Craven Cottage

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Cravingawin

Cravingawin

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2011
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The club announced today that they are in advanced negotiations with Wiggle.com for naming rights to the stadium.
The Directors are thrilled with the association and think that a club dance after every game will catch on very quickly. The Wiggle Arena should be in place by Christmas.

In other news, Newcastle will be reverting back to calling their ground St. James Park.
 
A timely post Craving - it's the anniversary of the Cottage tomorrow.

The first game was played at Craven Cottage 116 years ago, 10th October 1896. The match was a Middlesex Senior cup tie against Minerva FC and Fulham ran out easy 4-0 winners. The ground had actually been acquired 2 years earlier but it took that time for volunteers to clear what had been a wilderness. Although a professional builder was brought in to prepare the pitch and put up pretty primitive changing rooms.

Being next to the Thames meant there was a frequent har, adding to the general Victorian murkininess, so the Club opted to change their strip to red tops since it was felt they would be more visible. For the start of season 1897/8 in the London League, programmes were introduced and a press box built (we used to get decent coverage then). Technically all the players were amateurs but the odd 10/- was known to change hands. We had our record win of 13-0 against Harrow Athletic that year.

The following year the Club also joined the Southern League and while results continued to be pretty good, promotion to the first division didn’t happen - achieved in those days by playing a Test Match (a bit like today’s playoffs). Still, there was plenty of support and this despite season tickets being 5/-.

In 1903 the Club decided to chance their arm and got agreement from the League to be accepted into the first Division but this concession was given on the proviso that we could “raise a first class team”. Within four weeks a limited company was formed with a share capital of £7500 and the Club went fully professional signing 14 new players. We were in !

Four stands each holding 300 were erected in time for the opening match of the 1903/04 season

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The visitors that day (5th September 1903) were the mighty Tottenham and 15,000 spectators, along with newsreel cameras, watched the game. Despite the motto hanging in the dressing room - “Fulham forwards are specially requested to Shoot ! Shoot !! Shoot !!!” - we failed to score but according to the papers did well enough to earn a 0-0 draw.


The 1903/04 Team

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As the Club progressed it became obvious that the ground wasn’t suitable - a cup tie in January 1905 against Reading attracted a crowd of 30,000 with still more clambering (literally) to get in. The Mears family who had had an interest in the Cottage back in 1896 and now owned ground at Stamford Bridge offered that to the Club. This was rejected though and the Mears in a fit of pique formed their own club, Chelsea.

Instead the Fulham directors called in Archibald Leitch . Over that summer he built a row of grandstands, each with it’s own turnstiles, and created the familiar red brick façade. More importantly perhaps, Leitch reconstructed the cottage itself which was used as dressing rooms (and living accommodation !). The ground re-opened on 2nd September 1905 with Fulham now in their famous white tops and black ‘knickers‘. The rest as they say, is history.

Note: the match that day, against Portsmouth, also ended 0-0.
 
Some great information,Cottager,somewhere in my loft ,"I think" there are some photographs from the 30s/40s/and 50s
if i can find,i will post.
An addendum to your excellent article,was that opposite the main stand was the Fulham smallholdings,a collection of market gardeners
who would on match days closely guard their produce till all had dispersed.The last of these closing in the early 1930s to make way
for what is now the Crabtree estate.
The Craven family who owned lands in that area were the original owners on what is now sited the Football club.
One of the early 20th century Cravens went on to manufacture cigarettes under many names,one being Craven A.
No doubt the club records could furnish us with many more interesting facts.
Facts and figures from our clubs beginnings,would i think make interesting reading if serialized in our home programme.
 
Superb info chaps. What a great club we support. Historically, not trophies before we get any Liverpool fans on here.
 
roscafre said:
Some great information,Cottager,somewhere in my loft ,"I think" there are some photographs from the 30s/40s/and 50s
if i can find,i will post.
An addendum to your excellent article,was that opposite the main stand was the Fulham smallholdings,a collection of market gardeners
who would on match days closely guard their produce till all had dispersed.The last of these closing in the early 1930s to make way
for what is now the Crabtree estate.
The Craven family who owned lands in that area were the original owners on what is now sited the Football club.
One of the early 20th century Cravens went on to manufacture cigarettes under many names,one being Craven A.
No doubt the club records could furnish us with many more interesting facts.
Facts and figures from our clubs beginnings,would i think make interesting reading if serialized in our home programme.
Click to expand...

