Fulham's Craven Cottage

Fulham's Craven Cottage went through a bit of a makeover since their chairman took them from the verge of relegation to the non-League in the 90s, to challenging for Europe. It's not the best ground in the world, but it fits it's purpose and it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Craven Cottage was easily one of the worst grounds in the League. However, that was before they got into the Premiership and were forced to redevelop the ground. We had drawn the Cottagers in the 2^nd Round of the Carling Cup. It had been 6 years since we'd visited Craven Cottage and that was for a league game (how times change).

The main thing that struck me when we drew them was not that we were going to go to a Premier League side....it was tackling London traffic during rush hour.

The kick off was due for 7:45pm and we actually got to London at around 5:30pm, however, it took us 2 hours to get through the middle of London. During those 2 hours, we saw at least 10,000 Londoners and not a single one was smiling, infact, the only person we saw smiling in the whole of the London area, was a bloke on a National Express coach from Birmingham to London.

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We finally arrived at the ground about 20 minutes before kick off and we went immediately into the ground after a brief spell in the club shop. There wasn't really a lot in the club shop to be honest

Fulham had spent 2 years developing the ground, we got there and all it was, was a 4-5,000 all seated temporary stand and I absolutely hated it. There were over 1,000 Lincoln fans and the stand didn't feel well supported and often felt like it was going to collapse.

However, the stand did offer a great view of the action and had the potential for a really good atmosphere if the stand was full. Looking out from this stand, it was a rather poor for a Premier League ground. The stands were a good mix between old and new and it wouldn't look out of place in the Championship, but putting it in the Premier League amongst much bigger and better stadiums, it really does look out of place.

The atmosphere at Fulham wasn't the greatest back and lack of atmosphere wasn't that surprising. It could be for many reasons, but the most likely one is that there were little over 4,000 Fulham fans in the ground for a game they viewed as not mattering. With the ground being quite far away and very expensive to get into, I doubt that I'll experience a proper atmosphere at this ground.

It is safe to say that although there is not anything specific within the ground itself, there is plenty to do within a reasonable distance. You can hop on the underground and be 15 miles away in a matter of minutes, that's the glory of the underground. If you get the chance you could go around London before the game.

The away end is huge for a single tiered effort and although it is temporary, it offers an excellent view of the action and has room for around 5,000 fans, roughly. There can be an excellent atmosphere created from this stand. Normally it is shared between away fans and "neutrals" (neutrals who always seem to cheer for Fulham), but for this game in particular it was for Imps fans only.

Heading closewise around the ground you see a pitch length seated stand that is elevated. This, despite being relatively new, is the second oldest stand in the ground, with it's opposite being the oldest. Continuing clockwise you will see an exact replica of the stand that away fans are in.

The final stand is the oldest at the ground and has the famous Craven Cottage in the corner. This stand runs the length of the pitch and despite appearing to have a very restricted view, this stand had seemingly the most fans within it on the night.

Overall, I enjoy a trip to Fulham although I would seriously recommend the use of the underground. I would definitely go again if I got the chance, although I wouldn't sit in the temporary stands again, that and I would need to take out a bank loan to be able to do it.