Craven Cottage

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Fulham 2-0 Bolton Wanderers

Aerial shot of Craven Cottage (Bing Maps)

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 7/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 7/10

Programme : 8/10
View of Action : 8/10
Quality of the game : 6/10
The "football" feeling : 8/10
Chances of coming here for a random game : 4/10
Legroom : 8/10
Surrounding area : 9/10

Overall : 58/100

Programme - £3.50

The rear of the Putney End

The rear of the Riverside Stand

The rear of the Johnny Haynes Stand

Old fashioned signage on the Cottage

The rear of the Hammersmith End

Looking down Stevenage Road

The Michael Jackson 'Tribute'

The rear of the Cottage

The Johnny Haynes Stand

The Hammersmith End

The Putney End

The Riverside Stand

The Johnny Haynes Stand

The Riverside Stand

The Johnny Haynes Stand

The Hammersmith End

The Riverside Stand

Fulham 2-0 Bolton
Wanderers

We set off from the Midlands at 9am with an easy journey
down to Kingsbury and parked on Melberry Road and walked to Kingsbury Station where
we got on the Jubilee Line towards Bond Street. We next changed line going
towards Notting Hill Gate to make our final change before getting off at Putney
Bridge. We ate at a cafe outside the station and then took a fair walk through
Bishop’s Park towards the ground.

The Johnny Haynes Stand remains the oldest stand (dating back to
1905) in the Football League and is thus a Grade II* listed building (thanks to
Jimmy Hill's efforts when saving the club as Chairman). The exterior facing
Stevenage Road has a brick façade rarely seen amongst most football grounds
today and features the club's old emblem in the artwork.

The Cottage Pavilion dates back to 1905 along with the Johnny
Haynes Stand, built by renowned architect Archibald Leitch. The reason ‘The
Cottage’ was built as Leitch had forgotten to accommodate changing rooms in his
final plans. Besides being the changing rooms, the Cottage (also called The
Clubhouse) was traditionally used by the players' families and friends who sit
on the balcony to watch the game.

Built in 1973, The Riverside Stand backs onto the River
Thames and is elevated uniquely above the pitch unlike the other 3 stands with
a small front tier of seating following the 2004 refurbishment.

The Hammersmith End was rebuilt as well as The Putney End with
a temporary seating structure with the new roof surrounding the seating. Both
stands are almost identical with corporate boxes on the side of the stands. The
Putney End hosts visiting or 'neutral' supporters. When the ground became
redeveloped in 2003-4 the club applied for a licence to have a designated
neutral area. Due to Fulham's past history of having no segregation in the
Putney End and having very well-behaved fans, the FA gave Fulham special
dispensation to allow for this. Fulham is the only club currently in the UK to
have such an area. Fans can wear whatever shirt and support either side in this
area, leading to friendly banter.

The game saw Fulham win 2-0 against an almost relegation
bound Bolton Wanderers. Goals scored by Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz secured a
valuable win for the Cottagers.

We promptly left the ground and jogged through Bishop’s Park
towards Putney Bridge Station and got on an already arrived train and left
shortly after.

We arrived back at the car at 6pm and got back to the
Midlands just before 8 o’clock.

Overall we really enjoyed our trip to Craven Cottage. Craven
Cottage is a very quirky football ground with the old fashioned Craven Cottage
linked well with the newly modified parts of the ground.

It’s by far one of the quirkiest grounds in the Football
League.