Club Name: Fulham Football Club
Nickname: The Cottagers, The Whites
Craven Cottage, London, England.
Capacity: 24,550
1879
Manager: Roy Hodgson
Chairman: Mohammed Al Fayed (owner of Harrods)
Founded in 1879 and based in London Fulham FC are one of the oldest professional football clubs in English Football. Thus far throughout their history they have failed to secure any major honours but in 2002 enjoyed a brief participation in Europe by way of the UEFA Cup.
In the 1960’s Fulham gained the reputation of performing numerous “great escapes” as despite coming close to relegation they managed to pull themselves back from the brink on a number of occasions. However Fulham were relegated to the third division at the end of the 1968-69 season it was apparent that the club had hit rock bottom.
Fulham bounced back up to the second division in 1970-71 with the team gaining high profile signings such as Alan Mullery and Bobby Moore. Things were on the up and the club were rewarded reaching their only ever FA Cup Final in 1975. With George Best and Rodney Marsh in the squad Fulham enjoyed one of their most successful eras. However the fans joy was short lived as Fulham were relegated again at the end of the 1970’s.
Fulham failed to impress in the next decade and is wasn’t until the mid 1990’s that the club began to flourish again after a take over by businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. Under the new ownership Ray Wilkins and Kevin Keegan were brought in to ensure Fulham’s promotion to the Premier League and Wilkins promised that the club would reach the Premiership within five years.
In 1998 Keegan solely took over the management of the team and oversaw the clubs promotion. Fulham were again promoted at the end of the 2000-01 season under the tutelage of Jean Tigana and finally the club had reached the Premier League.
Fulham’s association with the Premier League has held mixed results. Closely avoiding relegation in the 2002-03 season Tigana was sacked and fans' favourite Chris Coleman took over the managerial reigns. Over the ensuing seasons the London club solidified their presence in top flight English football but failed to mount a serious challenge for major trophies.
The 2006-07 was an unsuccessful one for Fulham with the team failing to find form and coming dangerously close to relegation. This threat led to Chris Coleman being sacked and Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez stepping in to take over. Under the management of Sanchez Fulham avoided the dreaded drop and on 11th May 2007 Sanchez confirmed that he was resigning from his post as Northern Ireland manager to become the permanent manager at Fulham.