Fulham fans would once have laughed at the idea of protesting against the Premier League’s most expensive season tickets.
Cast your mind back to the mid-90s, when the changing rooms at Craven Cottage had holes in the walls, the showers were faulty and mice could be heard scuttling around while players pulled on their shirts. They were in the third tier at the time. It came with the territory.
And, in fact, those were the least of their problems. Before Mohamed Al-Fayed swept in and transformed the club, they trained at the former BBC Sports Ground, not far from where their current Motspur Park training centre is found, and the run-down site lay next to a train station.
It turned out this was ideal for thieves, who would take advantage of the lax security and loot the changing rooms during sessions before legging it onto the nearest train. Players and coaches would often return to find their wallets stolen – if they were lucky catching them in the act and giving chase.
Fast forward to this week and defeat against struggling Chelsea on Monday has left the club contemplating problems of a wholly different kind. They are looking anxiously over their shoulder at the wrong end of the table as the season ahead begins to take shape.
Their only two Premier League wins have been against early relegation contenders Luton Town and Everton. How they fare against Sheffield United, winless and bottom of the table, on Saturday will be some indication of how painful the months ahead might be.
Their poor form has been exacerbated by losing Aleksandar Mitrovic to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal after the season was underway. Though Fulham resisted strongly, his absence has left a gaping wound in the team. Even receiving a club record fee, reported to be £50m, it has proven difficult to replace the lifeblood of his goals.
Fulham also narrowly avoided losing hugely talented midfielder Joao Palhinha at the end of the transfer window when they failed to sign a replacement after a £60m deal had been agreed with Bayern Munich (the player was even in Germany for a medical before the move was canned). Palhinha signed a new five-year contract a few weeks later, but Fulham sources fear he will still leave for the Bundesliga champions.
Still, if things feel a touch unsteady and uncertain now, at least Fulham are only having their best players nicked, not their wallets. Indeed, a source close to Marco Silva says the manager remains in good spirits and is focused on the task at hand – improving on last season. It was pointed out that the club have eight points after seven games – which have included trips to Arsenal and Manchester City and Monday’s visit of Chelsea. Last season they had 12 after 10 and went on to finish 10th – their highest Premier League position in 11 years. Silva has also contended with injuries to key players including Palhinha, Willian and Andreas Pereira.
Meanwhile, supporters may be at odds with owner Shahid Khan for charging the most expensive tickets in the league – Khan insists it is necessary to make the club sustainable – and discussing the prospect of a protest at £160 tickets for Manchester United’s visit in November. But spare a thought for those Fulham fans protesting when the late Al-Fayed held talks about selling Craven Cottage and agreeing to share Stamford Bridge with Chelsea for 25 years.
The Al-Fayed years, as wonderful as they were unpredictable and chaotic, are chronicled in a new book, The Great Adventure, by football writer Tony Banks. It tells the story of how Fulham had to play their home games at QPR’s Loftus Road in the 2002-2003 season, while Craven Cottage underwent development.
After it emerged Al-Fayed had held talks with Chelsea chairman Ken Bates about sharing Stamford Bridge, in return for Al-Fayed spending £15m on 9.9 per cent of Chelsea Village PLC and Fulham paying them 5 per cent of turnover minus sponsorship income, the Back to the Cottage fan group called an urgent meeting with the owner. Al-Fayed insisted he was working hard so they could remain at Craven Cottage.
Fans had been staying away from Loftus Road in protest, but two days after the meeting Al-Fayed pleaded with them to return, pointing out he had ploughed millions into the club. On 15 December, the fans sent 3,500 Christmas cards to Al-Fayed all saying, “Take us home.”
“Then on 14 January 2003 came the devastating news the fans had dreaded – and that many had suspected, but not been able to prove,” the book reveals. “The club had made a deal to sell Craven Cottage to a company called Fulham River Projects Limited (FRP) for a down payment of £15m, with an option to buy the ground for £50m, and demolish it to be replaced by a development of Harrods-branded luxury flats – if planning permission was obtained, and should the club find an alternative home.” The deal had been struck the previous September. Al-Fayed insisted Fulham still owned the stadium.
Khan seems fairly quaint in comparison to Al-Fayed, who delivered promotions, Premier League football, an Intertoto Cup trophy and a run to the Uefa Cup final. His introduction of Franco Baresi as director of football – an innovation ahead of its time in English football – caused a major row with the manager, Jean Tigana.
“One of the most extraordinary meetings we ever had was with Franco at Motspur Park,” former captain Lee Clark recalled. “After pre-season, he had a meeting with the players and said, ‘Look I am here to help the manager, to support him whatever he wants to do. I am here to help him take away the burden of signing players. He will tell me what position he wants to improve, I will get him a list.’
“Then he left the room and Jean came in, talking along the lines of, don’t believe this fella, he is not with me, he is against me! It was like, ‘Woah, what is going on around here?’ I think we sensed then that cracks were starting to appear in the relationship between the manager and the owner.’
And if you tire at the statements full of empty platitudes when a manager departs a club nowadays, consider, for a moment, Al-Fayed’s open letter to Tigana: “Obviously, our position in the Premier League both this year and last year has been disappointing, particularly given the degree of investment and resources provided, and I am sure you would be the first to agree.”
Fulham have been a fun, eventful and wonderfully supported club. It might just be worth Khan reflecting on where they have come from the next time he thinks about emptying the supporters’ wallets.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/ZIrHCXJ
Post a Comment