Our trips to Fulham which kicks off at 12.30 tomorrow, and if you can’t make it down there by lunchtime, it’s being televised live by our very good friends at Sky Sports.

By road, you need to take junction 15 off the M25 onto the M4, which becomes the A4. Keep following the A4 signs for 11.5 miles till you get to the Hammersmith Flyover Junction, then take the exit marked A306, A315, A219. From the following roundabout follow signs to Putney Bridge, which will bring you into Fulham Palace Road.

You are now just over a mile from the ground and from here you might as well think about parking in the first spot you see. Parking on the streets nearer to the ground is restricted to one hour 'pay & display' on matchdays, and this is strictly enforced by an army of traffic wardens. It’s probably less hassle to park at a tube station further out and complete your journey by underground.

The nearest tube station to Craven Cottage is Putney Bridge (on the Wimbledon Branch of the District Line) which is only a ten-minute walk away, Turn left out of the station and then immediately turn right into a street called Ranelagh Gardens, then just keep going in this direction, keeping the Thames on your left as you cross the main road and go through Bishops Park.

En route you will pass the 'Eight Bells' which is popular with away fans, and an alternative is ‘The Temperance’ which you’ll a few minutes walk further along Fulham High street, going away from the river. There is also ‘Kings Arms’ on the other side of the road from the Temperance, and 'The Crabtree on Rainville Road (10 minutes from the ground) also welcomes away supporters.

Just the other side of the river in Putney there are two Wetherspoons outlets called ‘The Rocket’ and ‘The Railway’, the latter being right outside Putney station (which has 10 trains an hour from Waterloo). The ‘Rocket’ is at the bottom of a semi-circular tower on the riverfront, and nearby is the ‘Boathouse’.

There is also a selection of alcohol available inside the stadium. The High Street is also the best bet for takeaways, which will give you better value for money than anything you could possibly find once you’ve gone through the turnstiles.

When I first came to ‘the Cottage’ in the 1980s there was terracing at both ends, with the one for visitors naturally being open to the elements, but in the years since the club have had to comply with the Taylor report by replacing them with new stands. The latest development is that the Riverside stand was been demolished (though it was only built in 1972, which in my mind is quite recent!) and the new stand built to take it's place has finally been partially opened.

The new stand has taken nearly four years to complete because a lot of the materials had to be brought in by river barge, and of course covid got in the way. It must hold a world record for the number of times the club has changed division while it was under construction, an incredible four if you count the end of the 2018/19 season!

As this is a Premier League game our allocation is back down to 2,299, compared to the whopping we got the 6,165 for the recent FA Cup game, so we only get part of the Putney End. But thanks to Premier League rules to limit the price they cost £30 for adults, with various categories of concessions ranging from £20 to £25, though restricted view seats are a whole £2 cheaper. And they have of course sold out.

There are a couple of supporting pillars that could impede your view, which is disappointing in a fairly new stand, but this only affects some seats in Row DD and above. There is plenty of legroom, but of course we never sit down anyway. Food and drink is available from a number of outlets and stalls behind the stands, and there are plenty of them, but on the minus side, the pies are the most expensive in the league!

There are still a few home tickets available on the Fulham website, but they are only being sold to those with a previous booking history. If you are in the wrong part of the crowd and want to blend in with the locals, wait till they play ‘London Calling’ by The Clash over the PA. You then have to shout the line ‘live by the river’ and point towards the Thames (behind the smart new stand).

To the right of the away stand is the building known as the ‘Cottage’, which thankfully has survived amongst all this modernity as a reminder of an earlier age. But technically this is just a pavilion, as the original cottage was demolished many years ago. The ground capacity will be 29,600 when the new stand is finally completed, but part of the upper tier is still to be opened.

Fulham is usually one of the more relaxing trips to London, though of course there’s always the chance that the Leeds performance will make things a lot more stressful. Enjoy!

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com .

Photo: Action Images

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