Magath's dismissal in September 2014 before being appointed on 29 October.
*Peter Grant: took charge of Fulham for three games after Kit Symons' dismissal. 
*Stuart Gray: succeeded Grant as temporary manager (holding down the job title of "senior coach") after poor results in Grant's three games in charge whilst the board looked for a permanent successor to Kit Symons.

Grounds

Between the years 1879 and when Fulham had a ground to call their own in 1896, they played at a number of stadiums, only some of which were recorded and this should not be regarded as a full or complete list. Only rivals and former landlords Queens Park Rangers have played at more home stadiums. Some of the early grounds listed below are likely to have been parks and parkland, which have now been developed. Even when the club purchased Craven Cottage and the surrounding land in 1894, they had to wait two years before they could play a game there.
* 1879: (possible first ground though records are inaccurate) – Hurlingham Park, Fulham
* 1879–83: Star Road, Hammersmith
* 1883–84: Eel Brook Common, Fulham
* 1884–85: Lillie Rec, Fulham
* 1885–86: Putney Lower Common, Putney
* 1886–88: Ranelagh House, Fulham
* 1888–89: Barn Elms Playing Fields, Barnes (the rugby fields are located across the Thames from Craven Cottage today)
* 1889–91: Parsons Green, Fulham and Roskell's Fields (next to Parsons Green tube station)
* 1891–95: Half Moon, Putney
* 1895–96: West Brompton
* 1896–2002: Craven Cottage, Fulham
* 2002–04: Loftus Road, Shepherd's Bush (groundshare with Queens Park Rangers during Craven Cottage's renovation)
* 2004–: Craven Cottage, Fulham (read the Craven Cottage article for future prospects of the ground.)

Honours

Statistics

Club mascot controversy

The Fulham mascot is Billy the Badger,  who was the winning design sent in by Kyle Jackson after an online competition by the club. Billy the Badger wears the number 79 Fulham shirt, in reference to the club's year of founding, 1879.  Controversy first surrounded Billy when he tried to cheer up Chelsea manager Avram Grant during a home match in front of the television cameras. Secondly, Billy was seen on television being sent off during the home game against Aston Villa on 3 February 2008 for break-dancing in the corner of the pitch after the referee had commenced the game. Billy blamed his badger hearing and eyesight for the incident, and apologised to referee Chris Foy.  On 11 March 2009, Billy walked across the goal during a match although it was not spotted by the referee. The former mascot for Fulham was Sir Craven of Cottage, the Knight. The cheerleaders were known as the Cravenettes.

Notes and references

Footnotes

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