The 'Craven A' connection had never occured to me. Thanks for the info, Roscafre.
 
Cottager58 said:
The visitors that day (5th September 1903) were the mighty Tottenham and 15,000 spectators, along with newsreel cameras, watched the game. Despite the motto hanging in the dressing room - “Fulham forwards are specially requested to Shoot ! Shoot !! Shoot !!!” - we failed to score but according to the papers did well enough to earn a 0-0 draw.
Click to expand...

Based on our high goalscoring rate this year, do you think Jol has put that sign back up?
 
To continue the story

1905 Fulham Football Club opened it’s new turnstiles on Stevenage Road for the first time. Behind the familiar red brick façade Leitch had built a grandstand made of an upper tier of seats fronted by a ‘paddock’ and covered by a pitched roof with a pedimented gable in the centre. The first plans had been to accommodate 7,800 but financial constraints (following a court case about H&S with the local Borough) led to a more modest build for 4,490. (Although it was meant as a tempory construction, it got the all clear the next year by the Borough Building Inspector on agreement to replace the bolts since they were not the ones originally approved !)

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Season 1905/06 saw the club strengthen its position, winning 19 and drawing 12 of their 34 games to become Southern League champions. In fact they conceded only 15 goals all season. The following season was almost a replica and Fulham were again champions. However trouble wasn’t very far away.

Following Fulham’s rejection of the Stamford Bridge ground in 1905, the Mears family applied to have their newly formed club, Chelsea, elected to the Southern League. This however was blocked by Fulham and instead Chelsea joined the Football League. Within two years they managed to get promoted to the First Division.

[Back then there were two Football League divisions; clubs were co-opted into the second and promoted to the first (as now) by becoming top. When Chelsea joined, this league was dominated by teams from the Midlands and the North and there were in fact only two other London clubs - Royal Arsenal and Clapton Orient (whatever happened to them ?) ]

By 1907 Fulham saw the commercial advantages of joining this ‘national’ league (and no doubt weren’t happy about the status being achieved by the other club in West London) and made an application to join. It was now Chelsea’s turn to be awkward. Nonetheless hectic lobbying by the Fulham directors brought in 28 votes and we were elected. [Burton United who had been the bottom Division 2 side lost out].

The first League match was on 3rd September at home to Hull. We lost 1-0 and the contrasting styles were summed by one national paper, “Hull pluck overcame Fulham science. It will not always be so, and one of these early days, when science wins, dash will be held up to opprobrium and denounced to wildness.” (Blimey, the tabloids of today are missing a trick !).

Anyway the gist of it was that Fulham were attractive to watch. They did find in hard going at first though and after 5 games only had 4 points (2 for a win). Gradually the team adjusted to the pace of the Football League however, and of the next 15 games, 10 were won, scoring 37 goals. Fred Harrison (a Peter Crouch look-alike), signed from Southampton in the November was the main man - he went on to score 55 goals in 131 games for Fulham.

The highlight of the season was undoubtedly the FA quarter final cup tie against first division Manchester United on 7th March 1908. Over 40,000 crammed into the Cottage

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- inserting the photo hasn't worked but hopefully
this link to it will -

http://newspaperarchive.com/black-and-white/1908-03-14/page-20/

United’s Turnbull missed an easy chance before, on the 20 minute mark, Harrison charged down a clearance and bundled the ball into the net to put us ahead. United responded and only some great goalkeeping by Skene kept us in the lead at half time. The inevitable happened soon after the restart though and United equalised. They continued to dominate but in a surprise breakaway by Harrison, the United defence backed off and he fired in a low shot for his second goal of the game. Fulham then held out for a famous victory.

Off the field however things were not so rosy. The club was losing money. The end of the 1909/10 season saw the board report a loss of £722/15/5d and carrying an overdraft of £3113/2/8d. To find a solution the Chairman proposed a merger with Arsenal, who were also struggling financially at the time. This included a ground share at the White City Stadium. However the powers that be in the Football League refused to sanction the deal (mainly because of objections by other London clubs). So Craven Cottage as the home of Fulham Football Club survived it’s first threat.
 
