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Fulham F.C.

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Fulham
Full nameFulham Football Club
Nickname(s)The Cottagers
Founded1879
GroundCraven Cottage, London
Capacity22,200
ChairmanMohamed Al-Fayed
ManagerChris Coleman
LeagueFA Premier League
2003-04Premier League, 9th

Fulham Football Club is a football team based in Fulham, London. Founded in 1879, they are celebrating their 125th anniversary in 2004, and they will be playing in the top tier of English football, the FA Premiership. Had it not been for the intervention of millionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed, they would still be languishing in the depths of the lower divisions of professional football.

They spent much time in the Old First Division (=Premiership) through the 60s, but are yet to gain any major honours, their only FA Cup Final appearance being in 1975. They are currently playing at Craven Cottage, a beautiful riverside ground in Fulham, having spent two years at Loftus Road, with a still uncertain future. See more on this topic in the Grounds subsection of this article. They are currently looking for no more than a respectable finish in their 20-team league, although relegation is at the back of their mind.

Fulham also has a ladies team, Fulham LFC. Both the men's and women's team train at the club's ground near Motspur Park.

Honours

Fulham Football Club have never won a major trophy, however, they have a reasonably long list of achievements. In the list below, all trophies and leagues are referred to by the names they held at the time, which due to commercial and practical reasons have changed over time. For more information see articles in individual leagues from here.

Club Records and Statistics

All Time Results Record

Played : 3434
Won : 1289
Drawn : 853
Lost : 1292
Scored : 5085
Conceded : 4956
  • Win Percentage = 38%
  • Loss Percentage = 38%
  • Average Goals per Game = 1.48
  • Average Goals conceded per Game = 1.45

Correct for Start of 2004/2005 Season

Performance in the top division

Fulham have spent 15 seasons in the national top flight, finishing in these positions:

  • 9th - Once (2004)
  • 10th - Once
  • 11th/12th - Never
  • 13th - Once
  • 14th - Once
  • 15th - Once
  • 16th - Once
  • 17th - Twice
  • 18th - Twice
  • 19th - Never
  • 20th - Three Times
  • 21st - Never
  • 22nd - Twice

During their years at top level, they have finished 20th more often than in any other table position (3 times).

(Correct for Start of 2004-2005 Season.)

Appearances

The five Fulham players who have been in the club's starting line-up more than 450 times are listed below.

Johnny Haynes : 657
Eddie Lowe : 511
Les Barrett : 487 + 4 as substitute
Frank Penn : 460
George Cohen : 459

Correct for Start of 2004/2005 Season

Goalscorers

There are seven men to have scored more than one hundred goals for the club:

Gordon Davies : 178
Johnny Haynes : 157
Bedford Jezzard : 154
Jim Hammond : 150
Graham Leggatt : 134
Arthur Stevens : 124
Steve Earle : 108

Correct for Start of 2004/2005 Season

History

Foundation & The Amateur Years

Fulham Football Club started its existence as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School FC in 1879. They won the West London Amateur Cup in 1887 and, having changed the name to 'Fulham' in 1888, the West London League in 1893 at the first attempt. They gained professional status on December 12th. 1898.

They played in colours more akin to Arsenal FC in this era.

Pre-1945

After turning professional, it was a number of years before Fulham gained admission to the professional league, which they did by winning the Southern League Championship in the 1906/07 season. Fulham's first ever match as a league side saw them losing 1-0 at home to Hull City in September 1907. The first win came four days later against Derby County, and when they eventually found their feet in the division they impressed, ending up only three points short of promotion.

They didn't come any closer to the First Division for a while, finishing consistently in the mediocracy up until the outbreak of World War II. They won one minor cup, in 1910, the London Challenge Cup.

Post-1945

Post-war, Fulham were promoted to the First Division in 1959, and had crowds regularly exceeding 30,000. They never pushed higher than mid-table though, and were eventually relegated in 1968. They later saw stars like Bobby Moore and George Best play for the club, and reached the FA Cup Final in 1974. Despite a Malcolm Macdonald team in the 1980s which looked to be the start of a new revolution, Fulham hit the football league basement in 1994, in being relegated to the Third Division.

Recent History

Micky Adams was appointed as manager in the early 1990s, and within two seasons he had guided Fulham from the Third Division to the Second, virtue of finishing second in the division. Millionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed purchased the club that summer and installed a managerial 'dream team' of Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan, pledging that the club would reach the Premiership with five years.

After an argument over team selection, Wilkins left the club, having nearly secured promotion to the First Division. Keegan steered Fulham to a spectacular promotion the next season, winning more than 110 points of a possible 138, captained by now manager Chris Coleman. He then left to become manager of the English national football team, and veteran player Paul Bracewell was put in charge.

Fulham's first season in the 1st Division was deemed a failure, despite a respectable 9th place finish. Bracewell was sacked early into the season, and a number of caretaker managers saw Fulham plod through the rest of the season.

Jean Tigana was put in charge, and having signed a number of young stars, including Louis Saha, he guided Fulham to their third promotion in five seasons, again in emphatic style. During this season club captain and now manager, Chris Coleman was involved in a car crash which, 18 months down the line, finished his career.

Coleman was named as Fulham's head coach at the start of the 2003/2004 season. He had spent a number of months in temporary charge prior to that, Tigana had been sacked after two and a half average Premiership seasons, with the only highlight being a short run in the UEFA Cup. This came courtesy of victory in the Intertoto Cup, a UEFA Cup qualifying system often shunned by bigger clubs.

Coleman, a favourite with the fans, and his assistant Steve Kean, believe their primary aim at the start of every new season should be to avoid relegation from the Premiership, although the fans, without a win in a major tournament in the club's entire history, are hungry for more.

Managers

Fulham have had 26 full-time managers in their history. All but one have been British, the exception being Frenchman Jean Tigana.

Name Appointed Left Club
Harry Bradshaw 1904 1909
Phil Kelso 1909 1924
Phil Ducat 1924 1926
Joe Bradshaw 1926 1929
Ned Liddell 1929 1931
James McIntyre 1931 1934
Jimmy Hogan 1934 1935
Jack Peart 1935 1948
Frank Osborne 1948 1949
Bill Dodgin Snr. 1949 1953
Frank Osborne 1953 1956
Dugald Livingstone 1956 1958
Bedford Jezzard 1958 1964
Vic Buckingham 1965 1968
Bobby Robson 1968 1968
Bill Dodgin Jnr. 1969 1972
Alec Stock 1972 1976
Bobby Campbell 1976 1980
Malcolm MacDonald 1980 1984
Ray Harford 1984 1986
Ray Lewington 1986 1990
Alan Dicks 1990 1991
Don Mackay 1991 1994
Ian Branfoot* 1994 1996
Micky Adams 1996 1997
Ray Wilkins 1997 1998
Kevin Keegan** 1998 1999
Paul Bracewell 1999 2000
Jean Tigana 2000 2003
Chris Coleman 2003
  • *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 his predecessor's reign.

Grounds

2004-05 Squad

As of February 28, 2005.

 
  • Zat Knight's full forename is Zatyai.
  • Zesh Rehman's full forename is Zeshan.
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