27/04/02 - From the Chairman's message in the programme for the final fixture vs. Leicester City)
When we leave Craven Cottage today it will mark the beginning of a new era for Fulham Football Club, an era that will see the building of our new home begin.......we will be playing and watching our football in a state of the art stadium befitting a first class team.....We will never forget the emotional attachment that all of you feel for this fantastic ground which is why we have gone to such great lengths to ensure that we can remain on this historic site.
31/05/02 - From Chairman's introduction to "Celebrating Craven Cottage"
When I took control of Fulham Football Club in 1997, the club had spent many years fighting a losing battle against property developers who wanted to build on that prime riverside site. I put a stop to that at once. Securing the future of football at Craven Cottage was a vital pre-requisite to everything that has happened since.
01/08/02 - Fulham hit by Craven Cottage blow
(Taken from the Website Soccernet.com)
(Pressure group `The Fulham Alliance' announced that it would continue to fight against the development and had ample funds to appeal to the High Court and House of Lords. The Press Association reported this adding as follows:)
The Alliance's warning came as Fulham admitted they did make an unsuccessful bid for the 10.3 acre former Dairycrest milk distribution depot in Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush -- just round the corner from QPR's Loftus Road ground.
The Cottagers lost out to the preferred bidder, property developer Helical Bar & Morley Fund Management -- and the club's chief executive Langham confirmed:
'We made a bid for a site in the borough.
'We were unsuccessful in gaining that site and are now investigating other fallback positions. It's prudent business practice to look at fall-backs if it is not possible to redevelop Craven Cottage.
'Our plan is still to redevelop the ground, but the longer it gets held up in the planning process, the more difficult it will be redevelop in two years. So the sooner we get a result on this, the better for everybody.
'Craven Cottage is still top of the list, but the planning permission has been held up by action by local residents and the legal process. Until that is resolved, we can't move forward.'
23/09/02 - Fayed: We won't share with Chelsea
(Ian Chadband, Evening Standard)
Mohamed Fayed today publicly aired his doubts for the first time about Fulham's prospects of ever returning to Craven Cottage -- but ruled out the possibility of a ground-share with Chelsea as an alternative.
In an exclusive interview with Standard Sport......Fayed explained that the club, currently sharing QPR's ground at Loftus Road, were still looking at alternative sites as a "fallback" should the club be forced to abandon the Cottage plans, but he said:
"It would have to be in west London. No way would we do a Wimbledon."
He also revealed that he and Chelsea chairman Ken Bates had "mentioned casually" the possibility of a ground-sharing arrangement at Stamford Bridge, but added:
"There have never been any serious talks along these lines. There's too much history and rivalry."
Asked if his gut feeling was that the club would return to Craven Cottage, Fayed said: "It's all in God's hands. We hope so but we can't wait for 10 years for people to fight us. The fact that I own the club has a part to play. Some of those people think they are upper class and that this bloody Egyptian owns the club."
25/10/02 - We can sell out 38,000 stadium, insist Fulham
Soccernet.com reported that a consultancy firm had convinced the club they can more than double their usual crowd and fill a 38,000-capacity stadium.
Fulham chief executive Bruce Langham said:
`We hired some very expensive consultants to help us and we're pleased with the outcome.
`We're confident as we have a robust business plan over the next two or three years to get our crowd up to around 85 percent of 38,000, plus a fairly consistent away support for the rest of the figure.
`There are three strands of our business plan. We want to get fans who aren't coming now, fans who've supported us but never come and new fans.'
Langham revealed the scenario at Southampton has bolstered confidence in their own plans.
The Saints' 32,551-capacity St Mary's Stadium averaged attendances of 30,633 last term -- doubling the 15,115 figure from The Dell the previous season.
Langham said: `Our plan is based on precedent, not field of dreams. Look at St Mary's Stadium, for example.
`If you build a stadium and give people a Premiership experience -- which with respect to QPR, you don't get at Loftus Road -- people buy that experience.'
06/11/02 - Interview with Mohammed Al Fayed, ITV London Tonight
'We are 99% certain to return to Craven Cottage'
12/12/02 - Statement from Fulham FC in reaction to announcement of House of Lords ruling.
'We are naturally pleased to learn that the House of Lords has refused the Fulham Alliance leave to appeal against last summer's decision of the High Court which ruled that they had no grounds to challenge our planning permission.
The actions of the Fulham Alliance - a group of fewer than ten individuals - have already severely damaged the club's plans to re-develop Craven Cottage. Their filibustering is undoubtedly aimed at destroying the financial viability of the entire project.
It is sad that the actions of so few can spoil the enjoyment of so many.
We are still investigating the possibility of increasing the capacity and usage of Craven Cottage so that it can be commercially viable but are also exploring the possibility of other sites within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in case that proves to be impossible.'
23/12/02 - Statement from Fulham FC
In light of increasing speculation from fans and the media following the Club's official statement regarding the House of Lords decision recently, the Chairman of Fulham Football Club, Mohamed Al Fayed, wishes to clarify his and the Club's position regarding the re-development plans for the Craven Cottage site.