Moving the Story on

1910 The club were struggling financially and the side was unsettled - in the previous season 30 players had been used, 15 of them playing 10 games or less. Fred Harrison only scored 13 goals ! The directors decided that to put the house in order, the players needed firmer discipline; no more illegal payments (sic); no excessive expenses; no more living outside of London. And they appointed a new manager - Philip Kelso, an abrasive Scot who had strong views on players smoking and drinking. Indeed, regardless of cost, he was inclined to take players away to a hotel the night before a match to keep them away from the bright lights of London.

Not that the players saw much of him. In those Edwardian days the manger’s role was very much as an administrator. Fulham didn’t have a training ground so there was very little coaching as we know it and in fact players hardly kicked a ball between games, never mind discuss tactics. The club trainers during the period were athletes so the concentration was on running. In 1911, for example, the trainer was Andy Christie who, under the name of Sandy Henderson, twice won the famous 300 yards handicap at Powderhall. The first man to do so. [The pseudonym was so that he could keep his amateur status, Powderhall being for prize money].

Nonetheless, Kelso did introduce a style of play from his native Scotland. Basically triangular movements built up between the wing half, the inside forward and the winger on either flank (ring any bells today??). Over the next few seasons Fulham., in the Football League second division, never reached higher than 6th and never got beyond the FA cup quarter finals. However there no questioning that the club was respected for the quality of its football and the adventurous attacking style of its play. In Kelso’s 5 seasons before the League was suspended in 1915, because of WW1, Fulham always scored more goals than they conceded.

Despite making a profit in season 1911/12 (the first for 4 years) the club still had money difficulties. That didn’t stop Kelso trading in the transfer market though, His most bizarre signing was probably Hussein Hegazi an Egyptian and the first non-European to play in the Football League (and although he did only play the one first team game against Stockport County, he did score a goal !)

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Other notables were Bert Pearce whose 21 goals in a season was the club record at the time and John Coleman (for some reason he was known to the fans as ‘Tim’) who was 30 when Kelso signed him (ring any bells ??). ’Tim’ became the club’s top scorer over the next 3 years.

In the 3 years that Pearce and Coleman led the line for the club they contributed almost half of the total goals scored, 89 out of 177. The highlight of their partnership was when Arsenal visited the Cottage for the first time in the League in November 1913. They each scored twice as Fulham romped to a 6-1 victory !! Although a 3-0 win in a 2nd round FA cup tie in February 1912 against Liverpool, when they each bagged one, comes a close second.

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Others were Arthur Reynolds (goalkeeper, 398 games and the loudest voice in football !), ‘Prince Albert’ Collins (197 league appearances), Archie ’Baldy’ Grey (his first name was Archibald !). T. T Fitchie (an amateur who played for the fun of it !), Bobby Templeton (the Edwardian version of Jim Baxter or, closer to home, Mousa Dembele), Alf ’Rubberneck’ Marshall (107 games), Jimmy Torrance (330 games), Harry Russell (Hockey International and 139 games for the club).

The half back trio of Marshall, Torrance and Russell were a force to be reckoned with and, arguably, the best the club have had.

To return to the spat with Chelsea, one game during this period of Kelso’s management that can’t go unmentioned was a friendly between the two clubs in 1913. Guesting for Fulham that day at the Cottage was the famous boxer Bombadier Billy Wells who scored in the home team’s 3-2 victory and no doubt had something to do with the 20.000 attendance. Sweet revenge !
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Along with Billy, when war was declared many players were called up (although he continued to box) and the Football League was suspended in 1915. Craven Cottage wasn’t to remain silent though. .
 
The Story during WW1

1915 War had been declared on 4th August 1914. Ironically a German band was playing at the Earl’s Court Exhibition that day ; the music was abruptly interrupted with the announcement of war and the band silently left. In Fulham, the Town Hall was opened as a recruitment centre and Lord Kitcheners finger was pointing encouragement.
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Volunteers soon outnumbered the available uniforms (the Salvation Army helped out by ‘lending’ their own navy-blue uniforms) but this patriotism wasn’t enough. The National Registration Act 1915 was introduced and shortly afterwards conscription.

