Former Fulham defender John Dempsey has passed away aged 78, the club has announced this morning.

The Irish international, who watched Johnny Haynes and Bobby Robson from the Craven Cottage terraces, joined the Whites on a schoolboy contract in the summer of July 1964. Dempsey’s debut came in a 3-3 FA Cup draw against Millwall aged eighteen and he became a first choice centre half the following season. He helped the Cottagers starve off relegation from the top flight with an incredible run at the end of the season, as Fulham won nine of their last thirteen games.

Dempsey even deputised as an emergency centre forward – memorably scoring a hat trick in the space of nineteen minutes against Northampton Town – before the arrival of Allan Clarke. He made 171 appearances, scoring eight goals, before signing for near neighbours Chelsea, where he won the FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup, when he famously volleyed in a superb strike during the final against Real Madrid.

Dempsey finished his playing days in the United States before becoming a teacher and then assisting disabled adults in Edgware. He received a richly deserved Forever Fulham award in April 2023.