There’s a buzz around Craven Cottage at the moment. Marco Silva’s side have adapted to life in the top flight far more seamlessly than any Fulham side since Jean Tigana’s and are in a stronger position that even the most optimistic of supporters might have dared to dream of as the top flight comes towards an enforced winter break for the World Cup.
Many football fans will only care about matters on the field. That’s an understandable position: as for ninety minutes on Saturday (or whenever the television dictates we play), the focus has to be on the first eleven, but Fulham’s history dictates that our long-suffering supporters have to pay attention to what’s happening in the boardroom as well. Shahid Khan’s commitment to renovating the Riverside Stand has removed the constant threat to Fulham’s historic home that has existed almost ever since the Whites pitched up at the Cottage, but it wasn’t that long ago that a prolonged campaign of protest was needed to ensure the club returned to the banks of the River Thames at all.
After the success of the ‘Back to the Cottage’ movement persuading Mohamed Al-Fayed to abandon plans for a mega stadium somewhere outside of SW6, that campaign formally became the Fulham Supporters’ Trust. Since 2014, the Trust has held monthly meetings with the club’s chief executive Alistair Mackintosh and pursued a structured dialogue that has since been codified by a memorandum of understanding between the two organisations. The Trust remains independent of the club – and critical, where necessary – but the dialogue allows for the fans’ voice to be heard.
The Trust is a membership organisation, affiliated to the Football Supporters Association and contributes to the work of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, the safety authorities, police, Premier League, EFL, FA and local community groups, in order to represent Fulham fans. The Trust needs the views of the Fulham fanbase as they undertake their annual survey, which will inform their priorities for the forthcoming year – and future discussions with Fulham Football Club on a number of issues, including the matchday experience, ticket pricing, revenue, partnerships and supporter engagement. If you can take a few minutes to fill in the survey, it will make a real difference.
In the interests of full disclosure, I was a member of the Back to the Cottage campaign and currently serve on the Fulham Supporters’ Trust board. You can join the Trust here.
I have a couple of issues under Matchday Experience
1. Can we have quiet times before kick off and at half time? I understand the club’s desire to ramp up the atmosphere and sense of expectation before games but the music played is too loud for the sound system and it is distorted. I like to talk with my friends before kick off and during the game but can’t because of the music or the half time entertainment. I know this issue has been raised by FST with the club before, and I noticed an improvement afterwards but this has slipped back recently.
2. Fans finding their seats after KO and halftime. Where I sit in the JH stand near the Cottage, fans wandering around in the gangway trying to find their seats block my and others views of the game for minutes at a time. Late comers can be coming in up to 10-15 mins late, disrupting our enjoyment of the game. Can stewards take a more active role in directing fans to their seats if they must arrive after KO? Better still, can fans be asked to be in their seats 5 mins before KO? Like the cinema or theatre?
Anyway. Thanks for your great work in making the Cottage experience better for fans. Good luck.