It wasn’t just men that were needed though, many horse from the local coal yards and bus depots were also conscripted and sent to Flanders. The first air raids on London took place - nothing as ferocious as in the next World War but nonetheless frightening. Precautions were equally less strident with the police and boy scouts touring the streets with sandwich boards telling people to “Take Cover” and blowing whistles. A blackout prevailed. Among this state of emergency and with minds, and bodies, elsewhere the Football League was suspended in early 1915.

As often happens in such circumstances though, sport was to provide an outlet and the London Combination League was formed. Although most leading London clubs took part, with so many men conscripted, the teams didn’t reflect their previous strength. Clubs were reliant on ‘guests’ and rarely fielded the same team on consecutive matches. In the first season of the competition , 1915/16, Fulham finished 5th out of 12. We were still scoring goals though and one guest Danny Shea (of Blackburn Rovers) hit 17 - he was only third highest however with two of the club’s pre-war forwards Bill Taylor (20) and Wattie White (19) besting him.

Season 1916/17 was something else and those who managed to watch games witnessed what was almost unthinkable in peace time. Fulham scored 102 goals in their 40 games which included some astonishing score lines -

At the Cottage - Nine against Reading; Eight against Southampton; Seven against Watford; Five against Luton.

And on the road - Eight against Watford; Seven against QPR

All exciting stuff but we still only finished 6th (a full 20pts behind the winners West Ham). The following two seasons in this makeshift league saw a distinct improvement with Fulham coming 3rd in 1917/18 (only 3pts behind eventual winners Chelsea) and 4th in 1918/19 (Brentford being the top side). That season also saw ‘success’ in the London Victory Cup, beating rivals Arsenal (4-1) and Spurs (2-0) in front of 45,000 before losing in the final (3-0) to Chelsea. A debatable honour for the Stamford Bridge side since they ‘cheated’ over the call on guest players having ‘first dibs’ on players such as the Newcastle International winger Jock Rutherford who scored twice in the match. [A ‘cheating’ controversy surrounded the Spurs match as well when both teams received generous bribes before the kick off, to lose ! Fulham, presumably, refused ! ]

Away from football, life was difficult. The Prince of Wales launched a Family Relief Fund to help families left at home virtually penniless. It wasn’t an uncommon sight to see children waiting at the gates of Hurlingham and Bishop’s Park (where soldiers were camped) to collect their father’s share of the ’King’s Shilling’. Food was rationed. Fulham Infirmary was turned into a Military Hospital for those wounded at Somme, Ypres and Passchendale. The Fulham Chronicle carried daily lists of local casualties.

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Many Fulham connected players were killed in the Great War. William Borland (Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders) was killed in action at the Battle of Loos. William Maughan (Durham Light Infantry) and Harry Robotham (1st Middlesex Regiment) both died at the Battle of the Somme. Pat Flanagan (Army Service Corps) died of dysentery in German East Africa (Tanznia). Fred Wheatcroft (East Surrey Regiment) was lilled leading his men into action at Anneux in Northern France. Three others were killed just before the Armistice; Edward Thompson, Fred Waterston and Bob Stuart.


Not surprisingly, with so many men away and wives and girlfriends less willing to go on their own, attendances at Craven Cottage were down. Cost was a factor with season tickets for the expensive seats costing £1/11/6d (£1/1/0d or a guinea, for ladies) and 10/6d or half a guinea for the terraces. Nonetheless finances at the club improved. There were no more long journeys to the North, and no wages to be paid. So all in all the club was in reasonable shape when the Football League resumed in August 1919.

Reasonable wasn’t enough for manager Kelso however, with only 10 players from the pre-war years still on the books he went about rebuilding the team. Merging some of these veterans with newly discovered talent and some shrewd signings he had a team all set for the new 1919/20 season. After a bleak period in history the Stevenage road turnstiles opened again for the big time.

Two players who made their debut for Fulham in the opening match against South Shields were, Frank Penn and Alec Chaplin.

