After a trip to a good old fashioned football ground in Hillsborough as opposed to a stadium or arena, we visit Craven Cottage, another stadium that harks back to the stadium designs of the past.

The Ground

Fulham has in the past been a good old traditional style football ground and with it's latest development has thankfully stayed in line with the feel of the other 3 sides. It has that feel with two big ends behind the goals along with the 119 year old main stand with the Cottage in the corner.

With the new Riverside Stand now open, it is certainly impressive and has added to the ground and enhanced the lay out rather than turned it into a soulless bowl.

Although it is usually 2 or 3,000 short on the maximum capacity, although part of that may be that some areas of the new stand might have not yet been opened as the max attendance for the big clubs when they are in town is around 27,700.

Saints fans are situated in the Putney End, a stand built just over a decade ago it holds 6,000 in total divided into roughly half being allocated to visiting supporters with the other half usually being a neutral zone which often sees away supporters in that section as well. Strangely for a stand built fairly recently it does have some supporting pillars that obstruct the view but only in the rear section.

Saints have sold their allocation for this game have received extra tickets and are still trying to get more, meaning that there will be around 5,000 Saints fans backing the team.

In the 3rd round Fulham hosted Middlesbrough and the attendance was around 20,000, so I would expect that it will be something similar for this one.

Although it is divided in half in the seated area, all the fans go in the same turnstile block and home and away fans mingle in the concourse under the stand.

Beer and the usual food stuff is available, but although the kiosks are covered from the rain etc they are open being just under the stand at the back so are cold in winter and for those that haven't noticed it is still just about winter out there.

If you do like a beer in the ground etc then a good tip is go to the kiosk in the left hand corner and then you can enjoy a fine view of the Thames as it goes past the ground.

Getting There

Train

The easiest and by far the quickest way is to change at Clapham Junction and take a train to Putney, the train from Clapham takes between 3 -6 minutes depending on the train.

However there are rail works on the line between Southampton & Basingstoke, meaning that instead of the usual 1hr 20 mins, it will take about 30 minutes longer, there are two options, replacement bus to Basingstoke and then train to Clapham or the re routed service that goes via Havant.

From Putney it is about a 15-20 minute walk including a short walk over Putney Bridge from where you can see Craven Cottage nestling on the banks of the Thames.

For those that prefer to go into Central London you need to pick up a westbound district line tube going to Wimbledon and alight at Putney Bridge.

Car

There are a couple of options, perhaps the most direct is to follow the M3 as it then becomes the A316 after passing through Richmond follow directions for the A205 (South Circular) eastbound to Putney. Putney is just across the river from Craven Cottage about a 10-15 minute walk. but will probably offer the best options for parking.

Parking

Parking around Craven Cottage is extremely limited with 1 hour parking meters being the only options, which are obviously no good for those wanting to spend longer than that watching the game.

Perhaps the best option would be to park over the river in Putney where there are many options including street parking, the farther you go away from the Bridge the cheaper and easier is the rule. and its obviously well situated to head back to the M3 afterwards.

Parking at Richmond is one option and then a train 4 stops to Putney, however Twickenham a little nearer by road and two stops up from Clapham, might offer cheaper parking options.

Pubs Eating Etc

The Eight Bells on Fulham High Street next to Putney Bridge is a popular pub with away fans but tends to get extremely busy, nearby there is also the Temperance Bar and the Golden Lion as well as The Kings Arms, again these are likely to be packed with Saints supporters.

If you have parked over in Putney or got the train to there, then that might offer the best chance for a pre match drink given the few options near the ground will probably be busy, there are a number of pubs near Putney Station and on the walk to the ground, imcluding a Wetherspoons next to Putney bridge.

Quirky Fulham Facts.

1. Fulham has a few famous fans but suffers from it's more cool & trendy rival Chelsea being only a few miles away, these include actor Hugh Grant, actor & comedian Keith Allen and by family tradition his singer daughter Lily. Wolfie Smith in the 1970's TV show Citizen Smith.

The Bloke Karate Kicked by Eric Cantona in 1996 (it was assumed that he was a Palace fan but apparently he was a regular at Fulham) and Barry from Eastenders.

2. Craven Cottage is called that as it used to have a cottage on the site which was conveniently burnt down which allowed the stadium to be built in 1896 and Fulham built a little area in the corner where the changing rooms and directors box was housed, this structure is still visible in the corner of the ground next to the away end.

It's not really a cottage though

3, The stadium is the nearest ground to the River Thames, it literally sits on it, since the rebuilding of the stand on that side, there has never been a ball kicked into the river, in the past many balls would go in and cost Fulham an awful lot of money in replacements.

In the year 2014 with the global cost of footballs rising and building materials dropping, it was decided that it would be more cost effective to build a higher stand.

However Sunday could see that record smashed and on oddschecker jack Stephens is 1-2 on to clear the stand and land one of his clearances in the Thames at some point in the game.

4. Fulham FC is actually the oldest football club in London, founded in 1879 by a group of friends who used to meet regularly in a nearby Church hall, they were originally called Fulham St. Andrew's Church Sunday School FC by the original Craven Cottage, hence their nickname to Cottagers.

Preceding our own founding in 1885 by 6 years they could have beaten us to the nickname of the Saints, something I think many of their modern day fans wish they had of done, given the modern day meaning of the word Cottager.

5.Fulham is one pf those clubs that don't really have a real rival, Chelsea is of course the nearest club, being only around a mile and a half away, but in the modern era, Chelsea care more about rivalry with the big London clubs such as Spurs & Arsenal than their close neighbours.

Brentford & QPR are fairly near but they are both nearer each other than Fulham, so again it is a rivalry of convenience when they are in the same division, than one of local pride, especially given that due to the gentrification of both Fulham & Chelsea there are few fans that actually live withing 2 miles of either ground.

In a survey of 2022, it was estimated that there were only 27 Chelsea fans who either had an income of less than £200k per year or were not celebrities who lived withing 2 miles of Stamford Bridge, under the same calculations there were around 350 Fulham fans near Craven Cottage.

6. Fulham FC has made appearances in various films and TV shows, including the movie "The Omen" and the TV series "The Bill," Dennis Waterman Characters in Minder & The Sweeney was portrayed as a Fulham fan in both programmes, however Waterman himself was a Chelsea fan in real life.

7. In a curious twist, a statue of Michael Jackson was once erected outside Craven Cottage. Commissioned by former owner Mohamed Al Fayed, a friend of Jackson, the statue was a unique and somewhat controversial feature until its removal in 2013.

8. Fulham FC has an intriguing mention in Agatha Christie’s renowned detective fiction. In her novel “The Seven Dials Mystery,” characters discuss going to see a Fulham match, seamlessly integrating the club into the narrative. They were later all arrested by Dennis Waterman & John Thaw, who had initially been taken off the case, but were reinstated in time to make the collar.

9. Someone called Example is also a fan of Fulham, but I am not really sure who he is.

10. Ermmmm

Craven Cottage

Capacity: 29,600 (all seated)
Address: Stevenage Road, London, SW6 6HH
Main Telephone No: 0843 208 1222
Fax No: 0207 384 4715
Ticket Office: 0843 208 1234
Ticket Office Fax No: 0207 384 4810
Team Nickname: The Cottagers or The Whites
Ground Opened: 1896

All Photos Via Reuters