Back to the Cottage - The Fulham Supporters' Trust

The revelation in early 2003 of a secretive deal to sell Craven Cottage shocked the fans of Fulham.

Despite the welcome news that Fulham FC will be returning home, the truth is that Craven Cottage remains conditionally sold to Fulham River Projects and the next few months are likely to be crucial in determining the future of Craven Cottage and Fulham FC.

The Fulham Supporters Trust believes it is now important to share with as many supporters as possible the details of these arrangements. Please check back in the coming weeks as we update you on further developments in this area. Click on updates for new information as we get it.

You will find outlined below the key issues surrounding this deal. If you want to know how the deal was done and who the various parties involved are please go to the FRP Timeline. For more information on the documents filed at HM Land Registry which detail the deal click on the Detailed Guide to the Fulham River Projects Documents. For a summary of the recent court case between the parties involved in FRP, which revealed many details about the deal, click here.

1. What exactly is the Fulham River Projects Deal and why is it important?

Fulham River Projects (FRP) was created by two property developers as a vehicle to acquire and redevelop Craven Cottage. In September 2002 FRP signed an agreement with Fulham Stadium Limited (a sister company of the football club) to purchase the site on condition that Fulham obtained planning permission for luxury residential use.

Fulham have, under this Agreement, until the end of this September to submit a planning application for housing to replace the current football ground. Therefore it needs to act during this summer's close season or soon afterwards.

Should the Club submit such an application, it will be seeking to move away from its historic home, raising numerous questions about the long-term survival of Fulham FC.

2. How Can We Know For Sure What These Arrangements Involve?

The key documents relating to the conditional sale of Craven Cottage were deposited at HM Land Registry. The parties behind FRP also fell out in public, resulting in a court case heard in the High Court in December 2003. Taken together, these records provide extensive and accurate details of the build-up to this deal and the motivations of the various parties.

3. What exactly does FRP envisage will happen to Craven Cottage?

The deal requires Fulham to apply for the wholesale redevelopment of Craven Cottage for a minimum of 240,000 square feet of luxury residential development. Fulham also have a clear incentive to obtain permission for a further 62,500 square feet of luxury development. One of the documents lodged at the Land Registry states that the development will be in the form of 8 blocks and the recent Court case heard that approximately 300 apartments would be built on the site. Given that prevailing planning policy requires 50% of units to be social housing, it is also likely that the total size of the development will need to be significantly larger to accommodate such units.

4. What Happens if Fulham Doesn't Make A Planning Application?

If no application is made prior to this summer, the agreement signed with FRP terminates. In those circumstances Fulham Stadium Limited must repay the £15m it received in 2002 as a deposit plus 12% annual interest (approximately an additional £3m).

If Fulham Stadium fails to pay these sums, FRP could utilise the mortgage it has over Craven Cottage to take possession of the stadium. Fulham FC would therefore no longer own Craven Cottage, and the Club would be in a position similar to ten years ago when the ground was owned by Cabra Estates. FRP also have the ability to enforce a guarantee in place from Harrods Holdings Limited (Harrods parent company) for all amounts owed.

5. What Are the Financial Arrangements Behind FRP?

Fulham received £15m from FRP as an initial deposit in September 2002. (The Irish Nationwide Building Society provided this money to FRP.) Fulham will receive another £35m once "Satisfactory Planning Permission" is received and could receive a further £10m should the size of the permitted development exceed a certain figure.

However Fulham is responsible for all costs incurred by architects and other professional advisors. In certain circumstances Fulham will also have to meet the costs of any social housing or similar costs required by the Council as a condition to the granting of planning permission.

The documentation filed at the Land Registry also suggests that the new development will be marketed under the Harrods Brand, with Harrods also responsible for estate agency, maintenance and managing agent services.

6. What Happened to The Money Already Provided to Fulham?

Fulham have made no mention of the £15m already received being ring-fenced for new stadium purposes. Indeed the comments following the Louis Saha sale indicate that these funds were needed to pay for the return to Craven Cottage. It is therefore to be assumed that this money has been spent.

7. Does Harrods/ Mohamed Al Fayed stand to gain from the FRP deal?

The documents refer to Harrods Estates as sales and management agent should the apartments be built. The Trust estimates that the eventual rewards of this might pay for a year of Steve Marlet's salary. However all the available evidence does not suggest FRP is connected to or owned by Mr Al-Fayed or Harrods.

8. What is" Satisfactory Planning Permission"?

The Agreement says that planning permission from the Council will only be `satisfactory' under certain circumstances. For example, if the total built space is 240,000 square feet then at least 70% of it must be luxury housing and only 30% social/affordable. If more than 240,000 sq ft is permitted, at least 65% must be luxury. Should the Council insist on a greater amount of affordable housing, then Fulham River Projects can terminate the Agreement and insist on its money back. It can do so also if the Council refuses to allow more windows to be inserted in the Stevenage Road facade or requires any stands or turnstiles to be retained.

9. What About the Council's Planning Policies?

The objectives of the parties are summarised as follows: "The Seller and the Buyer shall work together in a spirit of mutual co-operation and good faith with each other to achieve the objectives set out in clause 3. …minimise the amount of on-site social/affordable housing." Such a wholesale luxury redevelopment of Craven Cottage would not conform with prevailing Borough policies regarding the maintenance of Craven Cottage as a football stadium. It would also contravene Council and GLA policies requiring a significant social housing component in any new residential development.

10. What Can I do?

Stay in touch. If an application is to be made by the Club we will need the help of every Fulham supporter to react to it. If this application is made over the summer, we will need to contact you to let you know what is going on. Please join the Supporters' Trust or renew your membership. Please also join our e-mail mailing list. This costs nothing and means you will be kept up to date with events. Please encourage other Fulham fans to do the same.

Let the Club know your views. The Trust is urging Fulham supporters renewing their season tickets to make clear in their application the importance of Craven Cottage. If you feel that the future of Fulham would be threatened by a planning application please put, either on the renewal form or in a separate note "Thank you for returning Fulham FC home to Craven Cottage. This is key to my custom as a season-ticket holder and you can expect it to remain so."

11. What Does the Trust Believe the Football Club Should Do?

The Trust believes that the Club should renegotiate the arrangements with FRP. The balance of the Louis Saha monies could be used as a downpayment, with an agreed repayment timetable at a reasonable interest rate for the remaining outstanding sums. Alternatively the entire sum could be repaid to FRP and a new loan with another lender, at a commercially reasonable interest rate, taken out to repay these monies.

In any event the recent court case, plus other intelligence received, strongly suggests the parties controlling FRP are ready to agree to such an arrangement. The Trust will be encouraging the Club to settle this issue as soon as possible.