The History of Fulham FC: Life at Craven Cottage

Aug 18, 2010
Steve Rogerson

Craven Cottage, home of Fulham FC - Photo by Steve Rogerson

Fulham FC in west London are enjoying success in the Premiership but their history is one of ups and downs since they started as a Sunday school team.

Once a Sunday school football team for children, Fulham FC is a top flight football club in the English Premiership and is one of the oldest clubs in the league. The list of famous players who have donned the Fulham shirt range from Johnny Haynes in the 1950s and 1960s (a statue of him stands outside Craven Cottage) to the likes of George Cohen, Alan Mullery, Bobby Moore, Rodney Marsh and even the great George Best.

The Birth of Fulham

The history of Fulham dates back to 1879 and the Sunday School team of St Andrews Church in West Kensington, though it wasn’t known as Fulham FC until 1888, by which time it had its first trophy in the cabinet – the West London Amateur Cup in 1887. They joined the West London League for the 1892/83 season and won it at the first attempt.

In 1896, they moved to Craven Cottage on the banks of the River Thames and from where they still play to this day. Two years later, they turned professional and joined the Southern League, winning promotion to the first division in 1903. They won it twice back-to-back in 1906 and 1907 and then joined the Football League proper.

Fulham’s Early Days as a League Club

Fulham’s record in the early days as a league club was nothing to shout about. They narrowly missed promotion in their first season in the league and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, but from then they hung around mid-table until the league was suspended for the First World War.

After the war, the club continued to struggle in the league and in 1928 were relegated to the Third Division South where they stayed until they won promotion back to the Second Division in 1932 and then narrowly missed promotion to the top flight the following season. Another FA Cup semi-final followed in 1936.

Their performance on the field was better after the league resumed following the Second World War and in 1949 they were at last promoted to the top flight, though the pleasure was short-lived as they were relegated again in 1952.

Good cup runs were beginning to become a hallmark of the team, reaching the FA Cup semi-final in 1958 and promotion back to the First Division the following year, before again reaching the semi-final in 1962.

By this time, one of the most famous players in the club’s history was wearing the white shirt. Johnny Haynes played 658 times for Fulham, scoring 158 goals. He also played 56 times for England, 22 of them as captain. He died in car crash in 2005 and a statue of him was erected at Craven Cottage in 2008.

Fulham in Decline

Real problems for Fulham started when they were relegated back to the Second Division in 1968 and then to the Third Division a year later. Promotion followed in 1971 and they then spent the rest of the 1970s in the Second Division, a spell that included their only FA Cup final appearance, in 1975 when they lost to West Ham United. This gave them entry to the Anglo-Scottish Cup the following season; they lost to Middlesbrough in the final.

They were relegated back to Third Division in 1980, returning to the Second Division in 1982 and then back to the third tier for the years 1986 to 1994. And it got worse with relegation to the fourth tier where they stayed until winning promotion in 1997 having at one point been dangerously close to dropping out of the league altogether.

The Mohamed Abdel Al-Fayed Era

Fulham had been living on the edge financially during the previous decade despite forming a rugby league club to bring in extra money. The club still exists today as The Harlequins. The period saw them close to losing their ground more than once.

Their financial saviour turned up in 1997 to buy the club. This was Mohamed Abdel Al-Fayed, well known at the time as the owner of the famous Harrods department store in Knightsbridge. He pumped money into the club to help them back to the second tier in 1999 and then in 2001 to the Premier League, where they remain to this day.

They struggled a bit in the Premiership until the appointment of Roy Hodgson as manager towards the end of 2007. He took them from a struggling Premiership club to one that could fight for a European place, which they did successfully with a seventh place finish in 2009 following it with an appearance in the Europa League final in 2010, losing to Atletico Madrid after extra time.

That success led to Roy Hodgson being tempted away from Craven Cottage by Liverpool and, after one season under former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes, they are now managed by Martin Jol.