Frank
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was to spend almost 50 years at the club, first as a player and then trainer, working with every manager from Phil Kelso to Vic Buckingham (bet he could tell some stories). An orthodox left winger, he was a wonderful crosser of the ball (bettered probably only by Charlie Mitten in the 50s). He made in all 429 league appearance, overhauled only by Johnny Haynes and Eddie Lowe.

Alec
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was 27 and playing in amateur football when Kelso spotted him (more specifically he played in the same team as Kelso’s son) and went on to play 250 games for the club. He was one of the best left backs in the country, setting the tradition for the likes of Mike Keeping, Joe Baccuzi and Jim Langley (you may be able to add others since ??) . Alec’s other claim to fame was that he moved into the flat at the Cottage with his new bride when he married in the early 20s.

Fulham won that first game 1-0 and continued strongly winning 7 of their first 9. The star was Donald Cock who scored 11 goals in 5 games (even better than the Pog !). A bad slump followed though and only 7 pts were taken in the 11 games either side of the New Year. The team recovered form in March and won 7 and drew 1 of their remaining 10 games to finish in a respectable 6th position. The scene was set for Fortress Craven Cottage in the Roaring 20s
 
The Story hits the Twenties

1920 In the 3 years between 1920 and 1923, the legend of Craven Cottage as a Fortress was born. In their 63 home games in that period, Fulham only lost 9 and conceded a miserly 32 goals. But more of that later.

There was trouble in the camp. The players were discovered out on the town after a curfew at Blackpool. Manager Kelso tore them off a strip, like naughty children, and then offered them a drink. Jimmy McIntyre refused the offer and voiced his opinion on this paternalism. Kelso listened in silence and the next day McIntyre was on the transfer list. Soon after another promising forward, Hugh Morris fell foul of the manager. Cardiff police had followed up a sighting of a man climbing out of a Cardiff hotel window, then tip toeing along a ledge and attempting to get in through the window of a bedroom occupied by two nurses. Morris was accused and Kelso sent him home immediately with the parting words, “find a new club”. [Unfortunately Harry went on to be one of the most prolific scorers in the League].

Despite all this Kelso had built a team of quality. However when season 1920/21 started slowly he wasn’t satisfied and decided to splash out in the transfer market. He bought Peter Gavigan and Joe Marrable, quickly followed by two key players Danny Shea and Barney Travers. Soon after a third joined, Andy Ducat.


Danny Shea a Londoner, had guested for Fulham during the war years, before moving back to Blackburn and the onto West Ham in early 1920.

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Within 6 months Kelso had signed him. A roly-poly looking guy, he had the most wonderful football brain not to mention feet ! Specifically he was adored by the crowds because of his dribbling ability, deft feint and baffling body swerve. Always an individual one piece of cheeky play is worth mention. When playing for Blackburn against Sunderland in 1913 he got the ball near the junction of the penalty box, scooped the ball high in the air, raced forward and headed it into the net. A new definition of an ‘own goal’ !!

He was 33 when Fulham signed him but still had a lot of football left in him. He ended up playing 100 league games and scored 23 goals for the club.



Barney Travers a club record transfer fee of £3,000 was paid to Sunderland to bring him to the Cottage.

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A big, strong, bustling centre forward he would terrorise most defences - to the delight of the fans. He scored 11 goals in his first 16 games and a total of 28 in 45 appearances.



Andy Ducat
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was the experienced leader that Kelso felt he needed to round his team off. Ducat was one of the country’s best known sportsmen. An England international at wing half, he captained Aston Villa’s cup winning side in 1920 and Surrey batsman who played in the Test Match against Australia in 1921. He was 35 when he signed for Fulham.


With the new signings, form picked up and a strong finish (8 wins and 3 draws in the last 15 games) saw them finish 9th on 42 points. Indeed but for a poor away record - the only two wins on the road were against Stoke (2-1) and Coventry (2-0) - they would have finished much higher [ring any bells !!]. Only three games had been lost at home, against Cardiff, Blackpool and Stoke.

