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Fulham may be forced to leave Cottage
By Gary Jacob
FULHAM could be forced to leave Craven Cottage, their home since 1895, despite assurances to supporters that they would be staying at a redeveloped stadium.
Having denied already that they are to move permanently to Loftus Road, the home of Queens Park Rangers, where they will play for the next two seasons, it has emerged that Fulham have had a bid to buy a former milk processing and distribution plant rejected.
The 10.3-acre Westway site at Wood Lane, West London, is about four miles from Craven Cottage, next to the BBC’s White City headquarters and a proposed £1.5 billion shopping centre development. Dairy Crest, the UK chilled dairy foods company, is expected to sell the site to Helical Bar, a property investment company, and Morley Fund Management for a fee believed to be £20 million.
“Our preferred option is still to redevelop the Cottage, but we needed to keep our options open in case we faced further problems,” a Fulham spokesman said.
The purchase might have facilitated the sale of their six-acre Cottage site, overlooking the River Thames, for as much as £50 million for housing development, subject to planning permission. Fulham’s losses soared from £14.1 million to £23.3 million this year, largely because of a substantial rise in the wage bill for players.
The club has faced a number of obstacles since being granted planning permission to increase the capacity of the Cottage from 18,000 to 30,000 in February last year. Local residents mounted a challenge to the Government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry, and they could still go to the House of Lords and The European Court of Human Rights. The cost of redeveloping the stadium has escalated from £70 million to £90 million, and a redesign has reduced the capacity to 28,000.
Building work on the Cottage has yet to begin, with the club saying it is waiting for the legal issues to be resolved and for contractual reasons the next time the builders can start work is November.
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Fulham have released an official club statement with regards the redevelopment programme for Craven Cottage, following a report in The Times newspaper.
The story suggested that Fulham could leave The Cottage, despite assurances to the club's supporters that they would be staying at a redeveloped stadium.
Following delays to the club's redevelopment plans Fulham had to make arrangements to play home games at Loftus Road for the next two years while the redevelopment takes place.
Today's Times article states that The Cottagers have had a bid to buy a former milk processing and distribution plant as an alternative site for a Fulham stadium rejected and creates the impression that with reported operating loses running at 14 to 20 million a sale of Craven Cottage for residential development might be interesting for the club.
The club's statement today says: "You will be aware of the various difficulties we have been having with our redevelopment programme for Craven Cottage.
"In view of the setbacks we have faced it would have been foolhardy for the club not to keep our options open so that we can ensure that we are able to construct a stadium we can be proud of - a stadium that will fulfil Fulham Football Club's aspirations for the future.
"We did enter into discussions with a view to obtaining this site as a fallback position, should we be prevented from developing Craven Cottage in the long term."
Fulham have had to face a number of challenging newspaper stories since the end of last season and most have proved to be incorrect. The club even considered taking legal action over stories concerning the position of Manager Jean Tigana.
As to whether or not this latest article will prove to be more than just hot air only time will tell however at the moment the club is winning on points.