Fulham F.C.
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Template:Football club infobox 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 - where the Academy is situated.
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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.
- 1907 - Southern League Champions
- 1907 - Admission to The Football League as Southern League Champions
- 1908 - FA Cup Semi-Finalists
- 1932 - Division Three (South) Champions
- 1936 - FA Cup Semi-Finalists
- 1949 - Division Two Champions
- 1958 - FA Cup Semi-Finalists
- 1959 - Promotion From Division Two
- 1962 - FA Cup Semi-Finalists
- 1970 - Promotion From Division Three
- 1975 - FA Cup Finalists
- 1975 - Anglo-Scottish Cup Finalists
- 1982 - Promotion From Division Three
- 1997 - Promotion From Division Three
- 1999 - Division Two Champions
- 2001 - Division One Champions
- 2002 - FA Cup Semi-Finalists
- 2002 - Intertoto Cup Winners
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
- 13th - Twice
- 14th - Once
- 15th - Once
- 16th - Once
- 17th - Twice
- 18th - Twice
- 20th - Three Times
- 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
Before Al Fayed
After the side's relegation, Ian Branfoot was installed as manager. His first season in charge yielded a seventh place finish, which would have given them a place in the play-offs if not for a restructuring of the league. Branfoot's second season was a disaster, with the side languishing near the foot of the table and only seeming safe due to Torquay United being hopelessly adrift at bottom position. The situation came to a head when Fulham played Torquay at their Plainmoor ground and lost, meaning that they had only won two from their previous twenty league games. Fulham followed the match with three draws which hardly improved the situation, and Branfoot was sacked two weeks after the Torquay match (though retained in other capacities for a while afterwards)
Micky Adams was appointed as manager and oversaw an upturn in form that lifted the side out of what little relegation danger was present. The next season he engineered a complete turnaroudn in form and his side, captained by Simon Morgan finished second, only missing out on first due to the league dropping the old "goal difference" system in favour of a "goals scored" tally. While Fulham's goal difference was one better than that of champions Wigan Athletic, they scored twelve less goals. This was subtly ironic, as the club's then Chairman Jimmy Hill, had successfully argued that goals scored should decide places of teams tied on points while sitting on an FA panel.
Al Fayed's Era
Millionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed purchased the club that summer and sacked Adams in the aftermath of a poor start. In Adams' place he 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 101 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 in March after their early promotion charge faded into a mid-table position. Karlheinz Riedle was named caretaker manager, though the majority of the remaining matches were overseen by Roy Evans after Riedle was hospitalized due to a collapsed lung.
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. Fulham were widely tipped to take the Premiership by storm, with many pundits predicting a challenge for the UEFA cup or even Champions League places. The expected challenge never materialised and a mid-table campaign was the result. The following season saw Fulham dangerously close to the relegation zone, and Tigana announced that he would leave his job at the end of the season. He left slightly sooner than that, with Chris Coleman taking charge for five games at the end of the season.
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 30 full-time managers in their history. All but one have been British, the exception being Frenchman Jean Tigana. The dates given here are for their stretches as club manager, numerous people have played at the club (e.g. Bracewell) or been employed by the club before or after actually being first-team manager (e.g. Keegan).
| Name | From | To |
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| 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.
- ***When Paul Bracewell was sacked half way through the 1999-2000 season, there was a temporary period of Fulham being managed by their striker Karlheinz Riedle and his old boss at Liverpool Roy Evans. Riedle actually injured a lung in the season's penultimate game - his last for the club.
Grounds
- 1879-1883 - Star Road, Fulham
- 1883-1884 - Eel Brook Common, Fulham
- 1884-1885 - Lillie Rec, Fulham
- 1885-1886 - Putney Lower Common, Putney
- 1886-1888 - Ranelagh House, Fulham
- 1888-1889 - Barn Elms, Barnes
- 1889-1891 - Parsons Green, Fulham
- 1891-1895 - Half Moon, Putney
- 1895-1896 - Cpt. James Field, West Brompton
- 1896-2002 - Craven Cottage, Fulham
- 2002-2004 - Loftus Road, White City (groundshare with Queens Park Rangers during Craven Cottage renovation)
- 2004 to present - Craven Cottage (read the Craven Cottage article for future prospects of the ground.)
2004-05 Squad
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On Monday 23rd May, 2005, a number of players were released from the club - including club captain Lee Clark, veteran defender Jerome Bonnissel and young striker Stuart Noble.
On June 5 2005 goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was sold for £2 million to Manchester United.
- Zat Knight's full forename is Zatyai.
- Zesh Rehman's full forename is Zeshan.
Links
- Official website (http://www.fulhamfc.com/)
- Fulhamweb a fan website (http://www.fulhamweb.com/)
- From the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/default.stm) (British Broadcasting Corporation)
- Fulham USA (http://www.fulhamusa.com/)
- 4thegame.com's Fulham page (http://www.4thegame.com/club/ffc/)
- The Website of a Popular Fanzine (http://www.toofif.com/) - There's Only One F in Fulham (TOOFIF)
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1992-93 |
1993-94 |
1994-95 |
1995-96 |
1996-97 |
1997-98 |
1998-99 | ||
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League competitions |
Cup competitions | |
| FA Premier League | FA Cup | |
| The Football League (Champ, 1, 2) | England (men) | League Cup |
| Football Conference (Nat, N, S) | FA Community Shield | |
| Northern Premier League (Prem, 1) | (women) | Football League Trophy |
| Southern League (Prem, 1W, 1E) | List of clubs | FA Trophy |
| Isthmian League (Prem, 1, 2) | FA Vase | |
| English football league system | Records | FA NLS Cup |
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fr:Fulham Football Club ja:フラムFC no:Fulham FC pl:Fulham simple:Fulham F.C. sv:Fulham FC