It has always been the Chairman's aim to develop the best possible stadium facilities for the future but, since the project to re-develop Craven Cottage first began the cost has spiralled out of all proportion. It is now obvious that to invest heavily in building a stadium which would only generate revenue, at most, once a week is not a financially viable option.
If the proposed Craven Cottage stadium were now to be built according to the original plans the cost would exceed £100 million. Clearly, to saddle the Club with this magnitude of debt in the current financial climate would be foolhardy in the extreme and could seriously jeopardise the long term future of the Club.
Accordingly, we are currently pursuing a range of more sensible options. But there are a number of delicate and complicated issues involved in this process which must, of necessity, be conducted with the utmost discretion and under the most confidential of terms.
17/01/03 - Mohamed Al Fayed - Fulham Chairman
Recent press coverage of the so-called 'deal to sell Craven Cottage' has caused unnecessary alarm. There is nothing sinister or mysterious about this. It is no secret that we have been attempting to buy a plot of land at White City to build a new stadium, and we have also been looking at other possibilities. If our attempts are successful we will need to pay for it and the 'deal' was set up for precisely that purpose. Without the Council's continued support none of these plans can happen anyway.
A short-term benefit of the deal did provide the club with funds. For those who have been trying to make mischief by claiming that I, or the club, will make a £50m profit from the sale of Craven Cottage, remember this. Even if we spend, say, £30m in buying a site elsewhere in the borough and £50m in building a superb stadium on it, the actual cost to the club after selling Craven Cottage would still be about £30m. This is still a lot of money but seems to me to be infinitely better for the club's long-term future than spending £100m on a much smaller stadium at Craven Cottage.
Why also is it so difficult to make Craven Cottage commercially viable? The simple fact is that planning regulations restrict us to using Craven Cottage only on home match days. Even with the enormous support the club has received from the Council officers and local politicians certain planning conditions were necessary. We are therefore prevented from raising revenue by using the stadium for any other events or even from groundsharing with another club to generate income. Please also remember that the costs incurred in this particular process to date are close to £5m.
Notwithstanding that, we are still looking at ways in which we might build a cheaper more efficient stadium at Craven Cottage. However the probability is that any stadium we could now build at Craven Cottage at an acceptable price would not be sufficient to enable the club to compete at the highest levels.
19/01/03 - From the Chairman's notes from the programme that day
I have invested over £100 million in Fulham already. That was done to achieve Premiership football. Now the days of profligate spending are over. We must tighten our belts and introduce a regime of prudent budgetary control. And that will apply from top to bottom. All the way down from transfer fees, player salaries and stadium development.
I have been accused of being one of those rich men who blindly indulge their passion for football by simply buying success for their favourite club without considering whether there is a big enough fan base to justify that expenditure. I reject that accusation.
The fact is Fulham is a sleeping giant. The hardcore of Fulham fans, thousands and thousands of them, have supported this club for generations and the potential fan base out there is enormous.
Once we have a modern stadium with the right capacity, and we have built success on the pitch, Fulham will attract the crowds large enough to maintain that success.
26/01/03 From a statement from the Club on why the cost of redeveloping CC was so high.
"If any of those fans who so genuinely want to return to The Cottage can come up with a financially viable business plan to enable us to stay at Craven Cottage we would be more than happy to hear it."
01/03/03 - Bruce Langham - Fulham CEO
"We're looking at Craven Cottage to see if there's a way we can build a more affordable stadium but which is also financially viable for the club. We're also looking at trying to find other pieces of land within the borough where we could build a brand new stadium and that search is ongoing."
15/04/03 - From a statement from the Club announcing one further season at Loftus Road.
"At present the Club is actively trying to find ways of developing a more cost efficient stadium on the Craven Cottage site whilst negotiations take place with Chelsea regarding a temporary ground share arrangement, should this not prove possible (subject to planning permission being granted and a satisfactory conclusion to negotiations with Chelsea).
Whilst these investigations and negotiations take place the Club will continue to explore the potential of other sites within the Borough."
28/04/03 - Mohamed Al Fayed following Fulham's announcement of record losses of £33.6m
"At the start of the current season we embarked on a groundshare at Loftus Road stadium, while plans for the redevelopment of Craven Cottage were being progressed. However, the financial constraints I have outlined made it impossible for us to continue with such an extravagant plan.
It is still my preferred option to redevelop the Craven Cottage site, but only if it is financially viable and makes sound business sense. If this proves impossible, an alternative site will be obtained and Fulham Football Club will eventually play in a stadium of its own. In September 2002, in order to secure the value of the Craven Cottage site should it become necessary to build a new stadium elsewhere, Fulham Stadium Limited entered into a conditional sale agreement which would generate at least £50m from the sale of the old stadium.
The days of profligate spending are now over and subsequently we must tighten our belts and introduce a regime of prudent budgetary control from the top to the bottom: transfer fees, player salaries and stadium development will all be scrutinised - make no mistake, football is in danger of going broke if it continues to pay itself more than it earns and we must address this situation immediately if we are to continue to survive in the top flight of English football."
29/04/03 - From The Guardian on Fulham's attempt to share with Chelsea
"We are disappointed negotiations have broken down," Fulham said, "because we have established a very good relationship with Chelsea as a club and were confident we could do business with them for a short-term groundshare which would have benefited both clubs."
