Fulham have confirmed for the first time that Mohamed Al-Fayed has agreed to sell Craven Cottage to a development company – increasing fears that club may never play again at their historic home.
The Premier League side have admitted that Fulham River Projects signed a deal to buy the ground from Fulham Stadium Limited in September just before the club announced they were scrapping their own redevelopment plans.
A Fulham spokesperson told The Guardian: “Fulham River Projects Limited is a finance and development company which was set up by our solicitors to develop Craven Cottage. It is already public knowledge that Fulham may be forced to develop a stadium away from the Craven Cottage site and this is part of that potential precautionary future strategy.”
The club would not disclose who owns Fulham River Projects although the company has a sole director, Sophie Hamilton, who is a senior director at London property solicitors, Forsters. Hamilton told the Guardian that he held no personal stake in the company. Forsters were engaged by the property developers who bought the Harrods Depository in Brompton Road last year for £52.5m from Fulham chairman Al-Fayed.
The potential sale of Craven Cottage adds to the uncertainty over Fulham’s future. The club announced a two-year ground share at Queens Park Rangers last May in order to extend the capacity at their home by the banks of the River Thames to 28,000. In September, Fulham first suggested they may not return to their home ground and last month they blamed spiralling costs – cited at over £100m – for axing their plans.
Tom Greatrex from the ‘Back to the Cottage’ campaign said:
“These revelations add to the suspicion and worry of a many supporters that the club has no intention of building a replacement Craven Cottage. To change the ownership of the ground just weeks before they announced they had no plans to proceed with the original redevelopment plan will be of huge concern. Increasingly it looks as if Fulham fans have been betrayed by the chairman.”