The team going into season 1920/21 was said to be among the strongest fielded by Fulham from its inception until probably the 1960s -

Reynolds; Worrell, Chaplin; Ducat, Torrance, Bagge; McDonald, Shea, Travers, Cock and Penn

After a modest start,12pts from 12 games but including stomping home wins against Coventry (5-0), Hull (6-0), Notts County (4-0) and Rotheram (4-0), the team clicked. Seven consecutive wins saw them topping the league at the turn of the year. This was followed by a further seven games undefeated, including six on the trot without conceding a goal. And then disaster struck.

In March, Fulham faced a difficult game in the North East, Barney Travers's home territory. He travelled up a few days early because, his team-mates assumed, he wanted to see friends and relatives in the area. The opposition, South Shields (later known as Gateshead) won a keenly contested encounter 1-0 at the old Horsley Hill ground, but soon after the final whistle, rumours began to spread that an attempt had been made to “square” the result. Travers was at the centre of the allegations. It was claimed by Alf Maitland, the South Shields left back, that Travers had offered him £20 to lose the match, a charge Travers vehemently denied. The authorities moved quickly in those days and within 48 hours, a joint FA/League commission of inquiry was convened. The evidence was heard in camera and the decision announced three weeks later. On April 8, Travers, on his way to Craven Cottage for a match against Port Vale, learnt that he was banned from the game for life.

No mention was made of the charges or the inquiry in Fulham's two home programmes after the South Shields match. It was more than a week after the verdict, and a month after the incident, that fans were informed of the events by the club. On Easter Monday, 1922, the programme expressed the club's “regret” at Travers's fate and claimed that “the case came as a great shock to us and has caused grave concern”.
Many believed Kelso himself to be the guilty part and Barney had merely been the messenger. [In 1945 Travers, now aged 50 was pardoned by the FA]

The affair had a devastating effect on the team and in the last 13 games of the season they lost 8 and won only 2. At the end of the season Fulham finished 7th with 45 points only 7 behind promoted Stoke. There’s no question that the disastrous final run-in cost the team promotion - only two games were lost at home all season, to Bury and Leeds (both 0-1) who were teams lower in the league and both games were in those last weeks.

Season 1922/23 was a bit of a roller coaster; only 2 of the first 12 were lost and the team were in 6th place with 14 pts.; 6 of the next 11 games were lost taking them into the lower half of the division; 1 defeat in the next 10 saw them jump to 4th; the last 4 were all lost. Fulham ended up in 10th place on 44 points.

The problems were obvious - away form and a lack of goals. As well as losing Travers, Cock had been transferred to Notts County. The one shining light among the forwards had been Frank Osborne, signed the previous season and taking over the No. 9 shirt from the unfortunate Travers. Frank was the first Fulham player to win a full England cap when he was selected to play against Ireland. [He moved to Spurs in 1924 and while there scored a hat trick for England against Belgium].

The defence though had been a tower of strength conceding only 12 goals at the Cottage in the season (and only 32 in total). Goalkeeper Arthur Reynolds kept 18 clean sheets during the season.
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Over the next season most of the aging players were allowed to move on or retired but the start of season 1923/24 saw only one new signing - Frank Doyle from Airdrie - and it was predictably a poor year. The first win came after 6 matches (1-0 at home to Crystal Palace) and with 21 games gone Fulham were struggling on 16 pts. Despite an unexpected 3-1 win against Manchester United, the next games were little better and the team went into the last month of the season one off the bottom. Fortunately the defence found it’s old form and they manage to keep the score sheet blank in 6 games. However relegation still loomed and it was all down to the final match at home to Stockport. A crowd of 20,000 saw unknown left winger Fred Linfoot get the only goal of the game, We were saved !!!

But only just, and it marked the end of the road for manager Kelso, who was still under a cloud from the Travers affair. He left the club after 15 years. In that time he steered the club through a difficult period in history (not just war; football clubs were struggling and the likes of Gainsborough Trinity, Glossop and Leeds City disappeared). On limited resources, he brought some of the best players in the country to the Cottage and had engineered a reputation for Fulham as a club that put a priority on playing good football beyond absolute success.

However, for Craven Cottage and Fulham it was turning into the Not-so Roaring Twenties.
 
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